An old friend…

A couple of months ago, on the social networking site Facebook, I got one of the sweetest messages I have ever received.  It was from a friend of mine that I had not heard from in over 16 years.  David and I were best friends at St. John’s here in Bangalore.  After my 10th grade exams, I left for Chennai where I finished the last two years of high school, and headed to the USA for my studies.

David and I lost touch immediately.  He left for his home state in north-east India while I stepped into a new chapter of my life.   Leila will one day scoff when I talk to her about the era before cell phones and facebook and yet that is where we were.   We tried writing letters to each other but neither of us got a reply.   Soon…David my friend was becoming a painting hung in the deep recesses of my head, a painting that with time slowly began to fade softly.

So…  hello 21st century!  David, after almost two years of earnest searching found me on facebook.  We immediately got caught up and then I realized that I was going to be in India soon… and providentially, I was also going to be traveling (a trip of about 8 days)to the remote NE corner of India…David’s hometown!  I have never set foot in this state before but we have a distribution planned there.   This was a place that we have been meaning to get to for many years.   For some strange reason, I forgot that David would still be there!  Furthermore, to go to this part of India, you need a whole series of permits and authorizations from the authorities.   This can be complicated, and yet, this is exactly the kind of stuff that makes you realize that God ordains your steps before you.

My friend David is now with the police force.   And wouldn’t you know it?  His primary responsibility is handling restricted area permits.  As a result, all of us have our permits stamped and ready.  David is going to meet us tomorrow at the airport with his men.  In fact, he just informed me, that all the authorities at the airport have been informed of our arrival and are eagerly awaiting us!

So, tonight, after some sleep, we will board a flight in the wee hours of the morning that will wing us to a part of India that is new to us all.  It will take us to the blue hills of Mizoram.   Sixteen years later, I am looking forward to connecting with my best friend.   I am looking forward to meeting his wife and kids.  I am looking forward to introducing him to Katy and Leila.   Isn’t life beautiful when God ordains your steps?!

5pm

The 5 o’clock hour has become one of my favorites in India.  The heat of the day begins to diminish, and the sun falls softer on the skin.  Folks are getting done with work, and the pace of the day changes.  Tea time comes around, and out come the stainless steel tumblers of sweet, spicy chai.  There might be biscuits (cookies,) or samosas, or some other tasty delight.  We often gather on the patio outside JP’s home where we’ll play with the dog, munch on a snack, and pause between the work-day and whatever the evening may bring.

Leila gets a pat on the head from Big Tata

Lounging with Dad

This is also the time of day when I (along with any sundry compilation of others) take Leila out for a stroller ride.  It is one of her favorite times of day as well.  She leans back, and soaks it all in.   You never know what you’ll see when you’re out for a walk here.  Most certainly, it is never the same, and it is never dull.

On one of our recent walks, we ventured down to the end of Osborne Road where there is a little old man who sells Tender Coconuts.  For 12 rupees, he’ll whack the top off of your coconut, and you can drink the coconut water inside.  Very refreshing.  (And you’ll notice how his sign also advertises the fact that it is good for your health!)  If you prefer, you can also get a coconut that is more mature, and it will have less water and more tender coconut “meat” inside, which you can scoop out with part of the shell.  I most enjoy the coconut water, myself.

This guy has been sitting here doing good business for 32 years!

Good for my Healthy!

On Tuesday we went on a day trip to nearby Mysore, and atop our visit to Chamundi Hill, we found more Tender Coconuts for sale.  They were also good for our health!

That superstar drinking from a coconut is JP.

Leila drank her fair share too!

Hopefully a few pictures of the sun and the dreamy tender coconuts will be a balm for those of you in the chilly parts of the world!!  While we are not missing the cold, we are missing YOU!

Here!

It is currently 73 F here in Bangalore.  The sun is out, there is a light breeze blowing.  I love Januarys in India, especially if you had to leave the Michigan winters far far behind.   Now, there are some of you that love the seasons, especially winter.  I, unfortunately, am not one of them.  I like places where you can wear short-sleeve shirts all year round!  I don’t need it to be sweltering but I definitely do not mind my seasons going “brisk…warm.. warmer… and warmest.”

