Last week was field trip week for our entire school.  My class was supposed to to camping out in the woods but it was too wet and cold for the little guys. So, we camped out at the elementary school.  We went horse back riding, boating, hiking, and on a trampoline.  We saw monkeys, rolly pollies the size of your finger, cows, monkeys, cows, did I mention monkeys?  According to the kids, we saw bison, a fox, and a baby grizzly bear.  We didn't, but their imaginations get the best of them sometimes.  We put their sleeping bags in the library watched a movie to fall asleep too and then dog piled Mrs. Mitchell.

I (Kyle) went with the 10th graders to a city called Coimbatore about 6 hours from our house.  We did some various social awareness activities like visiting a tribal village, planting trees, communicating with a transgender community, hearing tough stories at an HIV/AIDS support group and learning about child labor.  We also learned how to make bricks (see below).

Making bricks out of mud

As you may know, Kyle and I like adventure.  We like exploring, climbing, and anything out of the ordinary.  I wanted a bean pod.  Not just any bean pod.  A 1 1/2 foot long bean pod that you can shake and make music.  Naturally they grow on trees, so I climbed up and took one.  On the way back down however, the last branch broke and I fell shin first into the edge of a concrete hole.  It was a bummer, but I got to see what my bone looked like up close!!  Kyle got to take care of me all week with a bum leg...that was fun.  I got lots of piggy back rides.  I got the stitches taken out yesterday and it seems to be healing slowly, but at least it's healing.  

Brick-making is one of the main sources of income at this tribal village.  We learned how they do it and then we tried it ourselves.

Random stuff

Had some students over to the house (I'm their academic advisor)

Found a dead chipmunk under our bed...Lynea looked under the bed and exclaimed, "There's either a big hairball with eyes, or a dead chipmunk under our bed."  It was indeed the latter.

Note from us

well, we’re back in India and have jumped right into a new school year.  for those of you that didn’t know, we went back to the U.S. for the summer and surprised some of our closest friends and family.  we had an amazing time with our families, especially our 2 new nephews!!  but now we are thoroughly excited to be back in india in our “little house on the mountain.”

we’re also quite excited to have momma harrill staying with us for 2 weeks!  she has made the grueling journey all the way to india and up the mountain to kodai.  wish she could stay longer (she just left this morning).

I (kyle) am teaching full time this year (grades 9-12) and lynea is still doing a superb job with the 3^rd and 4^th grades.  the second year of marriage is just as good as the first so far.  I’m still baffled by this girl that has come into my life.

I compare this blog update to the first time you work out.  it’s easy to work out when you’re in a rhythm, but the longer the break, the harder it is to start back up, especially because you know there will be kinks and soreness to work out.  I’m working out the blog soreness now in hopes that the blogging rhythm will start back up.

thanks for taking the time to stay connected to our lives.

uncle kyle

Tough job

With our mother!

First day of school

Uncle Kyle and Judah

Aunty Neea and Mathéo

Videos in order:

1. Lynea visits my 10th grade class

2. My 9th graders learning trust

3. Riding through a town

4. Eating "Indian" style

reflections on the first year

Today, Lynea and I celebrated our one year anniversary.  And to be honest, we didn’t do much that was out of the ordinary.  But somehow, that’s one of the beautiful things that I’ve discovered in our first year of marriage – doing everyday, ordinary things with the person you’re in love with transforms those things into extraordinary things.  We were discussing yesterday what we should do on our anniversary because we’re supposed to do something special.  We both admitted that we had thought about writing a nice letter to each other, and perhaps we will in another week or month or something.  Maybe if we were more of the gift type people, we would have done better at that.  But somehow, it felt like forcing it.  For us, the day-in day-out love that we’ve been able to give and receive has been the most precious gift that we could ever give each other thus far.  It has been a special time for us, and the words we could try to write each other or even that I’m trying right now simply can’t do this year justice.  We’re not poets, just normal people.

