Before I start off the continuing Indian saga here I want to state again that my time here on the net is being severely limited.  Our first concerts begin tomorrow for our church and pretty much tie us up through the end of December.  We will do a concert at a church then spend several hours for Santa's big entrance.  Because we have a contract with our local mall we spend a lot of time there.  I will be going from teaching my kids here at home to doing concerts.  My two older children are involved with me this year and I'm very proud to have them.  It makes this hectic time seem a little bit easier to have them with me for sure.  Please remember us in prayer, I want this to be a very good experience for them.  My daughter has been doing this for a while now but it's my son's first time.  I do care about what's going on with you all but I simply can't visit all the time.  I will do what I can when I can.  My blessings to you all.

Last night as I played guitar I had an unusual amount of pain, I can't really say why, it always makes my mind drift back to the time when I was really in the bed of affliction in India trying to recover from my injury.  I still have no idea what I did to myself but I do know that slowly but surely I began to recover.  I lost nearly forty-five pounds in India.  It didn't help that I was in so much agony I often didn't bother to eat.  Romila's brother came to visit as I was in recovery...if you want to call it that.  He looked as me and asked what happened so I related my story to him.  He took this in then dryly said that I should have landed on my feet.  I don't know if he was kidding or not but I laughed and it did me good somehow...hey, you might as well have a sense of humor right? 

It was a time of great excitement as Christmas approached in India though I can't say why.  They don't really hand out gifts, at least not in Samuel's house and the Hindus seemed disinterested because they had festivals of their own.  Still Christmas spirit was there and I loved it.  The Hidus had a festival which required them to leave a lit lamp in their windows so it looked really beautiful at night.  Some put up lights and we did too.  It was really different in that we didn't buy some fancy colored lights but bought some simple clear ones.  We had to get creative for the colors so they bought colored plastic which by hand they cut and then tied to each light and hung in the tropical trees...again it was beautiful.  We didn't have a Christmas tree exactly.  There is a type of tropical pine in India believe it or not but it has very long and floppy needles that can't hold anything on the branches so we made a paper tree and attached it to the wall in Samuel's living room.  It looked more like a grade school art project than a Christmas tree but I found it endearing.

Hindus had a small temple nearby that cranked the most god awful music at this time.  It was enough to drive a person mad.  I guess some devotees actually stay in the temple day and night until they "hear" their gods speak to them....I think it would be more sleep deprivation and madness that spoke to them.  I bought some Christian albums that I found at a small bible book store in Madras at the time to play to try and drown out the terrible racket that made me feel close to madness myself.  The nights were a torture because they would make huge floats that had the image of demonic gods on them and large crowds would carry torches and their gods around throughout the are where we were.

Most of the Christmas celebration had to do with feasting.  The caste system was done away with supposedly but truly it's still there.  There are some special treats that only some people have very learned to prepare.  One such delight was cashew nut butter balls made with gee.  I was more than a little surprised to see some very high ranking Hindus come and bring enormous cauldrons to make these amazing delights.  Samuel and Romila normally had as little to do with Hindus as possible but in this case they made an exception.  If you wanted the goods you had to bend the rules a little it seemed.  I ate these until I got so sick I thought I'd about die...just what I didn't need. 

Another thing that's done in India at this time of year is fireworks.  I went with Samuel to buy some fireworks and it was a wonderful experience.  Had I been feeling well I would have taken many pictures because it was so unlike what we have here.  There were firecrackers that were big as 1/4 sticks of dynamite.  We bought several packages of these.  All the paper had fantastical gods on them with impossible colors.  Samuel related how these represented demons even to the Hindus and you ignite them and blow up the evil spirits as a symbolic act that brings in luck.  For us I think secretly Samuel was appealing to the kid in himself...I'm glad because it made me feel younger too.  He excitedly told me that we were going to light these at the first stroke of midnight and be the first church to do this.  I loved it and I didn't blow any of my fingers off or anything so I'm happy for that. 

