The Act of Leaving

The act of leaving the orphanage was as tough as the forecast in our minds and hearts made it out to be. We spent some quality time with all of the kids. Maya is now sick with whatever ailment is going around. We thought she might escape it, but she had a fever yesterday and was not feeling well at all. It took one of the other children a couple of days to get over the sickness, so I imagine Maya will still be feeling bad today. With Maya not feeling well, it gave us more time to interact with the other children there. We played with and said our good byes to Lie-Lie, and to Rogeseri. It also allowed Maya's caretaker to spend some more time with Maya. She must have been feeling overwhelmed with bitter-sweet emotion knowing it was Mays's last day. I understood her telling Rogeseri that Maya was going to leave with us and that she would be riding in a plane and going a great distance. Rogeseri seemed to understand and stayed closer than usual to Maya for the rest of the time.

Right before we left, our liaison came into the orphanage and I asked him about taking the others with us too (I had to ask). He told me that was not possible and explained to me how the adoption selection process worked in the country. Not even the Ministry knows the placement process. It is all kept secret and is done in a sequence with 3 straight panels of selection members. Only after all three panels have seen and reviewed possible matches, does the final placement (Maya with Staci and I) go to the Ministry for final approval. He did say that expects to see us back there in 2011!!

Trilok was able to interpret for us, mainly Staci, as we talked to the caregiver and asked some final questions. We wanted to make certain that she understood our appreciation and respect that we had for her for taking care of those children, giving them her love, with no strings, knowing that she would be heartbroken to lose them time after time. She is a very special lady. As it was time to go her eyes filled with tears, undoubtedly tears of heatbreak and of happiness with no distinction between the two. The strangest thing happened with little Rogeseri. Once again, she knew what was going on. I don't know how, but I know for certain that she knew. We said our goodbyes and Rogeseri grabbed my hand, led us to the door, pointed outside to our shoes and pushed me out the door. She looked for a moment, and then turned, grabbed the hand of the caretaker, and led her back into the children's room. It was one of the sweetest things that I have every seen, or been a part of. I will miss that little child, but at least for now, she has her caretaker - and - her caretaker has her.

It was hard on Staci in the moments that followed, but I had already cried all my tears while writing the original blog. It seems that this is somewhat theraputic.....who would have guessed. I want to thank you all for reading these posts and for staying close to our family even as we are so far away from home. We appreciate and are encouraged by your comments and look forward to hearing from those of you who respond. We love you and we miss you.

2 years going on 16

Loved ones -

The blog entry is neither about Nepali culture, about our adventures in the streets, (though a blog is coming about that) nor is it about Maya. Today I want to tell you about a little two year old girl who is in the orphanage in the area that Maya is in. This little girl will pull on your heartstrings so hard that it will tear your heart right out of your chest.

Rojeseri (pronounced just as it is spelled here) is about 25 months old. Some of you who have seen pictures of Maya might recognize Rojeseri as one of the boys in the picture. They keep their hair cut short, but this kid is all girl! At two years of age, she is the oldest one in her section and has chosen her roll out of love, not necessity, though necessity is surely what has prompted her decision. She is not a typical two year old girl given to games and careless fun. She is a watchdog for the others, more than a big sister, yet not quite a mother. Rogeseri is the last to eat, to play, to drink, and to sleep. She does not talk much, but she understands the language and has the ability to assess a situation and create a functioning roll for herself in it. For example, in the beginning of our journeys to the orphanage, she realized quickly that her caretaker was trying to pursuade Maya to interact with us. This little girl would interact with Staci and I and then go over and get Maya, calling her by name and try to get her to mimick what was being done. When Maya would begin interaction, Rogeseri would quickly and selflessly move to the sidelines and observe. When we bring snacks for the children, Rogeseri may be the first to take a snack, but turns and feeds it to one of the other children. Once they all have some, she might take one for herself. One of the most obvious displays was when the caretaker told Maya in Nepali (we pick up on phrases etc) to go sit on Mamu's (moma's) lap. Rogeseri waited, observed Maya's reservation and then acted by tapping Maya on the shoulder, calling her by name and then going over and sitting on Staci's lap, then patting the other side motioning for Maya to come over. She knows where the cloth rags (diapers) are kept and how to fold them into diapers. She knows when the other children have to go to the bathroom and alerts as to that in order to help in the potty training process. She is amazing and it is not something that has been prompted or taught by her caregiver.

