Fresh encouragment is priceless

What a week!

Our oldest went to a retreat in Istanbul, Turkey with many other kids from this part of the world and the other 3 of us went to visit some friends in another part of India.

First, thank you to EVERYONE who helped to make this retreat happen for our oldest through contributing financially, praying, and encouraging me to be ok w/ not being in the same country w/ my child for 4 days! HA! That was hard at first to consider doing that, but then I realized the excitement about the whole thing that was evident from the one going so I knew that I had to let this happen. It has built strength and confidence that in all of us that I am very thankful for. The accomplishment of doing this has really helped our oldest realized there's no end to the potential of what can be done ... PTL! Connecting with other kids that have "btdt" really helped so much. There's a sense of belonging and connectedness that developed during this retreat that has just helped all the way around!

While we were waiting for the group to return to India, we took off and visited some friends. What a great time we had! They are in the foothills of the Himalaya Mountains, so it is just a beautiful area. We actually got to see the Himalaya's ... here's a picture of them!



























They almost don't even seem real. They are snow capped and they looked like we could just walk to them, even though they were very far away!



We were there for Easter too. It was odd not having one of our kids with us for Easter, but we had a good time. We went to a Community Sunrise Service that one of the churches in the town hosted. There were probably about 200 people there! I was impressed. The girls from the girls home that our friends work with did a dance during the service ...















It was very powerful and it was so neat to have Jesus worshiped and proclaimed in the open in an area that we are certainly the minority!

One of the things that was very hard to see was these men that would carry huge loads up and down these incredibly steep mountain roads. They would tie the load together and then strap it to the top of their heads. We saw some carrying refrigerators! I can't imagine. These men come and work for awhile and make some money and then go back to their families until the money runs out and then come back and work again. I pray that they can find True Joy. It's unbelievable to me to do this kind of work every day and not have the strength that comes from Him to help me through it. Here's a picture of one of the men we saw, but this load is actually pretty small:

















There were also monkeys! We saw several everyday. This one was in a tree just off the porch.
















We were greatly encouraged by the friends that we stayed with, the time and the discussions are priceless to us. They have 'been here doing this' longer than us and we really appreciated their insights and wisdom and just fun times. Most importanly, they taught us how to play The Settlers of Catan (I think I spelled that right!), what a game! :-)

More than anything we are thankful for safe travels and the encouragement that all of us brought back in different ways. He is so faithful!