Prime Minister in Town

Varanasi has not had a visit from a sitting Prime Minister in over 20 years, so I guess it was time. But my oh my does it mess up traffic.
We only have half a dozen roads wider than ten feet for our two million people, so if one of those gets shut down, the whole city grinds to a halt.
The PM will be visiting a major temple in the center of the city, and to get there will need to drive on most of the main roads in the city. So all of those roads will be shut down for most of the day today.
There are probably 10,000 armed men of various sorts on the road today, mostly acting as traffic cops. As the typical "man on the street" in Varanasi pays no attention to Traffic Cops, when something important actually happens (such as today), the only way to get those "men on the streets" attention is to deploy large numbers of heavily armed men with very large sticks to beat and berate people into staying off the road.
So I am sitting in a chai shop, waiting for a lull so I can dash around to the next appointment I have.

Family Commotion

We often have a Family Devotions after supper, where we read a passage of scripture, sing a song or two, and pray.

We had not had a Family Devotions for several days, having been visiting, or otherwise detained. So the other night, when we finally had a quiet night at home, Nora Grace asked, "Can we have Family Commotion?"

Which we did.

Weather Change

I am always amazed at how quickly the temperature changes here. When it goes from hot season to cold season, or vice versa, there is very little "in-between" weather, just one or the other.

Two weeks ago we were wearing long johns, and couldn't get the house above 62 degrees. Today it was 100 degrees outside, and we can't get the house below 75. So we are packing up our winter clothes, and pulling out the short sleeved stuff.

Flag March

It being another Hindu festival (Shivratri, the details escape me), there is again some tension in the city, so there are troops all over the place. They all appear to be bored, so presumably that is a good thing.

They held a "Flag March" today. A Flag March is when they all get in their best uniforms, shine up their weapons real well, and walk or drive through any "problem neighborhoods" to just to show any potential malcontents that they are a real force to be reckoned with.

Problem being that the "problem neighborhoods" are the ones I go through every day. So I was stuck in traffic jams for close to two hours today. Good thing I brought my crossword puzzle and Teach Yourself Urdu book.

That's My Boy!!

Here is Sam, catching up on the latest International Headlines and Financial news from The Economist.

Between Nora Graces' asking about the obituary, to Miriam's contently sitting and listening while I read the Editorials aloud, to this, ..... makes me proud to be a father.

My New All Time Favorite Photo of Miriam

Auntie Anita took this one last month at the "Fish Museum".

another Sleepover

This is Nora Grace and Miriam's friend, (the aptly named) Gabi. Gabi is from Brazil, and moved into our apartment complex a few months ago, much to the delight of our daughters. Most of the kids in our complex are boys, which Nora Grace and Miriam have mixed feelings about playing with, so Gabi is a good friend.

Sadly, she had to leave suddenly to return to Brazil, as her Grandmother is quite ill, hence our daughters are a bit mopey at the moment.

Busy, Depressed or Both

Hello GentleReaders,
It has been a long, long time since I wrote anything on here. I need to catch up some.

We are doing well. Usually when I don't say much, it is because I am too busy, or am feeling down, and this past couple of weeks it has been a little bit of both. Been quite busy, which is good. But some close friends are returning to the States and so that is a bit of a bummer.

what to do? I am supposed to be preaching on Philippians chapter one this Sunday, so need to get to work on that.

Payment in Thyme

I usually do not charge for a followup visit for an ill patient. So if someone needs a lot of followup visits for a particular acute illness, it can start to make the numbers look a bit odd.

Had a German gal in a month ago with a pretty bad case of Typhoid Fever, who needed several followup visits over the past month, for which I did not charge.

So on her last visit yesterday, she brought in a jar of dried Thyme from her mother's garden in Germany as a "thank you" gift.

Tastes great in Tomato soup!

One often has to figure out creative ways to tell just how ill someone is. With this particular patient, it was somewhat easy, as she volunteered the information (at the height of her illness), "I usually clean my house from top to bottom everyday, and I haven't been able to clean my house for a week". (That is a clue as to how ill she is).

She is back to cleaning her house every day.

Sam got a Hammer for Christmas

The aforementioned Uncle Ian and Auntie Courtney gave my 15 month old son a hammer for Christmas, thereby proving the old adage, "When you have a hammer in your hand, many things begin to look like nails".

We don't allow open swinging of the hammer at his sisters respective heads, however.

Miriam at Christmas

Here is a photo of Miriam on Christmas Day with her new doll, which she is quite fond of. THANK YOU Ian and Courtney!!

Catch up Photos...