My health continued to get worse and my mental state was suffering because of this as well.  The India people don't show emotions as I was used to at home and seemed devoid of sympathy.  I don't even remember them praying for me or comforting me in any way.  I read of a story like this of a person who worked for "National Geographic" that mentioned feeling similarly about the people of India.  They could be very emotional but the triggers of emotion that I was used to as an American were different here.  I languished in physical and emotional agony at night, I didn't know what to do but pray and seek the Lord, in the middle of the Christmas excitement I was lone, far from my family in a strange land.  I knew I was dying.  I would pray at night seeking the help of God.  One night I heard His voice so strongly, He told me that my mom would come there and they would set me free and bring me home.  I told no one of this but treasured it.

We went out on the town and bought some food that I loved very much:  dosai...this is what it's called in Tamil.  I loved the dip that came with it and relished this treat.  Samuel was getting us our food and as I looked out the window of the van an amazing thing happened.  Hundreds and hundreds of dragon flies rose to the sky from out of nowhere in the setting sun.  The golden light flashed on thousands of winds sparkling like something only could happen in the mind of Walt Disney as he thought of something for "Fantasia".  Samuel returned and looked at it and said that a storm will be coming soon, the dragon flies only do that when a big storm is coming.  Bats began to sweep in and catch this unexpected feast...for the dragon flies it was their last glorious flight but for me somehow I knew it was a sign...I was going to get out of here.  I was going to live and not die and declare the works of God.  From this moment on a slight spark of hope began to grow in me..I was going to live through this.

I have a few random pictures left here that I'd like to share with you if I could before I tie things up.  I have maybe one or two entries left about India and the after effects that took me years to work through.  I want to show these before I quit this post.  We once went to a little carnival and Ekishaw and Betina looked like two little angels here:  .  The amusement park didn't have a single ride I was willing to enjoy.  The German missionary that was there for a while went ahead and rode on one and got so motion sick that she about threw up...I took some grim satisfaction at this (I never did like her much).  Take it from me:  don't ride the rides.  Remember me talking about the clothes for the kids at the orphanage?  Uniforms are the norm here for school or whatever.  Here's some school kids with their uniforms so you get some idea what I was talking about.  We once visited a reptile garden on the outskirts of Madras...never a dull moment there.  I let a guy put a snake around my neck here much to the irritation of a very religious guy that was with us on the first visit to India...he was so convinced that this represented the devil and on and on so I did this just to get under his skin...I only wish I had the picture that they took of me!  LOL!  I've only got one more to share, this one you can see the German missionary on the right side and there's a family that brought their new baby to church for the first time if I remember right:  .  It might sounds strange but I do have good memories of the place still and I remain confident that someday I'll return and cover it with pictures and video as I wish I could have then.  All my blessings to you all.  Never believe that your darkest hour means there's no hope.  It might be the grave of the dragonflies but it doesn't have to be your grave.  We are not without hope or God in this world.

Return from our journey left us with a lot of work to come home to.  It was nearly Christmas and that meant lots of business to finish up before the new year.  We increased our street preaching so that some days we would visit six street corners and then do a mini-meeting after we had held our regular church service.  It was difficult because we were also fasting.  Indians seem to love to fast but you must understand their method of fasting.  Many devout Hindus wore black and proclaimed a month long fast.  I found it strange to see these same people in restaurants late at night.  Later I talked to one of them and found out that they said once it was late enough the gods they were dedicated to were "sleeping" and so they ate while they could and then went back to their fast after the sun rose again.  The devotion to fasting for us as Christians seemed to be no less filled with contradictions...you get used to blatant contradiction in India.  Rajan our driver would wait when Samuel or Romilla wasn't around and would kill and eat many awful things.  I went down and saw he had a little fire and some meat cooking.  I saw with horror that he had shot a crow and was about to eat it after barbecuing it!  We would get back from all our work especially on Sunday exhausted and starving.  If it was midnight we'd break our fast and eat like there was no tomorrow...this didn't much help my already breaking health.

