insects of unusual sizes

I can do ants. I've warmed up just fine to the fact that geckos crawl all over my wall, and I've learned to deal with all the little jumping spiders.

What I do not appreciate, and feel I never will, are the jumbo sized insects that I seem to be finding more and more these days. Why are bugs so much bigger in India?
Oh- and the mice, who apparently think this is their lovely new home.

Last month I saw a HUGE spider crawl across my bedroom floor. Tried to kill it (sort of) but didn't make it to my shoe fast enough and it ran under my door out into the unknown. It was dark and everyone else was asleep, so I just jumped in my bed and prayed it would stay wherever it was and not re-enter my room and eat me while I was sleeping. The next night while I was at home with the boys, I came across the same guy while cleaning the kitchen….chased it around for a while, honestly kinda scared to smash it. Eventually he crawled into the corner of the tile and I took a match and lit him on fire. Seemed less risky then smashing him.

So anyways, that took care of him, and I didn't see any more big bugs like that for a while. I started to believe maybe I wouldn't.

Wrong.

Here's the guy I found in my bathroom last week. Took this while standing on the toilet. Never in my life have I seen a cockroach this big…the pic honestly doesn't really do it justice. At all.

Um, yeah, no thanks.


Here's the bucket he sat trapped under for about 4 days til he died cause I was too chicken to just kill it.



Two nights ago was the worst. Once again I was babysitting….for some reason I keep coming across things when Dave isn't home to kill them for me. How inconvenient.
First of all I found this guy….

I think he’s the little cousin to the poor guy I fried.


THEN, later, I went to go put some of Micah and Levi's laundry away. I opened the door to their wardrobe, started sticking clothes in, and something moves real fast, jumps out, lands ON MY FOOT, and runs off. It was one our mice friends. Grossness!
The first one started out in my room last week, (ran across my floor, hid, and stayed there a couple nights) but apparently they've spread now. I think I'd prefer to not know how many we have.


I think it's safe to say I'm now paranoid . Every time I see anything move out of the corner of my eye, I jump.

I would certainly prefer to just not have any of these unwelcome guests, but since I know that's not likely, I've decided I'll settle to just at least get rid of the mice. We've been told we can get mouse traps…still haven't found them anywhere yet though. We do have rat poisoning, but it doesn't seem to be working. We ended up going and getting that in the rain on the scooter at 10pm one night last week, after Mel and I had been having a discussion in the kitchen...about mice no less.

I was in the kitchen, she was in the living room, and we were having a discussion about the mouse that had been in my room. Mel says- "yeah, since that 1st mouse I feel like I'm seeing them everywhere, but I can't decide if I really am, or if my mind is just making them all up. I said - "I know! I think our minds are just playing tricks on us." As the words are coming out of my mouth Mel gets a horrified look on her face and starts saying "Oh! Oh! Oh!"
AS we had been talking about it, a mouse ran clear across the kitchen and went under the fridge. I didn't even know what was going on, but I saw the look on her face and just reacted. She was standing on the couch, and I was standing on the kitchen counter within about 0.2 seconds. It was then that we decided to go to Rajpur and find something, anything, to try and get rid of the stupid things.

I'm praying we find traps soon. It's not the best feeling to crawl into bed every night knowing you may have visitors who decide to sleep with you.

a place i love

JoyBells has been so great. Between last week and this week I feel like so much has happened. Sorry it's taken me so long to blog about it.

Joy left on Monday to go to Ladakh. There has been some major flooding there, and she and her son have gone to try and round up all the kids and make sure they're all ok. The kids are scattered around in the different little villages where they were originally born, and so Joy and her son David have been trekking from village to village trying to find them. You can be praying for their safety as they are over there and also that they would be able to find each and every sweet kiddo, and get them home safe and sound.

The crew in Ladakh won't be home for at least another month because the roads are completely gone due to the flooding, and so I will still just be hanging with the younger set for a while. This past month they haven't had to do any school because all the older ones are gone and it's "holiday" right now. So we've just been playing for the most part. Plus, now Joy Ma is gone and that throws things off too, for sure.
Whenever she's gone, the older ones take care of the younger ones and they are definitely in charge, but at the same time the oldest ones (meaning 9,11,12) just do whatever they want. I got there yesterday and all 20 of the younger kids were sitting in rows on the ground with their eyes closed. Anytime they moved they got yelled at. Meanwhile, the other 5 older kids were making bracelets and doing origami…hmm. I asked Saydim what they were doing and she replied- "sitting there with their eyes closed so that they cannot be naughty." I asked her how long they'd been sitting there and she told me about an hour. Sounds like so much fun doesn't it?!? Guess that's one way to watch kids. After a little discussion with the older ones, we decided that we should do an activity that everyone could be involved in :) So we got the soccer ball out, found a couple frisbees, and played soccer and ultimate ALL morning and afternoon. They got some energy out for sure! We played soccer for a couple hours and then I taught them Ultimate. They loved it! We had lots of fun.

