bedhead. Friday, April 29, 2011      

  accessorized. Friday, April 29, 2011      

  reunited. Thursday, April 28, 2011   These kids love each other so much and are happy to be together again after over two months apart.  We’re very excited that Hadi and Josiah will have a new baby sister in August!    

  blossom book shop. Wednesday, April 27, 2011   David is out of town again this week, so we had a family day on Monday.  We went downtown to Church Street, and found our way to Blossom, a big, famous used book shop in our city.  It is three stories of winding, crammed, dusty aisles of books.  Perfect.  We came away with treats for the whole family.    

  stop the madness. Wednesday, April 27, 2011   We are, I believe, on Day 5 of a 12-day Hindu festival in our city.  There are no words to describe the amount of noise that this is producing (but if you call on our Vonage phone, we’ll make sure you get a chance to hear it). Imagine a drum line.  Then imagine whistles.  Then shockingly bad Hindu music on loudspeakers placed strategically around our neighborhood.  Then add a foghorn.  And to top it all off, last night there were fireworks.  Lots of fireworks. A couple of our (South Asian) neighbors went to the police to complain about the noise this…

  t. Presbytery visit Monday, April 25, 2011   This past week I traveled a few hours northeast of here to visit one of four Presbyteries in our work.  A Presbytery is simply a body of presbyters or elders/pastors.  Nineteen men meet monthly for mutual accountability, encouragement, and feeding on God’s Word.  These men are the front line of the work here.  They work hard, pray hard, endure threats and insults to champion the gospel in regions of this country where one regularly hears, “Jesus?  Which god is he?”  Their harvest fields are thick with resistant idolatry and, at least in one case, human sacrifice. They are not saints.  They…

  the greatest of days. Sunday, April 24, 2011   High noon in the valley of the shadow When the deep of the valley was bright When the mouth of the tomb Shouted, “Glory, the Groom is alive” So long, you wages of sin Go on, don’t you come back again I’ve been raised and redeemed You’ve lost all your sting To the victor of the battle At high noon in the valley In the valley of the shadow Now the demons, they danced in the darkness When that last ragged breath left his lungs And they reveled and howled At the war that they thought they had won But…

our easter. Sunday, April 24, 2011 We worshiped with friends from America and friends from South Asia.  We met visitors and the kids all got pastel-colored candy Easter eggs.  It was a mad scramble after the service, but we managed to get a couple pictures. After church, we gathered for Easter brunch.  Richey and Keli and family showed up a little bleary-eyed after their twenty-two hour flight from Texas, but we were all very, very happy to see them.

easter eggs. Saturday, April 23, 2011 We were so touched that a couple of friends from back home thought to send us egg-decorating kits in time for Easter.  So we invited some friends and two neighbor families over this morning for donuts and pineapple and coffee and the American tradition of egg-dying.  Vijay and Srini’s wives are out of town this weekend, but they came to join in the festivities, and Vijay brought his four-year-old Anya.  This was Judah and Amie’s first year decorating Easter eggs, and they loved it. Amie, big Anya, and new baby doll Anya.  Thanks to Papa and Nina, Amie now has her own baby doll…

wednesday. Wednesday, April 20, 2011 Sorry it’s been a quiet week here on the blog.  My laptop has been at the Apple store.  It’s an embarrassing story that involves Amie sticking tiny magnets in my cd drive, and me trying to pry them out with a knife and subsequently doing much more damage than my one year old.  As a friend said to me, “It’s not a toaster.”  Point well taken. But thankfully my laptop is under warranty and I got a new dvd player for free.  And finished a good book over my long, computer-less weekend. We have had a nice restful week with David back home (a blog…