Distance makes the heart grow fonder

Hello dear friends,

This week I am writing to you being short of my other half! Nick has left for the week to go to a different part of India with our supervisor for a training. It is such a GREAT opportunity for him and I am so excited that he is getting to do this. Plus, he most likely needs a man trip...we together about 24/7 so..I'm just saying! Tonight is night #2 away from him; I am not going to lie..I'm not all that fond of it, but it is doable for now. It is crazy to look back and think that for almost a year now we have been basically inseparable. We quit our jobs last summer, traveled, went to training, and then came to India. No wonder I am having all of these crazy emotions as this truly feeling like our first trip apart. I never think about how we used to be at work all day and then come home and go to bed; only having our evenings together. With his absence I have had ample to time to be so thankful that the Lord has allowed this season in our lives. He has allowed us to constantly be together and for the most part, haha, it not to grow old. I can never imagine not living and working with my best friend! It is hard to think that in a year or so when we go back to the States that this aspect of our lives will come to an end. I can't go with him everywhere and share the same job. So, I have put that as far as it can go in the back of my head! As I have been home here alone I have become very amused at all the things I rely on Nick to do that I now have to do for myself...i.e..killing MONSTER spiders, toting my bottom to town b/c I am not a fan of public transportation here, turning off the a/c in the middle of the night so that it doesn't run forever, checking the bed for spiders, handling e-mails, and and sadly the list goes on. You are probably wondering, "emily, what do you actually do that nick doesn't,?"...good question. cook and clean is the only thing that comes to my mind, ahah! I am so thankful that he has this trip, but I will be so thankful when he is home. Needless to say, I have never hated or dreaded to go to sleep this much b/c he is not here! It is good though, so many things I am learning about myself and just being here by myself in India. Praise Jesus for Kari, my supervisor's wife. She is wonderful and has been checking on my emotional stability, haha!! She is so dear to me. So, this is my heart today and I wanted to share it with you! I will update more soon!

Pita Bread Recipe

1 tbsp. yeast
1 1/4 c. warm water
1 tsp. salt
3-3 1/2 c. flour
1. Dissolve yeast in water for 5 minutes
2. Add salt & 1 1/2 c. of the flour -combine & beat to make batter
-add additional flour until a rough, shaggy mass is formed
-knead for 8 minutes; until dough is smooth and elastic (add more flour if dough is too sticky)
3. Turn dough onto lightly floured surface-divide into 6 pcs. (for large pitas) or 10 for smaller
4. Form dough into balls---then flatten with rolling pin into 1/4 in. thick discs
5. Let rest on floured surface for 30-40 mins.
6. Bake until golden brown at 425 F
(this recipe is from simplebites.net)

Biking and Baking

And I also made oatmeal-cinnamon muffins for breakfast. Yummy!

So excited to eat it!

Today, I ventured to make PITA BREAD!! It was fun I must admit. Watching them pop in the oven made my day.

Here is our local furniture row.

First nepali to climb mt. everest statue.( i think..don't quote me)

Common ways people travel. Women sit on the back of the bike...I don't know how they do it. We tried it once and fell over each time; those ladies must have some strong abs.

My super handsome biker stud!!

I know...too cool for words.

Hey friends,

We have been home for a little over the week; we have been whittling away on a media project so staying home as been required. It has been really good though; I have had time to catch up on things, catch up with my family, and to enjoy our home and friends! The other day we went to town on the bike and I took our little camera with my to snap what our town is like. When we ride into town there are always a few things guaranteed:

1. too many entertaining things people do (ex. kids using the side of the road as a private bathroom..not necessarily entertaining..but it still gets me sometimes)

2.Coming very close, if not nipping the side of a rickshaw, etc.

3. Nailing the back of Nick's helmet with mine (I am still learning good balance on the bike)

4. Not holding on/paying attention so when he has to gun it to get through traffic I have to grab for dear life! (a bit exaggerated)

5.My (and nick's) forearms get burned b/c it is so stinkin' hot

Part of this post it dedicated to my sister. She wanted to see our super awesome helmets we have (sorry sis, the lightning bolt helmet was taken by someone else yesterday) so this one is equally as cool, sort of.! enjoy sister.

