The Ants Go Marching

Last night about 2:00AM I was reminded of the song "The Ants Go Marching two by two, hoorah, hoorah, The ants go marching two by two, hoorah, hoorah, the ants go marching two by two, The little one stops to tie his shoe, and they all go marching, down into the ground, to get of the rain, Boom, boom, boom!!! This is an old camp song and one to be sung in the car, in a very loud booming voice, on a long trip! Well, in this house we are wishing the ants would find their way into the ground. I had just finished writing a long email and pushed send , had a shower and had just gone to sleep when Ray was very much awake and saying "There are ants eating me in my bed!" On goes the light and the hunt is on. We have two mattresses on our bed and we found millions of them on the bottom one! We sprayed them and cleaned them all up and went back to bed, only to feel like we were still crawling with ants! Ray found another one crawling on his chest so I suggested he have a shower to get rid of them likely in his hair, he did and went off to sleep only to be wakened at 4:00AM by Andrew! Not about ants tho' thank goodness! Something tells me all the beds will get checked out this morning!~So far we are not winning this battle with the ants! Have a good day! Ellen

Finding out who belongs to who!

On Sundays we go to two services. One of them is in the village of Kalapani. There are usually quite a number of people there. It is interesting that often you can't figure out who are husband and wife and which children belong to which parents. At Kalapani at the Bread of Life Institute and the Bread of Life Academy there are quite a number of workers with families. Most of them come to church. This past Sunday I decided to figure this out. I started with a lady I knew who spoke some English and enlisted her help. They were quite shy but were kind and humored me as I managed to get the couples to kind of stand together so I could remember them. They actually thought it was kind of funny and smiled shyly. I didn't quite get all the children sorted out but that will come when I go next week and try to learn the names. There are some very cute little children and at least one baby about 9 months. There is also a new baby arriving in a couple months. I am excited about the possibility of showering this new one with all kinds of gifts! Won't that be fun?

Shopping with Autumn in Guwahati

Autumn likes to shop almost as much as her Grandma does so on Saturday Raysha and Pamela decided to venture out on their own, Ray and Andrew did likewise, and Autumn and I decided to go shopping. I think Autumn saw a slightly crazy side of her Grandma! (oh, no is that were my daughters get it from?) We did have fun. First of all when we go shopping we walk for about 5 minutes to where the auto taxi (3 wheelers) are all lined up. When they see us coming they literally jump out of their autos to see where we want to go and if he can wait while we shop and then we bargain a price which in his mind is already about 30 rupees too much. However, I am a softy so whatever, within reason is fine! So off we go to the Hub which is a rather modern department store and quite fun to look in but somewhat expensive. They do have imported things as well as lots of very nice Indian clothes. They also have a nice grocery section which has some imported food and packaged fruits transported from Delhi or Bombay. We got strawberries on Saturday and one day I got Kiwi fruit and yellow peppers. Autumn thought it would be fun to cross the street and just look in some of the hundreds of shops lining the streets. Crossing the street is somewhat hilarious!! Well, after starting and going back a few times and getting to the middle and stopping a kind policeman came and escorted us across. Autumn was about to roll on the street in laughter!! She was actually the scared one!! We began to look for a salwar for her. She loves them. We found a section of the shopping area where there were many stores with salwars in them and we had fun looking at piles of them and really not being satisfied. Finally she did find one that she liked. The man's first price was 520Rs. I thought it was a little much so then he said 20% off-he finally gave it to us for 400RS. It fits her perfectly and looks very cute. Then we decided to walk to get a few veggies and on the way found two baby Khasi stools as we call them. They are made from bamboo. One for Michael and one for Jesse. By this time it was about 5PM and time to head home but we were going the wrong direction so Autumn says, Grandma we need to go the other way but I said that the other day I got one there and he just went strait across the road and went the right way. She wasn't sure about that but we did get one. This one, unfortunately, went all the way around! We did make it home by the time darkness hit, paying a little more than necessary to the nice auto driver. Autumn was very happy with the afternoon. Ray and Andrew went to look at vehicles, got hair cuts and went to a new complex that has bumper cars and a bowling alley so of course Andrew went on the bumper cars. They had a good afternoon. Raysha and Pamela had a wonderful afternoon of shopping and found a nice little coffee shop to have coffee and cake. A great way to spend Saturday afternoon!

