Peace

Psalm 4:8
I will lie down and sleep in peace, for you alone, O LORD, make me dwell in safety.

We had a wonderful summer in the US and returned safely home, but on the night we arrived, Will had a brief seizure. We saw a doctor and had tests done - after which we resolved to consider it an isolated event unless it was repeated. Yesterday Will had another seizure, and so in the morning we are heading to Delhi to see a pediatric neurologist. We are so thankful for our community here which has reached out to care for us while we're so far from family.

The Bible verse I copied above has been a tremendous reminder that no matter what life throws at us, it is only God who gives us true peace, safety, and rest. He is a Good God - our Father - and He is giving us Peace.

Back in USA!

more pics

'Annie-in-a-box'

"yong days"

These have been very very 'yong days' for us. Will's L's sound like Y's and often in the evening he'll sigh and say, "yong days" with a shake of the head and a serious tone. These have been very 'yong days'. Here are some pictures I've been meaning to post. Enjoy.

No, these are not gargoyals, they're just langour monkeys hanging out at our gate.

Pre-monsoon cleaning chez nous. Beneath our living room mat was a thick layer of dust - almost as tempting to play in as a sand-box. YUCK!

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A Woodstock graduation ceremony in Parker Hall. Well done, Class of 2008. We'll miss you. Don't forget that you are KNOWN (Ps 139).
Annie was content to sit in her stroller tugging her bonnet off her fuzzy head.
Tired Burchells eager to spend the summer abroad.

It's all fun and games...

...till someone gets hurt! It's always a party when Sophia and Hannah are around.

(Don't worry, no one was really hurt in the making of this film.)

Cheese!

huh?!

During our time in India, we have received a number of odd emails that leave us saying: "huh?!" to ourselves, chuckling quietly, and shrugging our shoulders with utter confusion about what we're supposed to do next. This week we were working on ordering train tickets for our upcoming trip and so had emailed to specify which train tickets we would like to purchase. We noted particularly that we would like to purchase a ticket for Will as he is nearly 3 years old and does not sit well on our laps for a 6-hour trip. Neither of us quite knew what to do with the response we received (quoted below).
"You do not need to purchase a ticket for children Age 2. Also the ralway won't give him a seat but if you want him to have a seat then you have to show that he is 5 years old. Please let us know what needs to be done."
HMMMM...
Nate suggested the following:
"Dear --,
Please forge a document stating that our son is 5 years old and purchase a ticket for him."

However, in the end, I dejectedly wrote back to request tickets for only Nate and me. I'm still not really sure what our options were! Nate thinks that for about a dollar we could get Will a fake ID and pass him off as a 5-year old.

The crocuses on my table...

This weekend we worked in our garden a bit to try to repair a little stone wall where the mountain seems to be falling down. The monkeys have eaten nearly everything that was growing in our garden, so all that is left there are crocuses. While we were in the garden this weekend, Will went to pick some of the blossoms and Nate and I told him firmly that he was not to pick the pretty flowers in the garden. He seemed to understand, but then yesterday I came out of the bathroom only to find Will waiting for me holding out a big bouquet of crocuses. He had such a proud grin on his face and said, so sweetly, "Mamma, fwowers", that I discarded any thoughts of scolding him and instead, thanked him for the flowers. He is so thoughtful and loving, and I am so blessed by God with this son. The crocuses now sit in a vase on my table.

Here's the rest of my family:

Proud Pappa and Clean Annie

Happy Mother's Day

Here are the kids who call me 'mamma'. Sometimes I still find it strange to hear a little voice calling "mamma..." and realizing that it's addressing me. This is Will's favorite place to sit and watch people walking on the path past our house. He loves to call out to them and tell them that he's doing fine or tell them about Annie - hollering things like, "Annie, sleeping" or "Annie, sad".
Annie had her first bites of rice mush this week. She's proving to be a hearty eater and loves sitting at the table with the family. These kids are not always happy, though, and Will can be particularly grouchy- like when I was trying to get a nice picture of him with his parked bike:And what would my children do without middleschool students to entertain them from time to time? Here they're devouring the attention they're offered.

I am truly a happy mother, and am so thankful for my mother who gives me such an example of love. Happy Mother's Day!

Camping

Finally we had a weekend with nothing scheduled, so we called up Jared and Emily and asked them if they wanted to go camping on Flag Hill for a night. The tattered Tibetan prayer flags are strung all over this hilltop (which gives it its name), and it is nice and flat with space to set up tents in the shade of the pines. We walked all the way there from our house (about an hour walk) and Will quickly forgot his tired legs when we arrived at the top. Will found a walking stick just like Jared's and tried to mimic everything he did.
It was so peaceful with a cool breeze and no people around that we almost forgot we were still in India and only a couple of miles away from home.
Will helped collect firewood for our fire and we soon set up tents in this shade. Annie loves being outside and was content to lay on a tarp and chew on her toys. She even managed to roll over for the first time, so now we'll have to baby-proof our house!

Sunday afternoon

I'm sorry I didn't get a chance to give you some notes on these pictures last week, but better late than never! Here are some pictures from this past Sunday afternoon.

