When I finally stop and listen...

Balancing life wearing so many different hats (wife, mom, disciple of Christ, language learner, cook, English teacher, emailer, etc, etc) is often overwhelming. Trying to make sure that I am being intentional with my time and giving 110% to whatever I am doing at the moment is often hard. During the "down-time" of the day, I find that it is hard for me to relax and just be content to sit and enjoy the quietness or the stillness. However, yesterday I had such a unique and special time with the Lord in my community where I actually stopped long enough to really hear from Him...

I teach English on Tuesday and Friday mornings to a few Tibetan woman. Yesterday, I went to my class at our usual time, and the restaurant where I teach these women was closed. So I had to cancel class for the day. I called Ryan (who was home with the kids) and told him the situation and told him that I was going to take some time and just sit at the stupa (the Tibetan Buddhist temple by my home) and pray and listen and talk to some people there. He of course was fine with that and so supportive as usual. I spend a lot of time at the stupa, but most of the time I have a specific purpose or reason to be there. Yesterday, I decided to just sit on the steps of a big Buddhist monastery for a while. At the stupa (it is circular) people walk around and around it and believe that each time they circle the temple they are earning good karma (or merit) for the next life. Because I had time to just sit, pray, watch and listen for the first time in a while, all of it was overwhelming. I began to tear up,and my heart was just so broken as I sat and watched these people that I love, that God loves even more, putting all of their faith and hope into idols made by human hands carved from stone, gold, wood and clay. I saw little old women, so old it was hard for them to walk,bowing down to these idols. I saw teenagers come and get 'blessings' from the Buddhist and Hindu spiritual leaders. I saw people pay respect to and honor a bell made of silver. I saw people give money to monks and nuns so that the monks and nuns would pray for them. I heard horns blaring from monasteries in worship to false gods. I heard monks chanting mantras (many of which they don't even understand). I saw children begging, and I could just go on and on.

Throughout my time, as I watched and prayed, God was revealing things to me and bringing many Scriptures to mind. I just had to pull out a pen and a paper and start writing. Here is a little of what I wrote yesterday:

God, it all seems so hopeless. It seems like it is a never ending cycle. People turn to idols, and then they turn their backs on you. People don't seek truth (Romans 3:11, Jeremiah 29:12-13). They do what makes them feel happy, what they think is right (Proverbs 16). I know that it is not all hopeless. I know that you can bring salvation to these people. That you can tear down their walls, their barriers, their blindness, the things that keep them from knowing you. I know you can do it, and I ask that you PLEASE do it! I can see now (or at least understand a little bit more) why you sent the flood and why you had to destroy your creation at that time. Thank you for speaking to Noah and his family and for saving them from the flood. Thank you that you have provided a way for us to be saved from sin and your wrath (Romans 3:23, Romans 10:9, 1 John 1:9). I know that one day you are going to come again and judge the world. I know that those that don't know you will be eternally separated from you (John 14:6). I know that that breaks your heart so much more than it breaks mine. You love these people more than I ever could. So much so, that you sent your One and Only Son to die for them and for me (John 3:16). You are SO patient and long suffering. Your Word tells us that one day you will return, and I believe that with my whole heart (Matthew 24:36-44). I know you are waiting to return because those that you desire to hear about you haven't yet (Revelation 7:9), because you desire the ones who are here on the earth NOW to know you. It is your desire that no one perish but that ALL PEOPLE come to repentance and come to KNOW you (2 Peter 3:9). I know it must break your heart and make you so sad that so many people around the world, including most of the Tibetan Buddhist people I am looking at now, don't know you. I know you love them. Thank you for loving them. I know that these people aren't going to come to you unless they hear about you and unless we tell them (Romans 10:14, Matthew 28:18-20). I want to tell them about you. I want them to know you, to understand all they can about you, to love you. I want their lives to be transformed and for your name to be famous throughout the Himalayan mountains of Nepal.

God, help me to love the people here (and around the world) as you do. Help me in my language abilities. Open my eyes, my mind, my ears to the ways and places you are working here. I love you and am SO thankful for my salvation. I want to spend my life serving you!

I just wanted to encourage you (and me) today, to share our love for the Lord and His love for all people with those around us today wherever we are. We don't know what tomorrow holds, but we do know that God desires that ALL people would know Him. We have an important role in that, and we are to be the mouthpiece to share the Truth about God and who He is and the relationship He desires with all people. What an awesome privilege that is!

