Fun at home

So we've been home just over 3 weeks and we are finally starting to get readjusted. In one word, I would describe our time in Nepal as eye-opening. It was an incredible experience and we learned so much about ourselves, the culture, and the people there. Only God knows what the future looks like but that children's home definitely has a piece of our hearts (and a big part of Moriah's!)

Here's some pictures of what we've been up to in the last 3 weeks!

Home!

Here's the major picture download!

The view from a hike the girls went on near the children's home

Wheat Harvest

Learning how to use everything the nurses left

Listening to music

Washing clothes in the stream

With Asha

Mahima

Kishor and Sapana enjoying French toast!

With Asha and Esther on a hike

With Rebekah

In the dining room at the hotel

View of the chapel at the hotel

Moriah loves swinging

The girls got their ears pierced Nepali style

A typical construction site

The kids coming home from school...one of my favorite things

Rainy season and rice planting

When you try to drop a nap...sometimes you can't stay awake for dinner

The teen conference!

Last post from Nepal

So this will be the last post before leaving Nepal...

Hard to believe that today marks 10 weeks that we've been here. It's really starting to feel like home. It will be exciting to go back to Colorado, but in some ways will require more faith to jump back into the busy life of America. We've learned so much and are so grateful for the time we could spend here.

The rainy season has officially started which is a fun experience. I'm glad I won't be here for the whole thing, but it's a nice relief from the heat. So it is always really humid and rains on and off every day. Everyone is planting rice in their fields, so that is really fun to see also!

Here's just a few pictures and as soon as we get home I'll post tons!

Some of the girls after church

They all got punjabis!

We took the kids out for ice cream on the way home from church

End of May Update!

Moriah looking great in the morning

Washing clothes in the channel after school 

Asha, Moriah and Kimberly outside the cooking shed 

Hanging up VBS posters donated by SVCC! Panda Mania lives on!

Playing futbol and coming from down 0-4 to win 6-5!

A Nepali swimming pool built by China

An awesome eagle/owl kite that John Meyer left for us to fly!

Flying the kite in the field behind the home

Post mission team update

Out of the 11 days the mission team from church was here, there were 6 days of strikes. So we made a big use of the time we could go into the city but also kept busy with a lot of projects here. Some fun memories:

Playing the family game with the young adults

Trying to shop for souvenirs but getting stuck in a hail storm instead

Going for lots of walks and hikes around the area with the kids

Getting to hear the teams testimonies

Building a fence

Harvesting wheat

One of the boys shaving Nathan's beard

Hearing lots of fun stories from home

The team ended up leaving at 2:00am because there was supposed to be another strike today. So the van driver needed to pick them up, take them to the airport, drop Kishor and Nathan back at home, and get himself home before the strike started. What a way to end the trip!

The "final" constitution deadline was set for May 27 which is why there have been so many strikes, but today they decided to extend it for 3 more months. So hopefully that means it will be a little more peaceful around here for our remaining time.

Monday marked our half way point! 33 days left from today! It was hard to send the team off knowing they'll be home in a couple days and we won't be there for another month. But the second mission team comes in 2 weeks from today and the pace of the second half of our adventure will go by much quicker. Praying that God will show us exactly how to make the best use of our time. 

So there's a few pictures from the last couple weeks that the mission team has been here.

 We built a new bamboo fence around the children's home

Nathan made a deal with the young adults that they could shave his beard however they wanted to if they memorized a chunk of verses...it was apparently very good motivation!

Moriah sleeping at the restaurant...and I decided to sleep too!

We were able to help harvest the wheat in the children's home field!

Strike City

So today marks 1 of 8 days of scheduled transportation strikes in Kathmandu. There have also been strikes for 3 of the last 4 days. This means no school, no work, no going to church, etc. One of the most strictly enforced strikes was on Friday when our first mission team from church flew in. I was praying Psalm 20:6-8 which says:

Now I know that the Lord saves his anointed;
    he will answer him from his holy heaven
    with the saving might of his right hand. 
 Some trust in chariots and some in horses,
     but we trust in the name of the Lord our God. 
 They collapse and fall,
    but we rise and stand upright.

And God answered sovereignly and they made it here safely. Kishor and Nathan ran into a little trouble, but then the van driver that they had on the way home seemed to know everyone that stopped them and they made it home without anyone giving too much trouble.
 
There is another deadline for the constitution at the end of the month, so it seems like the next few weeks may be a little crazy. There are different cast groups that all have their own demands and the way the choose to express them is by shutting the whole city down. The last 3 days of the 8 this week are actually by a Muslim group. Yesterday there was no strike so we got out in the city to do some site seeing and buy supplies. We will do a lot of work around the home and work with the kids since they won't have school either. We've been trying to explain to the kids that this is not normal and shouldn't be acceptable, but it's all they know. My conclusion...this is a strange, strange country.

But here's some more pictures from the last week!

Flowers we gave each other for our anniversary =)

At the "monkey temple" with our mission team, Kishor and Mamata, and our two friends Andy and Lisa from New Zealand who are also staying at the children's home