Pizza Hut

On Valentines Day Ray decided that we should all go out for supper to Pizza Hut!! This was my first time to Pizza Hut in Guwahati. I was excited. In Delhi, we went to Pizza Hut and it was a wonderful meal and just like walking into Pizza Hut in a city in Canada. I was not diappointed in this Pizza Hut. Ray, Andrew and I went in one Auto and the girls went in another. They got stopped by a police check so Andrew and I went in and reserved our table and ordered our pizza. It was just so interesting to be in India and have all the waitresss and waiters dressed in black and red uniforms and all the tablewear to say Pizza Hut on it etc. There were also lots of red heartshaped balloons on the windows. It was very much like walking into the same restaurant in Canada. Did the pizza taste the way it is supposed to at Pizza Hut? Yes, it did!! We all enjoyed it very much. And in case you are wondering, it did cost about the same as in Canada. After our meal we walked down GS Road and shopped along the way, finding a flower shop, and a different supermarket that we hadn't been to yet. At home we shared some valentine cookies and mango ice cream for dessert with tea. How did you celebrate valentines day?

At Home in India

It is over a month since we left Canada and headed over to India to live in the city of Guwahati. We have settled into our home and gradually we are getting it in order and cleaned! We are learning where to go for what and we are getting to know a few people. As the opportunities surface and as the events unfold we realize more and more God's leading in our being here. It is certainly a different place than we have been for the last three years. One difference is that we have two young ladies with us. They are mostly working with Autumn and Andrew but are already involved with the children out at a small village school. Kalapani is where the Bread of Life Academy is and now has a small permanent structure with another part being added. The Bread of Life Centre is here in Guwahati and houses all the printing for the Book of Life Bible courses. Thousands of people are enrolled in several language groups throughout Northeast India. Shyam, the man in charge of all of these works, has gone home to Imphal for a couple months. Ray and Samuel, (Shyams son) are now looking after everything! Ray has started Bible classes with 8 students and two more on the way. I think he will be happy when things get a little more into routine!!

Today I am venturing out again to look for some material to make some cushion covers for our living room. I also heard about a store where they have some foreign foods so would like to check that out! But first there is a pile fo ironing to do so will get that done! Hope you are having a good day. Ellen

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

I just wanted to wish everyone the very best of the season. It is a beautiful sunny, snowy day here in Regina. A lovely day for playing in the snow! Andrew has been patiently waiting to open his presents and finally the time arrived. Autumn and Andrew and their two little brothers had a great time opening gifts and playing with them. Holly is spending the day with us. We have had our cinnamon rolls and the turkey is in the oven. I think it will be a fun day. Last evening we enjoyed a wonderful Xmas Eve service. It was very well done and thought provoking. It is good to remember the reason why we do celebrate and on that note I will again wish you the blessings of a wonderful holiday season. Ellen

Love Languages

Last evening concluded seven evenings of "The Marriage Course". This is a video series presented by Nicky and Sila Lee and put out by Alpha. Ray and I led the course and we had 7 couples who faithfully showed up most weeks. It is one of the best that we have seen. Even after being married for 43 years, we felt there were some new insights, and new ways of doing things that can be helpful to us.
Last evening was the last one and it was based on a book by Gary Chapman called The Five Love Languages. According to Chapman there are five ways of expressing love. These are: loving words, thoughtful presents, physical affection, quality time, and kind actions. For each of us one of these languages will communicate love more effectively than the others. The deal is to figure out how your spouse communicates love and how you communicate love. Usually they are different. We usually try to communicate love in the way that we would like to receive it. Fortunately for us, we were introduced to this book and this concept a few years ago, but when I first encountered it I was intrigued by it. Ray's top way of expressing love is through kind actions. He loves to do things for the people he loves. My top way of communicating love is quality time. I love to spend time with the ones I love. A close second for Ray is loving words, or affirming encouraging words, and a close second for me is gift-giving. Once we had that figured out we were much better at communicating our love to each other. As we mature these five love languages seem to meld together and we strive to communicate our love well in all of these areas. It is interesting to think about your children and try and figure out what their love language is or even have a discussion with them. Some are easier to figure out than others!
Have you read this book? If so what is your love language?