We arrived in Bangalore on the 10th of January.  It is hard to believe that it has been almost 10 days since we got here.   Leila did wonderfully well on the plane ride over.  Our concern was whether she would be able to sleep on the plane.  Leila is an amazing sleeper but she cannot sleep if she is not lying prone.   The little one adapted well and learned to sleep in our arms.  Which was a huge blessing to us on our long flights.   She was cheerful for the most part and barring the occasional hiccup, did well.   It still made for a long flight though.

I (JP) had to speak at a church the morning we arrived.  That went much better than I thought it would. I was afraid that I would be too exhausted to make any sense.  The adrenaline was enough to just get me past the morning service!   The first couple of days were a bit of a wash because we had to unpack and repack for our trip to Chennai.  We did get to see and play with Leila’s darling little cousin Judith.

We left for Chennai on Wednesday on the Shatabdi Express aka “The Fatty Express” (aptly named for the amount of food they feed you on it).

Chennai was a big blur of activity.  Leila had responsibilities as the flower girl, I had to emcee the reception, while Katy had to help with the rehearsals.   The wedding was spectacular, everything went really well, and I even got to emcee in two languages!  🙂  Unfortunately for us, Leila caught a cold en route.

The past couple of days have been mostly days for us to recoup.  We are making ourselves at home here in Bangalore.  Katy has done, by my count, 100 million loads of laundry.  Leila has begun to feel better although we hope her appetite returns soon.   Here are a few photos from our time here so far!

Emceeing the reception

The poor exhausted baby had to nap in the back of the wedding hall

Here comes the bride

Practicing!

Trying on her new favorite dress

Quite possibly the cutest sight so far!

The always endearing big Tata

A Gift of Providence…

Katy talked about, in her prior entry, our travel season.  We are back in Holland now, enjoying our time at home before we begin our next travel adventure.  I want to do a little back-tracking to tell  you about a gift that was given to us in the middle of a scary moment, a gift of providence.

One of our trips a few weeks ago involved a week of speaking in NW Iowa, Minnesota, and South Dakota.  Our concern was to get there without harassing Leila’s sleep patterns too much.   We got a great suggestion from our sister-in-law Heather.   She wondered why we just did not drive through the night.  Brilliant!   So we prepared accordingly.   We loaded up our little car on Friday evening, changed Leila into her PJs, put her in her car seat, and set the course on our Garmin for Orange City, IA (15 hours away).   Leila fell asleep before we left Holland, MI and woke up in Orange City, Iowa.   It was genius.   Of course, Katy and I had to take turns napping during the day because we did not sleep a wink as we drove through the night!  It still was worth it.   We made good time, and Leila was in a good mood.

After about 10 days of speaking engagements and various meetings, we found ourselves in the little town of Platte, South Dakota.   After the morning service, one of the elders, BJ invited us to join his wife and him for lunch at a local diner.  Katy and I almost NEVER refuse eating at local diners; we certainly weren’t going to skip out here.   After lunch, our friend while saying good-bye told us that if we ever needed anything, especially a new set of wheels (he owns a car-dealership), to let them know because they would be happy to help us out.   Katy and I enjoyed our lunch and began our drive out to our next and last speaking destination in South Dakota.   As we drove, we talked about how kind the offer was and if we did need a new car.   After some deliberation, we both agreed that while a bigger car might be nice, we just couldn’t afford it.

After our last day in Orange City, we packed up our car and began our trek to Holland.  The drive was hard but definitely worth it because of the peaceful, drowsy baby in the car seat.   Katy drove first.   A little before the halfway point, we switched up, and I drove the rest of the way.   The drive was very non-eventful, at least it was ALMOST non-eventful.   After about 12 hours of driving, our GPS showed us 4 miles from home.