Having said that, we did wake up unusually early (5 something) and took a borrowed motorbike to a couple nice spots to watch the sunrise.  It’s been crowded on the mountain as of late, but it was too early for any crowds and we cherished riding through the winding roads alone with the sun beginning to illuminate the sky.  We don’t always get away from school much, and as we sat on the edge of a cliff, we were reminded that we live on a mountain in India.  I don’t think we purposely tried to get away from our friends and family in the U.S., but somehow we ended up about as far as you can get (just ask my parents who came to visit).  In some ways it’s been good – learning to rely on each other, developing our own way of life.  In other regards, we’ve missed the heck out of everyone!  The internet has made it so much easier, but it still isn’t quite the same.

Oh ya, back to the anniversary thing.  We sat on a cliff and I pulled out 150 pictures or so that I had printed up of our first year together.  We looked at them all and reminisced.  Then we came home around 8:00, made breakfast, got back in bed and looked at some of the pictures and slideshows we had made throughout our dating and engaged relationship.  A little while later, Lynea was asleep in the hammock and I would periodically, go outside, look at her and wonder how I got to marry her.

Sometimes it seems like we’ve been married for years, and sometimes it feels like the day before yesterday.  I’m so thankful for our friends and family who have supported us in all of our life endeavors and now support us together.  It means a lot knowing that people all over the place love you and pray for you and smile when they think of you.  We’ve certainly had our fair share of challenges this year – new marriage, new job, new country, new sicknesses.  We’ve had to learn how to say no; how to protect our young relationship.  I’ve learned that I am more selfish than I thought (thanks for giving me the heads up on that one, Doc), and that I need to be home when I say I’m coming home.  But along with that, I’ve also learned a joy that I’ve never known before in living with this girl that I love. 

Lynea’s brother wished us a lifelong honeymoon after we’d just married, and so far, it’s been exactly that.  We have to remind each other almost every week: “We’re married.  We live in India.  We’re teachers.  We’re married!”  It’s almost unreal sometimes.

So today, if I had a glass, I would raise it to my wife – the best wife imaginable for me!  To our marriage – for many more years of joy and mystery and just good ‘ole fun.  And to God – for allowing me to live this life with Lynea, the most precious anniversary gift I could ever ask for.

April Showers bring May Tourists

This month has been quite miserable when it comes to leaving the house. There are about 5 billion more people in our quiet little town because of tourist season. Not only are there tons of extra people all over the place, none of them like to walk, so there are cars everywhere as well.  Oh, and all the prices skyrocket!! Chicken that usually cost Rs.100 is now Rs.176. That's awful.  Other than the stressful shopping days, life is GREAT!!! 

Sadly, school is coming to a close. There are only 3 weeks left of real classes!!! Then we have a week of goodbyes and clean up. Our first year of teaching has been wonderful and it went so fast! In my 3-4 class, we are  finishing up a unit on space learning all about the life and death of stars, the planets, craters and astronauts.  It's been fun, but next month will be more fun. We're doing a 2 week unit on Bubbles!!!! We're going to create water games for the elementary school picnic, explore how soap is made, and what fun things we can do with bubbles, like giant slip n' slides!! 

Kyle is finishing his year heading the exchange program.  Have you ever prayed for a visa?? We have been praying that all the paperwork, visas, and passports arrive before summer for his students going off to the Netherlands, Germany, and soon he'll start the Australia paperwork.  It's coming along, but I think he's pretty happy that he'll only be teaching next year.  Visas in India are a stressful thing. 

Coffee Coffee Coffee!!! My mother is wonderful.  She sends care packages and they always seem to get here at the perfect time. For example, when I'm stressed my favorite chocolates come in the mail. When Kyle's out of coffee, he gets 4 lbs in the mail!!  He was able to do another coffee tasting with some friends and make Doc's Famous pancakes.  Our friends LOVE them!  (Pictures to come soon) 

Last night we went to a dinner party!!  Our friend Yisu turned 26 and she's an artist at her core.  She's always painting for us, so for her birthday we set up an easel and we all painted for her.  She had a blast and so did we!  

Oh and Kyle made bagels!! They are sooooo yummy! Who needs Panera!? (Actually, I do because they have cream cheese and we don't.)

