Don't you just hate it when this happens...

Have you ever been trying to find a parking space across from your favorite restaurant, only to discover that only one available has a cow parked in it? NO, BECAUSE THIS ONLY HAPPENS HERE!!! Actually, that's not true - I'm sure it happens other places in the world, just not back in the US.




Well, on Saturday we went to the Hyderbad Biryani House and happened to get a parking spot right next to the cow (as you can see above). Don't be deceived - this picture was not taken out in the country, but rather about 50 feet off of the busiest road in town. Anyway, when we came out from eating we noticed that a car had parked right by the cow. Actually, it's not really a car but a "car-van-can" that we immediately recognized as belonging to our friends, the Palms (they had just gone into a coffee shop next door). As we were getting into our car we noticed that the cow was not sitting down anymore, but had stood up and was resting it's "behind" on the passenger door of the "car-van-can". By this time it had started raining (not a slight drizzle, but a good monsoon shower), so we did what any good friends would do and took a picture of the cow so we could show it to the Palms later in the evening when they came over for dinner!

What a luxurious life...

I am not making this up...

On Friday night when I was walking home from the school clinic I heard a mouse running through the flower bed by our front door. When I got to the door I shook one of the plants to scare the mouse away since I knew from experience that it would try to run inside once the door opened (this has happened once or twice before, and we managed to catch it and put it back outside). So, since I wasn't sure if I had scared it off or not I opened the door really fast, got inside the house, and shut the door - almost all the way. I would have shut it all the way, except that THE MOUSE WAS IN THE DOOR! I SHUT A MOUSE IN THE DOOR! Well, actually I think it was a shrew, but that isn't the point!

Anyway, I was pretty traumatized by the whole thing, and yelled to Ryan to come and see what I had done. That was a bad idea because what I didn't know was that earlier in the evening Ryan and Addie had been watching it outside running through the flowers. Evidently they had made friends with it, and the fact that I killed it made him a little bit upset. So, needless to say I had to clean up the mess by myself (and it was messy).

Why Addie doesn't have a bed...

I think I've mentioned this before, but Addie sleeps on the floor. I know several of you will have problems with this (Virginia), but it really is the best thing for her. When we moved to India we tried to get Addie to sleep in the little room next to ours without any luck. Since it was monsoon season the room was cold and slightly damp, and she wasn't interested in it after spending the first two years of her life in a porta-crib next to our bed.

So, we put her little bed at the end of ours, and it worked out fine until we went in one night and couldn't find her anywhere. She was under the bed - fast asleep. Now this wouldn't bother us if we lived in a warm, carpeted house... but we don't! Our house has cement brick floors that are cold and hard and cannot be fixed by a throw rug. After a few nights of moving Addie up to her bed after she'd fallen asleep we decided on a great plan - we put her mattress under her bed. This worked for a few nights except when she would sit up suddenly, hit her head on the wooden frame, and start crying in the middle of the night.

So, we took out the bed frame and just left the mattress on the floor which is still there to this day. However, there are still many times when we still can't find her when we go to bed at night. One night I noticed that she had cleared off the bottom shelf in my closet and had fallen asleep in there (too bad our camera was broken). And several nights we've found her under our bed.

See if you can spot Addie in this first picture... then look at the other two to see if you were right!






ps. yes, there is another small mattress under our bed. We thought it would be good for Addie if she happened to roll off of her bed, but most times she just rolls onto the floor.

Beautiful Skies

There several things about Ooty that we love - one of them is the weather. While the rest of India is sweltering and the US is barely thawing out, we have been enjoying beautiful weather since last September! Today was another beautiful day. Not too hot or too cool, light rain in the afternoon, and a gorgeous sunset! Here are some pics that Ryan took tonight from just outside our front door. Enjoy!

Easter Sunday

On Sunday we went to church, and then over to the Palm's house for lunch. The church had been decorated with strings of jasmine flowers - it smelled lovely! After church we had a great afternoon with four other families and some friends from Ooty. The children enjoyed hunting Easter eggs, and then put on a Variety Show of dances, jokes, advertisements, and wrestling - it was a huge hit! We went home so thankful for good friends!

Easter Weekend

The week before Easter this year was the last week of the term here at Hebron. The week was very busy! School ended on Thursday and we had some friends visiting from Bangalore for the Easter weekend. The kids had a great time coloring hard-boiled eggs (well, at least most of them were hard boiled - that's the reality of living at a high altitude).