Make no mistake about it, this little girl wants the love and affection that she is giving up for the bennefit of the others. She is a lover. After the other children are finished and/or doing something else, she will come over and sit in our laps, let us hold her, and play with her. She smiles all the time and has an inner joy and peace about her that could only come from God. This little girl will probably never live a childhood, and may never know what a helper and influence that she is her situation. Staci and I will pray for her often and probably wonder how her life went, for the rest of ours. I just wish we could help her - I wish we could help them all. I don't want to leave her behind and know that it will break her heart when we take Maya with us, though something deep inside of me knows that she already knows that we are going to taker her which will be just another glad sacrafice - a deeper sacrafice - that she will make.

Today is the last day we will ever see her. We are getting Maya tomorrow - two days early. I want you to know that Maya is going to be okay. We are bringing her home with us and to all of you where she will be loved, and be "brought up the way she should go".

So today, this is my request for you - my earnest and honest plea. Do not pray for us. Do not pray for Maya. Please please direct your prayers for the little ones that we are leaving behind because I just don't know how we are going to walk away from there today.

A "splash" of progress

Greetings loved ones.

I will make this entry delightedly brief.

Yesterday, we went to see Maya at the orphanage. We were late because our driver didn't come to pick us up. I had a feeling this might happen because the day before, he called to the orphanage and said that he would be one hour late! I was not too happy about that because we had timed our progress with Maya based on an hour earlier. We saved our best till the end, and then figured out that we had 3 more innings yet to play!

We arrived at the orphanage almost two hours late, but still had plenty of time there. It was our best day there so far. We came and she was not displeased to see us. She was accepting when we offered her some wheat thin crakers that we brought with us. Of course we shared with the other children too. She seems to like things that are salty. We played ball, we played hide n go seek, and we looked at things on the wall. At one time, Staci even had her riding on my back as I was on all fours (only after one of the other children had done it and expressed great joy of course).

Our little Maya is an acrobat! We watched as she climbed inside of a small swining type crib and ballanced herself inside it. Then, she got on the rail of it balancing the whole time and THEN she turned around backward, facing out toward us and just swung back and forth and grinned. She even remained balanced as another little girl climbed up beside her on the rail and turned around too! There they were, the amazing toddling acrobats of Nepal..........I'm thinking maybe a branson show?? Just kidding.

All of this play and licking the salt of of all the wheat thins before handing them off to the other children has made Maya very thirsty. She discovers the water bottle in the side of my backpack and eagerly climbs in my lap to pursuade me that she should have some. So, I looked for approval from the caretaker and with a nod, I had the lid off and was pouring some into her mouth. Once again, sharing with others who wanted a drink. Maya was disatisfied with the technique she was using to drink and began to experiment with different ways to extract the water from the bottle. She decided on a full lips around the whole mouth of the bottle technique would be best for her. It was working out okay until she also decided that she should hold the bottle while inverting it in this way to drink. This is a similar technique to that which she uses with the sippy cups and bottles. All was well until she was finished with her drink and then pulled the bottle away from her lips. Well, the bottle was far from empty, and there was nothing to block it from spilling out all over her face and head. Before I could react, she had doused her entire face and head with water and was reeling from it! Staci and the caretaker were laughing so hard, they were not much help, so she had to turn to me. She was very taken back by this as you could imagine. She began to sputter and cough and rub her face in my chest. She frantically wiped at her face until she could see again. When she was finally able to catch her breath, she was very much finished with the water. She never cried once throughout the process. We took her wet clothes off and cleaned up the water. We discovered that she likes being shirtless and patted her belly with joy at her temporary freedom.

Can't wait to see what today has in store. As always. Thank you for the prayers - you are in ours. We love you!!

Marc and Staci

Nepali Culture, Food, and Living......an inside look

Greetings friends and family.

It is Thursday here and we are once again waiting to go and spend time at the orphanage. Yesterday we took miss Maya to get her passport picture taken. It was our first day without a guide or being with anyone who spoke English. We will spend the next four days in similar circumstances as our liaison is also a prominent lawyer here in Nepal. He is the lead person in a conference for......something and will be facilitating there today and tomorrow. People don't do much on Saturday and Sunday here, so we are on our own for a while. We will be going to the orphanage daily to see Maya. On Monday, we will be back in touch with our liaison and on Tuesday we will go to the Ministry here to have Maya "handed over" officially. Then she will come back with us. We are anxious to interact with her in an environment that is not so diminished and controlled. The orphanage is what it is and they have taken great care of Maya so far. We are very grateful to them for the work they do. The only sad thing will be leaving the other children behind. They are all wonderful and we would take them all if we could.

