Another Wedding

Thursday night we went to another wedding. This for for the son of a lady from the gym. It was the nicest wedding I have been to. We left our house around 8:00PM and were still some of the first people there. It was at some Constitution Club that is for members only. There were video cameras capturing the arrivals of people and then it was broadcast on two big screens in the area.

So we found a spot to sit and the kebabs started coming. The servers brought us different chicken kebabs, veg kebabs and fish. They were all so tasty. And then the kids noticed the drink area where there were many different kinds of mocktails. Most of those were not too great, lots of rose water or other strange drinks. So we ate more and more kebabs. Since there were so few people at first we got a lot of attention from the servers.

After about an hour of kebabs the food started. Thai, Mongolian, Chinese, Italian, and India. There is this fabulous sweet bread that is at all weddings and this was the best ever. I had a bit of biryani (rice dish with meat) and I tried some Thai food. There was a fruit area and desserts too. So I got some jellabi, which is a yummy fried sweet dish. Cakes, ice creams, halva, and lots more.

We were able to get home by 10:00PM, which is probably the earliest we have ever returned from a wedding. So all and all, this was the best wedding ever.

I am a fool!

For some reason, my house is full of cockroaches today. I keep sweeping them outside and spraying poison on them, but they just keep coming back. That is a picture of my heart.

I was reading the scriptures just now (and now you are thinking how spiritual I must be) and it hit me, "I am so foolish". I was reading in Acts 8 about Simon the magician who became a follower of Jesus and when he saw the apostles laying hands on people and doing miracles he asked how he could get this power. He was rebuked for his foolishness. That is totally me! I pray God will forgive the intentions of my heart. Oh foolish girl that I am. No, I am no longer a girl, a woman. And that is worse. I have no excuse for my immature behavior. Here I should be a Godly older lady that gives advice to the younger, but no, I am still acting so foolish and my heart is full of cockroaches.

One of my foolish desires is to have some obvious spiritual gift. Like either the gift of tongues, Urdu to be exact. Or, the gift of healing. But why? My first response would be, so that I will be able to show people God's power and speak to them in their language. Or heal people so they would be drawn to God. But truthfully my heart is not that pure. I want to be noticed. I want to do great things. Sure, I believe good things would come from those giftings, but mostly I would get a big head and more cockroaches would invade my heart. Oh foolish, foolish woman that I am.

Republic Day

Today is Republic Day in India. Micah has the day off of school. But we can't think of anything to do. He won't play Settlers of Catan with me. We watched Spongebob, he played on the computer, we ate lunch.... now what. Steve is at the hospital with a friend who decided to have kidney stones or something. So here Micah and I sit with nothing to do.

Indian Ads

Got to love it!

One small victory!

Yes! The treadmill man is finally here to fix the treadmill. I have gotten over the patheticly, outrageous amount that it is costing me to fix it and am just glad to get it fixed. It has been sitting outside on our front porch for over a month now because when the mechanic took the piece out of it he didn't lower the incline so it has been stuck in the up position, making it too big for our house. So he and I just pushed the mammoth machine back in so he could plug it in to the electrical outlet, one of two in the house that works for the machine. He is now quietly tending to his business. I am at the table typing away, pretending that I am doing computer work.

Now my job will be to sell this monster of a treadmill. I looked over the repair reciepts and have realised that this has been one expensive machine. It didn't break down like the other one did, but when it did, wowee, it was expensive to fix. So I will see if I can sell it quickly to recover some of my expense and get it out of our front room, where I do aerobics with ladies. It takes of the space of one lady.

So please pray that 1. it really does get fixed and 2. that I can sell it quickly. Thanks!

Three Strikes! I'm out!

Usually I am happy if I accomplish one thing during the day. And I usually don't try to do too many more than one. Today I had a small list of things to do that I have been needing to do since the gym closed last May. One was to pay the electricity bill.

Strike One! I tried to accomplish this yesterday and struck out so I put it on the list for today. Pay the electricity bill. I went too late yesterday. The office is only open from 10-3. So today I went around 11 and the workers were still enjoying their morning chai. I got a print out of the bill and saw that it was paid back in August. But there were still monthly charges since August. This was perplexing since the electricity has been cut since May. When the gym was sealed they cut the wires for my electricity. So I asked them to check this out. I also need to find out who paid it back in August. My landlord told me in Sept. to pay it so it wasn't them who did it. And who is stealing my electricity? So strike one was not being able to settle my bill.

Strike Two! Off I headed to the bank to close the gym account. I was hopeful but also not too surprised when I was told I didn't have all the information I needed. I need to write a board letter of resolution and have it stamped by the board members of L.S. Fitness Circle Pvt. Lmt. and bring in my official stamp. I just hope I can find the stamp. Until then, the money sits in the bank. Strike two.

