July is approaching and with it, comes the need to renew our Indian Visa's. As Canadian's, they seem to only grant us one year business visa's at a time. And FYI... if you apply for the 5 year and pay for it... and they refuse it - they don't reimburse the difference in cost for the one year.

I had to search online for over a month to find affordable flights for us. The volcano ash and then Cabin Crew strikes were not working in our favour. However, prayer works, and there was ONE day that I checked on our flights and found prices that I've never seen before... it's a miracle how we got these prices. Only $1040 CDN per person taxes in!

We leave on Tuesday and will be in Canada until the end of July. This year, we're doing something totally different, and spending some time traveling outside of Alberta. We'll see how it goes. We usually have "holiday hangover" after a trip to Canada, but this trip just might be different.

My kids are ecstatic to see their grandparents, cousins and friends. I'm happy when they're happy, and also looking forward to seeing everyone. I'm also looking forward to being in clean, breathable air, and my kids being able to play on clean, safe playgrounds. This is the one time of the year where I try to get the kids their yearly dose of Vitamin D.

I've been so terrible at keeping up with blogging, but I'm hoping to detail our travels this year. I just know this will be one of our best trips back!

SO... stay tuned. I will have stories and photos. Stories will start at the get go, as I'm traveling alone with the kids and we have a 9 hour layover in the Dubai airport... overnight... praying that we can find a good, safe place to sleep for a few hours before boarding our next flight. And no... I am NOT paying the $250 USD they want for the Airport Hotel. I think it's a crime to even charge that much for a bed and a shower. Convenience is not worth that much. We are also flying KLM for the first time and we LOVE to explore new airlines and airports around the world. Hope I have GOOD stories to tell about them!

Thanks for reading... stay tuned.

So it's that time again when I need to leave the country as per my "X" Visa regulations. I'm not complaining, it's just a little inconvenient as far as timing goes. I have to leave the country every 6 months so that India can keep its tabs on me. I was in Turkey in October/November, so my 6 months is coming up... my husband and daughter did their visa run in January (went to Sri Lanka for the day)...the question was, do I just take the kids to Canada and stay there till the end of July as per our regular summer visa extension application annual trip? or do I take a short visa run before going back to Canada? Bottom line--3 months is WAY too long to be away from the church here, and 2 months too long for the kids to be away from their dad.

I considered going away with some girlfriends, but flights to Thailand (where I'd really like to go... for the shopping!) are just too expensive. For some reason, I have NO desire to go to Sri Lanka... at ALL. So I started investigating other options. This is the thing I LOVE about being in India. Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Dubai... they're all just a short 4 hour or less flight away.

After some research, I came to the conclusion that Shawn and I should take a trip without the kids. The last time we did this, was BEFORE we were parents. I think it's time we took some time just for 'us'.

My two options became either Dubai (been there, done that, LOVED THAT, would do it again) or Nepal. There are packages available for around the same costs for both places. At first thought, Dubai seems the natural choice... great malls, amazing coffee, cleanliness... but the more I thought about Nepal, the more excited I got.

See... I'm a mountain girl. I do love the ocean, but if I had to choose, I would choose the mountains any day. I was born in the Rockies, and it's just in my blood, I guess. I've been to see where the Hills Are Alive with the Sound of Music, and if there are mountain ranges for me to see, I wanna see them! So, Nepal seemed like a good choice. But... Dubai is also a great choice....

Then this girl came to church. She comes whenever she's not working as a flight attendant, and two Sunday's ago, she brought her mom who was visiting her. When I went to say hello to them, I discovered that her mom is visiting from Nepal! So I spoke to them about what Nepal has to offer, and I got more and more excited about it... but still wanted to keep my options open.

And then this girl says "if you're going to Nepal, I would love it if you visited my mom and dad and the 20 Tibetan orphans they have living with them!"...TWENTY ORPHANS?!? ummmm... ok!

We meet MANY people here who have invited us to come and visit their ministry, see what they do, etc... and you just can't say yes to everyone, but when this girl started to tell me about the ministry her parents do, something within my spirit just jumped and I knew, that I knew, that I KNEW that we needed to do this.

This girls dad is a Sherpa. He fled from Tibet many years ago and walked for 2 months before he made it safely into Nepal. He got a job as an interpreter, interpreting the English Bible into Tibetan. As a result, he became a Christian. (I love that story)... he continues to minister to far, unreached villages around the place where they live, which is right on the Tibet/Nepal border.

When reaching a specific village which takes 4 days and 4 nights to get there (if you're a Sherpa... longer if you're average Joe), he started to hear about children that have been full or half orphaned. (Single parents have it really hard in this part of the world, and as a result, orphanages are full of children who are from a single parent home.) His heart went out to these children and he brought 4 of them home with him. 20 years later, they now have 20 children living with them!

When these children reach their home, have never had a bath, never brushed their teeth, never seen a car... they are mountain tribal children... and they are lovely.

These kids are being given an education, and learning skills that will make them a vital part of their village when they grow and are able to go back. I love this vision of this girls parents, and I can't wait to go and meet these precious blessings that have such an amazing call of God on their lives, that He brought them out of their terrible circumstances and is giving them a shot at not just living life, but living it with purpose, and giving them something to bring back to their homes. Don't mistake me - I believe we were all created for a purpose that's greater than we could even imagine in our own little human brains... but there is a special place in my heart for rescued children. Whether it be from trafficking, to being orphaned. Each child is so special...and none of them are accidents.

