Since my mom fell & the decision was made that I would come back to Los Angeles on the 20th, there has been nothing but running around. 

Over Christmas holidays were the usual Christmas programs then when we got back to school, where there was a mad rush to review the half-yearly exam and then again start teaching the remaining lessons.  We only had one week & then a few days before holidays came again.  Wednesday the 11th was Bakrid, a Muslim festival & then the 13th & 14th is Pongal, a Hindu festival.  The way that the academic year is details that all classes finish up all lessons  by the end of January & then revision begins in February & March for the annual exam in the end of March.  There is a feeling of "rush, rush, rush" over the school & students.  The children are writing their notes faster, saying answers faster, even eating faster so that they can go back to reviewing lessons.  Coupling the school rush with getting ready to leave rush has left little time to do anything else. 

Since holidays came, the only time to have a school farewell was on Saturday the 7th.  The students put together a few dances, a speech, & a song.  It was very touching to see the students that I have come to know & love giving this performance.  As I stood there I was remembering the first day that I came to St.  Andrew's.  I walked down the center aisle with students on both sides & caught eyes with some of the students.  I walked to the front as the students on the edges threw flower petals at me.  During the assembly I listened to teachers & students speak & didn't know them at all.  I gave gifts & shook hands with all the teachers whose names I didn't know.  I stood & gave greetings to the school & they didn't know me at all.  And now four months have passed and I know the students, the teachers and they know me.  They all have become a part of my life.  I am going to miss being with them so much.  I am going to miss teaching them lessons & seeing that eventual click of "getting it."  I am going to miss scolding them for not completing their work or misbehaving in class.  I am going to miss seeing the class ten students finish up their last year & get ready for annual exams.  I am going to miss being a part of their lives.  Yet I know that everything happens for a reason & although this time is finished, I am going to have other times in the future.  I have written before but the thought keeps running around in my head:  I am not through with India.  Praise God for that promise!

All my love...

Praise God for all of His goodness!  I see & feel it daily -- with my Md's recovery, with being with Eva & Sanjay, with the opportunities he gives me with these children here, with every step I take, with the peace that is filling my heart. 

My scheduled return to Los Angeles is January 20th.  It is only three weeks away!  This time has gone by so quickly.  I am not through here though either.  I look forward to seeing what else he has for me in store! 

Happy New Year to you all.  My thoughts & love to you all...

Merry Christmas! Although my thoughts are with my MD back at home, God has blessed me with a beautiful Christmas Day.  I heard on Friday that she had fallen & was in the hospital.  For those of you that don't know, last October she fell in our home & broke both her hip & shoulder.  It was a long time in the hospital & nursing home & I prayed that we would never have to repeat that experience again.  When I got the emails from friends at home about her, I immediately began to cry & worry.  I went into the living room where Gang was reading the paper & was so upset I couldn't get out the words.  He had me sit down & explain what was going on. After I told him, he talked to Eva & Pedama & they all prayed for her & for me as well.  Several pastors came home during the day & they also prayed for her.  Throughout the day, I spoke with both Evasita & Sanjay & got their opinions on whether they felt that I should go home or not.  It is hard being away when things like this happen to family members and not being able to be there with them.  Yet the time in prayer that I got to spend with the pastors & more specifically with the family was of great comfort to me.  I have such an overwhelming feeling of peace about my MD.  I know for certain that our beautiful Jesus is with her & will be with her through everything.  The Bible says that he is faithful even when we are faithless; He can't deny Himself. 

To go from that type of worry in the morning to that feeling of peace about her by the afternoon could only come from our God.  I am so thankful that she didn't fall at home where she would've been alone.  I am so thankful for Silverlake Church people who have love & concern for her & are helping out our family while I can't be there.  I am so thankful that she won't be alone on Christmas.  I am so thankful that she has insurance & that financial concerns are taken of.  I am so thankful that it was only her knee & that she has gone through this type of recovery before & will be able to do it again. I am so thankful that she is in good spirits. I am thankful that he puts us in families & never leaves us alone.  I am thankful that His peace passes our understandings.  Praise Him for his blessings!

I talked with her last night & she told me that she doesn't want me coming home early.  She trusts that God brought me here for a reason & that I am still called to be here for the time that was arranged.  After her surgery, we are going to talk again & we'll see what happens.  If I need to come home, I will come home early.  No matter when I leave India I know that I am not through with India.  There is still a place for me here to work & serve & when the time is right, I trust that God will reveal it to me, just as he did for this time. 

I'm requesting that you all please pray for my mom.  She is scheduled for surgery on Monday the 26th.  Thank you so much.  I pray that you all have a beautiful Christmas as we celebrate the birth of Jesus. Happy happy Christmas! All my love...

I'm at the point where I have so much to write about that I don't even know where to begin. Christmas season has brought an additional set of running arounds.  There have been several Christmas programs to attend (with every one of them ending in lighting of candles and the singing of "Silent Night).  Then there are carolers that come home which require the purchasing of snacks from the bakery.  The earliest carol party came home at eleven at night.  One came by last night at three in the morning.  Tonight we are expecting three carol parties to come home. I slept through the second party last night although I was awake for the first one at midnight. 

