Originally posted on December 11, 2011

Medanta Hospital, December 6, 2011
Seth had a PFO Closure completed on Tuesday. It was discovered during a Migraine research study in 2007 that he in fact had a Patent Foramen Ovale, a hole between the chambers of his heart.  The relationship is said to exist if the blood that has not been filtered is able to get through the hole and then travel to places only filtered should go.  The research study was called the Escape Migraine study and in order to qualify you had to have been placed on many kinds of medications to treat migraine and they all needed to have been found less than completely effective.  For Seth, he had been to 5 neurologist, including a few headache clinics over the last 15 years, acupuncturist, chiropractors, physical therapists, and even tried all manner of minerals, vitamins and homeopathic treatments.. Over the course of that time, one medication after another would work for a while, but then would stop working, some relief might be experienced for a short time with a new therapy or the migraines would get worse.  Engaging in strenuous physical activities lead to migraine.  Over the years, one food after another was eliminated from his diet in the search for the complicated factors that seem to be causing his migraines.
This research study seemed to hold a key element that hadn't been approached before, and possibly even a glimmer of hope for some relief.  As it turned out, Seth was part of the control group, so he didn't get the hole fixed.  Over the last few years in the States, we talked with different doctors about the possibility of the surgery being completed, based on the correlation of PFO and stroke.  With a history of stroke in the family, we thought there would be a chance of having the surgery done, in spite of the fact that the FDA has yet to confirm a link to migraine.  In the end in took leaving the country to find a neurologist/cardiologist team that understood the benefit of the closure, from a stroke standpoint, but possibly also for migraine treatment.
Thursday of the previous week, things were set in motion to fix the PFO as doctors in South Asia perform this closure often to prevent stroke.  Seth was admitted Monday, had surgery Tuesday morning and on Wednesday came home.  He has yet to have a migraine.  He waited a few days and today tested his luck.  After only a few hours of sleep last night (one trigger), we headed off for a soccer game (extended sun light was a trigger), he ran (another trigger), the came home and had a Twix (another major trigger), we watched a movie before dark (trigger), wore cologne for a date (trigger) and now after being awake almost 17 hours, he is still headache free. 
We are not sure how long this will last, but how fun to get to try things again and see some success.  We know that in all things there is a plan. This pain has been very helpful in counseling others.  This pain has been used time and again as part of the Master plan, but oh how great it would be to see Seth become all that he might be.  Over time, he has been less and less faithful in many of the disciplines, including fasting, as missing meals were triggers.  Many said there was a spiritual element, and there may very well have been and may be even now. The hope is that freedom from fear would great growth in his desire and obedience.  Thanks a ton for your prayers over the last week and years.  Many have invested much time in us, which is why this long blog is here.  So, may He get praise, may He be honored even more in our lives as we strive for His Kingdom to come and His will to be done.

A funny thing happened on the way to the post office (or post as it is called here)

One of my recent projects/challenges/cultural experiences has been to mail a small box of souvenir type things back to our family in the States.

Step 1: Go shopping for souvenirs. This was the fun part!
Step 2: Find a box and pack it with items. No problem; we had an over-sized shoe box from Noah's cleats. Packing things in a box so that they fit just right is secretly one of my favorite things.  I am pretty sure I got this gene from my Dad.
Step 3: Find neighborhood post office.
Step 4: Take box to post office and mail it. This is where it gets really fun and a lot more complicated than it sounds. We went to the post office around 3:45 after we got the kids home from school and settled doing homework. We walked in and there were four windows. Only one window had a person behind it so we went to that window and told the gentleman that we wanted to mail this box to the US. He pointed to the window next to us and said we needed to be at that window. We stepped aside to that window and proceeded to wait for someone to come and help us. No one came and finally a man sitting behind a desk in the back of the office told us to ask the man at the window next to us what we needed. At least I think that is what he said by his hand gestures and because I understood the word for "ask". We stepped back over to the window next to us and again told the man that we wanted to mail the box to the US. He said that we needed to be at the window where we were standing but that window closes at 3:30. Really?????!!! But we also found out that the box needed to be wrapped in "markin" and stitched.
Step 5: Go to market to find "markin". We started at Gupta's because we know the owner (we have been to his store to practice language and tell him stories). He gave us beige material that looked kind of like cheesecloth.
Step 6: Find a tailor to stitch the material around the box. The first tailor we went to did not speak a lick of English and he finally understood what we needed. He kept turning the box different ways trying to figure out how to wrap the material around and quickly we realized this probably was not the best way to go about getting this done. We then went to a different tailor and waited a few minutes for him to finish the project he was working on. Then it was our turn and the tailor said that we could not use the material because it had writing on it (stamp marks on the material). We went to a different material store and bought some more material, took it back to the tailor to stitch it. He proceeded to measure the box and he made a really cool perfectly fitted sleeve of material to cover the box.
Step 7: Mail the box. Okay, now we were ready to head back to the post office the next day. We were on our way to the post office and we saw a guy selling sweet potatoes. The way the people eat them here is roasted over a fire and then eaten with lemon and spices on top. I have been wanting to see if I could buy the raw sweet potatoes and cook them myself at home.  We stopped the guy and tried to ask him if all the sweet potatoes had been roasted already.  We have not covered that in language class yet so we were not getting very far. Three ladies walked by and we asked them if they knew any English.  They did know some and they were very helpful in helping us to communicate to the sweet potato walla. Then one of the ladies looked at me and said that she wanted to invite us to her house (right then). It was one of those moments that had to be divinely orchestrated so we accepted their invitation and walked with them to their flat. Along the way, we found out that their family was from Afghanistan and consisted of mom and 6 children (most are older teenagers and young adults). Their dad was killed by another family member and they cannot be in their country because of family problems. We had a very nice visit in their 5th floor very small flat. They were extremely hospitable and very kind. We hope to further our friendship with their family.
Back to the story....we went to the post office and walked up to the correct window.  He told us where to write the sending and return address, and the custom forms that needed to be filled out. We paid the fees and were on our way to pick up the kids at school.