Shifting gears back to Tuesday night. We were the lucky recipients of a welcome meal from the Holt organization over here. It was a little bit awkward because we were the only family over here to be welcomed, and there is only one Holt worker over here - you guessed it, who just happens to also be the same person who is our liaison. It was just the three of us.

I could not have imagined there being anyone else, but the way he and Holt made it sound, it was going to be quite the ordeal. I am sure that it was when there were four other families here plus other Holt representatives from the US. We were neither let down, nor relieved when we found out it was just going to be the three of us. One good thing is that there would be less people there to judge my picky eating habits and Staci's queasy stomach. One bad thing is that they would become a whole lot more noticeable.

He came to pick us up at the Hotel at 7:00pm. Everything looks very different at night. The dangerous traffic situation becomes amplified as vision is decreased and limited to headlights, car horns, and human silhouettes passing by in the darkness. The restaurant where we ate was exclusively Nepali cuisine and was in a large building that was over 150 years old. We learned that the mansion we were in used to be one of the Kings' palace. Our Hotel is across from "the king's palace". It turns out that different Kings stayed in different locations as they wished.

As we came up the stairs, we took off our shoes and places them in a hallway with many other shoes, though none seemed quite as big as my size 14's. Some of the older children at the orphanage seemed to take notice of the size of my shoes as I looked out the door and saw two boys struggling to lift them over their heads in some sort of boyish feat of strength. I said in a calm and teasing voice - "Hey, those are my shoes." They dropped them and ran off. Back to the restaurant though. When we entered, we went through many rooms of people dining and were greeted by many people with the traditional praying hands short bow that they use as a greeting here. It is sometimes awkward to greet someone here, especially a man, as their custom is to do the bow. They do not touch in their greetings, yet when they see that I am American, they know that we shake hands and many of them welcome the chance to get to do so. I never know what to expect, so I have both mediums of greeting ready at all times.

I realize that I am tall - in some places taller than others, but when we walked into the restaurant, something was out of proportion, even for me. Everyone was sitting on the ground! IN CHAIRS!! It was as if someone took and cut the legs off of a traditional dining chair and left the seat and seat back there. The tables were also cut down to a height of no more than 12 inches. Being seated was a show in itself as people watched me coil my body down under this tiny table and tried to stabilize myself in this chair. I thought to myself in Jesus' time, they reclined to eat meals and in Nepal, they sat in partially constructed chairs and ate at half tables. No problem! (Deep Breath) In-the-meantime, our liaison and Holt welcome team (of one) excused himself to freshen up for dinner. We were exposed like an escaped convict caught in a spotlight. Two men rushed to our table and poured liquid into tiny silver cups that looked like candle stick holders (no more than a half of an ounce) from steaming silver teapots. Their pouring motion started close to the cup and then ended high, maybe 3 and a half feet, above the cup without spilling any of it. Very impressive! The drink itself was less than impressive however! It was some kind of boiling lemony 90% proof alcohol! The smell hit us like a ton of bricks bombarding our noses! IT was awful and unavoidably potent. Ammonia fumes have NOTHING on whatever this was. Trilock came back from the restroom and noticed the lemon fire bearers had been to our table. This lead to the most amazing opportunity - a God moment.

He asked us about what we wanted to drink besides this stuff. I told him that we didn't drink alcohol. He seemed floored by this. His eyebrows raised and his voice heightened as he continued to ask, "never"? I said no, that we never drink, drank, or will drink. He hesitantly continued and asked why. I was able to tell him that drinking was not a part of the Godly lifestyle that we were trying to live. He asked what religion, what God. I said "The God". He asked if our parents drank, and I proudly told him no. He shared with us that he did not drink either, and that he had never drank, and never would drink. He said that it was rare that he EVER ran across someone like this and instantly a bond was made and a mutual respect was formed. He said that he had studied religions in his schooling. It was something that he was very interested in. He went on to talk about the good that he tried to take from all of the religions that he had studied, but there were just some that there didn't seem to be any good in, though he did not name them by name. It was a great conversation. If any of you want to know the details, just ask and I will be happy to share them with you. Needless to say when we ordered drinks, he ordered a Nepali type soft lemon drink and Staci and I both ordered SPRITE. YES good ole American Sprite! The perfect anictdote to wash down any foreboding flavor!

