This post is a few days late but is in honor of my Mom for “Mother’s Day”. I was blessed with an amazing Mom. I realize that is a blessing. Being a Mom is not easy. I have written many posts on my blog in the last couple of years about her. She went to Heaven almost two years ago. My Mom was gifted at many things and one thing that I appreciated about her so much is that she would play with me. I know that sounds so simple, but in this busy world we live in I think it is very significant. She was 43 years old when I was born and so people often assumed that she was my Grandma. This never bothered me. In fact…I didn’t really realize my Mom was about 20 years older than most of my friend’s Moms until I was a teenager. She and my Dad had already mostly raised my 4 siblings and so I am sure I must of rocked their world quite a bit at ages 43 and 47!

She would let me help her in the kitchen, read books with me, teach me how to play the piano and how to sew. She would make certain foods because she knew I liked them. She would sit down on the ground and play dolls with me…creating fun voices and imaginary lands. She would build snowmen with me (as you can see in the picture).

I have so many amazing memories of my Mom. I looked through loads of pictures trying to find one for this post. I chose the one above because it shows we were simply having fun together. She took the time to be with me.

I feel I never have the time to be with my kids like I want. I am so ready for them to go to bed at night and then after it has been quiet for 30 minutes I start thinking of all the things I wish I would of done with them. I should have layed with Hava longer, read one more story to Acacia, played cars for a few more minutes with Tolan, not gotten so frustrated that I had to ask them 5 times to brush their teeth!

Regardless of my feelings of inadequecy as a Mom I felt very honored on Mother’s Day. I woke up to lots of special notes and drawings from three precious little ones and my sweet husband gave me a beautiful necklace with my name written in Arabic (something I regretted not getting while in Qatar). We went to church together and shared lunch with friends.

I was blessed to have an amazing Mother for 35 years. I am equally blessed to have been called “Mom” for the past 8.

Something really great started over 20 years ago which turned into an exciting and adventure filled marriage that has now reached it’s 16 year mark. Happy Anniversary to the man I share my life with and have no regrets.

I love you David.

Thank you for 16 incredible years together. I am so thankful to walk this life beside you. I praise God that I get to call YOU my husband.

I was so blessed last week with the visit of two dear friends who travelled from Doha to Delhi to visit our family but also lead a Ladies Conference! It was a blessing just looking forward to their visit and then to have them here was just plain wonderful! They were SUCH great sports and up for every adventure they faced in India….and there were plenty.

Gena worked her magic and blessed and encouraged us at the Ladies Conference. What started as a little email saying she would be willing to come to India if we ever needed a speaker turned into an awesome weekend of blessings and fun. 

Thanks to my incredibly sweet friend Wendi I have pictures to share from their time with us. Of course we went out for Indian food and we found a winner at The Spice Route in Delhi. Yum. Amazing murals throughout the restaurant and some amazing food being served.   Can’t remember the names of each thing we ordered but you can be assured each one was delicious.

Gena spent one evening sharing about “Godly Parenting” and that was awesome. New friends were made and, once again, so amazing to see how God brings people together. 

You can’t come to India and not go shopping! Gena and Wendi at Dilli Haat in Delhi….a favorite place to shop.

Wendi took some fun shots around campus while getting “the tour”. Our school is very into recycling (which is great) and we have some unique plant holders around campus. I think these ones are pretty fun. 

Hava with our school mascot….the tiger.

I am so very grateful for Gena and Wendi. They are two ladies who have impacted my life in deep ways. Their friendship, influence, generosity and love has blessed me. We had such a fun weekend together and I didn’t even mention the Bollywood show we went to! So fun!

 Our precious girls had their first ballet performance this past Sunday and they did awesome. We were proud parents. It was fun watching them have so much fun on stage. They have been able to take ballet with some of their good friends and that has made it very special for them and us too!  

How incredibly cute are they!?!

After the performance we headed home in a hot taxi for the “after party”.

That meant swimming!

Thankful for little girls in ballerina dresses (of course Degas painted ballerinas…they are beautiful!) and for good friends!

David and I recently finished a 7 day juice fast. We have done fasts in the past for spiritual and physical reasons but this was the longest one either of us have done. This one was purely an effort to “change our tastebuds” and start eating better. It was great doing it together as we could encourage one another and share the time and effort it takes to juice 3 meals a day for 7 days! David’s favorite juice was the one you see in the picture above…kale, lemon, celery, green apple, ginger and cucumber. My favorite had to be carrot, apple and ginger OR carrot and orange.  The hardest thing for me to give up for the week was definitely coffee! David almost convinced me that “Ginger is the new coffee”.

