Cows, Cows Everywhere!

Brown cows.
White cows.
Small cows.
Thin cows.

Big cows.
Move cows.
Pet cows.
Wild cows.

See cows.
Here cows.
There cows.
All over town cows.

 

See if you can spot four cows walking in the road.

Turning 10 in India!

Ella wasn't sure if she wanted to celebrate her 10th birthday in India but I think she'd agree she was treated royally!

 

A few gifts from Mamo and Papa before leaving home.

A fun picture in the elevator reflection the morning of the 5th!

Buffet breakfast as a family before heading on our five hour van drive to Agra.

 Activity books from Mom and Dad upon arriving in Agra.

 A magic trick book and yummy mints from Mamo & Papa at dinner.

Mango ice cream to end a day that will not soon be forgotten!

A surprise knock just before bed had a special delivery cake from the hotel! 

Our driver, Suresh and tour guide Wicki were horrified we hadn't told them it was Ella's birthday. 

At dinner they surprised us all with a beautiful chocolate cake!

and dancing...

 and souvenir "Taj" gift!

After unpacking I was able to retrieve another surprise gift from a sweet lady from King of Kings church.  She gave Ella a lovely note and gift... we hope to meet you someday Karen! 

The Lord never ceases to amaze us with His out-pouring of love! 
We know that each of these gifts are orchestrated from Him on high!

Treasured memories of turning 10!

Modes of Transportation!

We have seen all different ways of getting around India and thought we'd share some with you.  ENJOY!

 Our taxi-van from the airport in Delhi to our first hotel. 

 Auto rickshaws!  Most of the ones we have seen are green and yellow and STUFFED to the max!

Horse carts!

 Rickshaws!

 Many bicycles and motorcycles everywhere.

 Not a single space is wasted!

SO many tractors pulling all sorts of loads!

We even saw a few camels pulling loads!

This auto rickshaw even had a man sleeping on the top!

Donkeys were prominent both for hauling and pulling.

Taj Mahal

Today, Sunday the 6th, was our Agra sightseeing day.  Of course we went to the main attraction in Agra, The Taj Mahal.  The structure itself was very impressive, but the interesting part was the reaction we got from others.  We had many requests from people wanting to take picutures with us.  Most of them were people with children who wanted to get a picture of their kids with ours.  Ava and her light blonde hair seemed to be especially popular.  By the end, everyone was pretty wiped out with the long walk in the heat.  It must have been over 100 degrees.  I know that because it's over 100 degrees everyday here in May.  Additionally, not everyone was extremely motivated to see it.  One unnamed girl's comment was "I could see the top of it from the hotel, that was enough for me."  I'm hoping she'll appreciate the pictures of her with the Taj Mahal in the background when she is older.  There is more to see in Agra, but we cut it short to get ready for tomorrow.

The Aernis at the "Front Gate"!

Meg preparing to lift the Taj.  SO STRONG!

Ella landing after jumping over the Taj Mahal.

One of MANY photo opportunities the girls were asked to partake in... all of the kids were thrilled!

See you tomorrow, when we connect with the people of India Transformed.  Here is a link to their website, if you want to learn more.

http://indiatransformed.org/index.html

Jet Lag!

Jon writing here at 3:00 am.  The Lord has blessed me with a little bit of jet lag tonight so I thought I would share some thoughts.  The jet lag truly is a blessing because with all of the craziness of getting here, I shifted into my "just get it done" mode and focused only on what we needed to do next and lost focus on the big picture.  God woke me up this morning to remind me about that big picture.  Some of that includes:

1. I have two weeks straight to experience unbelievable things with my family, and see God revealed.  Don't waste each moment thinking about what we need to do next.  The goal isn't to just get this done.
2.  Be a father.  One of the things about this trip that excited the girls was two straight weeks with dad.  I need to be intentional about strengthening my relationships with them.
3. It's easy to observe people and culture from a distance.  We can drive through in our van, stay in American style hotels and just "see" what life is like.  I pray that though the connections God has placed in our path, we will be able to experience life here and be transformed by seeing what God is doing here through some of his faithful followers.