Here's a picture of Will and the ladies. "HannahSophia", he calls them, although Nate commented that eventually he'll have to choose one- smile. Recently I told Will that after his nap we would maybe get to see Hannah and Sophia, and so he slept for over an hour, woke up, and the first words out of his mouth were: "HannahSophia. Shoes on." He LOVES hanging out with these sisters. Sophia, (5 years old), calls the shots, and Hannah (2.5 years old) shows Will what one can do at their age. Will trails around in awe of these two: how high they can swing, how fast they take the slide and the merry-go-round, how well they can talk and color, and how fast they can run. They refer to him as "My friend Will"! Their family has been a great encouragement to us.
Annie, taking a Sunday afternoon nap on the ground, in the shade, on top of our mountain here in the Himalayas. Now that's the life!

Lunch with friends after Church.

Slow Growin'

Annie is 5 months old today! She's healthy, strong, balding, and even teething now, but she's still wearing her 0-3 month clothes. Hopefully she'll be out of those by next month when she meets her 3-month old cousin who had a bigger start than her. We're counting down these days: only 40 more to go!

Soccer Star

I yuv you.

Here's a very "home" video.

"i yuv you."

Simple Pleasures

Chasing bubbles.

Enjoying homemade yogurt.

Our Annie

Will

That's my little boy!

done.

This weekend, I finally finished knitting a sweater for my little boy. It's been a long time since I felt that contentment of completing something I never thought I'd finish. I started this project two years ago and put it down numerous times due to discouragement that my stitch tension had changed, I had lost stitches and lost count of stitches. As usual, I had to do some doctoring to cover up my lack of following directions, but I learned so much, the final product 'fits', and more than anything, it is done. It's a great feeling to make something with your hands and finally to be able to set it aside, complete. "done." Now for the quilt I've been working on for three years... Will proudly showing off his new sweater.

Lazy Day

It's a quiet afternoon at Redwood Cottage. The pattering of gentle rain on the tin roof has lulled the kids to sleep and the house feels peaceful. I love the rain with its gray skies and strange dim light that washes the dark dusty look off all the leaves so they are again a bright green. Days like this are refreshing in the calmness they bring. I feel like I can finish little projects I had laid aside due to busyness, can play guitar, read a book, even just sit and look out the window - watching the rain. This morning I made doughnuts, Nate fixed some chai, and we enjoyed hanging out with our kids. Nate and Will stacked all sorts of toys into towers like the one below. Later we heard loud thumps on our roof and Will called out "monkey!" Sure enough, there were half a dozen graceful langour monkeys hunting for cover from the rain. Several of them perched in tree branches in the backyard by our shed. They are so big and beautiful.

Scorpion Season

The past two days have been rainy, so I shouldn't have been surprised to find a visitor on our living room floor late last night. Last year scorpions appeared randomly in our house from May through September. We rarely saw them move, they just seemed to appear out of nowhere and just sit as though minding their own business. Last night was no different. I haven't seen a scorpion in months and suddenly there was one lounging on the floor by Will's bedroom door. We searched for a hole he may have come through, but to no avail. I'm so confused about these creatures. They seem very lethargic and one time last year I even saw a dozen ants carrying a living one UP the wall in our bedroom! I'm very sad I don't have a video of that to prove it! Anyway, I guess it's the beginning of the scorpion and spider season and I will try to focus on the positive: at least we don't have snakes! Here's a picture of the one we laid to rest last night right before Nate rescued me:

That Will!

Here's our 'newspaper boy'. I found him reading the newspaper like this a couple of days ago. He's so funny!
Will has always been fascinated with playing guitar. He always wants me to just give him our guitar so he can make lots of noise on it. Lately, since we don't play the guitar as often as he would like us to, he's been content to use his blue bear as his 'guitar'. So we decided that we should make him a cardboard one. As usual, Nate's ideas for making it were much better than mine, so he made it really sturdy and it came out looking like a mini guitar. While Nate was cutting the cardboard for the guitar, Will decided to use a scrap piece as a guitar for his bear to play (see the picture above). If you'd like to see Will playing these guitars, take a look at Nate's blog.

Life goes on...

My brain is tired but I wanted to share a few pictures of life here.

All those toys and all the kid really wants is a cardboard box or a bucket of water!

Typical family dinner, except Annie doesn't usually sit in the high chair - she's too small for it, I just like trying it out. :)

Will has made a habit of dragging his chair, motorcycle, cars and books outside in the mornings. He sits and 'reads' by himself in the shade outside his bedroom window. Usually Auntie is hanging laundry up in the sunshine and I am attending to all of Annie's needs inside. I think Will got the idea from our weekend practice of taking chairs to the backyard and reading, singing, playing and talking together.
Will is such a loving big brother to Annie. He continues to be thrilled to have a sister and he loves to talk to her, play with her, share his toys with her, and be with her. I love watching them together. Today I was sitting at the table holding Annie while Will was finishing his lunch. Annie was grinning at him, and he started giggling. Pretty soon they were just looking at eachother and laughing back and forth until Annie got hiccups! I felt left out of whatever joke they were laughing at, but it was just so fun to see them so happy together. I pray that God will guard their relationship and make it rich. I hope I can video them together and post it on here sometime soon.
Here's a picture of Will helping Auntie shell peas. He loves to participate in everything she does around the house. I have no idea how we would survive without her tremendous help!