It was a good experience to have together. Not sure I would have made it the full 7 days on my own. Fasting for that amount of time truly does re-set your tastebuds and leaves you desiring healthy foods more than before!

The documentary that inspired us was http://www.fatsickandnearlydead.com/

Interesting and inspiring.

This guy did a juice fast for 60 days and lost something like 80 lbs.!

We had family come visit for our Spring Break…yippee! David, Malika and Sarah (my brother and sister-n-law and niece) came from Dubai to see us and India! For the first part of their visit ‘my David’ was in Greece at a conference. He came back just in time to have a few days at the end with all of us.

We packed in quite a few activities each day and still didn’t even begin to see everything! The weather has gotten warmer and has actually been over 100 degrees most of this past week!

We made a brief stop at Lodhi Gardens for some picturesque photos

After a few days in Delhi we took off, of course, to see the Taj Mahal! 

Foot shot of our “footies” that were mandatory to wear while walking inside and around the Taj Mahal.

Sarah and Hava looking back toward the main entrance gate…

Tolan was awake for his second visit to the Taj He slept through his whole first tour of the Taj a few months ago. 

The Yamuna River which runs behind the Taj Mahal…

Just to give some perspective of the size I took this shot of Malika looking at the details…

These were Indian Muslims in some fancy outfits having their photos taken…

Can’t visit the Taj Mahal and not get this shot!

This picture could go for one of those “most akward family photos”. We were trying to get a family picture and this little girl’s mom made her sit with us for a picture.

Tolan was hunting for treasures. Lots of little mirrors and sequence fall off of the ladies Indian outfits onto the ground and our kid’s loved collecting them.

Next stop was  Fatehpur Sikri’ which is a historical city built in the 1500′s. It was much bigger than I anticipated and really amazing.

This place is quite close to the Taj and worth a visit.

Cool building…

Love this…

Back to the pool at our hotel to cool off…

Next stop was the bustling city of Jaipur. The picture above is of the Hawa Mahal…which is one of the most recognizable buildings in Jaipur due to it’s interesting architecture.

Found this lady so interesting sitting up on the roof with her water watching the world go by…

This was in the morning and there were many vendors selling flowers for people to buy for their Hindu temples….

Before heading back to Delhi we stopped by the Amber Fort for an elephant ride to the top!

So many elephants!

There was quite a line for the elephant ride and so the vendors were happy for the time to sell us their goods.  Bargaining is the name of the game!

Finally heading up the hill in the long procession of elephants going to the top… Hava is under that blue umbrella.

Hava rode in between David and Malika and Sarah and I rode on another one with Acacia and Tolan….pretty wild experience.

Last time we were here we didn’t actually go inside of the Fort so it was interesting to see what was inside this time around. 

At the top….nice view!

We weren’t the only tourists at Amber Fort…

Group shot!

Other tourists…

I read somewhere that these gardens once grew saffron… not sure if they still do?Back in our van and having snacks we got to watch the elephants pass by our windows after they were done with their work for the day. It was kind of crazy and so fun for the kids!

The two David’s share a love of motorcycles and so once we were back in Delhi a trip to a local Royal Enfield shop was necessary. Royal Enfield motorcycle’s are the oldest motorcycle brand in the world that is still in production after beginning in 1890!

David with the owner who began this Royal Enfield shop in 1937!

Easter!

The kids decorated eggs

The final product…

We were able to go to church together Easter morning and then share some left-overs before David, Malika and Sarah had to head back to Dubai.  Heading to the airport in the classic Ambassador taxi…

Thanks so much for coming to see us David, Malika and Sarah! We loved having you here and sharing some Indian adventures together!

The weather in Delhi is wonderful right now!  The pollution and fog that rests over the city during the winter months seems to have cleared a bit and we have been enjoying being outside as much as possible. The campus is covered with beautiful flowers like the ones above.

We had family visit last weekend and the kids loved playing with their cousins! It was a long weekend as the Indian holiday of “Holi” was on Thursday so we were happy for the extra days to play and be together. 

It’s pretty amazing that we have family that live here in India also! They were on their way back home to another part of India and were able to hang out with us for a few days. 

Perfect playground weather!

This huge Banyan tree at the elementary playground is loved by all the kids.

Group shot…can you find 5 kids?

Reading before bed…sweet.

Thankful for times like these to make memories with family!