Adventures in India

It likely won't surprise those who know me, but I'm not good at waiting. Waiting to exercise? I can totally do that. Waiting until tomorrow to start that diet? Absolutely. But waiting for plans to be made (and followed through on)? Not so much.

But, that's what God has decided to help me work on. Oh - and I guess I should mention for any strangers out there... this isn't a religious blog, but you'll likely see random mention of Him here....He's pretty hard to ignore, Creator of the world and all....

Psalm 46:10 says to "Be still, and know that I am God." It's so much easier to read than to do. And that blip in Philippians that tells us (huge paraphrasing here) not to be anxious, but pray about it - I don't mind the praying part, but it sure is hard not to be anxious.

I'm in my last week of work here in the States, so things are a little hectic. I'll have a brief break for the annual Crutchfield reunion, then it's back to making all those annoying last minute trips to redirect the mail, get bank accounts set up so we have access to our money in India, and seemingly piddly things like buy some straps to tie our mountain of luggage together so I have a chance of wheeling it successfully through an airport while still having a hand (or two) free to keep the boys close. And in between that, I still need to squeeze in a trip to visit my in-laws one more time.

To top it all off, poor Jason is at a stand-still on the apartment hunting. He's found a fantastic place to live, but since his bank account set-up has been delayed until "tomorrow" (I'm beginning to think this is the Indian word for "never"), there's a good possibility he won't have a way to pay the deposit and the owner will end up renting it to someone else. Which makes me?

You guessed it. Anxious.

So while I remind myself that God has a plan, and I'm guessing it has something in it like "teach Lorenda to trust Me", I'd like to ask all of you to help me with the praying part.

I'll let you know in three weeks how everything turns out. :)

We're headed for India no later than the 19th of July!

Well, I guess it's my turn for an update. I imagine Jason would tell you he hates writing blog entries (mostly writing in general), so I'll try to pick up the slack and tell you about the less glamorous side of an international move.

Our house is packed up into about a billion (I'm estimating here - cut me some slack) rubber tubs, waiting for our renters to move in later this month. Since they rented the house for June, the boys and I have been homeless since the 1st. Right now, Tim and Ty are staying with their grandma and grandpa Faulkenberry, and I'm living like a bum on my sister's couch trying to remember whether this is what single and childless feels like. I can't remember.

We've figured out how to use the conference call feature on skype, so it's been nice to get to see the the kids and Jason on-screen at the same time, though finding a time that isn't the middle of the night for Jason, past bedtime for the kids, and not during business hours for me has been pretty interesting.

I'm training my replacement at work, and the move is beginning to feel real. Most of you know I'm an accountant, so I'm going through the last month-end close process I'll have for a while, and it feels pretty strange to pass the perpetual reconciliations off to a different set of hands. I'm pretty sure I'll live, but it's an odd feeling nonetheless.

Plane tickets have been purchased, and in the next week or so, I have to get serious about what will and won't fit in my suitcases, and decide whether I'm up to coughing over the extra money for overweight baggage. Wish me luck, and by all means, let me know if you're travelling to Bangalore with a suitcase not filled to capacity!

So I now know how much it costs to pay the rikshaw drivers to get to where I want to go. It kind of annoys the ones who think they can make extra off of the American. I costs Rs. 30 to get from my apartment to the office and it costs Rs. 80 to get from my apartment to the Forum Mall. The Forum mall is a mall like I am used to in the US, but it is also the heart of a shopping district with lots of shops and places to eat. I like to go there because I can always find something to eat!

Those two extra knobs in the bathroom actually control the water to all of the bathroom. Hmmm, that might explain why I didn't have cold water until last week when I made sure that they were both on. Who would just turn off the cold water?

So they like chicken here. Its a staple of the non veg diet. However, its not the chicken you get when you go to chick-fil-a. Its not nice full chicken breast, this is B grade stuff. Oh well, at least I can get a pretty good pepperoni pizza from Dominos. Delivery at that!