Tuesday, November 30, 2010

Anand's third birthday

Some photos from Anand's third birthday on November 23rd. Its so hard to believe our little boy is now three!

We had a great time of celebration over the weekend. Prashanth, Jo, Tammy and Dad drove down from Bangalore, and we had invited some other families over for dinner. Jo had baked the yummiest cake in the shape of a teddy bear, along with a whole set of cookies, and Arpita, as usual, managed to put together a rich spread for dinner.

Anand thoroughly enjoyed himself, and especially enjoyed unwrapping and discovering the various gifts he received. A week ago, he had invited his grandmother in Bangalore to come for his birthday party, and then told her, "Don't forget to bring me a gift!"

And yes, he did receive some amazing gifts!

Cookies from Aunty Jo

Thanks, Aunty Jo!

Poof!

Thank you all for your love and affection.Many of you have sent such sweet messages of love and blessing. We feel so blessed. Do continue to support us as a family in prayer.

Sunday, November 28, 2010

Anand's excitement after 'baking pie-cakes'



Namrata waves 'Tata' and blows a flying kiss.

Some more photos

Some more photos on Flickr

Praying before sleeping

Prayer before sleeping


Stained glass painting

Stained glass painting

The million dollar smile

The million dollar smile!

Saturday, November 27, 2010

Trip to Delhi

Here are some snaps from our recent trip to Delhi.Thank you all for praying for us. We had a great time, and it was wonderful to meet up with most of the family (we missed Juliana and the kids). It was especially such a joy to see Yuval. We are now looking forward to the next family reunion in Kerala for Pritica's wedding.

On the way to Delhi

Great view from the window

Family Dinner at the Islamic Institute

Family dinner at the Islamic Institute

The formal family snap.....almost!

The formal family snap....almost!

You can view more pictures at  Flickr.

(I will be putting up more photos over the next few days)

(BTW, does Flickr work well for you? Is it convenient to view photos we put up from time to time, or should I be doing something differently?)

Wednesday, November 17, 2010

What Kindergarten should be about.....

Here's a fun topic for discussion.

Our neighbor sent me this article she had read. We've been discussing preschools and the public school options for our children (since public schools are our only real option. Private schools run around $12,000 - $20,000 a year/child and public schools are completely free). I'm pasting the article she sent and then my mom's reaction to it. My mom started her professional career as a public school teacher, so she was a natural starting point for me to get good solid advice from.

http://www.bethesdamagazine.com/magazine/2010-09-10/surviving-kindegarten.shtml

Here's my mom's reaction:

Kindergarten should be fun, learning through play--as should much of 1st grade.

...no homework unless it's having the parents read to them--which is already done in my grandbaby-girls' home.

Much of kindergarten & first grade, besides the learning through play is learning how to stand in line, engage in multi-individual activities, learning social norms like not hitting or biting and eating "fun" nutritional foods on a schedule and in groups, showing & developing "group table manners," and dressing felt girls & boys in appropriate clothing for the weather, learning the calander day of the week & month...

Exposure to poetry, music and all other wonderful leisures in life should be just that, leisurely activities (or play), like for instance, "acting out a poem," and maybe learning some lines because they're catchy and it makes their mouth feel good when they say the words, or given long streaming nylon or silk scarves and instructed to fly their scarves to the music (then listening becomes a whole body/sensory experience).

Intellectual learning does take place in both kindergarten & first grade, but k & 1st grade are really years of solidifying all their learning to date, plus the social memes.  K & 1st demonstrate a child's learning in their first few years of life and expose them to the learning of their peers and the beginnings of reading.

Learning letter sounds, initial sounds, ending sounds, middle sounds is as academic I would require of kindergarteners. 

Kindergarten is a time when kids get to "show" how much they know!!! 'so 'they'll hopefully become comfortable in a classroom setting so that when, in latter 1st grand & 2nd grades when something is hard for them, they'll be comfortable enough to raise their hand and ask for help, knowing they'll figure it out with help of a good teacher.

2nd grade is when children really begin to tackle new skills, reading, math, penmanship, big things like the world, art, etc. (even though these skills are started in k & 1st).  These are big skills to learn and the brain has to be ready. 

So, in my opinion Kindergarten & the 1st 1/2 of 1st grade are Prep for reading, writing, math and the performance thereof.