Overall, it was a relatively painless experience and very successful.  I never did find out why the package had to be stitched in material.  Oh, the many mysteries of living in another country!

Happy Halloween......from Whippleville

We missed out on the aisles and aisles of candy, the costumes, the decorations, and all that goes along with the upcoming candy fest. But we did celebrate in our own way this year!

We decided not to carve the pumpkin so that I could cook it and make pumpkin bars, cookies, bread, etc. We have our priorities straight!

But we did decorate it.  We did not set it outside because I didn't think our neighbors would understand and it would just leave them wondering why those weird Americans have a decorated pumpkin outside their door :)

Even though we did not go trick-or-treating, we managed to have fun.  When the kids came home from school, I had the door locked and when they tried to come in, I opened the door and said, "Oh look at the trick-or-treaters we have!  What are you dressed as?" They played along and I gave them some special candy from a bowl - snickers bars and sour punch candy straws.

For dinner, I wanted to have a little taste of America as well. We had corn dogs (I had to look up a recipe and they turned really pretty good) and mac-n-cheese. For dessert, I made soft-baked pumpkin cookies.

The kids had a friend from school over and she ate with us.  She is from Australia and knew about Halloween, although they do not celebrate it.  It was fun to include her in our talk about all things American related to Oct. 31st.

I realized that I did not get any "good" candy for myself, which, as most of you know, is one of the big perks of being a mom of kids who go trick-or-treating. No worries; my wonderful husband had to go to the pharmacy to get meds (around the corner) and he brought me back  a surprise......my very own snickers bar (and it is bigger than the one I got for the kids).

All in all, I cannot complain. I am very thankful that we get to experience a new culture, with all of its customs, and keep our own special traditions of our home culture.

My New Shoes

I bought a pair of shoes the other day from a store in a market near our flat. It was a small store (about 12 X 15 ft) with LOTS of mirrors and glittery shoes. My daughter was mesmerized by all the sparkle. I already had an idea of what I was looking for and I started my search. There was no shortage of employees to help me in my search. I might mention, at this point, that we live in a city of about 20 million people. I found shoes that I liked and immediately a gentleman was close by to get me the right size. I watched as he walked to the middle of the store, looked up into a hole in the ceiling that was about 2 X 2 ft and said something. A few minutes later, a shoe box fell from the hole.  Seriously, there was a shoe fairy up there getting the requested sizes and throwing them down! I tried on the shoes and told the man that I wanted to buy them. He pointed me to a counter at the front of the store (actually just a few feet away). He walked with me and handed the shoe box to another man. I stood at the counter while another man punched in the price, printed a receipt, and handed it to me. I took out my money to pay and the man pointed to another man at the end of the counter. I stepped over a couple of feet  and handed my receipt to man and paid him. He stamped my receipt "paid" and gave it back to me. I took it and realized that I did not have the shoe box. I looked behind me and saw yet another man with my shoes in a plastic bag. I handed him my receipt and he stamped "delivered", gave it back to me with my shoes.

I do not say all of this to be critical at all. I find it amazing that so many employees can work in one store. Each person had their designated role and it worked. I guess in a city of so many people, lots of jobs are needed. Everyday is an adventure!

This picture is for illustration purposes only :)

