Tuesday, March 31, 2009

Teaching kids about Easter

I don't know if it's common in India to have Easter Egg hunts for kids. I have been a part of an Easter egg hunt every Easter from the time I can remember. Normally, the eggs are filled with candy, but I came across a really cool Web site for teaching kids the Easter story and putting items other than candy in the eggs to make the story complete.

http://www.easyfunschool.com/article2110.html

~juliana

Ground breaking day at our church.




Day at the zoo with friends...





Earth watch hour with the Puliyels and some other snaps









Monday, March 30, 2009

from Lamtaput

Hi All,
thanks pradeep for setting this up, and like Cheryl, this is my first ever attempt at blogging.

exciting...discovered devnagiri script and couldn't get out of it for a while and wondered if my first ever attempt at blogging would have to be in हिन्दी. Cool huh!

Really enjoyed the short yet intense holiday at 24 rr. Spent some time on the train to Orissa reflecting on conversations, arguments and all the cutest Anand signs, sounds, words that I experienced at 24rr. Thought about family blogs and the name... and actually came up with one quite close. (24rr... and as far as the pendulum swings). If Anugrah has the time and inclination he can explain what that might mean.. There was some deep stuff he mentioned about belonging and all.

had a restful and not too hot train ride to orissa. For those who don't know and for me to remind myself (i'm here on architectural work!). enjoyed reading the kite runner. got off at Muniguda and visited with Johnny and Mercy at Bissamcuttack. they asked after all of you. mercy had a severe back pain but was thrilled with mum's cape gooseberry jam. Met a friend, Binita yesterday at Jeypore and reached lamtaput by Lunch time... have been constantly answering people's queries about aunty, uncle, bhaiyya, bhabi, arpita didi (and if I had any good news from Anugrah bhai and cheryl didi). So you all are very much in peoples minds here.

trying to adhere to pradeeps suggestion of keeping posts frequent and brief...
so will end for now,


शान्ति,
आशिता

Thanks

Thanks for setting this up Pradeep. Wish we were there with all of you. You are in our thoughts and prayers.

Love,

Ashish

Saturday, March 28, 2009

Some photos

Nice to see some action on this blog!

Here are some photos from this trip.

The family photo: taken in typical Abraham style in a hurry one morning before everybody dashed off in different directions. Wish Ashish, Juliana and Safina were around to make things feel more complete! Also wish we had used red-eye reduction!



A video of Anand teaching Sweety how to use a phone.



We'll upload more stuff as we go along.

This trip has been great for all of us. It has been so good meeting again, and Anand has soaked up all the love and affection and attention from all of you. I have found all the conversation and discussion refreshing, thought-provoking and challenging, and been inspired by visiting Anugrah and Cheryl's home in Seelampur.

Do pray for me as I prepare to write this entrance exam on May 14th, and for our family as we pray for God's direction for the way ahead

Saturday morning in Maryland

Thanks, Pradeep, for setting this up!

We are doing well and grateful to be in touch with all of you through this blog. Safina is such a big girl now, it's hard to believe how fast she's grown. We just put up a big map of the world for her so that she can see where all of her family lives. We'll print out little pictures of everyone and then post them on the map. It's still a big concept for her to grasp, but I think over time, she will become more familiarized with it.

Our church sits on a large historical property and through lots of planning and prayer has decided to use the land we have to start an organic farm. Tomorrow is the 'ground breaking' day where we will all go and break ground. So, it will be fun to get our hands dirty and especially for Safina to join in this effort. The food grown will be donated to local shelters, those in need and if sold the proceeds will be given to those in the community most in need. So, it will be interesting to see how it all turns out.

Safina is calling me, so I will go for now!

Love, juliana and all...

Testing

Hello All,
Just testing to see whether this works. Have never blogged before. Thanks Praaaaadeep (Sweety emphasis added), for getting this started and for warning against long boring narrations. so to keep this short:
Humm.... well, Anugrah and I have moved to Seelampur, thanks to those of you who helped and prayed with us through this move. We actually are beginning to love our stay here. We're getting over our fears and interacting more freely with people. We're overwhelmed at the end of the day by what we see and what we fail to, but we're happy to be on this side of the river. We're learning how to give more freely but at quite a cost and sometimes to our amusement. I took down some old curtains and kept them outside our door coz they were dusty and within an hour they were hanging on the landlords door... I took off my sandals coz i do that before entering our room and within a few minutes they were on the next door girls feet as she was off to school and felt like wearing mine that day!
Some of the big challenges for me are the sight of crap (human, animal) all around and the crunch of dust on every concievable item that we own. The thing that humbles me the most is the smile and contentment on most of those around me.
Anyway, on the whole its going great. Anugrah and I are getting to spend good time together and learning from each other as we interact at different levels with so many people in the day.
I'm in the library, I have exams at the end of April which again will be testing time for a lot of people around me. Please pray....
tata and look forward to reading about all of you.
Highlight of the month: our little boy anand!!!!!!!!!!! he's adorable and loving and so happy all the time.

Welcome!

Hi everybody,
As more of us move all over India, and all over the world, it has become more difficult to stay in touch with each other, keep up with developments in each of our families, and remain concerned and pray for each other. I was wondering whether blogging might help.

I have made each of us authors of this blog. As a start, I have appointed Anugrah and myself as administrators of this blog, but we could rotate this as we go along.

I suggest we upload frequently updates of what we are going through. It is easier to sustain interest when we keep writing small frequent blogs rather than infrequent (and therefore long) epistles. We could periodically upload photos and videos. We can provide links to articles or news or sites that we are finding interesting, and share stuff that we would like prayer about. If some of you are concerned about privacy issues, I have read on this site that it is possible to restrict the readership of this blog only to those we permit to read this.

So please do begin writing in.

On behalf of the Abraham family, I declare this blog OPEN ! (fanfare, applause and fireworks)

Let the games begin!