May in a nutshell

May proved to be another month filled with new and exciting adventures.  May also marked 6 months of us being in India.  Sometimes I feel like we have come a long way since November, and other times I feel like we are just getting our feet wet.  We continue to make new friendships, see new things, try new foods, and take in as much of India as we possibly can.  We still don't know how long God is calling us to stay here, but when we figure that out, we will be sure to let you all know.  In the mean time we will continue on with this journey and share with you as many of our experiences as possible.  

Since December we have been attending a wonderful church called Mercy Vineyard.  We have met so many wonderful people and have enjoyed our times of worship there.  Some members of the church decided to come visit us one week to pray and worship with us.  We truly appreciated their kindness and loved hanging out with them.  They also discovered that Kris can play guitar and by the next week had him up front leading worship!  Kris was pretty excited to get out and play the guitar again.  (Thanks Jason and Eleena for letting Kris borrow your guitar for the month!)

Happy Mothers Day!!  Molly and John (and daddy too) got me flowers and a nice card for mothers day.  Kris also made me banana and mango french toast with carmel sauce for my mothers day breakfast!  The past 6 months have made me truly fall in love with being a mom.  Being a stay-at-home mom is hard work, but it is also so rewarding.  I will never regret these months that I have been able to stay at home with these 2 kiddos.  Yes, most days I stay in my pajamas until noon, and on a really good day I might even put on some makeup.  I have also found myself running on more of a roller coaster of emotions than what I am used to experiencing.  In the words of my wise older sister (who is also a stay-at-home mom), "some days are good and some days are bad."  It's a simple statement, but after she said this I finally felt at peace with the extreme highs and lows that each day presented.  I'm used to running pretty even emotionally so this has also taken some getting used to.  Overall the good has by far out-weighed the bad.  Seeing John's smile and Molly's "I love you mama"can almost always melt my heart away.  It has been such a joy and privilege to spend the past 6 months at home raising them.  I do praise God for giving me the opportunity!

May 14 marked John's 3 month birthday!  He is officially smiling, laughing; and as of May 25, able to roll over.  He has his daddy's blue eyes and the cutest dimple chin that we have no clue where he inherited it from.  He is almost sleeping through the night and absolutely refuses to take a bottle.  We continue to fall more and more in love with this handsome little guy.  I wouldn't trade him for the world!

May marked a huge milestone for Molly in homeschool.  She has officially learned how to count to 100!!  Most schools have a "100" party to celebrate the 100th day of school.  We decided to celebrate the fact the Molly can count to 100 with our own little "100" party.  We blew up 100 balloons, decorated the apartment, played lots of "100" games, and even had a breakfast, lunch, and supper in the shape of the number 100.  We also baked a "100" cake.  It was such a fun party and I think Molly enjoyed doing something special in her honor.  

The next few pictures are from Cubbon Park.  This is a park in central Bangalore that has many large beautiful trees with some nice walking paths.  We decided to pack a picnic lunch and enjoy some time outdoors.  

It's officially Mango season here in Bangalore!!  I don't think that I have ever had a mango before arriving in India.  I didn't know what I had been missing out on!  Oh, they are the most delicious, sweet, and juicy fruit that I have ever tasted.  You will see tons of roadside vendors selling cartloads of mangos.  We make as many things as possible with mangos like mango smoothies, mango pancakes or frenchtoast, and even mango salsa.  I will miss this terribly when we move back.  

We even like to just cut them up and eat them plain.  Yum, Yum!!

At the end of May I also had the opportunity to "help" with a VBS in a nearby village/leper colony.  I went with some friends from church and spent some time teaching the kids some songs and a Bible story.  I say "help" because I felt like I was only able to observe and just be a part of the VBS due to John.  However, I did help teach them one of the songs that we sang that day.  It was a really fun experience to hang out with these kids.  They are full of energy and joy.  I saw many smiles and heard much laughter that day.  I just pray that they will cling to the love of Jesus that was presented to them.   

Singing their hearts out!

Time for a Bible story.

John receiving much Indian love!

Some time to play around.

             This was also my first opportunity to serve while here in India.  This has been something that I have been struggling with since I got here.  I feel like when God calls you to another country half-way around the world you expect to be able to serve him in mighty ways.  I came to India with high expectations of doing great works for the Lord.  What I have come to realize is that God did not call me to India to serve.  (Yes, he did call my husband to serve in mighty ways, and I have stood by his side encouraging him).   However, he called me to India to learn how to be a mom; to be a stay-at-home mom.  At first I was so disappointed by this calling.  God, why would you send me half-way across the world "just" for this?  Now I have realized that the word "just" is enough.  Raising your kids to know and serve the Lord is "just" as worthy as feeding the homeless and giving money to the poor.  Teaching your kids how to pray and love others is "just" as worthy as volunteering to serve at the women's shelter, and being on the worship team at church.  God has greatly changed my view on serving him.  He wants me to serve him in what I saw as the little things, before he can entrust me to serve him in bigger things.  I hope that some day I will have the opportunity to help feed the poor and volunteer at the women's shelter, but for now I get to stay at home and serve this wonderful family that God has graciously given me.  

Well, that about wraps up the month of May.  Once again, thanks for reading about our journey.  Please continue to lift us up in prayer about our future.  We are still unsure if God is leading us to stay another year or if he is calling us elsewhere.  We truly covet all of your thoughts and prayers and rely on them to give us the answers that we are needing from God right now.  Thanks again!