A few weeks ago I had the idea of buying them a keyboard and teaching them how to play and read music. They LOVE to sing, and I thought it would be fun if they knew how to accompany each other with music. When I asked Joy what she thought of this idea she told me that they already had one, they just never get it out or use it because no one knows how. She thought it sounded like a great idea, and told me I was more then welcome to teach them. The kids showed me the keyboard this week, and are so excited to start lessons! It's not the best keyboard on the planet, but I think it'll work fine. It's my goal to get some books this next week, so we can get this thing underway. I'm excited that they're so excited!
We've spent the last 2 weeks playing soccer, (and Frisbee:)) reading books, learning new songs, eating, laughing, doing crafts, weaving bracelets, memorizing verses, and just hanging out. Lot's of hugs, laughs, and smiles. It's been so great.

These past couple weeks it's really hit me much these sweet kiddos desire to learn and how they latch on to every word you say. They soak it up. That both excites me and also makes me a little nervous, but I am so thankful to be able to be there regularly and speak truth into these kids lives. We've had some really neat conversations about a lot of different things. One of their favorite books to have me read to them is a children's bible. They all gather around me on the floor and we just read and read. They always have a million questions, which has led to some awesome conversations. I have to tell you about one of my all time favorite moments so far....

Last week I was talking to a couple of the kids, Saydim and Pema. Saydim is 8 and I have gotten to know her really well. Pema is 9. He's quiet, but he's a leader for sure. We were reading something and they started asking me about the crucifixion. Joy is definitely a believer and has taught these kids about Jesus since they were little. They know a lot about Jesus and how much He loves them, but they have never heard about actually accepting Him into their hearts. I learned this through my conversation with those two kiddos. I can't remember what question led to this, but somehow we started talking about being a child a of God and they started asking different questions about heaven and hell and why Jesus died. After a while Saydim said- "what do you mean accept Him into my heart? I've never heard that before. Have I done that?" From there, we stared talking about salvation and eternity. After I had read a few verses and explained it all to them, Saydim said- "When you come back on Sunday will you help me do that? Because I love Jesus so much and I want Him to come live in my heart too."
I explained to her that she can talk to Jesus whenever and wherever-she didn't have to wait till Sunday. So she decided that she wanted to "Right now." Pema then piped up and said "Me too! I want to ask Him into my heart too! I can't wait to be with Him forever." Precious.
I guess I kind of just assumed they already had, or at least knew what it meant, because they knew so much about Him. But they didn't, and just got more and more excited the more I talked.
So we prayed together, and now Jesus has two more sweet children who will one day spend eternity in His arms. Afterwards I told them that the angels in heaven were all singing and dancing right then because they were so incredibly happy about the decisions they just made. Pema got tears in his eyes, a huge smile on his face, and said "That makes me feel so special. I never knew I could talk to God like we just did. I feel it in my heart that He heard me." Wow. I'm amazed again and again by my Jesus. He is such a personal God. That was one of the sweetest moments I have ever been apart of. I am so thankful to have been there and see firsthand what Jesus is doing in these kids hearts. He called them and they answered. I love it when we get the privilege to join Him where He's already working and see what He's doing in people's lives. It's the coolest.

still so much to learn....

So yesterday was a- Yes, I'm American, I don't know Hindi, I have no idea what I'm doing, and I'm accidentally making it very obvious-morning. It was a little on the humiliating side of things, but hey, I guess its just partly how you learn right? I decided to take a little bit of a different way out to the orphanage today. I knew it would be a little cheaper then what I've been doing and I wanted to try it. Hmm…bad idea. A normally hour trip out there, took over two and half today. Not so fun.

Usually I take a tuk tuk (public taxi type thing) from Rajpur to Dehradun, and then take a smaller almost rickshaw type thing out to the orphanage. To get home, Prem (my awesome taxi driver) comes and picks me up. Well, today I decided I would take the tuk tuk to Dehradun, take another one from there to Prem Nagar, and then take another from Prem Nagar out to JoyBells. Seemed simple enough. Welllll…here's how what seemed so simple turned out….

