An Outing with the Girls :)

Yesterday we had the privilege of going out for the day with all of the girls and Sisters here. We packed sandwiches, fruit, and cookies and loaded everyone onto two buses to go tour a church and a temple. On the hour long trip we sang songs, watched a movie, ate snacks, and talked and laughed together. The church we stopped at was a huge Catholic thing filled with statues and relics and Indians. We ate a picnic breakfast in the courtyard and then joined about three hundred other people inside for mass. I haven't ever attended a mass before and it was definitely a different experience. At the end the priest started sprinkling water all over us and I was pretty shocked. My expression must have been hilarious because all the girls we were with started laughing at me.
When we left the church there was the usual scramble for shoes and bags and counting children before we trouped back to the bus and drove another hour to the temple. When we arrived we all grabbed a buddy and then got in a line together. I'm sure we looked pretty adorable wandering through the temple courtyards holding hands like that. The best part of the temple was the cutest elephant they had in an enclosure off to the side. He was standing and swaying back and forth and swinging his head like a dance.
The temple was crazy huge and fun to walk around, even though we didn't stay for too long. On the way home my mom treated us all to ice cream! The girls were thrilled and sang a thank you song for her that was probably the equivalent to "Three cheers for Brenda!", though I'm not sure because it was in Tamil. Either way it was very sweet :)
We left home at around 7:30am and finally returned at about 6:00pm. It was a long day but really fun and I'm so glad we got to have this fun experience with the girls.

The temple. The elephant. :)

Happy Pongal!

Today is Pongal, the Indian new year and celebration of good harvest and plenty! We were up at 6am singing songs of thanksgiving and cooking rice over a fire outside. The girls had already been up for a while and had decorated the ground in front of the childrens' home.

After the rice was finished cooking, a few of the girls decorated the pots and set them up inside, where we had a special Pongal mass a few minutes later.

For breakfast we ate the Pongal rice and the sweet rice that had been cooking over the fire outside. After the rice we had a special treat: bananas and sugar cane!

After breakfast we played games and then had a lesson in doing laundry the Indian way. I thought we were pretty good at it, but the girls kept taking the clothes and doing it for us, so I think we weren't as good as I thought. ;)

I'm starting to have a ton of fun with the girls! They are growing more open towards us everyday and I've had fun playing and joking around with them. They've even given us a few lessons in Tamil! I can now name my ears, eyes, nose, mouth, lips, and stomach, and wish everyone "Good morning!" and "Happy Pongal!" For some reason the girls thought those were the most important things to learn. ;)
Everything is going well so far! Thank you so much for praying for us! Happy Pongal!! :)

Monday the 14th :)

It's so wonderful being here in India :)  I can't believe we haven't even been here a week!
All the girls are so sweet and I have finally memorized their names! Some of the girls are sisters and look similar, so it took me a while! I always felt really bad when they would ask, "Jenny aka! My name?" And I would forget or get their name wrong. But when I would get their name right, their face would light up and they would exclaim, "Yes!" They are all so beautiful and sweet.
The food here is delicious. Most of it is very spicy, but since I love spicy food it looks as though I came to the right place! We always have more than enough to eat, because Jessy is always insisting that we eat more. She is very sweet and hospitable; always making sure our needs are met.
We have been celebrating Pongol, which is an Indian holiday that extends four days before the new year.
 Playing with the kids is always so much fun :) I love seeing their faces light up with laughter and smiles. They are all so sweet, and their English is actually very good! They have been trying to teach us Tamal. I forget half the words as soon as I say them though. Allie is much better at it than I am. In our free time with the girls, we play games outside or sing songs together. Once, we passed out markers and paper and drew with them. They really enjoyed that. They would show us their artwork, and when we complimented them, they would blush and smile really big :) I love being an older sister to 35 Indian girls :)

Today is our fifth day at the orphanage! Honestly, it feels like much longer. The kids are really warming up to us and we have been having so much fun! Yesterday we spent the afternoon coloring together. The girls were so proud of each drawing they made. It was so fun to be a part of it! :)

The children here are all so wonderful and sweet. I have already had some moments when I've gotten to encourage and affirm them. I'm looking forward to getting even closer to them in the days and weeks to come! :)

Thank you so much for supporting us! I have been feeling pretty exhausted and a little out of it the past few days. I'm hoping that it's due to jet lag and that I'll be back to 100% soon. Please be praying for me! I love you all! :)

We Made It! :)

We're at the orphanage! :) The flight went well. It was very long, but there were no delays and we got to all our flights swiftly and safely :) It is very beautiful here and the food is very good :) I am still trying to learn all the girls' names. It is not easy! But I have some of the memorized. They are all very sweet and I am excited to get to know them better :) Most of them speak a little English, so I can still talk to them. The past couple of days have been very restful, which is good. But I am looking forward to learning how to help them with chores and cooking. Indian people are very hospitable, so Jessy (the woman who runs the orphanage) thinks of us more almost as guests than helpers. But that will change soon I hope :) Internet here is not very stable, but I hope we can send emails and write blog posts a few times a week. If you wish to receive email updates from us, email dpcacy@gmail.com . If you want to send or receive personal emails from me, my email address here is: jenny@wecareofindia.org :)

We're in India!

We made it safely to the orphanage! This is our second day here and we just got the internet working :) We are so happy and thankful to be here! The girls are still warming up to us so I'm excited to be spending four months with them. Pray that we would be able to develop good relationships with them! So far we have been spending our time resting up from the trip here. It took thirty hours of flying and layovers plus a five hour car ride to get here so we were pretty exhausted, but now we're well rested and ready to go!

Jenny and I are sharing a cute little room above where the girls are sleeping. It has two cots on bed frames, two chairs, and its own bathroom. We are so thankful for such a nice room to live in! This morning I spent time in our room reading my Bible and praying for each one of the girls and for the Sisters here. There are three of them right now and they are all very kind and wonderful women of God. They have made me feel so welcome and loved and I'm looking forward to spending more time with them!

Thank you so much for your loving support of us! We are so excited to be here and we couldn't have made it without you! :)

Two more days!!

God is so good! Two days away from leaving, and people are still giving money! I am so blessed :) Thank you to everyone who has donated financially, and fought for us spiritually. I truly have been blown away by God's grace and provision these past few months :) I am so excited to leave, but am really going to miss everyone here. I am praying that on this trip, we will have a big impact on the girls. Some of them have just a couple years of high school left before they go off to college, and I feel like this is an important transition time for them (if that makes sense). I just want to be able to show these girls are loved and have hope for a future. I want to inspire these girls. But not out of my own strength of course. I need God's help :) So if you ever think of us, I would love prayer for that :) I want to really love and impact these girls, but at the same time I don't want to get caught up in trying to do things, but just be who the Lord has called me to be. I pray that He will open my eyes and ears, and He will use me to further His Kingdom. I want Him to break my heart for what breaks His. Those are just a few things for which I would love prayer :) Thank you again for all your support! God bless you! :)

-Jenny

P.S. If you see my mom while I'm away, give her an extra big hug for me :)