Bath Time!

When we were in the states traveling and speaking at churches people often asked us more questions about how we do life overseas with kids than they did about ministry and our "work". I kept that in mind and have decided that I really want to blog more about everyday life here and what makes living here so unique but how we make it work. Keane and Gracie LOVE baths! In America it was SO easy...just walk to the tub turn on the hot water, fill the tub, drop in some toys and let the fun begin! In Nepal we still do bath night every night but there are just a few more steps involved.
1. We don't have a bath tub (most people only have showers here) so we bought an inflatable pool and use that as our tub for Keane and Gracie. We have to move it in and out of our main bathroom each evening at bath time because we only have hot water in one bathroom (it is heated through a portable gas tank, most people here do not have hot water in their home at all. Many people don't even have running water in their home!) and we need to take showers in the same bathroom in the morning. After we put the pool in we fill it with water from the hot water shower.

2. Water that comes out of our taps is not clean though so we have to put iodine in the water in case Keane and Gracie decide to drink some of the water (which they LOVE to do). The iodine kills any bacteria that would be in the water and would make them sick. I have to wait a few minutes for the iodine to work. In the below pictures the water looks a little brown. When it comes out of our taps it is clear but the iodine gives it the brown tint.

3. This picture is out of order but this is Keane smiling for the camera after his bath! He loved it. While I am doing all of this I have another pot of boiling water on the stove that I add right before the babies get in the water because by now the water has cooled off a bit (not cold but too cool for a bath). I add the water and then they are ready to get in and play!

4. To them a bath is a bath and they sure love them. They really are troopers.

5. Once the bath is done and we get Keane and Gracie dressed in their pj's and ready for bed, we dump the bath water down the drain in the floor and store the pool in our laundry room until tomorrow! It really doesn't take as long as it might sound and it is worth it to keep them healthy and happy! Happy bath time!

In America, We will never....

So in honor of the past three years that we have spent in Nepal and the excitement we have about coming to America in just 6 days we have been spending some time "reminiscing" about life here and our adjustment back to America for a while and we have come up with a great list of things that will NEVER happen or that we WILL NEVER DO in America that happen here or that we do here in Nepal (thanks to our great friends Jesse and Shanee and Jo for help with this)...

