I'm dreaming of a White Christmas

All my demons that I worked with. They were so cute.

dancers

The 4th class three wise men. I love the Indian wrapping paper.

Batman (Shubaum) and Superman (Thapa)

After the Christmas program, we served food to all the teachers. Then pigged out ourselves.

Rahul loves those red sprinkles. We are comparing tongue colors after that.

Ashish is so cute, he has flour on hos little cheek. I was not there for the decorating, due to my trip to Nepal.

Careful, Careful, Miraj, our little artist.

Ajay and all of their creations

The boys making cookies

We just finished the Christmas program which we have been working on for the past three weeks. It was so good. All the students worked so hard. It was not the traditional Nativity scene like I was pushing for. There were two really cool Indian dances, Amanda helped the 8^th class with a really cool hip hop dance to Take the shekels off my feet so I can dance, as well as the whole story of Jesus. It starts with Jesus and God in heaven all the way to his Resurrection. Thapa was Superman and Shubaum was Batman in Hillsong's Jesus is my Super hero, the boys were loving it. We have been looking at all the characters of Jesus’s birth in devotions and in both of the classes that I teach. Those first class students know the story back and forth now. Christmas is in a couple of days, we are going to help today with wrapping 16 packages for the boys. I am really excited about spending this special time with the boys.

Going to Nepal for like 5 hours

Okay so this is the new visa rules. If you have a 5 or 10 year visa you have to leave the country for 2 months every 180 days. My plan was to go to Thailand for New Years but because of this rule I would be stuck there for two months. All the girls started to panic because we did not plan to leave for such a long period of time. I also did not think that it would smart to be home in January and February in Chicago after all the holidays were over. Asher was in Nepal and said that they did not know this rule. So we found that out on Thursday and by Friday night I was on a bus over to Nepal. I went with an Indian volunteer that is working with us and we got to the boarder at like 4 in the morning. Poor kid he had to deal with me. It was cold and I was crabby because it is near impossible to sleep on those buses. But we still decided to walk the 4 miles to Nepal. It was really cool, we saw the sun rise, ate breakfast, got my visa stamped (with only a few harsh words) and was on the bus back to the farm at 11 in the morning.

I am so grateful that it all worked out, such a blessing from God.

The trade off for missing Thailand is that I am heading to the beautiful beaches of Goa!!!!!

"they presented unto him gifts; gold, and frankincense and myrrh"

When I was home for the summer everyone was interested in helping with the boys. At that time I really did not know the needs, but was really blessed by all of you that helped collect school supplies, books, gave money and encouraged me.

You are all such a blessing.

Since I will be spending Christmas with the boys will will not be home to get actual things. There are other ways that you at home can impact these boys. Here are some real needs for the school and farm.....

support for a new tractor for the farm

support for new computers at school

support for new bathrooms for the small and middle boys.

Jesus was presented with three gifts and I thought that I could help present these three.

Amanda has an already established relationship with a church that has been really supportive and the best way to donate is through them.

Tax-Deductible Donations

Checks can be made to "Bridge Bible Church," with "Lehman" listed as a designation, and mailed to:
Eric Strattan
Bridge Bible Church
5035 Henry Street
Muskegon, MI 49441

Thank you all so much and hope that you are having an amazing Christmas season.

a couple cute stories

The boys will do the funniest things... Impressions, made up dances with Mr. Poatoe size sunglasses, and just all their little comments!! I am always asking them to Do it again, do it again. They are so funny.

Here are a couple of their stories....

At night we have to round up 16 boys to make sure they brush their teeth, it is always a project and even a fight. I told Mukund to, "really brush them good. Not to rush, but to sing Happy Birthday 3 times." I wanted to make sure that he brushed long enough so that he would not have fuzz on his teeth. I walked by the bathroom and heard him singing loudly, "Happy Birthday tooooooo Kelly Mam, as well as the other multiple verses that the Indian Birthday song contains. You gotta smile.

Another cute story, I brought Jello back for the boys after reading Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs. If you don't know the story it is about a town in which instead of rain it "rains" food. One part includes a Jello sunset. Last time I was here I said that I would bring it back. After reading the story we ate the Jello. They really liked, but Rahul was confused and asked, "Is this from Heaven?"

I know that I might sound like a Mom bragging about her kids, but they do bring me so much joy.

Being thankful on Thanksgiving.

It was weird not running back and forth to Diane's room on Thanksgiving morning trying to find something to wear. We had school during the day and I read to my classes The First Thanksgiving. In class we made turkey hands and I explained the difference between American Indians and Indians. Later that night we went to another couples house in the city and helped make dinner. We played games, ate, and laughed so much. It was different, a kitten size turkey and eating chowmein, but it is not where you are at it is about giving thanks for the blessings that you have received over the year.

My turkey hand included the friends and relationships that I have in India.