That’s when it happened.  I shone the brights on just in time to see a glimmer reflecting back to me.   Katy and I were both awake and knew instantly what that was… a deer.   The deer tried to avoid us but there is very little one can do when traveling over 70mph.   The whole incident took maybe three seconds to unfold.   Katy and I remember every millisecond quite vividly.  Before we knew it, the deer plowed into the car.   It crushed our hood and skipped across shattering the wind-shield and caving it in.   Fortunately for us, the windshield held…just.   The hood popped up, the air bags deployed, and our horn got stuck (resulting in the disorienting blare that we heard when we finally came to a stop).  Everything was dark but Katy had the presence of mind to realize that we were in the middle of the highway. Our car had just enough life to pull us to the side of the road.  We dialed 911 and waited for our tow truck.

It goes without saying that this incident left us shaken quite a bit.  The initial thoughts that ran through my head as I tried to sleep later on was the many ways I could have avoided the deer.   Soon, those thoughts were replaced by thoughts that were far grimmer, thoughts about how much worse this could have easily been.   God protected us all.  We escaped without a scratch on our bodies.

Soon, we were forced to face the reality of life without a car.   Again, we were blessed by the generosity of friends who loaned us their car while we figured out what was next.   The first call I made with regard to a new car was, of course, to BJ in Platte, South Dakota.  BJ was kind and gracious and through his help, we found a new car, a car that we still find hard to believe is ours.   It is a car that looks sharp, is bigger, has fewer miles, and drives so much better than our old one ever did.  God is indeed good.

We are grateful for the safety that was afforded us.  We are grateful for the people who walked beside us as we dealt with the aftermath.   We are spoiled by God’s goodness.

Glen Lake

the view at Big Glen

We spent Tuesday up north in Glen Lake.  It was a two-fold trip.  We went mainly to celebrate my Dad’s 60th birthday (on the 6th) and my Mom’s 60th birthday (on the 8th).  Neither of my parents seem anywhere near the ripe old age of 60.  I told them that I think there must be some sort of miscalculation.  My brother, Ben, along with his wife, Heather, and daughter, Eleanor, were up for vacation, and even my 82 year old grandmother made it for a delicious Steak lunch and Birthday cake.  It was good for my soul to be up north.  It was good to hang out with family, and it was especially fun to see Leila interacting with her relatives.

Leila with the Birthday Girl and Boy (Ava and Tata)

Eleanor and Leila

Leila with Great Grammie

We also went north so that we could “say good bye to the ol’ place,” as my dad put it as we were about to leave on Wednesday morning.  My parents have lived next to Big Glen Lake for nearly 13 years, but the time has come for them to move on.  (JP and I are particularly excited that they will be located in Holland for the next chapter of life… at least until the chapter after that begins.)  I was very thankful for this opportunity to have my “good bye” day in Glen Lake.  My family moved to Glen Lake after my sophomore year in college, and while it never felt exactly like home, it has become a favorite place of mine.  From the beautiful drive up from Holland, to the scenic hikes and picnic spots, the Glen Arbor area won my heart long ago.  During our day there, we were able to do two of my three favorite things…  We walked down to Old Settler’s Park, which my family has done at least a thousand times, and we played on the swings with the little ladies.  I’m not sure that I have ever played on the swings at the park, but hey, it is Leila’s very favorite thing to do these days.  We also walked out on the dock, which is where I took the photo at the top of the blog.  Later on that night, we sat in the backyard around a bonfire and roasted s’mores.  I love to sit by a fire, and even better, I love to eat s’mores.  It felt good to my soul, and my stomach!  The only thing  guess I missed out on was one last trip to the Cherry Republic.  When my sister, Amy, worked there I learned to appreciate just how yummy All Things Cherry can be.  If you have not been there, You MUST Go.

The good news is that I won’t be staying away from the beauty of Glen Arbor  for the rest of my life.  I learned to dislike and avoid official goodbyes long ago, and simply put, Glen Lake is a place I must return to.  So even when I won’t have my parent’s home to visit, I know I will go there, and my soul will be glad.

