India Parts 2-3-4-5... Sorry for the delay!

I'm embarrassed this has taken me so long to post but believe it or not I have written this post twice before and lost it thanks to blogger! But here goes....
The rest of the trip in India was filled with lots of travel from place to place, lots of obligations and little time for communication and little internet access.  After leaving the "small city" of Nadiad, we were driven back to Ahmedabad where we stayed the night.  Traffic is steady in the city 24hrs a day and honking went on all night long and could be heard CLEARLY from our hotel room. Here is a quick shot of what traffic in Ahmedabad looks like. "Lanes" do not exist in many places in India it's every man, woman, and child for themselves as you can see below.

The next morning we headed to the airport and we flew to Mumbai where we caught our connecting flight to Trivandrum. Here is a quick shot of a typical flight board; you better know your flight number!

Trivandrum is in the state of Kerala on the south west side of India on the beautiful Arabian Sea.

Kerala is called "God's Own Country" and after staying there I know why. This part of India is much different from the north. The literacy rate is much higher and while poverty seems to be everywhere compared to what we are used to in the US, it appears to be less in Kerala than in northern India.

Here are a few of my favorites from our stay at a resort near Trivandrum in a small town called Kovalam:

After our time in Trivandrum/Kovalam we drove to Kumarakom. This trip according to our driver would take "three hours" however, due to the terrible washed out condition of what they call "roads" it was actually closer to SIX hours!
Along the drive we stopped to meet this guy. He was working hard moving giant logs.

While in Kumarakom we stayed on the famous Kerala backwaters. The Kerala backwaters are a network of interconnected canals, rivers, lakes and inlets that form more than 900 km of waterways, and is sometimes compared to the American Bayou. During our stay we had the opportunity to go on a short ride on a kettuvallam, or an Indian houseboat. The kettuvallams were traditionally used as grain barges, to transport rice which is harvested in the fields that line the backwaters but have now become a tourist attraction and people travel from all over to relax and even spend the night touring the backwaters on a houseboat.
Here are a few of my favorite pics from Kumarakom:

^ Our room

^ The backwaters

^ Our ride





Here is a final shot from Kumarakom of us gathered around a traditional lantern in the lobby of our hotel. They were kind enough to light it for us and come to find out they only light this lantern for large celebrations about once or twice a year! 

^From left to right: My co-worker Dawn, Dr. Anila Abraham (our amazing friend who showed us around India), my boss Denise, me, Dr. Walker and his wife Gail. 

Our final stop before heading home was Calicut. It was a short drive and flight away from Kumarakom but this is where a good portion of our business meetings took place. Here is a picture of Anila's family who opened their home to us while we were in town.

Here are a few other shots from our time in Calicut:

^ Everywhere we went we were stared at. Anila informed us few American's visit Calicut and that's why we were so interesting to the locals.

Lastly I have to give a HUGE thanks to Dr. Walker & Gail for letting me experience international business up close and personal. They are a huge inspiration to me and I am so thankful for them and the whole experience!!

Northern India, Mumbai, Ahmedabad, and Nadiad

Hello Blog stalkers! Here is a brief update I will post details of the trip once I get back but I wanted to get some pictures up for those stalking the blog and waiting so patiently!
Mumbai - for a extremely huge city it is not at all metropolitan as we think of here in America. Right next to our hotel, The InterContinental was shack after shack. Here is the view we woke to in the morning after we arrived to Mumbai.

^The illegal homes are constructed on from random scraps the person collects. At anytime the "home" can be destroyed by the owner of the property.  

^ after being awakened by the Muslim call to prayer broadcast over loudspeakers, this was the sun rising in Mumbai.

Next we flew to Ahmedabad and traveled with hired drivers 1.5 hours to Nadiad. The city of Nadiad has hundreds of thousands of people but the infrastructure of a small village. Here are a few pictures from the area.

Above is the toilet in the women's restroom that was available at the Ahmedabad airport. I waited for the "western toilet" the only one with toilet paper.

^Gujarat

^A typical, non-congested street in Nadiad. Again, this is a 'small city'

^ One of the children at the orphanage we visited

^ They loved seeing their pictures on our cameras!

^Our room in the "guest house" at the hospital in Nadiad. The only hotel in town did not have bathrooms in the rooms so we opted to say in the resident quarters "guest house" instead.

^One of the beautiful flowers by the "guest house"

That's all for now... I'm going to bed I will trying to make another post soon about the next portion of our trip to southern India, Kerala.

Stay Tuned!

Thanksgiving & Preparing for India...

My parents came down to visit and celebrate an early thanksgiving with us November 13th. This was my attempt at making thanksgiving dinner.