I actually loved the work we did no matter how tough though.  I loved to visit the homes of people from the church and talk with them and pray with them.  I threw myself entirely into this work.  It seemed fitting to do this somehow.  I cared little for my personal health and strived to do as much as I ever could each day.  I prayed and fasted and devoted everything to other people.  I don't know how many hours in prayer and study of the bible I spent on my little balcony which looked down on a pleasant little view.  I enjoyed spending time with church planting as well.  I knew that the church Samuel was working on near the beach was one he intended for me to run for him and I relished the challenge.  We visited there many times and I preached when given the opportunity.  I remember well a time when I was called on to preach and I was so sick.  I didn't know how I could manage.  I felt delirious and feverish but knew I needed to do what I had to do.  I couldn't turn my back on these people and cried out to God for the strength to do what I had to.  I remember coming up to the make-shift pulpit and swaying...I thought I'd pass out.  I suddenly felt the presence of the Lord there very strongly.  I had a very strange experience...almost an out of body experience.  I saw Christ standing there and I saw myself...like I was standing there watching a play or something.  I saw Him lift my hands and I felt I had the words to speak.  I don't even remember what I spoke, I just had the sense of God really moving and then I came to myself and looked to see over thirty people coming forward after the altar call to receive Jesus Christ.  I knew I had nothing to do with what just happened.  The supernatural always felt like it was right there...nothing was impossible.  I wish I could say I came away healed but after the meeting I felt as faint and sick as ever.  The night was not over because we would eat with the people who wanted the church planted there.  Here's Rajan, Samuel's son (saluting) and an orphan boy that we brought with us.

The rainy season had arrived in strength.  Sometimes the rain was so heavy that the well would overflow and the streets would flood.  None the less we would go out whenever we could to visit the orphanage.  The countryside was so beautiful, I never grew tired of seeing it wherever we went.  Sometimes Samuel would take a little excursion before we reached the orphanage and would visit places of interest.  This huge stone was called the "Butter Stone".  The Hindus believed that it was dropped by one of the gods and became stone.  They believed it to be mystical because they had even brought elephants to bring the rock down and couldn't budge it!  Here are some of the flooded rice fields nearby .  We also always passed a place where they were straining sea water to get salt....it all fascinated me. 

Sadly the orphanage had tragic cases.  We had to deal with this every day.  Sometimes the children weren't actually orphans at all.  Their parents simply couldn't afford to care for them so they would surrender them to Samuel's care.  Seeing this killed me every time.  Now I've got children of my own...I don't even know how I could live if I had to surrender them in such circumstance. 

During this time of year Samuel would take the donations he'd been given and buy the children new clothes.  We would pass the familiar area near the orphanage bringing the tailor that would make their little outfits.  He would measure them all.  I'm sure you can imagine that with many children waiting to be measured they could get pretty antsy.  I would do what I could to entertain them.  Keep in mind that I am six foot two inches tall so I was a spectacle anyway.  They had a large city park size swing set they were working on.  There were no swings yet so it was basically useless to the kids.  I entertained them by taking a running jump and grabbing the top of the swing set and swinging on the bar.  I actually didn't mind doing this because the breeze when I ran cooled me some.  Problem was I should have known it didn't dry the sweat on my palms.  I went for one last spectacular running jump.  I should have foreseen what was going to happen but I didn't until I was horizontal over six feet above the ground and my hands slipped.  I remember flying through the air and thinking about what my family at home was doing and if I'd see them again...strange what you think about at times like that...time lasted for way too long before I finally hit the hard ground several feet away from the swing set.  The impact didn't bring the pain I expected...rather it took my breath away and I couldn't seem to catch it.  The awful blinding pain came when I tried to sit up.  The children surrounded me.  Some of the said:  "Oh, Uncle are you all right?"  They called me uncle, I remember finding that endearing but at the moment I could hardly move...I knew something was terribly wrong and that I had injured myself severely.  I took about three or four tries to sit up and somehow managed with great difficulty.  Again Samuel was strange, like he didn't really know what to do.  He helped me into the van and asked if I wanted to go to the doctor.  I'd seen what they did to our team mate with the broken toe before...I declined the offer.  They dragged me home and up to my room and put me to bed where I remained for many days unable to move much without help.  Finally sleep took me, my last thought was the picture of those palm trees at the orphanage back dropped by the setting sun.