Dad and Mom at Old Settler's Park

The analyst and the color commentaries

So…  in the world of sports broadcasting, there are usually two people doing the play-by-play.  One is usually someone with a background in communication while the other tends to be a retired player or coach.   The job of the ex-coach or player (analyst) is to announce the plays being run and other intricacies of what one might see on screen.   The other commentator is there to provide the “color.”  His/Her job is to make sure people are still interested.  They ask meaningful questions, provide thoughtful insights, and help the analyst along in this new world.  So, I’ve figured this out.    I am the analyst in our life while Katy provides the color.   (Note: I know that this is not a hard and fast rule.  I am able to provide color on occasion and Katy can be quite observant.  I am just generalizing.)

So… here are my thoughts since we got back to the US.  We are quite aware that the blog has been quiet for over a month now.   As always, there is good reason for that!  We have hit the road running.   We have had to deal with sickness, jet-lag, family obligations, weddings, and speaking engagements.   Leila took a while to get into her stride.  She had a skin issue to deal with.  The dry-ness here in the US made her cheeks get chapped. She also was teething on our trip.   That combined with the cold Michigan weather slowed things up in terms of getting re-adjusted to life here.   Meanwhile, I was preparing for an ordination service where I lead worship (in Chicago) and for a wedding, the following week (in Iowa).   And as Murphy’s law would have it, when I was getting ready to perform the wedding, our basement in our home in Michigan got flooded.  Poor Katy was alone with Leila.  Fortunately, our dear friend Lori was there to help her out.  Together these two amazing women moved everything we had in our basement up to our main floor and out to the yard.

It took about three days to get the basement completely dry before we could begin to move things back in there.   We are finally getting to that point.  We did find a silver lining in all this though.  This flooding helped us purge the unnecessary junk we had been collecting all these years.  My workshop area is again lined up and raring to go.  Hopefully, I get some projects done there.

So there you go…  my analysis of the month or so since we got back!   I know that the color commentary will follow soon enough!;)   Thanks for checking in with us.   Photos will be coming soon too!

Jet-lagged

It is a beautiful sunny day here in Holland, Michigan.   The thermometer in our house is hovering at a gentle 70 F.   We left for the US exactly a week ago and cannot believe in some ways that it has only been a week since we boarded the Paris bound Air France flight.    

I know a lot of you have wondered how we fared in our trip.   Our flight from Bangalore to Paris was the longest leg of the journey.  This was also, coincidentally, the most problematic flight for Leila on our way TO India.   I was a little nervous but Leila did sleep for about 5-6 hours on this flight (this was a 10 hour flight).  I was quite relieved to arrive in Paris.  We were hopeful about the shorter (6 hours) flight to NYC.   However, that hope vanished in a couple of hours.  It was a noisy flight.  We had a baby that wasn’t sure what was day and what was night.   Needless to say, I walked the aisles of the airplane for almost 3 hours.  Now, I must preface all this by stating first that Leila was a really good girl.  She just did not sleep.  In over 36 hours of travel, our little wonder got maybe 7 hours of sleep TOTAL.   That began to wear on her and exponentially began to wear on us.  

We landed at the JFK International in New York City.  We found out at this time that while all our luggage made it, our stroller did not.   This was a pretty big blow because now we had to negotiate 7 hours at JFK with 7 suitcases, 3 carry-ons AND a baby.  For as great a city as New York City is…JFK leaves a LOT to be desired.   We had to switch over to the domestic terminal which reminded me of a crowded bus station in India.   The only difference being that we were hauling a lot of luggage on a rickety little trolley up and down elevators and over floors that were carpeted heavily.  (Note:  Katy and I try to avoid O’hare Airport in Chicago and Heathrow in London.   After this trip, I have sworn to not make fun of those fine cities ever again).  Our journey was, however, not over at JFK.  We had to catch our connection (2 hours) to Detroit.   In all honesty, the passengers (well…one loud mouth and his friend) on this flight were probably the most inhospitable to new parents and a baby.   That made the 2 hours extra long.    

We were so glad to see Katy’s parents waiting for us at the Detroit Airport at 9:30 PM on Monday night!   We spent the night with Katy’s brother Ben, his wife Heather and Leila’s cousin Eleanor.   Best sleep we had in a while.   Sometime on Tuesday, we loaded up the car again and began the three hour ride to Holland.   Leila did well in her car seat.  

