Dear America, i will see you in 13 days!

Hello hello!

We're really getting down to the last 12 days here! Gee whiz it has flown by! Here are some the "happs" going on lately:

Christmas season has begun! We went to a carol service at our church last week. It was very nice. A children's choir sang a bunch of songs, followed by an adult choir! Very nice! They even sang Feliz Navidad! Imagine that! I guess it's a pretty big song here. We also went to a children's Christmas show at our translators hostel. The kids put on several dances and skits. it was very fun. Unfortunately i didn't know many of the kids in the show, but it was still very nice. they too, sang feliz navidad. :)
the weather has cooled off a bit, but still gets pretty hot during the day. I can't wait for cold and snow!!!!
We are almost done with the work in the library at the boys home. we will have the big inauguration ceremony next week! The boys are getting excited! They often come in while we're working and want to help (when they should be in class) and they'll try to read a few pages while they work! Also, they began harvesting some Okra from the vegetable garden!! The beans will soon be harvested as well! Very exciting!

Yesterday was a big day for the boys. We went on a field trip to an old stone palace, a dam and crocodile farm, and a big famous temple. it was a looonng day, but very fun! I left my guest house at 4:30 am, and didn't return until 11 pm! the bus ride there was about 3 hours. It ended up just being me along with 120 boys, and about 10 male staff members, and no one spoke much English! Kate and our translator were both sick! It was very interesting but so much fun! 2 of the older boys (one in 8th grade and one in 9th) who know more English than a lot of the other boys stayed by me the whole time. they tried talking in English as much as they could and taught me more Tamil! One boy, Poovarasum, is so sweet and as we were hiking up to the palace, kept saying "Be careful!" and asking if i needed to rest or if my legs hurt. it was so funny! Another boy carried my backpack for me. So nice! The boys were so cute and funny all day! it was a great time. Also, Ganesh (the boy i want to take home that is pictured in one of my older posts, and who recently got transferred to a different orphanage so i haven't seen him in a month) came on the trip with us!!! I was so excited to see the little guy! He sat next to me on one of the bus rides and was talking away in Tamil and laughing! I of course didn't understand what he said but i just laughed the whole time. He's just too cute! All the boys were asking if I had eaten enough the whole day and if i was having fun. They really are very sweet and well behaved children. (with occasional roughness and teasing sometimes, but they are children!) So the palace was an old stone palace on top of a mountain. the hike up there was a doosey! (i don't know the correct spelling of that word..) I'm a little sore this morning! But the views were really beautiful! I will post pictures as soon as i get home, i promise!! After the palace, we went to a dam and the crocodile farm. the dam was really pretty and it had a nice playground that the boys played around on for a while. they enjoyed it! the crocodile farm was interesting..it was pretty much a bunch of crocodiles sitting around..they didn't move much, but some of them had their mouths open, so that was very interesting! the boys loved it! Whenever one would do anything they would be like "LOOK LOOK!!!" it was very cute. After the dam, we had lunch and headed to the temple. it was a very big and beautiful temple. It was interesting being able to see first hand what they do in the temple and their different ways of worship. We walked in and stood on line. there were all these decorations everywhere, and they all have a specific meaning, but I'm not sure what exactly the meaning is. While waiting on line, a man came by with a plate like thing with a fire burning on it. As he passes by, everyone puts their hands near the fire and kind of wafts it towards them, then they put their hands to their face and say a silent prayer. then we came to a small room that had incense burning and a big statue of an elephant and also a goat statue. there they get powder and put it on their foreheads and sometimes their neck. Some people put just a dot in between their eyebrows, and other people put it in a line above their eyebrows. I'm not sure what the difference is and what the meaning of it is. Unfortunately no one could really explain in English so i could only observe. And then going out there were other statues of elephants that they would say a prayer to. It was all very interesting. I was walking around with one boy who was a Christian, so it was interesting to see how he didn't do what all the other boys were doing, and so the other boys asked him and I why we didn't participate, so we were able to share that we love Jesus. It wasn't much but it's a little something! All in all it was a very good experience. I'm really going to miss those boys soo much!
The girls are having their Christmas show this Saturday! They invite their families (most girls have at least one parent, some have both), and friends. It will probably be around 80 people there! It should be fun! the girls will be performing 3 dances, which they have been practicing for a long time! Also, the two oldest girls will be hosting the show, and one girl will be giving her testimony. I'm really looking forward to it!

So, we've been very busy! We will be leaving on the 20th to go to Bangalore and then flying on the 22nd! I am sooo excited to get home, cook, eat American food, see people, celebrate Christmas, and so much more! I will really miss the kids so much though! I plan to keep in contact with them. I do really want to come back at some point in the future!

Alright, well i should get going! I miss you all and thanks for reading! I'll try to post at least once more before i leave! Please be praying for safe travels, and health as well, since i have not yet fully recovered from the worms :/ !

Love,
Delia