We had a very foggy morning as I went out the other day.  I love fog because it's not often that we get it.  It's odd that the fall seems to be trying hard to linger on .  We had an early start with snow and cold but now there's a gloom that seems to hang on...just out of the range of snow and true winter.  I think that the fog represents the battle for it to go ahead and slip into winter .  I walked back into our warm house and began to contemplate that all the good I've got, my family has...we all have is because somebody fought for it.  Some died for it.  I type this as some of my friends are beginning their tour in Iraq while others I know are about to finish and come home after their second tour.  These didn't have the luxury to come in out of the weather when they want necessarily.  This is the time when I appreciate them more than ever.  What's Veteran's Day to me?  Everything in the world because I recognize I'd have nothing without those that have served and are serving and will go on to serve.  Today I watch "We Were Soldiers" and "Saving Private Ryan" and likely "Flags of our Fathers".  This is not the real thing but has some ideals I appreciate.  I tell my kids about it and today give them the day off to consider what we have and who gave it to us.

I've said before that not all that serve wear a uniform that we'd recognize.  Heroes of faith have played a huge role in my life and without them I'd also be lost.  Without people such as my mom I wouldn't even know Christ in the first place and likely wouldn't have the sense to recognize the blessings we have today.  I know many heroes of faith, more than I could name, I know several soldiers that I have known personally and they are amazing.  I bless them today, I thank them for everything they've fought for.  I so much appreciate what you've done for me.  May God bless these heroes who have been so important to making America what it is.  Thanks be to God who gave such gifts to people and gave them and us the strength to stand for the freedoms we know and love today.  Blessings to everyone today....for every good thing you know in life today, someone paid a price for it...we must never forget.

I have some pictures that I wanted to post earlier but have been too busy to get out there.  It's been quite a week.  I had hoped to avoid any more talk of politics but that ghost continues to haunt some even after Halloween!  I actually had a picture left from the heavy snow we had a while back and thought I'd post it because I really like it.  I think it's actually about as cold now or colder though we've had no snow, just spitting rain.  We had our traditional pumpkin carving and had a lot of fun with that...I make the kids carve their own now...it took way too much for me to do them all.  Mine is the cat sitting in the window.  We've also had some really nice sunsets lately which is more of the dying echo of fall I suppose.  It seems that the sun gets brighter but offers less heat at this time of year.  I just like the pallet of colors used by god for these wonderful paintings.  Remember the cat tails?  They have become decidedly more rugged looking now.  Fact is some of them don't look much like a cat tail at all!  These plants really do have personality...I doubt I'll ever get tired of taking pictures of them..and the light is so nice as well.  We still have some ducks visiting the shrinking pond but what's always funniest to me is when it's frozen and they plop down on the ice!  It's soon to be pretty well frozen out there I think.  The wild flowers behind our house are about done for the year though they've been very hearty even through the extremes that we've seen so far.  Notice how golden everything appears?  That's one thing I truly love about this time of year.  The irrigation ditch has been mostly emptied now which is another sure sign of the end of the season. 

What else have we been up too?  Well, we did bring the kids to the mall for the candy give away each store had going on and we met some friends and had a pretty good time.  Here's Gabby with her little friend ...she's a little monarch butterfly that's not migrated yet.  Everyone seemed to have a pretty good time...here we have Danielle (dressed as a Geisha, Gabby as the butterfly, Michael as the space ranger, Mia as the Japanese princess character and Dawn as a....well, I'm not sure but I saw a lot of people like that in Japan).  Dani and Dawn posed for Lovely which she appreciated.

The rest of my time has spent at the make-shift studio at our church.  It's quite a process that has several stages.  Right now we're trying to finish up the keyboard and guitar portion...I'm on the guitar.  I have at least one more session tomorrow.  I will post the songs eventually once the mixing is done and I get a copy but I have a confession:  I don't like to hear myself off the album at all...I love playing it live and such but recording and hearing myself is not what I like.  It's getting close to completion though and at least I'm doing singing.  I love ya all, I hope you enjoy this little break in things.  I am busy so this may be all ya get for a little while.  Our concerts start up the day after Thanksgiving but I will do my best to get posts in as I can.  God bless.