Anyway, we are still battling jetlag.  Our stuff still lies strewn about in the living room as we unpack, do laundry, and get things back in order.   Thank you for your prayers.   We are glad that the travel went well.   How did we fare?  I’d say that I’d give the trip back to the US a B-.  

Leila is slowly beginning to behave like the Leila we know.   We are excited and happy about that.  For a little 7 month old she sure is quite the traveler!   

We hope to update more now that we are settling in.

And we are back!

After a week of roaming the southern states of Tamil Nadu and Kerala, we are all finally back in Bangalore. Our boss was in town, so we took the entire staff of WCOI (including those from our two other offices in India) down south with us to participate in a distribution and then a retreat, something we had been praying would happen for a long time now. This was an unprecedented event. Following the distribution in Tamil Nadu, we crossed state boundaries into the beautiful state of Kerala. We were there to take some time off together as a team and enjoy the beauty of the land. We were treated to some unparalled sights but the real beauty came in our sessions together as one big family. We have a very special team here at WCOI, and it showed. Leila again proved to everyone just how hardy she is as a traveler. In six months on earth, she has traveled more than most people do in a lifetime. I am a proud papa, but she is a tough cookie too. I must admit, though, that even Leila was glad to finally be home.

On the train again

Lining up to receive audio Scripture kits

Leila meeting Pastor Hallelujah at the Distribution

Retreat Time

The group out for some sight-seeing

Tea Plantations

This week back has been a long week. We’ve had board meetings and other official meet and greets. And of course, the phone line to our home got “cut” and took with it our DSL line. So needless to say, it took us more than four days to get the line patched up, modem hooked up, modem reset, modem exchanged, modem reset again, and other modem related oddities– BUT we are now up and running. That always makes me happy.

I am also setting another trend here. This is the first time I have typed up an entire blog on my iPod Touch. I make no apologies for being a geek. Got to love wifi!:).

A few weeks back, JP being a major GEEK with his "twin," Divya

Bangalore is beginning to cool down and the evening breezes make walks around the neighborhood absolutely delightful. Hard to believe we are only here for a few more days. Hope you are all well wherever in the world you find yourself tonight.

JP’s Good Night/Day

Last night was arguably one of my favorite nights so far in Bangalore.   We did not have to go out to a fancy restaurant or an exotic locale here in India.   We actually stayed home.  My cricket team, the Bangalore Royal Challengers, were playing a team from Kolkata.   It is the shorter (3 hour game) and more entertaining form of cricket.   As I began to watch, my mom asked me if I’d like to eat dosas for dinner.  Now dosas are probably my most favorite food item here in India.  I cannot leave India without eating a dosa.  And while restaurants make AMAZING dosas for 15 rupees (a little more than 25 cents), nothing compares to my mom’s hot dosas.   She had an amazing chicken curry and yummy coconut chutney as accompaniments to these crispy rice crepes.   She just kept serving up dosas to Katy and me till we could have no more…  seriously… this is the life.   My night was complete right there but this was a special night because Bangalore won their game as well!   

 

A standard dosa (courtesy of the internet)

In honor of their victory, I wore their jersey today.   I had to drop Katy off downtown so she could buy some things.  On my way there, I stopped by a gas station to fill some petrol in the scooter.  As the gas station attendant was filling the vehicle, a few of his friends joined him.  I wasn’t sure why they were all there so I took my helmet off to hear what they were talking about.  While the vehicle was almost done filling, the man asked me in halting Kannada where I got my jersey.  Then realizing that I also spoke Tamil, he switched and wanted to know ALL about it.  So here I was, in a busy gas station, with a WHITE girl, and nobody even looked twice at Katy.  All they wanted to know was about my jersey!   🙂  Now… I am not trying to gloat, but even Katy had to admit, somedays, even JP gets to be the star! 🙂   

I am not going to get used to it… but it was fun while it lasted.

 

The sweet jersey!

HI!:)