Thursday, September 13, 2012

Ramblings in India

This week has been different for me.  Definitely not like the past 4 months.  Our last volunteer session left Friday, so my "duties" as the Volunteer Director have shifted.  The summer was crazy, busy, chaotic, and oh so amazingly fun!  And honestly, part of me was looking forward to the end of the summer in some ways, because it was so busy, and I never felt like I had my crap together.  But having the summer at Rising Star, with volunteers filtering in and out of here every 2 weeks is actually something I miss.  I miss the wonderful, and "soooo comedy" long term coordinators and volunteers that helped everything function this summer, and that helped me stay sane when things got crazy busy.  The best thing about the summer was knowing that all of the people that came out to Rising Star Outreach were touched and moved by their experience here.  It's cliche to say this, but I know that everyone who has been out here for any period of time feels like the people in the colonies, the staff, the volunteers, and ESPECIALLY the beautiful children have given us more then we could ever imagine giving them in return.  Being here has some sort of healing effect on people.  At least, it has with me.  I've never felt "damaged", but the last few years have no doubt been the hardest of my life and I've had to find my path without my mom by my side.  Losing my mom changed my outlook on a lot of things, but in the process I have learned more about myself than ever before.  I've learned that sometimes the most crazy decisions, when made with prayer and taking action, can be just what the Lord has in store for me.  You've seen me post photo upon photo of my experience here, and those small snippets don't even compare to the happy feeling I have all of the time here.  Even on days where I get frustrated at one thing or another, the next minute, I am forced to smile again because of something cute or sweet one of the kids has done.   Today in choir, I was teaching the kids "What a Wonderful World".  I let them sing along with Louis Armstrong (whom the call Grandpa... 'we want to hear grandpa sing!').  I had a small class today because a lot of the kids are studying for exams.  So, we sat outside the classroom in the open area, on the floor, and sang.  The kids try so hard, and a lot of the time are really off key, but they love to sing and are just ridiculously adorable. 
Oh, and next Tuesday Callie and I go to the Taj Mahal, Jaipur, Delhi, Varanasi, and Sri Lanka!  Wahoo!  I'm so freakin excited!  I will miss the little buggers though while we are gone.  We told the boys that we are going to the Cricket World Cup in Sri Lanka, and they flipped out. 

And there you have it. My ramblings for the day. You are literally reading my journal.

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