Well the count down is on.  Please pray that we (as well as our students) will finish the year strong and then have a relaxing vacation. We love you all!!!

Do you like green eggs and ham???

My 3rd and 4th graders have worked so hard the last 5 weeks to perform a Dr. Seuss Musical in honor of 'I Love to Read' month.  We have studied Dr. Seuss' writing and illustrations in class and learned songs and movements in music class.  Our art teacher is a genius and guided the kids through the wonderful world of paper mache.  Each student made their own Dr. Seuss hat from lots of newspaper, glue, and an amazing imagination.  It was fun, but we had a few stressful moments.  Some hats shrunk and had to be cut and re-mached.  Some hats took forever to dry because of no sun.  We even had a monkey eat a hole through a hat.  Darn monkeys.  However, in the end they were finished just in time to be shown off to the school, teachers, family, and friends.  Enjoy the pictures and video!!!

The First Shear Glory International

Well a few years ago God gave LisaMarie Rose a vision of Shear Glory. It was to be an outreach of Christ's love on people who needed haircuts, love, and someone to talk to. La Barberia (of Cleveland, OH) has hosted a few at their shops and have seen people touched by the experience. The stylists have given up a whole day to love on people in need in and around Cleveland. They have seen single moms, children, homeless, and members of Magnolia Clubhouse totally blessed because of this program. The only problem was that Lisa's original vision was global. Start small and let God do the rest.  While I was in Cleveland last year I fell in love with this vision and then just happened to move to India. 

In January, Kyle and I visited the Bethania Association orphanage a few hours from where we live. While I was there, Priscilla (the lady in charge) told me that a bunch of the girls had lice and a barber had given them all bowl cuts.  In America this wouldn't be a huge deal because hair grows and children have all different length hair. Here, girls wear their hair in two long braids for school everyday. If you can't, you are seen as 'the little orphan girl.'  It's a stigma that the kids have to live with at school everyday.  I told Priscilla I'd come back in two months and cut everyone's hair once it grew a little. Kyle and I went this past weekend with 4 other teachers and 4 students to love on the kids. My friend Cath and I did 26 haircuts in 2 hours!!! The girls that had bowl cuts are now mullets, so i tried my best to cut so that it will grow into a bob.  Cath took care of all the other girls who needed inches of dead ends cut off.  Some were so scared but we assured them that it was healthy to get all the dead stuff cut.  The other girls with us painted nails and drew henna to pamper the girls for a day. Kyle and the guys did construction and played with the boys.  The kids were excited and I think we all left more blessed than the kids were!!

It's crazy how God works. Using someone on the other side of the world to carry out a vision. 

(The sunset picture is a view of our mountains while driving down!)

Long Time No Write.

First of all, it has been entirely too long since we’ve blogged! But like the old saying goes, better late than never. So let’s jump right into it. Here’s our life in a nutshell the last 2 months.

Coffee-Tasting

Learning to appreciate the earth and the wonderful gifts that God gives us everyday has been one of my goals over that past couple of years. That’s

 why I decided to host a coffee-tasting for our Indian and non-Indian friends alike. Here in India, a tragedy has taken place called “instant coffee.” It has become so popular that people don’t even realize that a coffee imposter has taken the place of good, fresh, strong and mo

st of all real coffee. So, I managed to round up 4 French presses and 4 different types of coffee beans. I grinded the beans, brewed them all at the same time and poured them in 4 separate cups for all of us to taste with our coffee-tasting spoons. Mmmmm…What a wonderful experience. You can really taste the different flavors when they are put right beside each other. Lynea even tasted them!!

Republic Day

Republic Day is comparable in celebration to the 4th of July. Everyone stays up for fireworks, there are parades, and group celebrations. Our school has an assembly inviting people in the community to come and celebrate. Some of our friends talked us into participating in an all staff Indian dance. Surprisingly we were the talk of the day!! It

 was a fun morning to have all our hours of practice come together and pay off!!!! We will try to get the video up soon.

Class
In my 9th grade class, we were discussing what it means to have faith and to trust someone. We did an activity called the Blind Walk, where 3 members of a team are blindfolded and a leader has to direct them through difficult obstacles to make it to the goal. It was lots of fun and way 

better than sitting in a classroom listening to me talk.