This year their trip was filled (as it always is when they visit) with projects and more projects. This year my dad and Sol helped fix: our front door, areas where our soffit had rotted, our fence gate, our cars, and other small projects like floor trim around the house. My mom and I were busy sewing an Indian Kurti and a Salwar Kameez for me to wear for my trip to India.

Here is one of the finished products - Thanks Mom!

Some other items I will be needing for India:

GoGirl - so us ladies can pee more easily into the holes in the ground when we are out and about. Google "GoGirl" to get an idea what I'm talking about.

To go along with my 6 vaccinations - Lots of drugs!

Malaria drugs - well you can guess why
Papaya enzyme - to help digest the new and different foods
Prescription strength emergency stomach meds - again, Indian food
Over the counter stomach meds - are you getting the picture?

Oh and lets not forget the passport...

and my India Visa!
and the list goes on....

I leave Saturday morning for NYC and then we depart for India at 8:20pm. We will be arriving in Mumbai Sunday at 9pm! That's all I have to offer you for now. Keep checking, I will try to post a few pictures and updates while I'm there!
Oh, and call my husband, he might get bored during the 10 days I'm gone. Then again he might not :)

F is for FAIR, frog legs, freak shows, farm animals, and friends...

...and the best of all those Fs is FRIENDS! Gosh I'm cheesy, sorry. Anyways, back in October Jonas and Laura, two of our friends from college, came to visit us in Little Rock. Jonas is currently stationed in Enterprise, AL and has just graduated from his black hawk pilot training there (CONGRATS JONAS!). Laura is currently living in Memphis, and working at the University as a student activity coordinator. Since they were relatively close they made the drive so we could all be together one last time before Jonas moves away to his new base in Honolulu, HI!

Saturday we went to the Arkansas State Fair and we all got to share the southern fair experience with our friends. The fair offered a whole new level of people watching, the best and longest corndogs in the world, deep fried frog legs and did I mention awesome people watching? We ventured through the cow barns, visited with the goats, ducks and horses and watched the new born piglets as they  fought each other for a spot to eat.

After getting our fix of animals we decided to spend the extra three bucks on the freak show (which we were pretty sure was going to be a joke). After walking inside the tent I was immediately angry that I had given up three whole dollars to look at a bunch of mannequin replicas of freaks from the past. After all most of the people working inside the tent didn't look too much different from the people walking around the fair, that is until the show began. Once the freaks came out we got to see a man who swallowed everything from swords to light sabers then hammered a nail straight back into his head through his nostril. The show went on with a girl who climbed a ladder made of machetes, lifted heavy things with a chain attached to her tongue and girl who was able to juggle flaming batons and put them out and re-lit them with her mouth.

Here are a few pictures of our weekend adventures:

^Jonas and Laura eating the famous Corn Dogs

Below you will see the frog legs... Yes, they did eat them.

Me and Laura rating the "freak show" a thumbs down... Until the real freaks came out 

College Family Photo- We love you guys!

The Big 2-5 ! (Forgive the Cheesiness)

So today is Solomon's 25th birthday. Below is a picture of his favorite cake that I made for him. Yes, it's a dirt cake. :) I made him one the first year we were dating and have tried to make it a tradition every year since.

I don't have much to give him for a present but I thought I would list 25 reasons I'm thankful to have him as my husband:

1. He loves the Lord and to loves to serve the Lord
2. He knows who he is in Christ and is confident in his faith
3. He's caring
4. He loves me for me (all of me, yep, even the crappy stuff)
5. He's trustworthy (I trust him to make the best decision for us as a couple and I haven't been let down)
6. He is full of grace (I need a lot of grace)
7. He's helpful around the house
8. He is wise beyond his 25 years (but still knows when to ask for advice)
9. He is romantic (he doesn't miss an opportunity to give me flowers)
10. He has self control, and inspires me to have more self control too
11. He is forgiving
12. He puts me first (even when I am not deserving)
13. He is humble (he has a hard time when I try to tell him how amazing he is)
14. He's a great listener (as long as he's not playing a video game ;) )
15. He's loyal
16. He's willing to sacrifice of himself for me
17. He's honest
18. He never lets us go to bed angry (even if this means we are up all night)
19. He perseveres through difficult trials when I would have given up
20. He is generous to me and to others
21. He's hard working and always trying to improve
22. He is honest and willing to admit when he's made a mistake
23. He is sensitive to others needs
24. He has an amazing sense of humor
25. He knows how to show his love
26. He has a way of making any situation more comfortable
27. He can also intentionally make it uncomfortable for fun :) 
28. He makes it easy to respect him
29. He makes it easy to be thankful 
30. Sorry I guess have a few more than 25 but I'll stop now, but lastly, and most importantly, he makes me a better person (even when I don't want to be). To say I admire him would be an understatement.

So here's to Solomon and I hope that we get to celebrate at LEAST 50 more birthdays together with dirt cake!