Me and Justin in Sweet Seattle

sweet seattle

My time with friend and family has been amazing. and i am loving seattle.

the weater is amazing, clear, cool and sunny! actually i have been cold since i got here in the 70 degree weather...but it was more than perfect yesterday. justin and i did a "day in seattle" and if there was something to do we did it. we went to pike place market and enjoyed lunch with a view of the bay and then tried to go the seattle museum of art but sadly they were closed...so then we walked to the space needle and spent 15.00 bucks for a half hour of viewing pleasure of the entire city including a great view of mt. ranier (only visible in it 14000 foot glory about 80 days a year). then we headed back down to to the market and explored and enjoyed a coffee from the very first starbucks (is that cheesy that i wanted to visit...my brother would not let me ask where it was because he thought we might be too touristy) and there is like a thousand starbucks in a 12 block area downtown. but we found it. and then we headed for a mariners game...it was a beautiful night and a game against the angels...the mariners won. it was a sweet seattle day.

my neices are amazing and today we are headed for the zoo in tacoma provided everyone is happy and not grumpy...the moods of a 3 year old and 7 week old are so changing all the time

i am loving the nebraska life

not much time...first time i have been on the computer in a week. such a beautiful rest! loving the staff retreat and looking forward to time with friends and family soon.

finally made it

so my travels were not so smooth. i got to delhi and my flight was delayed for 30 hours--yes my friends 30 hours!! i very much wanted to cry. they said we will put you up in five star hotel and i was like okay well is there anything else you can do and they said no. five star hotel is a nice idea but going home was a much better idea so when i was almost out the door i turned around and went back to the counter and said can you please put me on another airline and amazingly they did it! so i lost a whole day with my parents and arrived at 1130pm last night (14.5 hours late)--i was supposed to arrive at 9am yesterday morning. but if i had waited for my flight i would not have gotten here till a couple of hours ago. thankful that i got what i got! i least had 24 hours to regroup before heading to the retreat! so i am off tomorrow at 530 am to the airport for 10 days in nebraksa city! who hooo!

sad goodbyes on a good day

today was beautiful in so many ways...the sun was shining. i had sweet conversation with the ladies, got a ton done. even my failed attempt to pay the electric bill was nice...a nice walk, relaxing in its own way ( will try again tomorrow at the right time--apparent mostly everthing thing is open at 8am but the one place in needed).

our friend "a" is now out of the hospital and hopefully on her way to a good recovery. she needs to take care of herself..hard to tell someone this who is still in training and has dork of a husband. anyway, say a prayer for her!

it was a sad goodbye at sari bari. some of the ladies started crying. so heart wrenching...i think they think that i might not come back or something...though so far i come back every time. about 7 of them stood at the gate waving good bye. i have mental picture to take with me...though there is not a chance that i will forget them in the month that i am gone. they are going to have a fun outing next week on monday...it is a holiday and there is a mela (a fair) and so sari bari will close early and they will all go together for some tasty eats and silly rides and games...wishing i could with them.

i usually have a rough time the last couple weeks before leaving calcutta...the culture tends to get on my nerves but this time has been different...more like always. though i have smacked the hands of three seperate men and scolded them in the last three days...i still feel like i am in the culture and loving the reasons i am here...already looking forward to returning though i am certainly relishing the upcoming times with friends and family.

so tomorrow is it...i leave for the states. i will spend my last morning in the gach with a few friends i have not had a chance to see because things have been so busy. everything is packed...two full bags of sari bari products and one little bag just for me ( my carry on)!

SARI BARI PARTY IN ALTADENA

Hey there my blog stalking friends....if you are in the Los Angeles Area I will be having a little Sari Bari Party at my Aunt Mary's house. I am only in LA for a couple days so it will also be a good chance to see you! Also means you can buy a beautiful one of a kind Sari Bari Blanket and help woman on her road to freedom from the trade.

So if you are interested, here are the details:
(you have to email me for the address and phone number)

Date: July 25, 2007 (Wed.)

Time: 7:00 p.m.

lite refreshments

AND

a story of how Sari Bari was born !

looking forward

so things here are good. the sun is shining for the first time in 5 days and my laundry may actually dry before i depart of the states on tuesday. whoo hoo. I had a brain departure moment on friday when i actually could not articulate anything i wanted needed to say...i think i am just really tired and pushing myself to tuesday when i leave for the states for a month. however, yesterday i had an amazingly relaxed day and i packed and watched, without a trace (thanks bethie) on loan, and hung with meg and annie (visiting from omaha) and we watched amelie.

i got on the scale this week and i have lost 10 pounds about or 8 kgs. not sure how i did it. i was trying really hard this last couple months and nothing was happening. i kind of stopped...i think the last couple weeks i have stopped thinking about food much at all. maybe God heard my prayers for a thinner body :). anyway, happy to be little lighter. hopefully, i will not gain all back on chips and salsa and meat in the states.

i am sad to leave the sari bari ladies...esp.with the last week and half being so busy. i have spent all my time trying to get things done (many of which will still not be done when i leave) and have not had my usual sweet times of just sitting and talking, hearing their stories while they sew. i hope that is what my day tomorrow with be like...i have finished all the essentials and what is not getting done can wait till i get back.


so looking forward to being with my family. brats and corn on the cob and green salad is the first meal on the menu when i get home. yummmmmmmmmmy. , looking forward to hugging and kissing all my fleshy friends in omaha and talking on the phone while only being a state away instead of a world away. looking forward to long talk with my mom, my dad, my brother and sister, looking forward to at least one political discussion with my brother in law, looking forward to moments with daphne, adriana, steph, cami and faye. looking forward to new running shoes for the upcoming bombay marathon in january. and truly i am sure i will be looking forward to coming back into the sweaty damp arms of calcutta once my trip is all over...but more on that when the time comes.

