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. 

PHUKET, THAILAND

We were supposed to fly to Bangkok for 5 nights but because of all the craziness, we flew straight to Phuket. That's ok because Phuket is like heaven. Sun, beach, ocean, sun, bathtubs, Starbucks, fruit smoothies, sun, pools, McDonald's (sorry Dad and Doc, we had to eat there once), great stir fry, sun, sun, and more sun. Phuket is a big island with lots of small beaches and small islands off of it.


First we stayed at Karon Beach for 5 nights, ate breakfast buffets, fresh fruit smoothies, banana pancakes (a crepe with bananas and chocolate), snorkeled, and were really really lazy. We took a boat tour of the Phi Phi islands. We snorkeled with beautiful fish and coral, fed monkeys (yuk), ate great food, swam where the movie The Beach was filmed and unfortunately got a little too much sun.

Then, we rented motorbikes and drove a half hour north to Surin Beach for 3 nights. This was also a lot like heaven. Sun, great dinners on the beach, gorgeous pool, sun, fried bananas for 1 baht (like 3 pennies), elephant trekking, sun, and more sun.





There was this cool buoy/floating/dock/walkway thing. (See picture and video) We discovered that when a wave comes, if you run up the walkway and jump off the top of the wave you get tons of air. So fun. So tiring.




The elephant trek was exciting. We bonded with our elephants by sitting on their heads. That was fun and scary and really hard to balance. Elephants are massive animals with huge feet and really big jaws. They could definitely crush me in one second.














Best part of Surin....The Lotus. This is a grocery store. They had Ritz crackers, 3 different kinds of Campbell's Chunky soup, Smuckers strawberry jelly, dried shitaki mushrooms, and best of all.......Philadelphia cream cheese.



We are now back in Karon for 6 more nights before mom and dad leave. More adventures to come.

Mom and Dad Mitchell come to visit!!!

Friday, November 21 was a beautiful sunny day. My students spent the afternoon making gingerbread cookies and reviewing what we learned about the USA. Although I was fully there with my kids, my brain was waiting in expectation for Kyle and his parents to arrive from Madurai. When they came, I ran and gave them the biggest hug!!! The sun was shining, the temperature was perfect, I was eating amazing cookies made by my 3rd and 4th graders, and now we could share our new Kodai life with our parents.

Friday, November 21 at 9pm was a mess. It started to rain.....and it didn't stop until we left Friday, November 28th. YUK. It is odd for it to rain at the end of November with that much intensity, however, when there is a cyclone over southern India...run for cover. It poured nonstop the last week of school. Our laundry never dried, the mold came back, the fire wood got wet, and that damp annoying feeling was definitely present. But praise the Lord for rain boots, rain coats, and umbrellas. Owen and Lauren experienced the bad side of Kodai. At least now they will really be able to sympathize with us when monsoon season comes back in July.

Thankfully, rain doesn't hinder relationships. We were able to share our parents with our friends allowing them to get to know all the people we've come to love here in Kodai. Oh, and they got to experience Cheese Dosai. Soooo good. Unfortunately, our last day in Kodai (the day to finish up last minute responsibilities and to pack) I woke up vomiting and found out I had E-coli and a bacterial infection. YEA!!!!

Just in case you do not know what these are....it is vital that you have a bathroom handy at all times. Lucky for me the next day we had a 3 hour drive down the mountain, a 9 hour train ride, and a 4 hour flight. Sweet! The odds were definitely against us, but the Lord healed me quickly and I was fine by the time we got off the train!!!!

As you may have heard, people have been going a little crazy in this part of the world the last few weeks. There were bombings in Mumbai, more bomb threats in Chennai, protests in Bangkok which is where we were headed, and all airports closed in Thailand. We arrived in Chennai not knowing if we would even be able to get to Thailand, but they had a flight to Singapore and then to Phuket (our final destination). Do you know where Singapore is? I do now!!! It's amazing. They have Starbucks and Subway!!!! Dad was a little stressed because our plans were totally changed and we weren't sure what was going to happen. Kyle and I were in heaven...Starbucks and Subway in one place!!!!! And they had toilet paper in the bathrooms!!!!

That is our travel story. Next up....Phuket!!!

Lynea's Grade 3/4

My class did a read-a-thon to raise money for a village school called Kombai. First Assembly sponsored the kids at $.10 per page that they read for a month.  F/A donated above and beyond what my kids ever dreamed of raising. Here's a little thanks from us to you.