Stressing a little person out when so you and still in need of a lot of nurture is taking it a little far in my mind. 

 **************

It's probably that I'm my mother's daughter, but I tend to have a similar philosophy on academics. Our girls are incredibly bright. They both are. We can already see strengths that each one of them have and we'll encourage each one of our girls in the way they need to be encouraged. And, we will cherish these things in our hearts our whole lives.

I was recently reading a book on parenting that talked about brain development in children at 18 months, 5 years and then the age of a third grader. And, it was also talking about how some children have the abilities to learn to read at three or four years old, but that is not necessarily ideal thing for their overall growth and development. The book, I'm referencing is titled: "Nurture Shock". It's a great read for anyone interested.

I also realize that there are likely significant cultural differences involved when talking about education in India and America and Europe and China, etc. Nevertheless, I would be interested to hear any thoughts or insights you may have as you too have a stake in our girls!

Love,
juliana

Tuesday, November 16, 2010

Things that make me cry….outdated blogposts!

While in Delhi, I found a box of children’s books that Father is collecting, (I assume) to entertain visiting grandkids. I heard him read Anand a story about an owl thinking of sad things, so that he could cry and collect his tears for salt water tea. Teaspoons fallen behind kitchen cabinets, stories that are incomplete because of missing pages, songs that couldn’t be sung because of forgotten words… the list goes on and is heart breaking. Made me think of another item on the list ....outdated/unpublished blog posts…. I wrote this a long time ago (I didn’t have 24/7 connectivity!), became irrelevant as time went on… but was crying to see the light of day!

Written in May 2010, while still in Bangalore as ‘replies to posts’ accumulated over a few months…..
Here’s something I read recently that made me think of relationships, communication, dialogue, and this blog….
“A Dialogue is always an adventure, because we never know where it is going to take us. Through dialogue a relationship comes into being and continues to constitute itself. Dialogue is its life-blood. Dialogue is a dance of self expression where experiences and concerns are shared, where ideas and values are explored, and where feelings and meanings are identified. Dialogue holds the tension of common critical reflection and mutual questions that serve to spark new insights. True communication always includes the continuous excitement of learning. As I listen to other persons, I participate in the mystery of their becoming. As I reveal who I am to the other, I discover myself in a new way. Dialogue is a two-way flow of energy, a giving and a receiving.” Stephens Sims (Seeking the way of love)


I’ve nearly reached the end of my time here in Asha Niketan Bangalore. Two years ago, Anugrah told me, ‘write a blog’. I had no idea what a blog was, and certainly no inclination to write one. As the above quote describes, and if this blog is a form of dialogue, I realize it’s hard for me to give of myself. Acknowledging and accepting my weakness, here, I write, though I’d rather not!

Was good to have Father in the community. Yesterday Kanna spoke of ‘Tu tu tu’s APPA. So father, your presence was felt! (Tu tu tu is kanna’s name for me) Also used his internet card which was fun. I read some of the old posts and felt bad that I never got round to responding or even writing my own post.

Pradeep, when I was in Hyderabad last month we all enjoyed seeing Anand’s mountain climbing and Easter celebration photos. The stick and string man Jesus looked beautiful. Two years ago, Sheila Puliyel sent me a link to African paintings of the Stations of the Cross. Around the same time I met the artist, who did the Stations of the Cross in St. Stephen’s chapel. Both helped me reflect on Christ of the Indian Road, or African Steppe…. Here, on Good Friday, we do our own Stations of the Cross, and last year, Arun Kumar (a young man with Down’s Syndrome) played Jesus. It hit me really hard seeing him enact Jesus on the cross…. The reading from Isaiah – he was despised, rejected, scorned of men, came to me with a new meaning and I thought how comfortably Jesus would have fitted in among my broken brothers and sisters.
This year….what I carry with me is Anand’s Jesus of the sticks and string….

