New “Adventures” and New Shoes in India

We’re home and loving it!  Last week we had an unexpected visit from Jonah who had another one of his “grand adventure” weeks. First there was a fire in the jeep he just totally overhauled and sold to a guy who was driving it across the country and then an accident that involved totaling two cars that he was driving (driving one and towing one) from Washington to St. George for a friend. He hit some ice on a bridge and hit both sides of the bridge and almost went over the edge onto a busy freeway beneath before walking away unscathed (all within 24 hours)!  That guy’s guardian angel is on duty 24/7!   Gratefully he walked away feeling only a bump here and there but has now come down with that pinched sciatic nerve in his back again. That good bed is going to take care of that right Jonah? Aja?  

Anyway, he showed up at our house having totally serendiptiously gotten a ride to SL with Jared’s brother who just happened to be driving home from Boise with his wife and was just passing through Burley where the accident happened (angel duty again)!  I hope Jonah will post details on all this on their own blog because it is a pretty amazing story!

We loved having him here for 24 hours before we jumped in the car to travel to St. George where we had a mini-reunion with the Loosli Family AND the Shumway family who were spending some of their vacation time there.  What fun that was!  We went to the sandunes, had great food together, walked the neighborhood, had a sisters plus mom and dad lunch and skyped with Shawni who was kiling herself to get there too until we finally made her give up! 

Can you believe that I neglected to take even ONE picture???  I guess I was all pictured out from that big trip! 

So for some great entertainment, take a look at this cute video of the kids at Rising Star Outreach getting new shoes provided by a generous donor!  It is so fun to see so many adorable faces that we recognize, not the least of which is our darling Charity!  She left there this weekend with her wonderful friends having made some amazing memories and providing so much TLC and a fabulously spectacular carnival for the kids!  Pictures soon coming I’m sure on their blog which is www.ouradventuresinindia.blogspot.com.  There are also great pictures and info on Tal and Anita’s blog. They are doing great things there until mid-April. Take a look at www.talandanita.blogspot.com. All Eyrealm members have this info so this is for you guys who might or might not be related but who have been following along!

To see this fun video done by Rachel Denning, the mom of one of the families in residence at Rising Star Outreach, click here: http://www.discovershareinspire.com/DSI/DSI_Blog/Entries/2010/2/16_New_Shoes_at_Rising_Star_Campus.html

Valentine Get-Away and Logan Follies

Let’s see, do we need a get-away? Maybe not but we committed to do a speech in CA on March 10 about 9 months ago and it just came on the heels of this other wild trip! 

We got home on Friday night and did “Time out for Women” with Shawni on Saturday morning. I taught the Old Testament lesson on Noah on Sunday, we unpacked and packed again to leave Tuesday morning to give a speech for the new class on Work/Family Balance at USU and then taught a class and visited with Grandma and Kevan. 

That night we unpacked and packed for CA where we had a pleasant Valentine surprise to greet us in Riverside with the coolest hotel we’ve ever stayed in. It’s called the Mission Inn which has an amazing history and which the whole town sort of revolves around:

 

This was one incredible place…full of history and antiques gathered from around the world:

It was So great to see flowers again!

One of the guys in this group happened to know the owner so they got a great deal on the room…including this VERY nice bathroom:

And balcony!  Too bad it was only 62 degrees!

Then it was back to SL, unpack, pack again and head back up to Logan to speak at the “Religion in Life” series at the LDS Institute on Friday morning.  That was so fun because Grandma came with us and they gave us a tour of that beautiful building which holds so many memories for both Grandma and us!

Grandma was engaged to Dean in that building exactly 67 years ago to the day and she also talked the church authorities into letting her Dad walk her down the aisle of the chapel there on the day of her wedding, even though she had just been married in the temple earlier that day. A definite “no no” nowadays!  They said she could do it if she cleaned it up because I guess it wasn’t very clean (?) and she did! 