In Lynea’s 3rd and 4th grade class, they’ve studied food (cooking all sorts of delectable dishes), the 5 senses, magnets, electricity, reflections, and bounce. February is ‘I Love To Read’ month, so in honor they have studied Dr. Seuss and are in the process of learning a Dr. Seuss musical. They are wonderful singers and dancers.

Field Day

Elementary field day is a

 chance for our elementary students to show off some of their athletic skills as well as learn about teamwork and encouragement. There are traditional track and field events such as high jump and the 400 yard dash. But there are also fun events such as the 3-legged race and the shoe fly (see who can fling their shoe off their foot the farthest). Some of Lynea’s

students thought it would be fun to play tackle Mr. Mitchell.

Senior Trip
We had the chance to go to Kerala with the seniors on their senior trip. We stayed at the 

beach, which was really nice and relaxing (although the overnight bus rides there and back were not). Lynea met some locals from the nearby fishing village. What a different lifestyle these kids have, compared to our childhood. 

Traveling and seeing new things still does weird things to us and makes us ask questions. Wouldn’t have it any other way, though.

School has been pretty good so far. It has been a really busy this semester! But overall, married life is going great!!! We love you all and promise to write before the end of March!!!!

P.S. I planted carrots!

Rajama, Christmas, and the Orphanage

This is a little recap of our vacation after Thailand.  We also added lots of photos to our Flicker ( go to picture main page).  

RAJAMA

Do you remember my story of Rajama and the peanut grinder?  If not, go back a few

blogs and read about Rajama, her granddaughters,  and her need for a peanut grinder.  Well because of your generosity and love, we were able to not only buy her a peanut grinder, but also pay for Anapriscilla's college bill this semester!!! While we were in Thailand, Heather was able to buy the grinder and have it delivered to her house.  She was so surprised and she's been crying ever since. This is huge that she won't have to rent a grinder anymore.  Thank you for being faithful with your finances even though the economy is crazy.  Thank you for loving an Indian Grandma and her family.  She definitely feels it and thanks God every day!!!  (Pictures: Rajama, her son, two granddaughters Beena and Anapriscilla, and the grinder that looks like a time machine.)

CHRISTMAS

We arrived back in Kodai December 23rd and spent Christmas eve and Christmas day with the Nelsens and the Stewarts.  Kyle says it was a real white Christmas because of all the white folk. It was a wonderful first Christmas as a married couple. If we can't spend it with family, we want to at least be with friends that we consider family.  Great food, Great friends, Great time. (David and Lisa Stewart are sitting next to me.  Heather is in the middle and David's parents behind her. Brian is taking the picture. Oh, and of course all the kids: Andrea, Tiffany, and Elijah Stewart and Cyrus, Isaiah, and Lydianna Nelsen!!)

THE ORPHANAGE

Kyle and I made a trip down the mountain Saturday and Sunday with a few others from the school to visit a friend in the hospital and then to spend the night at Bethania.  Bethania is an orphanage with about 35 kids ranging from age 6 - 16.  Our school has close relations with Bethania and our students often do service projects there. We had a blast playing with the children and learning about them.  Their stories are often tragic and heart breaking. However, their smiles light up the world and their laughter clears the sky.  It's often hard to find words for experiences like this. Your heart breaks but you are so thankful for people like Priscilla, Charlie and other workers who have dedicated their lives to serving and loving these children so they can have an education, a dream, and a future.  Orphanages have had a profound impact on our lives throughout the years.  We have held children in many different countries and we seem to have a huge sense of belonging in places like this.  It'ard to come and go so quickly.  It makes us wonder if we'll ever be able to stay at a place like that for more than just a visit.  

In India, women decorate their bodies with a brown paste called henna. In the states, you'd call it a fake tatoo.  A friend of mine did it to me the other day and it was started to ware off. One of the little girls was admiring it so I used marker to do a simple one on her hand. She loved it. Next time I visit, I'll have to bring a few tubes of henna and do all the girls.