(in no particular order)
In America...
1. We will never see people riding on the roof of buses, trucks and cars because the inside of the bus, truck and car is so full.
2. We will never go into a video store (picture Blockbuster...do they still have that??) and ask, "Is this a pirated copy?"
3. We will never go to a friend's house for dinner and have to hide the food they give us in our pockets, bag or better yet, have to throw it off the balcony when they are not looking because they give us WAY too much and it tastes SO bad we can't eat it if we tried, just to make them happy because food is so important here and in this culture you definitely DON'T leave food on your plate even though THEY served you a GIGANTIC portion.
4. We will never have to bargain to buy things like toilet paper, jackets, taxis, light bulbs, etc. And we will never have to ask a salesman if he is giving us the right price or if the price is just high because we are foreigners.
5. We will never have to boil or filter water.
6. We will never eat with our hands, lick our fingers after a meal, lick our plate or drink soup from the bowl without using a spoon.
7. We will never find a piece of hair (or glass or a bug) in our food in a restaurant and just pull the hair out, not say anything, and continue eating the rest of the meal like nothing happened.
8. It will never just be OK to show up 1 hour late for a meeting, church, sporting event, conference, lunch date, etc and not give an excuse, call or even mention it.
9. We will never see a blind person (or multiple blind people) leading another blind person down the road (I PROMISE this happens here).
10. We will never see a family of 4 (or 5 or 6) all riding on the same motorcycle.
11. We will never have to carry our own toilet paper with us to our friend's homes because they don't use toilet paper and don't have it in their homes.
12. We will never have to use a squatty potty.
13. We will never have to soak our vegetables in iodine water for twenty minutes before we eat them because they are so dirty.
14. We will never sit in traffic for 20 minutes and after it dissipates see that the reason for it was 4 cows lying in the middle of the road (or a man crossing the street with his goats or sheep).
15. We will never eat cheese SO hard that we have to keep it in the side of our cheek until the hot tea we are drinking melts it.
16. We will never drink tea with butter and salt in it.
17. We will never have language barriers. We will never be walking down the street and not understand 95% of what is being said.
18. We will not be able to talk about anything we want to in English in front of people because they have no idea what we are staying.
19. We will not see a lady making and selling tea on the side of the road.
20. We will not have to wonder if the place we are going to for lunch has wild monkeys there that take away your food.
21. We will never be driving and have to turn around because a riot has begun without notice.
22. We will never have a "shoot-to-kill" order on our street and be stuck in our home for 22 days straight because there is a mandatory curfew called by the government.
23. We will never find a person who will work with all of their might for $1 a day and be completely happy about it.
24. We will never hire "professional" movers and have them show up with a dump truck filled with an inch of sand to move our stuff in.
25. We will never be allowed to drive on the wrong side of the road, on sidewalks, through traffic, etc.
26. We will never get away with SO MUCH just because we are "white" (or a foreigner)like driving right past police check-posts, not having plane tickets to board an airplane, etc.
27. We will never be able to schedule very important meetings involving many people hours or one day before hand.
28. We will never see parents in America cover their child's head completely with a plastic bag to shield him from the rain.
29. We will never carry an umbrella on a bright sunny day so we don't get tan from the sun (people here love having "white" skin).
30. We will never choose to use the bathroom outside because the "public restrooms" inside are SO nasty and clearly HAVE NEVER been cleaned.
31. We will never be invited over to our friend's home for dinner and be placed in another room completely separate from the family who invited us so we can eat alone.
32. We will never have the option to go to the grocery store and buy the head of the chicken, goat, buffalo or cow.
33. We will never have a cold and have one of our American friends say it is because we drank cold water the day before or that we have a fever so we need to drink hot tea to get rid of it.
34. We will never have diarrhea for a week straight and think it is "normal".
35. We will never drive by the street that our house is on and see 5 men lined up peeing in the field.
36. It will never be OK to pick our nose or spit in public.
37. We will never go to some one's home and have them serve us pure cooked fat as an honor.
38. We will never see 3 year olds playing with matches and fireworks or 12" kukri knives that their parents gave them.
39. We will never look out our window and see 20+ children flying kites off of their roofs.
40. We will never be able to drive without our license and get away with it.
41. We will never have to filter the water for our babies bath.
42. We will never be able to buy prescription drugs without a prescription.
43. We will never wear clothes for multiple days without washing them.
44. We will never have to binge buy when imported goods from America are available at the supermarket because we don’t know when they may come again.
43. We will never have to buy gas on the black market from the local supplier as there is none available at the pump.
44. We will never have to wait for 1 month for cooking gas as there is severe shortage of essential goods.
45. We will never feel like we are "off-roading" while driving on the main road.
46. We will never drive in a car holding our babies in our laps.
47. We will never pay $5 per month for cable TV.
48. We will never have a porter carry our new refrigerator on his back for 3 miles to deliver it to our home.
49. We will never have to point and tell the butcher which part of the meat we want to take home.
50. We will never take ½ day just to get money out of our bank account.

Not me Monday...

For a few weeks now one of my favorite "stranger friends" (as my husband likes to call them, referring to people I don't personally know but read their blogs) began hosting a blog carnival entitled "Not me Monday" where you are brutally honest about some of the crazy things you did the past week by writing "not" in the sentence thus masking what you did, to yourself and everyone else around you so that you can feel more comfortable writing about your life and the crazy things you do and experience each day. I think it is a fun, hilarious idea and for weeks now I have been wanting to participate. McMama (the one who started it all) has an amazing blog and although she is a "stranger friend", I have enjoyed getting to know her and her family a little bit through her wonderful blog. She loves God and desires to serve Him even during the difficult times. You should definitely go over and check out her blog for yourself and while you are there you should read her amazing story and consider praying for her soon-to-be-born son Stellan. So here goes my first attempt at a "Not me Monday"...