Lots of rain...rain...rain..and more rain

Above: here is what the front steps/porch looks like at a church service here; or anywhere actually a lot of people are gathered!
Above: this is the view from where we slept. This has yet to get old...I see this and I am in awe that I get to wake up to it.
Above: everyone in these surrounding villages have their own fish ponds. It's great; it helps them with their food sources and they can raise them up in a healthy environment. They have a lot of good things figured out here.
Below: Nick with our teammate Pete. We all do a lot of traveling together and such good times are had!
Below: everyone here farms. In front of this house, this field consists of ginger. All of it is fresh and organic!! We love it!

These past few days we traveled out with a teammate and our national partner. It was up in the hills, about 2.5 hr taxi ride from our home. It was great because it was nice and cool so it called for fleece to come out of our closet. Yet, it rained, and rained, and rained. We had to travel off the beaten path a good ways; I'm really not sure if you could even call it a road! By the time we made it to actual paved roads I told Nick that all of my insides had been completely jarred! It was a great time for us thought!

Elephant

Our partner and his family. (((they gave us beef!!!)))
Above: He built his house on stilts to avoid the elephants tearing up their house.
Above: Yes....the footprint of the elephant. I know that I have seen elephants in zoos, etc...but this just seemed ground breaking (no pun intended) to us!!

So, there are a few topics that I would like to cover in this posting. First..the smell of grass. Nick and I were riding the motorcycle on the way to a partner's house today for lunch. He lives about 1 hr. away and it is outside of the city. This was new territory for us. As we were riding, this magnificent smell that I caught took me back about 10-12 yrs...truly. It was the smell of fresh cut grass and I don't know what else. It took me back to when I was so young and summertime. I was out of school and I knew that bedtime was not definite and the sun went down so late. The memories of laying in the grass after my dad cut it...of my mom cooking awesome meals in the kitchen...and having no idea that I would be having that exact same feeling half a world away. As we are approaching our 6 month mark here on the field, I am still amazed at all of the little things that remind of of things from home that I have not remember/thought about for SO long! When I first has this flash back I immediately tried to think of something else due to the fear of only being able to think of how far away home felt at that point...but indeed the Lord delivered me straight from there. He allowed me to feel so incredibly thankful that I had an opportunity to remember that part of my childhood...and how thankful that I get to catch that same smell of fresh cut grass in the summer time here. I know that this probably sounds petty or minute in the big scheme of life...but it was pretty important to me today. God has been and is continually good and faithful to us here. How He has allowed us to live out our lives here in this part of the world.

Okay..so 2nd story!!! As we were walking to our partner's house (this is towards a thick forested area apparently) we start to see these HUGE holes in the ground. Our partner presumed to tell us how a wild elephant came through the village last night and ram-sacked the house that we were passing!!! Craziness!! He said that especially during the monsoon season the elephants will come into the village every night looking for food.

Catching up

Hm. Mold seems to be a growing issue in our house these days. It is monsoon season and we live on the ground floor, so...it can just be nasty. These are nick's shoes after he wiped them down a few days earlier. It is so crazy.
This is a keera shop. This is a traditional Bhutanese dress. I would wear a different top of course, but it was a great shop. And this is one of teammates who travels with us time to time.

Hi friends,

Life here is good. We have been here and there a lot. Friends from different parts of the country have been passing through our town, so we have been greatly occupied. It has been so greatly refreshing seeing our really good friends from the States. We have had a wonderful 4th of July. This was a big holiday in my family so I was a little worried about really missing home on this day. Yet, the Lord is so good. Indeed I missed seeing my family but the Lord provided me with great company on this day on this side of the world. We had a pool party along with hamburgers, hotdogs, corn, potato salad, ice cream, etc. So wonderful!!!

Enjoy the pictures.