List 2

A couple of months ago, I wrote a list about the things I will NOT miss when we leave from here.

But there are many many things that I LOVE about living here. Here's what I can think of at the moment:

1. good fruit and vegetables all year around and great variety too
2. not owning a vehicle- just walking everywhere or taking a taxi/bus/train sometimes
3. living on the side of the mountain
4. not being able to see anyone else's house from our house - we're surrounded by trees
5. heating our house with a wood-stove
6. living in a cottage with a name :)
7. being close enough to school that I can visit whenever I want
8. having spent almost 4 years here, so we have made good friends and are able to reach out
9. my kitchen - it's a little small, but a nice square, so I have everything in my reach and cooking and baking is fun
10. I have learned to cook some Indian food and have learned to love eating some of it too
11. chai!
12. cool weather all year long- never too hot, but almost always nice, and sometimes cold enough for snow. (I can still hang my laundry outside to dry now in December.)
13. Monsoon. I love monsoon. I will miss monsoon.
14. tin roofs
15. pine martins along the hillside above our yard
16. our house - I LOVE our house! - it's really old with crooked walls and cracked ceilings, but it's just perfect for us
17. hiking - everywhere you go is a hike - there's no way around it, but there's nothing like walking on a narrow path along the side of a steep mountain
18. the spinner on my washing machine (I'll try to take a picture of it sometime to show how it works on here)
19. wearing sarees and salwar kamises (dressing Indian-style)
20. being able to attend concerts, recitals, plays and presentations
21. helping with after-school clubs and encouraging students and staff in their Faith in God as I have opportunity
22. being welcome to bring my kids to the school library, playground, and even pre-school class from time to time
23. that the leaves never fully fall off the trees, but instead leaves fall off as new ones grow in - it's neat!
24. Fellowshipping with staff once a week and hillside women once a week - this has been so refreshing for me
25. buying rice, flour, lentils, sugar - you name it - from big sacks in a shop in town
26. long saturday strolls with my family all the way through the bazaar and back (and dates with my honey walking miles and miles and miles together as we headed out to our favorite restaurant for dinner so many times)
27. viewing the snow peaks from the top of our mountain, and the sprawling city in the valley 6000 feet below us from our yard.
28. Calling up a shop in town, reading out my grocery list, and having food delivered to my house
29. making homemade yoghurt, homemade bread, homemade EVERYTHING - I am SO thankful that I have learned how to cook and bake from scratch scratch scratch! I love it (though it's a lot of work!)
30. being able to be creative here- sewing, knitting, quilting, singing, playing guitar, piano, cello, writing songs - I've enjoyed being creative
31. time with my kids. I'm glad I had some time to try teaching out, but I am loving having all the day long with my kids for the past couple of years.

So, I like living here for so many reasons! I'd better stop now before I make Nate sign another contract! :) In reality, I have come to see that there is good and bad in every place. We're ready to enjoy different things and deal with different issues -smile. Getting excited to see what God has for us after this, but I'll definitely miss some things about this place. And if I start to think it's too wonderful here, I'll just have to click on this link!

So, what's GREAT about where you live?

We're in the market for a new place to live, you know...