Third day in India- May 16th

Our family in front of the church. 

Today was a full day of activity. We began the morning with a time of worship at Delhi Bible Fellowship. The message was fantastic and the people were so friendly. It was so nice to hear God's word spoken and hear voices of praise while in a foreign country. We had visited this church a couple of times when we were here in 2008. We ran into one of the translators that we had on our mission trip in 2008. It was fun to see another familiar face when we are on the other side of the world. I was also able to connect with a lady named, Kate, who is from Australia and has lived in India for the past 7 years. She works with Women of Zakhira. Her mission work is seeking to empower a group of women from Zakhira slum, North India, who are living in poverty. The profits from the jewelry and greeting cards that the women make goes towards the education of a number of their children, the ongoing tuition of several young women in the program as well as expanding their personal income by 25%. The cards and jewelry are absolutely beautiful and I was able to purchase some items from Kate after the church service.

After church we went to see a train museum. We took the miniature train they have that goes around the entire park. They also have a very old steam train (engine and one passenger car) that we rode on as well. That was one jerky, bumpy ride! This train was originally pulled by mules). We then walked around the park so the kids could climb in and out of probably 50 different train cars. We entered the enclosed part of the museum, which was REFRESHING after walking around in 110 DEGREES for over an hour. We originally thought it would have been fun to take a train ride during our trip to India. I teased Darin that our ride on the miniature train was that very ride......not exactly what he had in mind :-)

Aaliyah, Luke, Martin and Aryan on the Joy Express ready for the tour of the park.

The old stream train

The ride was SO jerky and we got bounced around so much  we all burst out in laughter.

I found this funny.  OSHA is not present in India like in the USA.  This guy is welding with no protective gear except for a piece of plastic that he is holding in his other hand.  I don't think the ladder would pass our standards either.  I am sure things get done much quicker without all the regulations we have here in the states.

It was fun for the kids to be able to climb around in the trains and mess with all the equipment.

The heat had taken its toll.  We decided to go inside the air conditioned  museum for a tour and cool down a bit.

We had decided before we left the states that we wanted to visit the Zaffran Restaurant in Delhi if at all possible. This is the restaurant located in the Palace Heights hotel that we stayed at in 2008. After the train museum it was time for lunch so we seized the opportunity to go to Zaffran. The Indian food at this restaurant is by far the best Indian food I have had in any restaurant I have been in state side. The favorite today was butter chicken, rice and naan. There were some other items we tried, but I can't remember the names of them. What a blessing it is that our boys love Indian food. Our memories of how wonderful the food was back in 2008 was spot on. The food was fantastic.

I always loved this mural in the entrance to the restaurant.

Uma and his wife, Yaman, explained to us that today 30,000 people will be married in India. It is the perfect day to get married according to how stars, moon, etc all line up. We saw several decorated cars driving around town, white horse drawn carriages, and tonight I am hearing a lot of fireworks going off in the distance. It is shocking that that many people will be sharing an anniversary!

It is funny today my emotions were really up and down. I think that being SO close to meeting Alesha and seeing all the beautiful Indian babies all around me that have my a bit emotional. Also, watching my boys interact with Uma and Yaman's little girl has been so fun to see. It is like seeing what my life will look like in just a few days. Two white boys with their beautiful brown skinned sister. Uma and Yaman's children are so much fun. Their son and my boys have really hit it off. They have been playing video games, singing together, being goofy, and tonight he taught my boys how to play cricket. It has been really fun to watch them interact with each other. It is like they are old friends. Uma and Yaman's little girl is absolutely beautiful and has lots of energy. She is not having a problem keeping up with these three busy boys. The boys have already sent each other friend requests on Facebook so they can keep in touch when they get home. We have really enjoyed staying with our friends and have been extremely blessed by their hospitality and kindness. Words cannot express how grateful we are.

Shot from the balcony of our friend's apartment.  What a joy to see all the boys playing together even though they had some language barriers.

Getting some instructions from Aryan.

I talked with Gidget this evening. She is doing great. Maiya is babbling, giggling, and is such a happy girl. She will fly into Delhi tomorrow morning and my family has plans to meet up with her tomorrow afternoon at the Hyatt hotel. It will be fun to finally meet her face to face and see her precious little Maiya. Funny to think that we come half way around the world to meet each other. It looks like God has answered our prayers of being able to meet each other in India.


Well everybody is asleep and I just had to retype the last 3 paragraphs, because I lost the connection before I saved it. I am excited to be flying to Kolkata on Tuesday morning. Alesha day will be May 19th. I am still in shock that I will finally have my baby girl in my arms in just a few short days. This is truly and amazing journey.