So... our trip is scheduled for the beginning of May. I'm excited. I thought this was going to be a Second Honeymoon of sorts...gonna see the Himalayas... but as it turns out, when we stop living life for our own selfish desires, God is able to come in and use us for His purposes...and His purposes are ALWAYS more exciting; more fulfilling and more satisfying. This is what it means when we 'die to self to find that we can TRULY live'.

I don't know all of what God has planned for us in Nepal... but I'm ready to find out.

As of the end of last year, we decided to pull Mcartney out of the International School she had been attending since we moved here. It was a VERY difficult decision, but one we stand by and aren't sorry we made. Since then, we have also moved and if we HAD kept her there, her bus ride would be an extra 20-30 minutes each way... which would have made her bus ride over an hour to and from school. Not quite fair for a 7 year old.

There is a serious lack of International Schools in Chennai. Well, let me rephrase that - there is a serious lack of International Schools in the CENTRAL and NORTH sides of Chennai. I happen to know a LOT of people who live in the central and north sides of the city that are desperate for a good International School to send their children to, and because of the lack, they are home schooling their kids. Like me, home schooling isn't their first option, it's their only option. As far as the local families that I know of that would like to give their kids a great education, they are having to send their kids to local schools... where the classrooms can easily exceed 50 students per class. This is just not the environment that I know my child will actually learn in... so we choose not to send her to a local school.

We did a lot of research on which home schooling program to use and let me just say... they are all awesome. I didn't find one that I didn't like... which made the search/research that much more frustrating. When it was all said and done, we went with a program that friends of ours have been using for several years. So far, so good. We've done Mcartney's online testing and she seems to be right on par from where she left off - which was mid grade three. She is also a little more ahead in some of her subjects! We've been connected with amazing people at this school, and they are helping us every step of the way... which is great, because I am so green at this, that I need all the help I can get.

This week her books will be ordered and then we'll really be getting down to business. I know Mcartney will be very happy to be learning again.. and I'll be happy that she has purpose in her days again!!

Will keep you posted as the adventure continues...

Since Shawn and I pastor a church here, the people that attend weekly become "mine"... we have two boys, "My Boys", that have been in India for a year now. They're from Bangladesh, and they fled last year from extreme persecution. They are Christian converts and have been abandoned by their families. They were attending a church and their pastor was murdered... they fled to India and were given safe asylum by the UN for one year. They applied for an extension and were denied... which most likely means the UN may not feel as though there's a threat for them to return...which is reassuring.

Many of the people in their lives here have been telling them to stay here illegally... these people feel that it's their safest bet. These boys have a real conviction to return to their home after being denied asylum again. They don't want to be here illegally and would like to return to get the proper passports and visa's to be able to return to India legally.

I stand behind these boys and their decision. The Bible states that God will go before us and make the way clear/path straight. It also says that the Lord is with us and we have nothing to fear. It also says that God has a plan and a purpose for our lives.. and I believe that God has GREAT plans for these boys. I believe that they will be safe under God's care and the HE will make their path straight for them...

I am thankful that God brought them to our church for the last year and we were able to impart whatever wisdom we had into them... I pray that they are encouraged, strengthened and ready for the road ahead of them.

Please pray for them as well. They have a job to do in Bangladesh and I believe that God will use them MIGHTILY for His purposes. I also believe that God will honor their courage and use them to show many the Love HE has for ALL of his creation in ALL the world.

I'm excited to hear what the future will be for these boys... and I pray favor on them wherever they go and I claim that God will give them the land wherever they put their feet.

I'll miss them...but am blessed to have been a part of their lives for this season. What an encouragement they are for all of us.

My son Leroy is almost 3 and we've been saying forever that he is a drumming prodigy. He's been able to sit at the drumkit on his own since he was 6 months old. He's not typical little kid who just sits there and tries to make as much noise as possible. He has always watched, and then tried to mimic what he's seen.

My daughter, Mcartney, is seven and a half. She has ALWAYS loved to sing and dance. She walks around the house, in her own world, singing her own songs that she's made up. A few weeks ago, she was hanging out with her Nana Rachel, and when I went to pick her up, she brought out the guitar and showed me the song she 'made up'. She didn't make any chords on the guitar, she just strummed that one "chord" that plays when you're just strumming... but the song she had written was amazing!

I've been saying how talented my kids are for quite some time now, and I've done nothing about it. I was feeling very convicted last week at my non-action. I believe that it's MY responsibility to help develop the gifts in my kids... ESPECIALLY when I can so clearly see them!

So... with less talk and more action, I called the best drummer I know. Enoch David. I'm not sure I've ever heard a better drummer - he's the kind of drummer that actually plays the SONG not just the rhythm. It also helps that my kids call him 'Uncle" and he loves my kids almost as much as I do.

Last Thursday, Leroy started his drum lessons. We thought he should only have a ten to fifteen minute lesson each week... he is only 2 after all. And Mcartney wanted to learn drums and guitar. Leroy picked up what he learned right away. Enoch taught him a rhythm to play while counting to 4 twice. Leroy got it. Mcartney started on her theory... the basics. She also really enjoyed the lesson.

I feel so blessed to have someone like Enoch available to my kids to teach them. He is incredibly patient and extremely loving. My kids respond so well to him. He also plays on our church worship team, so to them, he's somewhat of a rock star. =)

I'm so proud of my kids... but I have to say I'm also proud of myself for finally getting off my butt and doing what needed to be done! Even if my kids are just superstars in my eyes... they still deserve to learn how to be those superstars technically and not just 'pretend' in our living room.

Our kids are a gift to us... and it's up to us to be responsible for them and to help them develop the gifts that God has blessed them with!