I was crossing my fingers as the first dishes came out. They were to serve every Nepali traditional food in several courses in sequences that they called "sets". The first dish was popcorn. A handful of popcorn on a small silver plate the size of an ash tray. I told him Americans ate this with butter and salt when they went to see movies, or sporting events like baseball. The concept alluded our host so we moved on. The second dish consisted of some potatoes. They looked like normal peeled, cut, boiled then broiled potatoes. I was excited as I took a bit. Then the cumin, curry, and ??? other native unidentifiable flavors hit me. I ate one more and looked forward to the next dish. It was some kind of bean soup. I was very worried when I thought that I heard Trilock (our host) say that it was "fish eyes" - LOOK OUT! WE JUST ENTERED SOME KIND OF INDIANA JONES MOVIE NIGHTMARE!!! Staci and I eventually decided that he was trying to say pea size, not fish eyes, as the items in the bowl were not peas or fish. They were very small and assorted beans, though the fish eyes mishap was a curve ball that added an extra caution to the rest of the meal.

The courses of the meals were accompanied by traditional Nepali dances. A group of musicians came in playing native instruments - flute, box organ (accordion like) bells, tambourine, drums, cymbals, and voices. Each dance had one male and one female dancer who were dressed in tradition to the hilt. In the two hours we were there, we saw four traditional dances. Each had different music, different beats, and different dress. It was nice to be able to sit there and soak up some of their culture. These are the things that we will be able to share with Maya someday.

We finished up the meal with main courses of rice, something they called chicken, and other assorted meats and vegetables including small pieces of fried fishes, and a spinach type concoction. The chicken was foreign and the reason is - I think that it was goose meat as I saw many dead featherless gooses hanging from shop windows on the streets! Oh well, I was able to try many of the things and Staci ate some other things. All in all, we survived the native cuisine and had a good time, even if it was just the three of us. Pastor Josh - Staci and I ask that you consider that our "lifegroup" meeting for the month!

Once we venture out into the city on foot in the next couple of days, I am sure that we will have more to write about the culture and daily lifestyle. Until then, we wish you well, and our prayers are with you!

Dodging Darts BUT! Settling in.

Staci and I woke up this morning feeling more settled and prepared to conquer the day. It is currently 9:45 am here in Nepal. I will try to give a good update from the last blog.

Our flight into Kathmandu was lovely. May I just say that the airline that we were on is the complete opposite of the airlines that operate domestic flights back home in the US - and I mean that in a good way! The service is wonderful and airline staff treat people with respect and kindness. That was a welcome change from the airport a LAX.

The mountains were spectacular. I have never seen anything like it, and the pictures don't do them justice. As we were flying in, we could see the cloud floor below us, and out in front of us AND ABOVE US, ABOVE THE CLOUDS, we could see the mountains. We could not see the ground, and we could not see the bottom of the mountains. For those of you who have been to the Rockies, it would be like if you took the mountain range and elevated the base of the mountains to cloud level. We are truly and quite literally on top of the world.

Time moved backward by decades the moment we landed at the airport here. There was one airstrip. Entering the terminal was like something that seemed more 195's train station, than international airport. The ammenities were something that you might find in a busy post office in the late 50's! No more computers, no more technology, only hand written forms picked up from old round wooden and glass tables. Fill the form out, stand in the line, and get our travel VISA. That easy, that quick. We were in and out in 15 minutes or less. There were two monitor screens in the whole airport with flight information. They looked like a small television set that one might pick up at a garage sale in the late 80's. All of this, and yet things functioned handily - hmmmmnn - imagine that.

After our luggage was lost in LA, we were worried about it, but it all came out the pike, and on the conveyer. We walked outside the airport and were told to look for someone holding a sign with the name of our hotel on it. There he was, good as clockwork, with the sign across a busy street. I made eye contact with him and that was all it took. He began yelling and a small man made a mad dash across the street and took over our cart of baggage. From there is was like frogger crossing our way over. I was worried about the man as he couldn't see over the top of the cart piled high with 8 bags! He managed not to get hit, but soon faced a second challenge. The rout to our van was down a steep decline and he got going to fast to stop the cart. As he was hurling down the hill, right past our van, skiing behind the cart, two more men helped him stop and steer the cart back to the van. I tipped him and he went running away to do it all over again with someone else.