Strike Three! The next thing on my list was to get money to pay for the repair of the treadmill. For some reason I didn't think about that when I was at the bank so I went to our local ATM (which here I am told stands for Anytime Cash Machine). But the machine was out of money. It happens a lot with this machine so again I wasn't completely surprised. Strike three, no money.

So I returned home with nothing accomplishedI was able to borrow money from a friend and will go to another ATM later to try again. But for now I need a Dr. Pepper........AGH, no Dr. Peppers here. I'M OUT!

more on the mug exploding

Today I googled "glass mug exploded" and came up with some new explanations.

Glass can contain a defect that will cause it to
spontaneously explode after a period of years, with no obvious
cause.  This is often seen in auto glass when for no obvious reason
a rear window or windshield will explode as if it has been shot out.
It seems like the presence of nickel sulfate or some suce contamination
is the cause.

So it is good to know that we don't have a glass breaking demon in our house (said in jest). But it is disconcerting to think that all our other glass mugs and glasses could spontaneously explode.

the mug and the man

Last night, while laying in bed falling asleep, the dog started barking. At night Spot sleeps in the kitchen in his dog carrier. I ignored his barks, but pondered the noise of something being dropped. Then Spot barked again. In my mind I thought, "Well maybe someone is outside the kitchen and I should just go check on him." Steve was listening to Rush Limbaugh on his iPod and didn't hear anything. I, being a bit lazy and not wanting to get up, leaned over and told Steve, "The dog is barking, do you want to go check on him?" Steve didn't want to get up either and besides that, he sleeps with, shall I say, fewer clothes. So I was a bit frustrated that my knight in shining armour wouldn't get up and protect me from the night boogyman. I got up and went in the kitchen. Spot was fine and I only heard noise from the neighbors. But when I turned the light on (hum some suspenseful music now in your mind) I saw that one of our clear, glass mugs had shattered. It was sitting on the counter by the sink and seemed to just explode. It hadn't fallen and nothing fell on it that I could see. And to top it all off, it was a non-breakable mug. So why did it explode? Steve came in as I was sweeping the shards of glass off the ground and I showed him the mug. We looked around for some explanation but there was nothing. So we headed back to bed. Steve said sorry for not getting up and I lovingly replied, "You should be." We were both disappointed with him not getting up.

So this morning we are still wondering what happened. Was it a weird phenomenom or was it some sort of spiritual presence? I don't want to give Satan credit for something he didn't do, but I definantely felt strange. And my response wasn't nice to Steve. I would like to blame that on someone besides myself. So we prayed about it, forgiving each other and praying for God's protection. And now we are pondering the other glass mugs. Should we throw them all away? Are they safety hazards? Will one explode when it is full of precious coffee? Now I am off to clean up the glass in the kitchen.

This is GROSS!

Today I took Spot for a walk in the park. A nice little park near our house. Well we made our way around and Spot found something gross. Near our neighborhood there are butchers. The butchers must throw certain animal parts out, because this isn't the first time I have seen one of these. (weak stomachs should stop now). The crows like to eat the animal parts that are thrown out. The only problem is that they seem to be too heavy for the crows to carry too far. So they end up dropping them in random locations, one being the park. So Spot found some organ, most likely of a goat. It was about the size of a large fist. Maybe a heart or spleen or something solid. It is pretty rubbery. The dumb dog would not let it go. He chewed on it and tore it apart until he had eaten it all. I was grossing out while I had to stand by him and wait. Dumb dog. And dumb crows.

GOA

We are back from a long week in Goa. We go each year to meet up with other believers and have a spiritual renewal time. Usually I hate going. Last time we went I cried three times in one week, which is more than I do most years. I usually feel like I am invisible and no one cares or thinks I am important. And you know how when you start feeling that way you can find yourself going lower and lower, well that is what happens to me. But this year was different. Could be the $20,000 worth of counseling I had last year. I enjoyed myself and others and only once found myself starting to throw a pity party. But I was able to stop myself and pull myself out. I was feeling alone and ignored, but instead of wallowing in it, I got off my seat and found someone to stand next to.

Goa is a beach area and we spend lots of time at the beach. This year I decided to be brave and go parasailing. I have not gone before because I don't trust the safety of the harnesses. I actually went twice! And I didn't see anyone fall to their deaths and neither did I. The coolest part about it was the price. We paid $5. per person.

So my overall impression of the Goa experience this year is very positive. I saw how God has worked in me to heal some past hurts and to help me see that He works ALL things for good.