I took the tuk tuk from Rajpur to Dehradun. Got off, and walked across the street to where a bunch of other ones were parked waiting to leave. I stared asking which ones were going to Prem Nagar. One guy told me that he wasn't, but the guy in front of him was. When I asked the guy in front of him, he said "not now, 10 minutes." so I waited about 5 and then he told me to get on. I got on along with 9 other people….it was close fellowship for sure. I was squished in the middle and really couldn't see anything, so by the time half of the people got off and I could actually see where we were going, I realized that I was halfway back to Rajpur…the complete opposite direction of Prem Nagar. At that point I really had no better choice then to just go all the way back to Rajpur and then go BACK to Dehradun. When we got to Rajpur the guy asked me if this was where I wanted to end up. I said no, and tried (emphases on tried) to tell him where I was trying to get to. He told me to get back on. So we started back to Dehradun. I’m sure everyone along that street probably found it pretty funny that the white girl who just passed by twice, once being about 2 min ago, is now coming back. Again.

During the midst of accidentally coming all the way back to Rajpur, I called Prem, my wonderful taxi driver. We've become good friends and I knew he would be happy to help me out with a little translating. The guys driving the tuk tuk were really pretty nice and trying to help me, but had no idea what I needed help with, since we couldn't understand eachother and all. After a long time of trying to explain to Prem about where I was, and what I had done, he said "ok janky girl, give them the phone and let me talk to them." He explained to them that once I got to Dehradun, I just needed help knowing which tuk tuks go to Prem Nagar.

What I didn't know, and what would have made things SO much easier if I had, is that to get a tuk tuk to Prem Nagar, you have to walk from where the Rajpur tuk tuks park in Derhadun, to the clock tower. That’s where they come to. They don’t sit with all the other ones. So my friends the tuk tuk drivers, were super sweet and dropped me at the clock tower and told me to find one with the #7 (some more valuable info).

While looking for one with the #7 on it, I realized that I didn't have any more small change with me, due to the extra trip to Rajpur and back again. Therefore, after ALL that, I couldn't take a tuk tuk anyway, since no driver would have had change for a 500, seen as it only takes 7 rupees to ride the thing. So I ended up taking one of the smaller rickshaw things out to the orphanage like usual. What’s funny about that, is that fact that I could have taken one of those in the very stinkin' beginning, when I first got to Dehradun, and I could have skipped the extra accidental "tour" of the city. So trying to do it the super cheap way, I ended up paying MORE, and being about an hour and a half late. It’s times like that, that you have to just keep laughing or you simply might cry. Ha. Oh well, I guess I now know how to do it for next time :)

for a thousand tongues to sing

O, for a thousand tongues to sing my great redeemers praise, the glories of my God and king, the triumphs of His grace. My gracious master and my God assist me to proclaim, to spread through all the earth above the honors of thy name. Jesus the name that charms our fears, that bids our sorrows cease, ‘tis music in the sinners ear, ‘tis life and health and peace. He breaks the power of cancelled sin, He sets the prisoner free. His blood can make the foulest clean, His blood availed for me. He speaks, and listening to His voice, new life the dead receive. The mournful broken hearts rejoice, the humble poor believe. Glory to God, and praise and love be ever, ever given, by saints below and saints above, the church, and earth, and heaven.

I love this song. I was listening to it the other day on my ipod while sitting on the back steps of the church, staring at the beautiful mountains surrounding me. Jesus spoke to my heart.

I was thinking about the millions and millions around the world that do not know what it is like to sing to Jesus. To praise Him, our king, through song. They do not understand the power of worship…to something REAL and ALIVE. They have never experienced something so real and so intimate as worship to their creator. Their hearts have never been filled to the brim with His love and grace. I cannot get the chanting of the temples out of my head. It hurts my heart every single time I hear it. People saying the same thing over and over again to things/objects that will never hear them. Things that cannot respond. They are raising their voices in vain. To nothing.
But as I was listening to this song, God reminded me of these verses in Revelations: “After this I looked and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and in front of the Lamb. They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands. And they cried out in one loud voice: Salvation belongs to our God, who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb.”

Oh what a BEAUTIFUL, beautiful picture. I cannot wait for this day. God has created each and every one of us to know that there is something out there. Something greater then ourselves. He made us to want it. So many are searching for what that is. So many think they have found it, and are trying to be satisfied in things other then Christ, but I hold on to hope. HIS hope. Someday, we will stand before His throne, surrounded by people from every nation, tribe, and tongue. What a sweet day that will be. He gives us such a wonderful glimpse of hope.
For now, we simply live the life that He’s called us to and be a witness to those around us of His love, healing, and forgiveness that is beyond measure. We follow Him, and we speak His name.

“You are stronger, you are stronger. Sin is broken, you have saved us. It is written, Christ is risen. Jesus, YOU are Lord of ALL.”