My photos on this blog tend to run a few weeks late. Keeping in the theme of things, here is a photo of Nora Grace and her good friend (sahali) Zoya, who have both lost their front teeth at the same time. The photo is circa Christmas 2007.

Thailand Comings and Goings...

We had a delightful and restful time in Thailand, thanks to the Amazing Masts.

They have two little girls also. Thus, the "screetchiness factor" (as Lileks calls it) got a bit high at times, but what to do.

We got nine injections between us, and Miriam was quite impressed that Daddy did not cry for his injections. Several Dentists visits also, as well as an othodox OB visit for Amy.

"Auntie" Anita took the girls to the "Fish Museum", (aka Aquarium), and we all went swimming one day.

We ate a large variety of animals that are not available in Our Fair City, including but not limited to, cow, fish, shrimp, and pig.

Between all that and two days of meetings with Dan, a good time was had by all.

Sam slept through the night from his first night there, but has on return returned to the pattern of waking up crying a few times throughout the night. Hmmmm, what TO do?

I am back at work.

On Being Known, Whether I Want to be or Not...

We came into Varanasi the other day, coming through Customs in the usual lines of tourists coming from around the world. I assumed I looked like everybody else. Amy and the kids had grabbed a seat nearby while I stood in the long lines.

One of the tourists in the other line asked the Customs Official in front of her, "Whose are those lovely children?"

Without looking up from his forms, the Customs Official simply said, "Doctor Sahab has three children, they are his," while giving a nod of his head in my direction.

Hmmm, they know who I am in Customs? I hope that is good news and not bad. :)

A Sort of Ethical Issue for a Mennonite Man

Choice Books is a group that sells books across the USA. They set up simple displays in Truck Stops, Supermarkets and other places of business. They sell mostly Christian and Inspirational literature, but also include "Local Color" titles, a few cookbooks, and a few about the Amish and Mennonites (who are also the people who run Choice Books).

They have displays in almost 10,000 locations across America, and sell millions of titles per year.

Recently, one of the guys who works for them received an invitation to set up a display in one of America's largest Army bases.

"Huh," he thought, as he looked at the email, "Wasn't my Amish grandfather imprisoned there for refusing to bear arms in World War I?"

What to do? Does the Army Base even know that we are Concientious Objectors? (Turns out they did :) )

So now they are selling dozens of books each week at the Base.

Whadayouknow?

PS: We are staying with the Masts in Thailand, having meetings and getting all the kids in for shots and medical care, besides eating a little pig, cow and fish on the side. Sam has, with minimal bloodshed, successfully learned to crawl up and down stairs, and our girls are having a blast playing with the Mast girls.

Lowell's Answer to any possible World wide Recession that may or may not happen

I am not sure what the state of the world's economy, but I do now know a solution to any possible slowdown in productivity.

Brazilian coffee.

We have new neighbors who are from Brazil, and they gave Amy a bag of coffee beans from their fair land last week.

Whoo, boy. Export that stuff to the world, and we will all be working a mile a minute.

I am getting so much done this week!

Course, I gotta get a bunch done, as there are a bunch of things I have to finish up before we head to Thailand for a visa run next week.

Staying Busy

I think most of us around the world are saying something similar. December Holidays are over, and it is time to settle down to the real world and get some work done.

We have nothing to exciting to report here. I am working at the various clinics, studying the Bible in Urdu, studying Urdu, and parenting. Most of the winter's colds and flu's seem to be over. I preached on Matthew 5 on Sunday, title was: "Christ and the Law".

Oh, we are pregnant. That being the royal "we", of course. Not sure if many know that yet or not. Probably will not be an official announcement. "We" are due the end of June sometime. Suggestions for names? (Perhaps we have already used up the good ones? :) )

Uh oh

I think my hard drive has died on our home computer (I am writing from an internet cafe).

I have most of the stuff backed up, except about 250 emails. Hmmmmm. Not sure how to fix this. Will keep you posted as the adventure continues.

We did have some excellent meat yesterday at a friends house, including some of the forbidden kind.... wow was that good.

The Urdu word for "Journey" is pronounced "Suffer"

Sometimes you come across these funny little things about language. I have no idea if there is an actual linguistic connection or not, I just think it is amusing.

I was reminded of this as our landlord was packing up to visit his brother in Bihar. He has about 150 miles to drive, and expects it to take 10 or more hours (Bihar is a failed state within India fameous for its utter lack of infrastructure).

Sam gets a hair cut from "Uncle" Amos

"Uncle" Amos (actually Sam's cousin twice removed) has five boys of his own, and early on decided that he could save a LOT of money if he would just give his own boys haircuts.

So he is well experienced with giving haircuts to wiggeling, squirming, opinionated toddlers.

Sam looks great.