Juliana, I’ve never heard of hibiscus tea… the flower and leaf is used in hair oil and as conditioner. But, in the last 2 years it has become to me a very familiar flower - something I associate with prayer and God’s presence. As part of the routine in the house, we meet for prayer morning and evening. We get the mats & prayer corner ready (decorate with flowers, make sure there is oil and wicks for the lamp, incense and karpoora i.e. camphor for the aarati, and enough kumkum). When I first encountered these symbols, I found it difficult to accept. I have since begun to make sense of some of them. Lighting the lamp represents inviting God’s presence into our time of prayer, decorating the lamp before that with flowers represents an offering of ourselves – fragile and fleeting as the flower that blooms for a day, yet precious to God. The aarati, which is taking the light from the lamp to each person at the end of prayer, is our way of individually receiving and carrying forth God’s presence. And the Kumkum, (I’m still uncomfortable with that) signifies the perspective of God… BE THOU MY VISION! Some food for thought for those of you who have in the past or may in the future join us for prayer. For now, here is a beautiful verse from Tagore’s ‘Geetanjali’ which I think of every time I see a hibiscus blossom. Since it blooms year round in our garden its the most common flower used to decorate the lamp –

“Pluck this little flower and take it.
Delay not! I fear lest it droop and drop into the dust.
It may not find a place in thy garland, but honour it with a touch of pain from thy hand and pluck it. I fear lest the day end before I am aware , and the time of offering go by.
Though its colour be not deep and its smell be faint, use this flower in thy service and pluck it while there is time.”

As I prayer with the others here, whether it’s the jumbled, discordant bhajans of Shyam, Srinivasa’s prayerful intonations, Kanna’s offering of dead and decaying flowers, Babu’s laugh or Theresa’s tears, I recognize in each of these a reaching out to God. One thing that I’m going to really miss at prayers, is Albert’ songs. He taught us a lot of Tamil songs. Some of you knew him, a 20 year old assistant from Tiruvanamalai, TN? He was diagnosed with advanced Kidney failure a year ago. He wasn’t well most of last 2 months and on 30th April he died. It’s hard to accept that he is actually gone. He was so full of life. And hope... there was so much more he wanted to experience. The hardest part of his illness, for me was acknowledging my inability to do anything, and learn to just be with another in their suffering. It was a further glimpse on how life really is for the poor and how close to death, pain and suffering, and yet how full of joy. Although it was painful, sharing this year with him, he has taught me a little more about living life in all its fullness!

Anugrah, thanks for the news articles…Howard Zinn’s death, Oscar Romero’s death anniversary… I would never have known, most of my news is a quick glance at the newspapers, before Kanna neatly tears them up into strips, keeps them under his pillow for the night and thrashes them the next morning. That is called devouring the news!!! Reading Zinn’s people’s history of the USA, was interesting, It talks of history through the perspective of the marginalized – native Americans, women fight for voting right, blacks, workers etc. I wonder what a similar book on Indian history will look like. There are so many margins and so many perspectives. A book that doe come to mind is "Turning the pot, tilling the land " by Kancha Ilaiah. http://navayana.org/?p=139

By July end, I leave Asha Niketan. Travel in August; Delhi in September for a glimpse of the new baby; and come October it’s the MITRA school in Kachapaju, Orissa. Looking forward to the next few months…..The knowledge that I’m leaving enables me to enjoy relationships in a deeper way –been using my days off to do stuff I’ve always wanted to do with people here. It’s really good to live each day thinking that’s all we’ve got. Knowing that reality for Albert the last few months, made me more aware of it myself.

Am also learning not to fear but embrace the uncertainty and the unknown in the months ahead.

Thanks for reading this….and by doing so being part of my ‘becoming’ : )

Wednesday, November 10, 2010

A Prayer for Today





Almighty and everlasting God,
who art always more ready to hear than we to pray,
and art wont to give more
than either we desire or deserve,
pour down upon us the abundance of thy mercy,
forgiving us those things
whereof our conscience is afraid
and giving unto us
that which our prayer dare not presume to ask;
through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

From The Book of Common Prayer

(HT: Trevin Wax)

Tuesday, November 9, 2010

Some pearls from Tullian Tchividjian

1. Here's one that had me thinking all through today, as I realised how much importance I place on what people think of me. I am elated when I know people appreciate me, and depressed when they criticise me, or think or speak badly of me.

"Only the gospel can liberate us from our enslaving thirst to control what others think about us."

That is so true. When I realise I am loved as I am, perfectly accepted by one who knows all the truth about me, and values me nevertheless, I am liberated from being enslaved to the opinions of others.

Here are some others....

2. A quote from Martin Luther: Very few Christians take advantage of their position.

3. And another pearl: "Knowing that Jesus has covered my past and secured my future, I am now free to give away my present."