My New Normal

I look around me and I realize this is my new normal and I am not sure what to think about it most days. Here are some examples of my new normal.....
*I am cooking a lot more for many reasons. One, I like to cook on most days. Two, most things have to be made from scratch (muffins, rolls, tortillas, brownies, cookies, sauces, etc.). Three, making a good tasting meal brings me much satisfaction (and my family) in the midst of feeling infantile in language learning most of the time.
*If no water comes out of the faucet, I have to turn on a switch in my kitchen which brings water from the pipes in the ground to the tanks on the roof. But I HAVE to set a timer to remind myself to turn off the switch in 15 minutes so that the tank does not overflow. Can you tell we have forgotten a time or two? Oooops.
*We have a small washing machine that sits on the back balcony because that is where the water supply is and we do not have a dryer, so we hang our clothes out to dry.  No more doing laundry whenever. I can only do one load a day so that I have enough room to dry clothes and do it early in the day so that they have enough time to dry the clothes. That reminds me, I need to go hang the clothes out!
*Mother Dairy is a major part of our life here, maybe a little more that it should be, but don't judge us :) There is a stand about 2 blocks from our house. They sell milk in a bag (not good according to Dakota) and ice cream (very good). I wasn't really that much of an ice cream fan in the States, but here the vanilla choco bliss definitely makes me feel better on some days. It is vanilla ice cream in a sugar cone.  There is chocolate on top and on the inside of the cone. Good stuff!  They also have mango raspberry popsicles for the lighter days.
*Along those same lines, I am amazed at how much of our comfort centers around food, or at least it did.  When we first arrived in country and I did not really know what to make, I really dreaded the "what's for dinner" question. Finding cereal that was likeable to all was a challenge. Seth and I settled on one that is like granola, kind-of, and the kids settled on honey cornflakes.  The crazy thing is that you can get just about any cereal you want... for a price (fruity pebbles is about $10 a box).  Then we also had to find suitable snacks (for lunches, etc.).  They all seemed to have a South Asian flare to them. Things are much better now as I right this and we know where to get what, but it was a process. Let me just say that certain snacks that we have gotten in packages from some family and friends are huge blessings.
*I have also seen some of my rough edges. When resources are in short supply, we tend to be greedy, which has been interesting to observe in our family.
*The portions are also a lot smaller, and food does not keep as long, which means that we go to buy food often, most every day. This could seem inefficient if coming from an American mindset, but we are having to change the way we look at things. For instance, going to the market more often allows for relationship building.
*Getting excited about finding mini chocolate chips! It's the little things on some days!!! Get it? :)
*Things are measured according to the metric system. Do you know how many green beans are in a kilo??? A LOT. Butter is sold in grams and it doesn't have the nice measuring marks on the wrapper.  For someone who likes to cook with exact measurements, this could be challenging. The internet is a great resource, again and again.
*Cable TV costs about $7 a month and the data plan on our phone is $2 a month. And we have a bunch of English channels.
*I say things like "Did you remember to turn your geyser (gee-ser) on?" to my children.  Each bathroom has a small water heater called a geyser. It is turned on with a switch and takes about 15 minutes to heat up the water for a shower.
*We can take the kids to school in a bike rickshaw.
*We often have to bargain to get a good price for an auto or rickshaw.
*We have to think about it before we plug things in because stuff from the States is 110 and it is 220 here. Certain things need to have a converter. Thankfully, there has not been a lot of trial and error in this category.
*Getting my haircut used to be something I looked forward to and enjoyed very much.  Here, it is just stressful. Will I be understood? What will it look like? I am confident that with time, I will get to where I look forward to it and enjoy it once again.
*The boys can get a haircut down the street for a $1 so I don't cut their hair myself anymore.
*I spend about 25-30 hours a week studying language and culture, which is painful at this point but it will get better.

Most of all, my new normal is finding out what life looks now. I am a learner. My roles have changed. I can't depend on what I knew and have to find a new way to do things and function. My new normal includes strength and peace from my Father. It has to. I have seen the Scriptures come alive for me in new ways, for which I am very grateful.

invitations...

the last few weeks i have received and given a variety of invitations.  some i gladly took and was thrilled to be a part of.  others i  tried to find ways to decline and still others i felt i needed to accept for the pure thrill of the new experience.  today i created an invitation in a new language, with the help of a friend. i gave it out, not knowing for sure what it said, but trusting that i was inviting friends to a yeshu satsang, a truth gathering for the Sustainer. while i have had the privilege of inviting several into a new relationship with the Sustainer, i have found it most difficult to understand what it is i am asking or expecting or even explaining, as this is not my culture.
one recent invitation led Denise and i to dinner with a gathering leader that gave insight into the mindset differences to those who live here in south asia.  to become a Follower here legally means that you are cut off from family, you can not receive inheritance and many other complications to the simple faith that is asked of us.  government and tradition have clouded that simple invitation to give up everything that we and our household may come.  so, i have invited a follower and guru (teacher) to my house to help me explain to my friends here what it looks like to be in the world and but love only One.  soon we will get together over vegan food, words and music that are foreign to me and sit on the floor.  the hope is that we will all hear and act on a divine Invitation.

taj mahal

how whippleville does the taj mahal....(not necessarily recommended for general public)

• 4am wakeup
• breakfast
  
• taxi before dawn to new delhi station
  
• a line outside the train station wrapping around sleeping people
  


• going in the train station exit to board with the others who didn't want to wait in line, with approval
• boarding via platform 9 3/4 (for you potter fans - which Noah was compared to all day long)
• breakfast #2 potato logs of some sort, carrots and green beans, toast and butter
  
• shared truth with a Sikh man (seth)
• sat next to an Indian who recruits for a firm in Dallas, who was very
  much in control of her own destiny (Denise)
• arrive in Agra before most things open, so we go with our friends who have yet to eat breakfast to an old hangout for breakfast #3.
  
• transfer from car to camel for final leg of journey to the Taj Mahal as they do not allow motor vehicles to get anywhere close to it.
  
• now...pictures are better than words