June in a Nutshell/Testimony Time

                    It's been awhile since I posted so I thought I would combine a few of the things that I regularly post to catch up.  I'll recap all of the happenings for the month of June, and also give a small yet amazing testimony of one of the patients from the clinic.
               
                  June was a fun month for us.  We had the wonderful opportunity to dedicate baby John at the beginning of this month.  It gave us the opportunity to share the amazing testimony of John's life with our church.  It is our prayer and promise to God, that we would raise him to know and love the Lord!

                 June 14 marked John's 4 month birthday.  We are slowly getting a bit more sleep at night and he is giggling, rolling, and becoming much more aware of his surroundings.   We think he is starting to get his first tooth, but nothing has popped through his gums yet.  We have a very cranky, drooly boy on our hands as of late.  Hopefully this won't last too much longer…that is until the next tooth decides to come!

            June also allowed us to celebrate Fathers Day!  Molly and I planned a special Fathers Day scavenger hunt for Kris.  We were also able to grill steaks and hotdogs with some friends.  This was the first time we had eaten grilled meat since moving to Bangalore.  Boy do we miss grilled MEAT!  

Kris on his surprise Fathers Day scavenger hunt

Find those clues Kris!!

Yes, Kris got a toy Nano car as his Fathers Day gift.  I just had to get it as a souvenir since we can't take our real Nano home!

We love our Daddy!

                At the end of this month we were able to go to Chennai for a fun little getaway.  The US embassy is located in Chennai, so we had to make a trip there to apply for John's passport.  It was also our 9 year wedding anniversary, so we decided to make a fun trip out of it to celebrate!  Chennai is another large city in India that is located on the South East coast of India.  It was fun to see another city in India, but traveling with a 4 month old and 4 year old is very stressful.  We decided to travel by train again.  Once you get on the train the trip is pretty nice, but getting on/off the train is a bit stressful since you only have 1 minute to get on/off.  The train stations are crowded and extremely busy, which also creates a lot of stress when trying to carry John, the luggage, and hold Molly's hand all while winding through what seems to be a million people that are also in a hurry.  (I sweat just thinking about it!)   We enlisted the help of a friendly porter to aid us in getting to the correct train car and help with our luggage.

Molly coloring on the train (It was about a 5hr ride)

                As we stepped off the train in Chennai we were greeted with the most hot and humid air I think I have ever felt.  Chennai is a city that is known for its 100+ degree heat combined with 100% humidity.  As we drove in a cab (with no A/C) to our hotel, it felt as if a blow-dryer was blowing hot air in your face.  But we had the privilege of driving in an Ambassador car…which I've always wanted to do!!

This is an example of an Ambassador (not the one that we actually rode in).

Our first ride in an Ambassador!  Super hot and fun!  It was fully carpeted in the inside with matching seats, walls, and ceiling.  The one we rode in was black and yellow.  I didn't have time to snap a pic of the outside of it!

             As soon as we arrived at our hotel we put on our swimsuits and headed to the rooftop pool!  It was John's first time "swimming"  which was super fun. He loves the water!  By the 4th day at the pool Molly learned how to swim on her own without the help of her floaties.  She thought she was pretty brave.  Most of our days were filled with swimming, eating, napping, and more eating. (The breakfast buffet alone was worth the trip!)

Rooftop swimming!

Loving the heat and loving the water!

Chillin in the hotel room!

          We were also able to see a few of the beaches in Chennai.  When you're from Iowa/South Dakota, any trip to the beach feels amazing.  Although these beaches were polluted and crowded, we managed to thoroughly enjoy it!  Molly loved jumping in the waves and I loved watching them while cuddling with my Indian boy.  (I think the sound of the waves lulled him to sleep every time).

            As I mentioned before we also celebrated our 9 year wedding anniversary on June 24th.  We started out our anniversary celebration by going to the US embassy!!  Whooo hoo!  Just kidding.  It's just how the appointment worked out…totally not on purpose.  But all joking aside, we were approved for his passport and certificate of birth abroad.  I am also happy to say that 1 week and 3 days later the passport arrived in the mail!  (You can't even get a passport that quick when you are living in America).       It is somewhat of a relief to have it in hand, so that if we had to leave the country in an emergency, we would be able to do so.  We did end our anniversary on a good note, however.  We went to a wonderful North Indian restaurant, which had the best Indian food that I've tasted since arriving here.  For dessert we were treated to a beautiful cake from Jude and Roopa, which I ate half of it myself…yummy!  (I LOVE CAKE!!)

                 Now for a quick testimony.  This is always my favorite thing to write about because it reminds me of God's purpose in having us live here in India.  This testimony, in my opinion, is nothing short of a miracle.  This particular patient is a female in her 50s that suffered a stroke during childbirth 25 years ago.  She suffered from eclampsia and her baby was taken by emergency c-section.  Due to the eclampsia she suffered a stroke and was left with many debilitating symptoms.  She presented to Kris with right sided weakness, low back and leg pain, difficulty walking and speaking, and urinary incontinence at night.  Her condition was so poor that it took nearly 15 minutes just to get her to lye face down on the adjusting table.  She even threw up several times due to this position.  Despite all this Kris was able to perform the adjustment.  After seeing this patient Kris came home and said to me that it might not be worth her coming for treatments because it was so difficult and stressful on the patient to receive it. So we prayed for her with hope that God would help her in some way if possible.  

      Well God answered our prayers and she came again for a second treatment a week later.  Her family was happy to report that she no longer had any low back and leg pain.  But the biggest miracle of all was that she stopped having urinary incontinence at night.   She was also able to lye down on the table face down without throwing up.  We are definitely praising God for this miracle in her life.  Kris has only seen her 2 times now, so we are excited to see what will happen with more chiropractic treatments.  

       Kris has many, many, many more wonderful stories that he would love to share if he only had more time to write them all down for you.  These patients present with many complex issues that Kris has to treat.  It is not only basic neck and back problems, but also problems that occur all throughout the body. From allergies to strokes, and hiatal hernias to depression and anxiety.  He has successfully treated many patients with any and almost every problem.   He is truly seeing patients from all over India.   People fly in for a week at a time just to get treatments from him.  He has seen patients from Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Coimbatore,  Hyderabad, and many more far away places around India.  We are so excited that God is using Kris to bring healing to many people around India.  (Kris would never write any of these things about himself, so I get to brag about how awesome he is at what he does).  

      Once again, thanks for tuning in to see what we've been up to.  Thanks also for the continued thoughts and prayers.  We have good days and bad days so we love to hear any words of encouragement or scriptures that the Lord may place on your heart for us.  Blessings!