1. I definitely did not see a completely naked man walking down the same street I was walking down with my husband and two babies and if I did I defininitely would not have wondered why in the world was said man totally naked yet carrying a suitcase? and I definitely would not have found it funny that all of the Nepali people all up and down the street were talking and laughing about it. No not me...stuff like this does not happen to me. I definitely do not live in a crazy country where things like this definitely do not happen everyday!
2. I did not stay in my pajamas 3 days this week while I did stuff around the house. No, not me! That would be breaking one of our house rules and I never break our house rules, not to mention would be lazy! And I am never lazy!
3. I definitely did not say anything mean to my husband this week and regret it later. I am always the perfect wife and I never say anything I feel sorry for later.
4. My bed definately did not go unmade almost (ok all) of the days this week. I always keep a perfectly tidy home and can easily balance it all! (I am really trying to work on this one!)
5. I definitely did not work really hard on making my first every falaffal balls from scratch only to have them disipate into basically nothing when I put them in the oil to fry them. Not me! I am an amazing cook and everything I try in the kitchen always turns out perfect!
6. I definitely did not reach my goal two weeks early and run for 30 minutes this week during my exercise time...not me! That might mean that I was a 'runner' so that definitely could not be me. (YEAH!!!)
7. I definitely did not have the guard at the hotel by my house where I go running at tell me in Nepali that I should keep it up and that I will look pretty if I am just a little bit smaller. No, that defintely did not happen to me. Nepalis are definitely not that blunt!
8. I definitely did not forget to write my accountability partner an email this week. Not me! I am always on top of these things and never forget to write, that would be irresponsible!
9. I definitely did not fall asleep two nights this week at 8 pm. I am a night owl and I would never fall asleep that early!
10. I definitely do not have only 15 more days to go before I board an airplane to go to America to be with my family and friends! And I definitely am not totally excited about it!!!!

Long day in Kathmandu

Yesterday was a LONG day. The babies are waking up earlier these days...5:30 am to be exact! I tried to put them to bed a little later last night to see if that would make a difference and I gave them a little more food before they went to bed but to no avail...5:30 am was our wake up time once again today. I am definitely not complaining. As it is, they sleep for 10 1/2 to 11 hours straight...I just would like for it to be that they go to bed a bit later and then wake up a bit later. But for now, I will just try to go to bed a little earlier and wait for my 5:30 wake up call. So, our LONG day yesterday began at 5:30!

After my refreshing day on Sunday I felt really ready to start our busy week on Monday. But it was still a LONG day and at the end of it I was very, very tired, frustrated and ready to get home. Running errands in Kathmandu means something totally different than it does in America. The roads are bad, the air is extremely dusty and dirty, the stores and places are spread all over town and are hard to get to and the traffic is horrible. I am not saying that we don't deal with these things in America...I definitely remember sitting in traffic for hours on the parkway or 95 but in many, many ways it is just different.

We left the house at 10 am yesterday and did not return home until 7:00 pm. In many ways that doesn't seem like that long but the babies were with us and we did so little during that time (most of it was spent sitting in traffic) that it just was too much. In 9 hours we drove to a new families flat to help get it set up, went to a paint store (twice) to bring the painter to the new flat to get it painted, went to eat lunch and go to the ATM, and drove to the grocery store and then came home...If all of that went very smoothly with no traffic (which doesn't EVER happen in Nepal) it should have only taken us 5 hours at the most. (I know all of you have had days like this!)

All that to say that I did not plan to be out for so many hours. The babies did so well through it all (thankfully) but I did not have enough food for them for one of their feedings (and we were far away from the grocery store) and here in Nepal we unfortunately do not have mini marts or grocery stores where I can just go and grab some baby food conveniently. So, I did what any mother would do in a situation like that (hungry babies, no baby food) and I bought some bananas on the side of the road while we were in traffic and I chewed it up in my mouth and fed it to the babies. I know, I know...GROSS. But sometimes you just have to do what you have to do! I have seen my Nepali friends do this (this is actually the way that they usually feed their babies solid food)...and I said..."NEVER". But you know what they say, "Never say never". Keane and Gracie did not seem to mind at all. Oh, life in Nepal. Ryan and I were both so tired after the day that he fell asleep at 8:45 pm and I followed shortly thereafter.

**The pictures above are just to give you a good picture of the traffic and pollution here and the one picture of all the guys pushing the truck was taken by my parents on their trip in 2006 but I thought it was worthy for this post because crazy things like that happen EVERY day in Nepal...I mean you would think that the guys on top would at least get off and help push...

So special...