stop global warming...stop this insane rain

yeah so now we are on day number 3 of heavy rain. yes it is monsoon here but this is not normal. having been through 5 of these rainy seasons...i have never seen park street knee deep, and see the water stay for more than a few hours but the city is just water logged! i am blaming it on global warming....things are getting worse not better. in ten years kolkata could be underwater when the ice caps finish melting as well as all of bangladesh. something to think about while driving an suv or taking an international flight (yep thats me).

not sure the first batch of sari bari purses are gonna make it. we are having sewing machine trouble and are in a time crunch. we see...also because the fabric we are having trouble not tearing the outside layer of the sari's. a bit frustrated by this to say the least...

on the bright side, i had a very happy 4th of july with my british and few american friends. we had garlic chicken, mashed potatoes, corn on the cob, fruit salad and ice cream for dessert. yummy and fun!

oh the yucky streets the rain brought

wow--yesterday was crazy! the rain was really, really bad. everywhere i went i had to wade through water, by our house, park street--the whole street about a mile long to the hospital--was knee deep, by freeset too i had to wade. it was super gross...dead rats, dead crows, nasty dead bugs plus who knows was else. i had to heat up water and take a hot shower last night to scrub all that yucky stuff off my legs. i actually can not complain because so many of our friends had this nastiness in their houses because the water got so high. it rained really hard again last night, i hope there i not a repeat today.

oh the rain

its raining...the hard and long rain that floods the streets here. i have already had 3 calls this morning about houses being flooded with dirty water in kalighat and not being able to leave home because of the streets. i am delaying my trip to pay the electric bill, wading through knee deep water to pay a bill does not sound appealing. i am going to wait to brave it until i have too.

our friend and sari bari lady, A (choto), is in the hospital. I had to take her last week on thursday after making an emergency trip to the village because she had not been at work for a week and her sister gave us news that she was dying. this turned out to be a bit of an exaggeration...she was not dying but very sick! also not one was looking after her so she was not eating...her husband is an alcholic and abusive... so with the help of one of the other ladies i got her to the hospital and she is there now getting tested for everything imaginable. she is a bit lonely and sad right so pray for her. they only allow visitors 2 hours a day. i am heading there this morning to spend some time with her and hopefully be an encouragement. i will brave the flooded streets for her but not for the electric bill!

payday is kinda rough sometimes. i think the ladies stress about money comes out in crappy attitudes. yesterday was a really hard day. i get blamed alot for their hard circumstances...i am hoping this is because we all have a tendancy to take out our anger on those closest to us. at the end of the day things worked out though...i received some unprompted apologies. pray for our sari bari ladies...they are getting a huge raise this month that we hope will help out...not only be a fair wage but a kingdom wage...a wage that can bring them out of poverty.

i am getting excited about my trip to the states. the WMF staff retreat will be sweet reunion with so many friends...i told myself i would not buy any gifts but i am having a hard time when i see something nice for someone i love saying no. also so excited to see and meet my new neice and play hungry hippos with grace and hug and love on my brother and sister. one more week and a day i will be in the arms of my mom and dad at the airport!!

catalyst, english george and other oddities

So i have read to pretty darn good books in the last week and they are like a confirmation or maybe inspiration to my heart. The first is The Starfish and the Spider: the power of leaderless organization and the second is the seven day weekend. They are profoundly helping my define my vision for sari bari....i mean last week before kristin and beth left i had a little vision casting moment and i continue to be exicited about all the possiblities of doing business different, for the kingdom, for the women. i think what i want to be and maybe what i might be is the catalyst, that little spark that gets things started but once the reaction is started something bigger and even more amazing happens. i can see how adapting an even more into a cheerleader, encourager, developer will open so many doors for the ladies in the future..we are talking hundreds of women here who could have freedom. i really need to dedicate a whole blog to this topic but i am tired so maybe tomorrow...inspired but tired.

english george is here. making my life amazing to say the least. he has been here one day and he did the dishes 3 times and swept the kitchen floor. he says i am not allowed to do the dishes while he is here. we made dinner together tonight....yummy dahl and roti with mistis for desert. it is so nice to have a friend around...especially a guy friend who is a posh brit who makes me laugh but who i have no interest in romantically. he is quite refreshing and engaging...with kristin and beth already in the states it makes for a little less lonely and alot more fun.

i am hosting a 4th of july party on wednesday. this is strange if you know me...i will not elaborate except to say that i am ironically celebrating the day with a bunch brits and one other american.

i am finally meeting with the freeset folks to discuss shipping so this might be the last time i have to lug home 100 pounds of sari bari stuff which will include about 25 bags. the first batch. pretty much guessing that they will go super fast...have not posted pictures on the SB blog...so you will just have to wait and see them when they arrive in july via my personal slave labor of dragging 50 blankets plus the bags from kolkata to dehli to chicago to fort wayne to omaha to lax...

i am in good mood...feel rested after the weekend even though i still worked. had two Sari bari ladies over on sat to help with the tags. this has actually been a funny process because they can not read the tags so we have been having a problem with things being the right direction. i love the sari bari ladies...they are an amazing gift in my life and i really do not go a day that i do not marvel at them and how far they have come...life being made new. mine through theirs, theirs through mine, ours through jesus.

i will write a full on blog on sarah the catalyst soon!