The other running around came with the onset of exams. Now every morning before we go to school, we have to go & pick up the exams from a government office nearby. Now that half-yearly exams are almost over & I have a large bag stuffed with exams that I need to correct.  There are about one hundred and seventy children in the secondary school & each took the English exam.  The tenth class wrote two exam papers so I am currently lurking over almost two hundred papers that I am responsible for marking.  Taking on the responsibility of being the secondary English teacher has created a new set of concerns for me as a teacher. 

When I taught Kindergarten & Junior Kindergarten, I brought work home on occasion.  Due to the kids schedule plus the required nap, I had two hours each day where I was able to plan lessons, grade papers, file their work, cut out project materials, and fulfill other responsibilities.  I don't have that time here & I'm now learning how to manage the time that I do have.  I'm also learning how to work at home on marking & planning for future lessons.  I will admit that I am still struggling with time management.  I have never been very capable in this regard.  Yet here if I don't get the grading completed on time, it affects not only the students but also the other teachers & their ability to complete the marks.  So tonight after I write this entry, I've committed myself to completing the marking for both class six and class seven.  It means that there is some running around that I've have to cut back on.  Eva & Sanjay are going out tonight to get some supplies for the St. Andrew's High School Christmas program that we're having tomorrow night.  I like being out a lot but I need to focus on the commitment I made to these children to be the best teacher that I can be.  Besides holidays are coming soon & then I can run around as madly as I choose. 

The program tomorrow is being chaired by the "Christmas Committee." They are Beulah Teacher, Manjulatha Teacher, Rama Teacher & Maria Teacher.  For the past two weeks, they've been working hard on planning the entire event plus a special dance as well.  At home, Eva has seen me dance around & sing and remembered this as she volunteered me to participate with them in the dance.  The song is a slow song in Telugu that expresses the specialness of Christmas, Christ's birth, & also shares about Mary.  The dancing that I've seen here is more of a symbolic sort where the dancers actions mimic the words of the song.  On Friday, the teachers began choreographing the song that way with the five of us standing still in a straight line & moving our arms in various ways.  I enjoy dancing & usually have fun with it but this was frustrating to me.  First I couldn't understand the words so when we waved our hands to the left in one stanza & then to the right in the other made no sense to me.  I tried to follow along but couldn't quite get the motions in the right order.  Then I decided to sit out once to watch the other teachers perform but that just made things more confusing.  In addition to my not having a clue to what was going on, the teachers asked me to choreograph some steps to go with the dance.  Since I didn't understand the words & the entire dance was intended to be based on those words, I had only one suggestion that was put into play.  Now instead of standing straight for the entire song, the teachers will join hands to make a circle and walk around once each way during a instrumental break in the song.  Saturday we were unable to practice due to exams & then Monday I wasn't able to be there because of a church function.  So Eva decided that I wouldn't be in the dance & instead I'd do a special "action song" on my own. 

Tomorrow is the last day of exams & then it is holidays.  I'll have more time to keep you all informed as to what is going on with me here.  Thank you so much for all your prayers, thoughts, letters, & emails.  All my love...

three months gone....

Friday marks my three month anniversary.  It went by so quickly -- where did it go? I remember when I was a little girl & the year seemed to go forever.  Now the years fly by so quickly.  Only a few weeks and the year is over. 

Teaching is going so much better.  Thank you all so much for your prayers and support.  The children are responding to me & getting used to the way that I teach lessons.  There is still some joking about my accent and pronunciation but that is to be expected.  One shy girl in tenth class who wouldn't speak to me at all spoke to me tonight after class.  Some of the girls were waiting around for some extra tutoring in math & I was waiting for the office work to be completed before going home.  I was asking them some questions and this girl, Nusrath Jaha, responded. I was so shocked that I almost didn't answer back.  I am hopeful that this is the beginning of her actually making eye contact with me.  She is a really smart girl & gets high marks in class. 

We have half-yearly examinations beginning next Monday.  The school year begins in June and ends in April.  The portion that most classes have to learn for English is the entire book.  It means it is about twelve lessons, five poems, and around a dozen lessons in a supplementary reader.  Most of the teaching is now over.  I am doing some grammar review & spending most of the time encouraging the children to learn the Question & Answers.  At the end of each lesson are questions pertaining to the story.  The government takes the questions for the exams from these.  If a child can learn the answers to the questions, they can score high marks on their exam.  Most of the children don't "know" the story but they know the answers to the questions.  I struggled with that for a while because as an American teacher, I value knowledge of a subject becoming a part of the child's being.  We look for critical thinking and being able to synthesize material, not just give rote answers.  Here the answers are written word for word on the board, the children copy them down in their classwork notebooks, and memorize the words.  When exam time comes, if they can't answer word for word, they receive poor marks. I can encourage them to make the information their own but in the end the expectation for teachers is that the students will pass the exams with high marks.  It seems that if I was teaching from the beginning I would've been better able to do the both.  Now I am playing catch up and have to come in over another teacher's work.  I am the fourth English teacher these kids have had this year. I am hopeful that I'll be able to be with them for the remainder of the year.  Over the school holidays coming up, I'll have to reschedule my ticket & figure out some of the visa issue.  I know that God will handle it but I would really like prayers for His favor and wisdom. 

Thank you again for all your support, prayers, letters, emails, and thoughts.  I wouldn't have been able to have been here without them.   I am learning so much and I am glad that I get to share it with you.  All my love...