Ryan got home from his trek on Friday (one day early) and I was so excited and happy to see him. Once he got a (much needed) shower and spent some time playing with the babies we sat down and looked through all of his pictures as he told me all about their trip and the things they had seen and done. The guys had a great time together. It was fun to hear all of his stories and hear his feelings about it as soon as he returned home. He also showed me this picture that he took at the Throngla Pass (17,500 feet) on the Annapurna Circuit. It was so sweet and made me smile and feel so special and loved. I am so blessed to have Ryan in my life.

I promise the following story is true in its entirety....

I have been meaning to sit down and blog about this since the moment it
happened yesterday but I am just now finding the time to do it and even now probably only have time to write half of this post and will finish the second half later but I just HAVE to tell you about how my morning started yesterday...

OK, so it's about 7:30 am. Gracie and Keane had gotten up at 6 am and they were playing together for a few minutes in their pack and play (that happened to be in my bedroom) while I got a few things done. All of a sudden Gracie starts crying very loudly and I went in to see what was wrong. Well, she had a VERY dirty diaper. So, I took her from the pack and play to their bedroom across our apartment. Just as I removed her diaper and began cleaning her up I heard a bird fly into our home (yes, a bird!) it was SO loud and it was flapping its wings like crazy. I went into panic mode (or survival mode if I want to make it sound a bit more positive) and immediately thought of Keane in the other room by himself. I thought, "oh no! the bird is going to find Keane and peck him but what do I do with Gracie...she has poop everywhere?" So my quick thinking mom brain (notice the sarcasm here, remember I am still in "survival mode") decided the best thing to do is to put her down on the carpet on a towel that was nearby and just pray she did not move much and get poop all over the room (at this point, that was the least of my concerns) and I ran with my hands on my head to Keane and closed the door to the room he was in so the bird (which I found out was definitely a pigeon after I got a good look at him) wouldn't bother him. I then went back to check on Gracie (she was fine although she was moving all over the room...ahhh I am laughing as I write this) and then opened up as many windows as I could and I ran out onto my balcony and began calling for my guard who lives downstairs to come up and help me.

Meanwhile, I step back inside my house and notice that there is not one pigeon but TWO nasty pigeons in my house who are both scared to death (and are probably husband and wife pigeons since they both reside together in the ventilation hole above my stove...more on that later) and are flying back and forth around my living room and kitchen....gross...and pigeons are NOT small birds! Well, my guard never came up but thankfully one of my neighbors happened to be walking downstairs and I said, "help me please! there are two birds in my house!" she came into the house (laughing mind you) and tried to get them to fly out the window. Every time she tired to shoe them away they just flew to the other side of the room and I would duck and cover my head (all I could picture in my head is the scenes from movies when birds are attacking people and pecking away at their heads). My neighbor was laughing so hard at me and while I was crouched down on the ground I was laughing to myself thinking about what a good blog post and fun story to tell Ryan this was going to be (I lost my focus for a minute or two...haha). Then my neighbor called her mom and she came down (all the while they are laughing at my reactions and seem utterly calm about the entire ordeal...apparently this happens quite often in Nepal). I remained crouched on the floor while they dealt with getting the birds outside where they belonged...They were able to finally get them out by opening the front door and the mother shoeing the birds towards the door and yelling to the daughter to open it. It was quite an ordeal and I am definitely glad that there are no more birds in my house. Except for a little pigeon poop (that I thoroughly cleaned up...gross) they didn't mess anything else up.

How did the birds get into the house in the first place you ask? Good question...in Nepal most of the homes have a hole (larger than necessary and not sealed) in the side of the kitchen wall where the vent from the stove runs out and in my home, there is a tube that runs from the stove to the hole...unfortunately these pigeons have been spending WAY too much time in the tube and we have tried to get them to stay out many different times and ways but yesterday the tube split in half allowing pigeons free entrance into our home! My guard fixed the tube and put it back together, so for that I am thankful BUT the love birds are STILL hanging out in there and it is driving me crazy. They make the pigeon coo all day long and flap around in there...it is loud and annoying. As soon as Ryan gets back I am going to ask him to put screen over the hole so we can be done with this problem once and for all!

What would you have done in a situation like that??? I would like to say, "only in Nepal" but I know that is not true, I am sure stuff like this happens around the globe. Anyone else have any crazy bird or rodent in the house stories to share??