To get to the hotel, we traveled through the heart of Kathmandu. My heart sank as the poverty was overwhelming. The mission trip in 08 to El Salvador didn't even hold a candle to what we saw. We have yet to journey out from our hotel, but that is on our list of things to do this week. When we got to the hotel, people were there ready for us. They finished getting our room ready and we went up to put our things away. The people here are very friendly and very helpful. In no time they had a baby bed brought into the room and set up for us. The room was different than wha either of us had expected, but you know how it is when you imagine something in your mind, it is most always different. It was very hot in our room, so they brought in a repair person to look at the AC. He said it was fine and left, but the heat kept rising - we would not complain, but it must have been about 85 degrees in there with no air movement. I got to know that mainanance man because I blew a breaker, a big breaker, trying to plug this computer into the wall so, he was back again to fix that. We ended up switching rooms to a cooler room the next morning, and I blew the breaker in that room too!! He smiled as he came through the door, I am sure wondering how many different rooms we were going to be destroying the electrical system in. Needless to say, as I am writing this, we obviously got the problem figured out.

The biggest shocker came the afternoon of our first day. Our liaison here called us in our room and said that we were going to go see Maya and that he would be in the lobby in 10 minutes to take us. TEN MINUTES!!! WE JUST GOT FINISHED WITH A MARATHON 26 HOUR TWO PLANE FLIGHT......AND WE WERE NOT SUPPOSED TO DO ANYTHING UNTIL TOMORROW MORNING. Of course we scrambled to change and get ready and met him in the lobby. He is a very nice and personable man who speaks moderate English. He took us to the orphanage. Hearts in our throats, we met the staff there and waited to see Maya. When they brought her in......words can't describe. Being emotionally mentally and phisically drained, there is nothing but raw experience and feeling left. I am not sure which "tank" we were operating off of at that time, but none that I had ever delved into before. Maya was less thrilled to see us than we were to see her. We were strange and different. Aliens to her I am sure. I don't think that she has seen many strangers, and may have not traveled outside of the orphanage. She is used to a couple of care takers and that is it - that is all that she has ever known. She sobbed as Staci held her which was tramatic for all of us. Then, we went upstairs to where she lives, to a place more familiar to her. We saw many children and met the children that she lives with on a daily basis. She stayed very close to her caretakers and was skiddish. By the end of the time there, we had made some slow progress and I got to hold her without her crying as she was elevated to a height in the room that she had never been before and was curious about touching the things that she had always looked at on the wall. We got a few smiles and she reached out for us as we left.

The next day we spent more time at the orphanage. When we arrived, she was sleeping. When she came into the room where we were from her nap, she was less than pleased to see us....again. "what were these people doing back here - two days in a row!" Progress was slow and there were more tears. It actually made us feel better to see some others from the orphanage try to touch her and pick her up. She didn't want them either - only her caretaker. We made some progress by working and playing with some of the other kids. One girl is two years old and knows and loves Maya and calls out her name. She was eager to meet and interact with us. Through interacting with her, and some food Maya likes, we were able to sit down and get closer to Maya, feeding her with our fingers. Eventually she found her way to Staci's lap with smiles and joy. The trust is starting! Staci was plenty happy about this, and I got some pictures with Maya in Staci's lap. We will try to post later tonight. We are getting ready to go to the orphanage again. This time for five hours.

We will see what the day holds. We will update again soon and tell you more about Nepali culture and our experience with it last night. Please feel free to skype us if you have skype at marcandstaci. We can call, or video call from there. You can leave voice messages there as well.

Until then......thank you for your prayers as you are in ours.

Marc and Staci.

It is Monday morning in Bankock and we are waiting on our connecting flight into Kathmandu Nepal. I have been a few places, but I have never been this far away from home before. Outside from outer space, I am not sure one can get any further from home than we are now. Home - that word takes on new meaning for us now. Some people say home is where the heart is. In that case, we are torn in two. Home is back with all of you, but it is also with Maya. Actualy, is isn't quite that complicated. Staci and I said from day one that home is, and always would/ will be ANYWHERE that we were together as long as we were in God's perfect will. That is the end of it - who could argue with that. I guess when Staci comes back from the restroom that we will be "home" again by that definition.

We will write more later. Until then - God Bless and keep you all....and thank you for the prayers.

Leavin' On A Jet Plan

Greetings from LA! We made it in last night after a rocky start to our trip. God has been very gracious to us though. Our flight was delayed leaving Springfield, so we had 25 minutes from the time the plane landed in Denver to get across the airport and board our connecting flight to LA. We made it but our luggage didn't. We were able to get our luggage today at LAX and everything is in tact, so like we said - God has richly blessed us.

Please continue to pray for our health, our luggage, our remaining flights, and of course Miss Maya and her transition time. We fly out of LA tonight to Thailand, then take a connecting flight to Kathmandu.

We would like to thank everyone for the calls, well wishes, coming to airport to see us off, and most importantly for your prayers. We are so truly blessed.

When we post again, we'll be in Kathmandu! :)