Being back!

Being back at Shishya after our travels has been fantastic. The first night we were with the boys we walked in before dinner and they were huddled around a little burning coal bowl and they were singing songs. I swear some of the boys are growing drastically over night! Rohan looks bigger every day. It’s cold here. Some mornings there is frost on the ground and there is no heating in India so at night we have to bundle up!

There was supposed to be two days of school this week coming back, but unexpectedly Thursday was a holiday too, and we didn’t find that out until Wednesday afternoon AFTER school was out. Thursday and Friday are Hindu holidays so no school in India is happening. So much for lesson planning ahead! Seems like holidays spring up out of nowhere! India time is funny. People take their time on most things so people always said before I came here ‘don’t plan on planning anything when it comes to traveling or school… things just happen!’ So true.

I knew that arranged marriage happened in India. But what I didn’t know was that everyone does it-regardless of what religion you are. Hindus, Muslims and Christians have arranged marriages. There are few “Love Marriages” here. A teacher is getting married in a few weeks and we are invited!

I have yet to take a picture of how some of the women here carry things on their heads. Long piles of sticks and wood, bowls, piles of clothing all get stacked on there and often times with no hands. They all seem to have really good posture…

The farm here produces a lot of our food we eat. Near the house there is mustard seed from the farm on tarps the boys are going through that will eventually be made into oil for cooking. I think they sell it too. Self-sustainability and the importance of taking care of the environment is so strongly enforced here. Everyone recycles and there is never trash anywhere on campus. I learned that kids at school are not aloud to bring food in plastic. Like I said before, Shishya is such a great little oasis from the rest of India.

A couple from England came the same day we got back to volunteer. They are in their early twenties and their names are Charlotte (Charlie) and Mike! It’s always great to see new faces.

The night we got back we realized right away that Amanda was gone. She has been here off and on for three years and we missed her big send off party. We thought and prayed for her a lot while we were away. Miraj, who celebrated his birthday a few days ago, asked me around the coal fire at the house when I was leaving. I said end of April, and little Ashish, who I am now also helping with homework asked me, “But you will be here for next Christmas.” My heart sank. I said no… and should have said my sister is getting married around that time. But I see the pull to what to come and spend so much time here. It’s amazing that the boys allow themselves to attach to volunteers, even though they know they will eventually leave.

My mom sent some Alaskan children's books for the boys and they were like kids in a candy shop! They're great books! Thanks, Ma! I wrote little messages in the inside covers telling the boys to remember how much I love them when they read it and that even under the midnight sun I will be thinking of them always! For the ABC book I said "You will Always Be Completely loved by me" :)



After reading a few Alaska books at the small boys house last night, I walked back in the dark by myself using my headlamp as a flashlight. I felt so at peace about so many things. I stopped, turned my light off and stared up at the stars and thanked God for the opportunity to be here and everything else in my life. I could have stood there all night, and even in the cold I felt so content and filled with overwhelming joy.