Dad and I met in the parking lot of the Institute one night after we had called it off for two years and “hit it off”. Also Dad was the first LDSSA President which was so fun to remember!

Of course, Dad told the engagement story and in hindsight, we’re just hoping that it doesn’t cause a stampede to Old Main Tower for similar engagement stories.

That night we took Sheri and Lynn along with Jan Benson out to dinner at Hamiltons!  It was such a fun evening which included a special five course Valentine Dinner for Sheri and Lynn. The main course was lobster for Lynn, which he loves and some great stuffed chicken for Sheri. It was such a fun night and afterward we headed for a tour of Jan’s beautiful home, which he has built almost entirely by himself! They watched a move but we went home to watch Grandma!  She is doing so much better. Soon we will have her history in hand! 

So now it’s back to the real world, unpacking for real and getting rid of a month’s worth of dust at the house (since Eric built some new shelves for us while we were gone). In addition to being the cleaning lady, I’ll be attacking the pile of “to dos” and an avalanche of mail after our fairy tale adventure! 

Ah, there’s SO much to love! Happy Valentine’s Day to ALL!

Ruins and Finale

Our amazing visit to India would not be complete without showing you some pictures of the ruins that we saw the night we left.  After the visit to the leprosy affected colony and the Art School, we came back to RSO and packed our bags, said our fond good byes and tied to freeze the memory of being in our minds forever. Through the generosity of Ron and Joyce, we packed two cars with our favorite people and went off to see the incredible ruins from a civilization long ago near the beach of the beautiful Indian Ocean. 

Just as we got out of the car, we saw this sign, which is pretty amusing because there must be quite a lot of evil that has slipped in the door at India (actually there is some truth to that)!  We simply could not believe the rubbish and rubble everywhere we went (with a few exceptions), including at the base of this sign. 

Without an interpreter (because we couldn’t understand them anyway) we marveled at who the expert carvers were and how these remarkable rocks get there. Were these amazing rocks washed up on the shore or were they placed there by some ingenious civilization centuries ago? Take a look:

 

The girls found their new best friend:

And Charity, of course, just couldn’t contain her delight in living her dream of being in India!

We took a walk to the beach amidst a stream of beach shops and hawkers and enjoyed the waves crashing in for a few minutes before spending our last meal together at a nice restaurant where we celebrated Tal and Anita’s collective birthdays!

Tal’s birthday was the following day and Anita’s the following Wednesday.  We shared what we loved about those two and remembered the fun and funny times, not only from the trip but also from Tal’s childhood.  The capstone of the dinner was when (because we had sung happy birthday to both of them together) the waiter came and asked Tal and Anita if they were twins!  Now that was hilarious! 

The nurses, the girls and Tal and Anita headed back to their work at Rising Star and Dad and I headed for the airport with our very nice driver who spoke no English. We were dropped off at about 10 p.m. and our flight was at 3:40 a.m. so it was an eventful night in the dirtiest airport we’ve ever seen and a grumbling tummy.  You don’t want to know the details on that!

As we floated in to LA 14 1/2 hours later,  having flown over the North Pole, we knew that we had just had the experience of a lifetime.  A treasure that will be a jewel in our memories forever!  

Heroes and Heroines

I had just put the finishing touches on this blog after working on it for two hours on our long 14 1/2 hour flight from Dubai on Friday when some weird message came up to which I just pressed OK and the whole post disappeared. Josh and Eli can imagine my dismay! Without one of you computer whizzes at my elbow, I’m sure I’ve erased any chance of recovering it by now. But I just can’t quit this wonderful little chapter in our lives from the last month without talking about the amazing people who make things happen at Rising Star Outreach, so here it goes again!

Of course Becky Douglas is the Star heroine behind all the wonders involved there! Just a mom of nine (three adopted, two from Lithuania and one from an Indian orphanage…absolutely amazing) and a violinist…. who saw a dire need for the Leprosy Affected Colonies of Southern India. She determined that the unjust labels and shunning of that whole society which includes children and grandchildren, not to mention the lack of medical care for those affected with this horrible disease just wasn’t going to go on! She rolled up her sleeves and created a miracle!

