We have arrived!!!

Well, we arrived in Chennai, India at around 11:30 pm on January 2, 2008. We had quite an interesting start to our trip. Even though we learned of this adventure 7 months ago I of course stayed up well past midnight to put the final preparations on the house and finishing the packing. Ted teased me that we could have easily moved in July if I did all that work in 5 hours! Needless to say I was exhausted by the time we left our house. We rented a 12 passenger van to haul us: 3 kids, 2 adults, 1 dog, 1 dog crate and 23 bags! We drew a more than a few looks while pulling up to the airport and unloading. Checking in went slowly, there was some form that the airlines said they needed for Millie but finally they agreed to let her on as we said the form was waiting in India for us. Then we all had to head through security. While the security officer was examining Millie’s kennel he tilted it sideways which made her water bottle started leaking. I leaned down to fix it and got in trouble as once the security exam is begun….hands off! Oops, now I know. I claimed ignorance and apologized and didn’t wind up in jail!

The kids (and me too!) were a bit nervous for the first leg of our trip. We flew from Chicago to Frankfort Germany. The kids decided they liked business class. We met a lovely couple on the plane who were from Indianapolis and were moving to England for an ISE assignment. It was great to talk to another mom who was experiencing what I was going through. I am looking forward to sharing emails.

When we arrived in Chennai the customs process went very quickly. I had to use the restroom and reminded myself when in India BYOTP (Bring your own toilet paper! Then we claimed our luggage and found Millie! She was scared but was in good spirits. They had let her out in Germany for a bit so she wasn’t cramped for too long. Then we walked out of the airport. I wish I had had my camera out as when an Indian leaves the country the whole family brings them and sees then. Our driver Baskar gave me a beautiful bouquet of flowers. They loaded up our luggage and we headed to our new home. The ride to the house was quite. India is very dark at night and seemed quite intimidating to our kids. But the moment we pulled into the house they were ecstatic. The house is very beautiful especially at night with all the lights on. They ran through the house and explored and stayed up most of the night! They finally headed to bed around 3 am and slept until 11 am. The boys were quite sad when they woke up as Chennai certainly does not look like Princeville. Things turned around when Noah and Harry (boys from New York who live behind our home) stopped by to meet Mason, Logan and Emily. They are quite thrilled to have friends right by our home. We have a basketball goal so they have been busy shooting hoops. The kids have also enjoyed playing with the gardeners’ children. Even Millie is enjoying playing with the gardeners’ dog Scooby (a german shepherd looking dog).

We ventured out yesterday to the grocery store, meat store and the fruit store. Mason thinks the store is better that he imagined. That was encouraging! It was interesting to see the kids reaction as we drove through the city in the daylight.

I discovered that our maid has 1 hen with 4 baby chicks on our property. That was an awesome discovery! If only I could find her eggs…oh well, maybe I need to get a few more hens! There are goats right across the street and a few cows as well. We discovered we had coconut trees (the gardeners shinnied up the tree and picked one for us yesterday), papaya, and banana trees. So far no snakes have been found! The pool has a few more weeks (hopefully not months). It has been fun to watch the progress on the pool.

On Sunday we went to church. It was an amazing experience. People from all over the world were in one building worshiping Jesus Christ! It was exiting to see so many different nationalities. The church has around 300-400 people so they are going to do a church plant (hopefully closer to us).

We walked to the beach and watched the waves. We are only about 1 ½ blocks from the beach. The kids splashed in the waves. The waves are quite big and there is quite an undertow so they will probably never swim…plus it is pretty polluted. It is a shame as India is very tropical and could be so pretty if they didn’t throw trash everywhere. There were many Indians walking and playing along the beach. I was brought to tears when this adorable Indian boy walking with his parents ran up to me and handed me a flower he had picked. The kids couldn’t figure out why this brought tears to my eyes. I asked, “would you ever run and give a strange woman a flower?” I am so touched by the warmth of the people.

Today Millie was given her first Indian bath. Sarahsutta (not sure of correct spelling) the maid has been asking about giving Millie a bath. I just kept saying sometime. Well, today I purchased a bucket for her to have fresh water outside. I was quite proud of myself when I was able to fill the bucket and carry it by myself...no one ran and offered to carry it as no one saw me! But, Sarahsutta saw the bucket and assumed it was bathday for Millie. So I got the shampoo and Millie got the cleanest ever! So tomorrow I am off for another bucket...

The kids begin school in the morning. They are excited. It will be interesting to see how different school is and how they adjust. They really like the school today and have met several kids already.

Our adventure is on and we are anxious to see what continues to happen!