In reviewing what I wrote, I don't know that I articulated things very well, but trying to write it down was helpful.  Thanks for humoring me by reading it.  Also, thank you to everyone who posts comments, it is SO encouraging to read them.  We love you all.

Jon

(We do have some neat pictures to post, so we will plan to do that this evening, so check back soon)

 

We Are Here!

Not even sure how to describe what happened to get us here!  Miraculous!  Our flight was the 3:09 flight to Newark so checking into our little ole Omaha airport didn't seem that overwhelming.  Our family of six plus Jon's parents, making our group a total of eight was packed and ready for India.  Yet it became clear that the check-in counter was on HIGH ALERT upon our 1:25 arrival.  Eye glances, urgent phone calls, exchange of comments, more phone calls, "we gotta get this done!" all gave obvious signals that immediate prayer was needed.  Ella, Meg, Sophie O. and I huddled for prayer asking God to lead mightily and indeed HE DID.  We were told our original flight plan would be an hour or more delayed coming into Omaha which would make us miss our international flight to Delhi. 

Barely thirty minutes from arriving we were sprinting those that had received security clearance to be checked through; making back and forth runs through the airport.  The flight attendant ran us Livi's passport for our final slip and said we had eight minutes before the plane wanted to back up at 2:00 p.m sharp.  After the painfully slow security check we again sprinted to the gate where we watched in horror as two ANGRY gentlemen were escorted off the plane so that we could take their seats.  (The flight had already been declared "closed" and they had begun booking stand-by customers.)  AND not to forget another BIG detail of this delayed 1:19 flight... there were only EIGHT open seats available.  EIGHT! 

Folks, as we boarded the flight people were looking at us wide-eyed saying, "I've NEVER seen anything happen like this before in my life!" 

So my dear prayer support team, know that we DO need you!  Here is the link if you want to join our prayer team!
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AkKM0ffanrrrdGtDaktFRDA2Z3poanVWb3dxR2Q5S1E#gid=0

Bags filled with LOVE and GIFTS for the people of India! 

Sunday Morning Breakfast Bags: UPDATE!

Our family has enjoyed serving Bridge Church by making 12 bags filled with breakfast items for the last seven (I believe) weeks.  Our dear friend Bob wakes up early and drives around town picking up people for Sunday morning church service (he drives one of several vans that go out).  Without the van pick-ups, these people would be unable to attend worship. 

Many of the people who are picked up for church come without breakfast.  Jon and I desire to find opportunities to serve where the entire family can participate.  This has been a great fit for us.  The kids enjoy picking out the items we will use to fill the bags, they stuff them full and then we pray over the bags.  We pray the Lord will use the food to fill their stomachs and touch their hearts to fill their souls! 

Your job would be to fill 12 brown bags with a napkin and about 3-6 items that could include; a drink, a main dish (muffin, breakfast sandwich wrapped in tin foil, bagel and cream cheese), fruit of choice, drink (100% juice, water bottle, milk or drinkable yogurt), granola bar, yogurt & spoon and breath mint.  You will need to be able to deliver all bags on Saturday to about 40th & Dodge area.

This is a ministry that could be set aside yet, I believe, others would be blessed to serve while we are in India and then home transitioning as a family.  If this is a good fit for you please let me know!  You might also consider joining Bob in the van and attending Bridge Church to see your ministry in action!  THANKS FOR CONSIDERING!

May 6th:  CANCELED: Bob lost his uncle and will be out of town, please pray for his unsaved family members!
May 13th: Langford family
May 20th: R. Miller
May 27th: S. Hobson
June 3rd: K. Paul
June 10th: Sather family
June 17th: Wedergren family
June 24th: OPEN
July 1st: OPEN
July 8th: OPEN
July 15th: Sather family
July 22nd: OPEN
July 29th: OPEN
August 5th: OPEN