In August we returned “HOME,” for Nepal was now our true home. Home is where our heart is settled, "where God is" and where I am at rest with no desire to be elsewhere. Nepal was where we thought we would spend the rest of our lives.
We returned during the monsoon, with mud and mosquitoes everywhere. A week later, Bill tried to get to the village by bus with a friend and colleague. They made it almost the entire way but then were stopped by landslides because of the heavy rains. They were forced to leave the bus, and then walk back. After three days walking many miles through the mountains, they arrived very weary, with blisters and leeches. I pulled many leeches off of Bill’s legs especially. I was just grateful they made it back safely and alive.
While waiting for the monsoon rains to subside, the Lord opened up another house in Kathmandu for us to rent—one that didn’t have a muddy road to get to. Only the main roads were paved back then—with only one stoplight in the whole city. Things have changed dramatically since then, though the recent 2015 earthquakes have brought the city back to times gone by.
We were looking forward to being next door neighbors to our friends Dick and Edie Hugoniot, who had already been to visit us in the village. Our kids could now play together more often. David and Melinda, Jenny and Jonathan climbed over a makeshift ladder on the fence between yards. Bill made a swing for the kids in the front yard. You can see the fence they climbed in the photos.
Jenny and Melinda Hugoniot had both been due on Nov. 5th. Jenny was 5 days early with her C-section and Melinda 5 arrived days late. It had been fun and encouraging to share the pregnancy adventure with Edie. Here are two pics of Jenny and Melinda together, one at about a year and then their second and third birthdays together.
We also got a new vehicle, a little three wheel “put-putiya,” as you can see in the photo. The kids and I could sit in the back and there was space for others, or shopping items too. It was only for use in Kathmandu, not the village. It would never make it over those roads.
Getting back to the village was difficult. Bill first had to go to the border of Nepal-India (Nepal is an land-locked country) to get our shipment from the States—supplies for the next 3-4 years. They told him he needed a new import license and he would have to come again. Things that might be simple and straight forward in the US would require much more time and patience in Nepal. When he finally got to the village, he found everyone and everything well. God was there......
“God was there.” After the last blog a dear friend wrote of a similar experience to Jonathan's tongue bite with her own brother when she was only about 5. She said that it was one of those events that makes her look back and know, "God was there." I’ve had so many of those moments. God is here now. God has been so good.
We returned during the monsoon, with mud and mosquitoes everywhere. A week later, Bill tried to get to the village by bus with a friend and colleague. They made it almost the entire way but then were stopped by landslides because of the heavy rains. They were forced to leave the bus, and then walk back. After three days walking many miles through the mountains, they arrived very weary, with blisters and leeches. I pulled many leeches off of Bill’s legs especially. I was just grateful they made it back safely and alive.
While waiting for the monsoon rains to subside, the Lord opened up another house in Kathmandu for us to rent—one that didn’t have a muddy road to get to. Only the main roads were paved back then—with only one stoplight in the whole city. Things have changed dramatically since then, though the recent 2015 earthquakes have brought the city back to times gone by.
We were looking forward to being next door neighbors to our friends Dick and Edie Hugoniot, who had already been to visit us in the village. Our kids could now play together more often. David and Melinda, Jenny and Jonathan climbed over a makeshift ladder on the fence between yards. Bill made a swing for the kids in the front yard. You can see the fence they climbed in the photos.
Jenny and Melinda Hugoniot had both been due on Nov. 5th. Jenny was 5 days early with her C-section and Melinda 5 arrived days late. It had been fun and encouraging to share the pregnancy adventure with Edie. Here are two pics of Jenny and Melinda together, one at about a year and then their second and third birthdays together.
We also got a new vehicle, a little three wheel “put-putiya,” as you can see in the photo. The kids and I could sit in the back and there was space for others, or shopping items too. It was only for use in Kathmandu, not the village. It would never make it over those roads.
Getting back to the village was difficult. Bill first had to go to the border of Nepal-India (Nepal is an land-locked country) to get our shipment from the States—supplies for the next 3-4 years. They told him he needed a new import license and he would have to come again. Things that might be simple and straight forward in the US would require much more time and patience in Nepal. When he finally got to the village, he found everyone and everything well. God was there......
“God was there.” After the last blog a dear friend wrote of a similar experience to Jonathan's tongue bite with her own brother when she was only about 5. She said that it was one of those events that makes her look back and know, "God was there." I’ve had so many of those moments. God is here now. God has been so good.
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