Powers OUT Baby!!!!!!!

Hey Friends,

So excited to share that I am feeling back to normal and was out and about today!!! It was a slow start for sure but I was so happy to finally get out of the apartment!!

Our first stop was the sweet babies home at SCH to see our favorite babies of all time!!! They are so sweet and so cute and so much fun to play with. I have a favorite there for sure, but don't tell the rest of them! Meet Miss Chelsea, sweet and smiley, until you get on her nerves. Watch out for her eye rolling and then she'll stick her cute tongue out at you. Luckily I think I am growing on her because she was all smiles today even though I caught her as she was waking up! So sad to leave all the babies though, they always cry as we go which of course is heart breaking!!

Oh the many faces of Chelsea

Sweet Baby, smiles when she woke up today!

Such a cutie :)

We had planned a beach trip this evening with some of the people that are here with the World Race and also with some of the Americans that are working with ICM. We planned on having a bonfire and fireworks and hotdogs (chicken of course) but as soon as we got to ICM it started to pour rain and we had to postpone our trip until tomorrow night! So instead we headed back to the apartment! There we ran into a new, but dear friend, Naomi!!! Oh my goodness she is just the most sweetest person ever. Earlier that day we found out that 90% of our "modest" clothing we brought was considered scandalous, especially to the village, so we knew we had to go shopping for some traditional clothing. Not to mention, also, the Indian people are always honored when Americans where their clothing and since I will be living in the village is seems appropriate. So when we were telling Naomi about our clothing whoas she graciously took us clothes shopping!! Poor Stuart had to come with us, but he was a great sport and remained positive. He even lent his best, big sister, ever some money when she ran out...oops ;) Don't worry Dad!! I paid him back! We had to take our clothes to be made by a tailor since all of the clothing is bought in pieces so that it can be made to custom fit your body! Pretty cool! Then Naomi took us to go shopping to help us make our very own American meal (Indian Style). Shopping in India is very very different than shopping in America (duh). First we went to the MORE. which is an Indian grocery store. They have most of what you would need to eat, but don't get too creative because their selection is pretty general. We got green beans, potatoes, milk, butter, and olive oil. We then had to head to the streets in search of bananas, lemons, and grapes. We told her that we wanted chicken for dinner and asked her where we could find a butcher. I had something like "The Meat House" in Cary pictured in my mind. A small store with different meats in a cold refrigerated case. Of course not as fancy as America, but something similar. What we actually found was a small shack on the side of the street with LIVE chickens. Well, we ate the freshest chicken you will ever get tonight. The poor chicken. I looked the sad creature straight in the eyes minutes before its untimely passing. My only hopes is that God has a special place in Heaven for all those sweet chickens that are served as dinners.  :( I can easily see how going vegetarian would be easy here. I knew that eventually I was going to have to kill what I eat but I just wasn't expecting it to be so soon. However, we all bucked up and brought it home to cook. In true Indian style, midway through cooking dinner, the power went out. Luckily we had a gas stove top to cook with (no oven of course). It took an hour to cook potatoes, chicken, and beans with light provided by the flashlights on our iPhones (which seemed kind of wrong to us at the time -haha). Finally we sat down to a very American dinner in a very Indian setting a.k.a candlelight. Naomi told us that she loved American food and so we asked her to join us and she was so happy. We felt like it was the least we could do after we dragged her all over Ongole in search of fabric that we liked. It was sooooo good and such a great taste of home. Finally something that didn't make our stomachs turn (yet, at least)!!

Sari and Punjabi Shopping!!

Yummy mashed potatoes, green beans, and chicken

We expected the power to come on after thirty minutes. But after 2 hours we were all pretty bored, hot, and tired of being in the dark. India turns their power off because the city realizes that they don't have enough electricity to serve the entire city so to conserve power they turn the power off for a couple of hours. This happens daily from 9-11AM and 3-5PM. During those times we have no AC, no internet, and no lights. It is not so bad during the day because there is sunlight to see by and we are usually occupied with other things to notice the lack of AC or internet. But tonight was brutal. We had no way of knowing when the power was coming back on and no way of seeing except for candels, cell phones, and flashlights. This obviously has its glitches because the flashlight really eats your battery so when your phone is dead there is no way of charging it and no way of knowing if you'll have an opportunity to that before the morning when you need it. I know, I know, first world problems for sure. Kourtney and I finally decided to try our luck at some henna and Tressa willingly sacrificed her feet. We definitely came up with some "creative" drawings. Tressa said she didn't care, but I would like to hear her opinion of her feet in two weeks when our "beautiful" drawings are still there!!! HAHA!

"Space Station" by Grace :P

What a Beautiful Creation

 Just as all of us had stripped down to the bare minimums, the power came on!!!! (Don't worry, Stuart had left by then) Praise the Lord for AC!! I promise to never take electricity or AC for granted ever again!! Not having power for just three hours truly makes you appreciate what you have. Excited for what tomorrow brings, and can't wait to get our tailored made, traditional clothing. Definitely loving the happy things that I am doing even though I am not in the village!

Sending Love!! Thanking you for all your prayers and blessings!!
Grace