I wish, wish, wish I had pictures to share but alas Ryan has our camera in the mountains. So, for visual stimulation, you will have to settle for a photo of pigeons from the Internet!

We are princesses...we are special!

Last night I had the amazing privilege of hosting 12 young girls at my home for a "princess party" sleepover (and I certainly wasn't alone, two of my amazing teammates and my friend who runs the children's home helped out too)! These 12 girls are amazing! They range in age from 10-15 and live at a children's home here in Kathmandu run by one of my British friends. The home is a wonderful Christian home where the children learn first and foremost about Christ and how He can change them. They also learn how to be kind and loving, grateful, honest and helpful, among other things. These girls were an absolute JOY to have in my home. They are all from small Himalayan villages north of Kathmandu. There are no other known believers among their people except for the kids in the home. There are 23 total (the boys were jealous that the girls got to come over for a fun night but when Ryan gets back he is taking them to play soccer and have ice cream!) Our party definitely had a theme and that was PRINCESSES. We began the evening with singing and talking about the Bible together. I was able to teach these girls that as Christians, as the King's (God's) daughters, they were special. VERY special. We went through verses that showed that God is the king of kings (1 Timothy 6:15-16) and verses where it explains that God loves us SO much that he calls us "children of God" (1 John 3:1a) and I taught them that even if everyone around them forgets them or if they feel that their friends, family and others don't love them, that God NEVER forgets them, that He always loves them. That in fact, He has written them on the palm of his hands Isaiah 49:15-16). I asked them, "OK, so if God is the king of kings and you are His daughters, what does that make you????" "His PRINCESSES" they all responded loudly together! They loved hearing these things as BIG smiles lit up their faces as I looked at them and said, "God loves you SO much that He allows you to be His child and He gives you the right to be His princesses. He thinks you are SO special and He will NEVER forget you because you are written on His hand." What an honor it was to spend time with these precious girls and simply remind them of who they are in Christ.

It was a short message kept so simple so that the girls could grasp it and really understand. But isn't it an amazing one? I pray that this simple truth encourages you as it has me. As Christians, we are special. God LOVES us and will NEVER forget us. We are His princesses, He is our King.

We spent the rest of the evening eating way too many sweets, decorating cupcakes, blowing bubbles off the balcony, making princess crowns and jewelry out of silver pipe cleaners, drawing princess pictures, eating chicken quesadillas, doing each other's hair, playing with (and bathing and feeding) Gracie and Keane, and watching Enchanted. We then woke up in the morning (at about 6 am) and ate cinnamon rolls and eggs and did each other's make-up, gave pedicures and watched Air Buddies. They girls all left by 10:30 am and now it is 12:30 and I am TIRED. But a great tired. What a great weekend!

New Territory...

My husband is leaving tomorrow for a 10 or so day trek in the Himalayan mountains. He is going with 4 of his great friends and is going to be able to serve God in some of the remotest and most difficult to reach places in the world. I am excited for him and SO happy that he has this opportunity and is taking it. I can't wait to hear about all that God does and to see pictures and hear about all of their crazy adventures BUT I am also sad. I am sad that we will be apart for 10 days. We have been married for 5 years and dated for 3 before that. In our married life we have only been apart for two nights (and they weren't consecutive) and both times I was staying with family or friends. I will miss him. I know God is with me and will give me the strength I need to take care of Gracie and Keane each day and I am SO grateful that I have Lhakpa (the girl who helps me around the house) coming each day and good friends (American, Tibetan and Nepali) to help me whenever I need it. I am confident that we all will be fine and do fine BUT I will miss him. Ryan is my best friend and we do practically everything (or as much as we can do now with two little ones) together. We love being together and so it will be strange not having him around. I do have some fun things planned while he is away that I am really looking forward to such as hanging out with girl friends that are in town because their husbands are also on the trek and having a sleep-over with my good friend here and 6 of the Tibetan teenage girls from the children's home she runs. There are also some errand type things to do and of course there is always email and blogging and my never ending list of stuff to-do on the computer and then add that to taking care of my amazing babies and I am sure the 10 days will fly by. We are entering new territory here in the Parker family and it will be interesting to see how it all goes...I should be updating the blogs regularly (except that Ryan is taking the camera so pictures will be limited, I am supposed to be borrowing one from a friend though) so stay tuned....