Getting adjusted

Hello family and friends! After many many hours of travel we arrived safely in India Tuesday night around midnight (2pm Michigan time). Elise has done very well. She may be tired, but she is having lots of fun and is healthy.

It is now after 3am on Thursday and despite our attempts to keep sleeping through the night Elise, Toby, and I are all awake and having play time in the living room while the Alfreds (our friends and host family) are, of course, sound asleep.

Yesterday was our first full day in Thane, and it was a really good day. My memory is already fuzzy about how we spent the morning. It's funny what jet lag does to the mind. I'm even a little dizzy as I type this so forgive me if it doesn't make complete sense! I do know that by 10am we were sound asleep and we didn't drag ourselves out of bed until 3pm. It probably wasn't good to sleep for so long during the day, but we were all so low on sleep that our brains couldn't manage otherwise. After a late lunch, the Alfred's boys, Josh (almost 14) and Ben (11) took us on a walk around the neighborhood and down to the local shopping area. India is unlike anything I've ever seen. The sights, smell, sounds are all so unfamiliar. It was really difficult to take it all in. I can say that it was funny to see people react to Elise. According to Josh, one woman commented that Elise looked like a doll. After the walk we played at a nearby playground then went swimming in the neighborhood pool (which felt wonderful because it is very hot and humid here).

Last night Adam and Jo Black and their children came over for dinner. They are a Scottish family living here in Thane for three years. Adam is a doctor and spends most of his time serving HIV/AIDS persons in the slums. They are wonderful people and we hope to see them often during our stay. Their son Alistair is 3 and their daughter Freya is 11 days older than Elise. They played pretty well together, although at this point Elise seems much more interested in Josh and Ben. They do whatever she wants and she loves it. :)

Toby was invited to start at the hospital tomorrow (today? Thursday) to join Stephen in the operating theater, but after no sleep tonight I hope he declines the offer and gives himself a few days to get better adjusted.

Thank you for all of your prayers. God has certainly been listening. We are doing very well. We send our love.

Andrea

Little does she know...

"You're taking me where?"

Yes, our little one is about to embark on quite a journey. On Monday the three of us leave Detroit and fly to India. We'll be staying outside of Mumbai for 5 weeks. I'm hoping to have Internet access so that I can post updates. We'll see! Say a prayer for Elise Monday night!

Happy Birthday Aunt Tarami!

In mommy and daddy's shoes

play time at the museum

More birthday pictures...

Last year was the start of a new tradition... Toby and I make a cheesecake for my birthday. This year we went for the classic New York style cheesecake and it was fantastic!

"Grandma" Bettie, our next store neighbor, joined us for dessert. We're really blessed to have her in our lives.

Elise now insists on sitting at the table with us. I guess it's time to get rid of the highchair. While she loved being at the table, she didn't really care for the cheesecake (although she really liked the chocolate sauce). :)

handprints and sandy toes

We had a great weekend at home in Marquette. It is so nice to be home. Of course, we miss Carson, Carol, and their girls so much (especially when they called me last night!). But the weekend here was really nice. Here are a few photos of some of the highlights...

On Friday Toby took Elise and me to the paint-your-own pottery store here in town. Elise helped me create a beautiful bowl for my birthday.

Yesterday was surprisingly warm, so we got to enjoy an afternoon at the beach! This shot was taken at a little beach off of Presque Isle. Beautiful!

Another highlight was reading to Elise last night. She had a little snack on her lap and the two of us rocked and read books for almost an hour! I think that must have been her birthday gift to me. :)

home

We arrived home to Marquette Saturday night after two and a half days in our car. Elise did so well on the drive, and she was so excited to be home. In fact, as soon as she entered the house she said, "hooooommmmme!" and ran around checking out all the toys she hadn't seen for a month.

Then yesterday we had the joy of hanging out with some of our Marquette friends. The video below shows Elise and her buddy Charlie chasing each other around and having a blast. So good to be home...