I don’t have a picture of Becky, nor her able assistant- heroine Amy Antonelli but they have created something almost beyond belief! They have helped a great deal for the past few years to provide the clinics we have attended for those affected with Leprosy, as well as our new favorite doctor in the world, Dr. Kumar (seen in previous posts) who loves and cares for these people as though they were his own family!

They have plucked children out of these villages who otherwise would not have been able to go to school and have built this remarkable school and provided a crucial education for about 150 kids. Twenty or so are from the nearby village. Because of the wonderful facilities including a great computer lab, parents of kids unaffected by leprosy have decided that it wouldn’t be so bad for their kids to be seated side by side with the, until now, “untouchables”!

A new addition is being added so that their numbers can be doubled and the age limit can stretch to high school kids who will graduate with a great education!

Of course many contributors including a remarkable board of people wiling to help both financially and with expertise are also champions for helping to make this dream come true!

A fabulous Hero and Heroine who have been on site (as informal missionaries) for almost two years are Ron and Joyce Hansen who have brought so many dreams to fruition and have loved these kids as though they were their own grandchildren. They are even called Grampa and Grandma but the kids and are more wonderful than those kids will ever know! They are on the front row to the far right. Sadly they’ll be leaving for home on Tuesday!

Also see cute John on the back left, son of Becky and John who is running the sports program!

With the help of the wonderful board and generous donations they have just completed a new facility for the volunteers. We are sitting inside of what must be one of the finest facilities for volunteers of all of the third world! We along with Tal and Anita were thrilled beyond words after plowing through tons of rubbish and dirt beyond belief for quite a while in other parts of India to find this place immaculate and inspiring! No stepping over cow pies, dog doo doo, rubbish and open sewage here!

I can't believe I didn't get a close up picture of the new Principal of the school who is a Heroine in her own right! She is a beautiful Indian woman named Rodhika (sp?) who was raised in California and has a wonderful vision of what the school needs in able to make it a really fine education. Here she (as seen on a previous post), conducting the delightful formal morning ceremonies that begin each day:

See the Hostels for the kids, which includes housing for Joyce and Ron and the Hendershots as well as the kitchen and offices below:

And of course the playground. Wish I’d taken a picture of the new “track” created just in time for Sports Day on Saturday in the back!

These next Heroes and Heroines will just blow you away. Both will be taking over for Ron and Joyce and both were guided to Becky by the hand of the Lord. They are truly the best of the best!

This amazing Hendershot family pulled up stakes with their five beautiful little children from Mapleton, Utah, having had no experience at all in the third world and signed a year’s contract to help oversee the progress of the school and have added another 150 kids to their family:

And here are the Dennings with their four adorable kids who arrived just the week before we did and who have had experience in both Costa Rica and Dominican Republic before finding Becky and coming here from Atlanta to help “change the world”!

Their kids just fit right in with the other kids! The older ones attend classes that are on their grade level and are home schooled for the other things they need:

And of course there’s the wonderful Tal and Anita, H&H in their own right!

Just imagine the good they are going to do in the classrooms and with their clever minds to make things work better (more details coming on their blog soon.).

And now come these three beauties on the scene to help with computer lessons, teaching English, loving these kids and things they never imagined they could do!

 

There are also hard-working, dedicated teachers…this one below with Joyce being the cream of the crop. Shama is both a teacher, house mother and spiritual leader (what a beautiful service we saw her conduct with the kids in Tamil on Sunday morning). She has the quiet spirit of a gentle giant and has the kids in the palm of her hands. She will be married soon to a man who also works at Rising Star, to whom she has hardly ever spoken! They exchange sideways glances. As far as we can tell, that’s it! He seems like a wonderful guy as well. He better be, because she deserves the best! Sorry about her closed eyes, because they are beautiful!

