*I wrote this yesterday but then had internet problems and couldn't post it. I decided to not bother updating it! :)*
Wow! I only have one month left in India before I head back to the states for a few weeks. Time has flown by!
As I talk to more and more people I am realizing that most don't know what exactly I'm doing here, so I thought I'd give you a little peek into a day in the life of me. Today to be precise :)
It started with me waking up at 7:30 to Nikki pulling Cedar out of bed beside me for breakfast. Once again, I had overslept and everyone was already awake getting ready for the day...
I get up, pray for strength to make it through the day, check my emails and Facebook quickly and get going. I go downstairs to the basement, get the children's clothes off the line and carry the big basket back up the 3 flights of stairs to then fold and put away. By that time the children have eaten breakfast and the ayahs have started to give baths. Because our 3rd ayah is on leave and the other two have to go to school with Lily and Molly, Nikki and I jump in and start dressing the kids and doing the girls' hair so they can get ready too.
Lily is the first to leave for school so I go down and wait with her for the bus on the front steps, with my breakfast of dosa and chutney and cup of chai. I wave goodbye from the gate and then head back upstairs to say goodbye to Molly, who will be leaving soon, before taking my bucket shower and getting myself ready for the day.
Today we have an appointment with the director of Lily's school to see if they will accept Theo to start in June so Nikki stays home with the other 5 kids while I get an auto and head to the school with Theo. 5 minutes after the time we were supposed to meet, the director calls and informs me she is too sick to come in this morning and asks if we can reschedule. This kind of thing happens all too frequently here and almost doesn't even phase me. Just another instance of needing to be flexible. I get back in the auto, a little peeved that I now have to pay for a useless trip but Theo doesn't seem to mind and smiles and giggles the whole way home!
On the bright side, I haven't missed too much of our 10-1 therapy time so I put on my comfy outfit and jump in. My schedule for the morning includes Cedar Physical Therapy (working on standing, walking, and crawling properly), Theo school (matching games, following patterns, drawing lines and circles, coloring in the lines, fine motor activities, etc.), Promise PT (standing up straighter while walking, following sounds, strengthening) and basic preschool activities (stacking and sorting toys, making music, play skills), Dinah eye exercises, and a half hour of school with Lily (letters, numbers, writing letters, spelling her name, counting) when she gets home from real school.
Lunch time for the kids means break time for me! And by that I mean hand washing my laundry because the washing machine is out of order, eating lunch (ish), and quickly answering some Skype messages and emails before heading down for Telugu class while the kids nap.
Telugu is hard, as usual, but it is slowly starting to make more sense and I'm learning...
Next is afternoon therapy from 3-6 which consists of Lily PT (standing, walking, high kneeling, strengthening), Jasmine preschool activities (stacking and sorting toys, making music, jumping on trampoline, sliding down slide, drinking independently, play skills), Nolan school (letters and their corresponding signs, iPad matching apps, following patterns, colors, fine motor activities), more Cedar PT, working on independent sitting with Molly when she gets home from school, and a little extra time for just hanging out and playing with my kiddos!
At 6, I put out pajamas for each of the kids and Nikki and I head down the road to the little restaurant where they know exactly what we want before we order it. While we wait, we go next door to the convenience store and stock up on our two weaknesses - popsicles and chocolate bars...
When we get home with our dinner, we eat in the living room and hang out with our kids and ayahs, enjoying the time we get to just be together as a family.
Next is bedtime - one of my favorite times of day. We all sit in a big circle on the living room floor and Nikki turns on the kids' favorite Telugu worship song. Lily squeals and Molly starts giggling. We all dance and clap our hands, worshiping our Father together. It is my turn to pray, so I thank our Lord for bringing us all together and making us a family. I also pray for daily wisdom and strength for Nikki and myself and adoptive families for our kids - one of my greatest desires.
We brush each of the kids' teeth, give them a drink, and they're off to bed. Jasmine and Promise have their own beds in the living room with the ayahs but the rest sleep in the room with us. Tonight our ayahs, Anjamma and Ramana request that their babies, Theo and Dinah respectively, start sleeping with them every night. We consent and are glad they have such a great relationship with those two but now the bedroom feels empty with only Cedar, Lily, Molly, and Nolan with us... We read them 'I Love You Through and Through' like we do every night and cuddle with our babies as they drift off to sleep.
After the kids are in bed is really the only time we get to just hang out with our ayahs so we join the two of them on the couch and spend the evening chatting in our funny Telugu/English combo, joking with each other, teaching each other English and Telugu, and laughing at Jasmine who is still awake and discovered she loves the sound of herself yelling. We laugh hysterically as she yells, pauses, giggles, and repeats. Promise is up as well, laughing at her crazy sister!
We finally say goodnight and head back to our bedroom but it's not time to sleep yet as I have an inbox full of emails to respond to, Facebook to check, hilarious texts from my family to read, pictures to go through, and a blog post to write!
So here I am, sitting, writing, cuddling with Cedar who has decided he's not ready to fall asleep yet, reflecting on the great day we had, and thinking about the fact that I have to say goodbye in just one short month...
Thankfully, I will only be away a month before I return to my babies! It is going to be a strange month for me as spending my days doing therapy and school, eating rice and curry, and speaking in broken English mixed with Telugu has become the new normal... Somewhere along the line this became more than a trip and turned into my life. This is who I am. This is where I live. These are my kids. For as long as God desires, this is my life. It is a strange feeling, but also a very peaceful one.
Unfortunately, it also costs money. About $1000/month to be exact. So far, I have $50/month raised. Would you consider partnering with me in my ministry here by supporting me monthly or giving a one time gift? Even if you can't give a lot, anything helps. If 95 people gave $10/month, I would be fully funded. If 1/3 of my friends on Facebook gave 2 Starbucks frappuccinos a month, I could continue here in India with all my expenses completely covered. Just think of it as taking me out for coffee! ;)
If you feel led to support me, you can do so here:
*Please note: If we met through SCH, please continue to direct your giving to the children and not my personal expenses*
Thank you for reading and for your support of what I'm doing here in India - it means the world to me.
Many blessings from my family to yours!
Molly, Nolan, Jasmine, Lily, Theo, Ramana and Dinah, Promise, Cedar, Nikki, and the two Anjammas :)
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