Of course the kids live far away so are boarded at the school Let’s not forget the five amazing housemothers and 1 housefather who each have supervise 22-25 kids in three small rooms where they make sure they do their homework every night, brush their teeth before going to bed and maybe the hardest thing of all, lift several kids who are regularly wetting their beds to the toilets in the middle of the night (and also help those who “don’t make it” to wash out their bedding in the morning)! Can you imagine putting this many kids to bed every night?

Along with helping with homework:

And supervising brushing teeth:

Whew! What a job!

Then there are the often unsung heroines and heroes who help cook three meals for these kids and the staff every day:

And the terrific older kids who help with the younger ones. This cute boy wears a Jazz jersey under his shirt at all times!

And let’s not forget this little Heroine named Belle who gets her cheeks pinched about fifty times a day by every passing stranger in the shops, on the street and in the colonies. A pinch on the cheek is a Hindu kiss and she has finally gotten so used to it that she’s starting to pinch back!

There are darling drivers:

And the world’s most amazing guard…John, who preaches to three congregations from the Book of Mormon every week and is ready to be baptized (someday…it’s pretty complicated in a Hindu country). What an amazing Hero he is to all of us and who knows how many others.

There are also cleaning ladies and men and women who come to work on the construction every day with babies, with heavy loads on their heads and with delight I think to be part of something bigger than themselves! There are those I’ve left out I’m sure but what a group of Angels!

So there you have it. The best of the best Heroes and Heroines in a project that is truly a miracle in every sense. How very blessed we are to have been immersed in this life-changing experience for just a few days!

Rising Star Volunteers anyone? It’s the experience of a lifetime!

Richest of the Rich and Poorest of the Poor

At the moment we are flying over Iran and are on our way to flying up over the North Pole and then down into Los Angeles.  

What an amazing, incredible, once in a lifetime, life-changing experience we have had! What an opportunity to be with the richest of the rich in the Middle East and India and the poorest of the poor in the Colonies affected with leprosy!

Yesterday our darling Charity showed up with Dani and Sara with fabulous photographs of their week in Thailand and horror stories of their day in Calcutta.  Since Dani and Sara are both six feet tall and Charity isn’t short herself, they survived that, but one day of experiencing Calcutta is plenty!  (Those who have read City of Joy know that it entails the worst of the worst in India as far as poverty, garbage, rubble and misery goes.) But they’re here, sitting in the back of the kindergarten class after being mobbed by adorable little children all needing hugs and friends. 

They were attentive pupils as dad taught a class on Alexander’s Amazing Adventures and the secret animal code.

 

We woke up this morning at the Rising Star School in India and and again visited some of the parents and grandparents of kids from the school who come from the Leprosy affected colonies. The clinic this time was at an “Old Folks Home” and again it was hard to see those wonderful people with stubs for feet and hands and caved in faces who have lived such horrible lives because of this great stigma. Again they were happy to be photographed so they could see themselves with their new friends.

This village was one of the first ones that Rising Star started helping about three years ago, so many of them are healed of the open sores but there are always other issues with these poor people The doctor says that he feels so sad because Leprosy kills everything…physical health, social status, feet, hands and faces…except the person him/herself. They have a pretty normal life expectancy which in some ways for so many, makes it even harder.

We still saw some pretty gruesome stuff:

This dear man was blind, nose cartilage eaten away with a hole in the roof of his mouth so that when he eats the food comes out his nose.  What a sad face!

But we also found some beautiful faces despite it all:

 

 

Next door to the clinic where this same Dr. Kumar saw patients all morning there is an art school run by and Austrian man and his wife which enables those with Leprosy to create beautiful art. It was inspiring to see those with brushes attached to their hands and those with attrophied fingers creating something beautiful on hand-made paper with poster paints.

   

From there we went to the grocery store and then shopping with the girls and Sara, one of the directors of the school with her baby Belle (Lyla’s age). Pretty crazy street markets but you won’t believe the dress-up closet I’m going to have for the Eyrealm girls when I get home!