What a long break from writing of our Rising Star experiences we had. If anyone is still out there reading, thank you for patience. We spent the month of October in the US--a glorious time split between Utah and Northern California, as well as our Laguna home. We had Padma, Becky and Amy with us for four days, when we first arrived. It was very busy and lots of fun. Utah included grandchildren visits, breakfast with the Gibbs, a visit with our former coordinators and long term volunteers, and President's Leadership Council at BYU. We had some good family and friend time in Laguna, and our 50th reunion at Stanford was not only fun, but yielded a couple of wonderful gifts from two of Ron's fraternity brothers for Rising Star. We spoke on a class panel and explained the Rising Star Outreach story, and many were touched. It's such a great story and we are always happy to tell it!
We returned to RAIN. November is monsoon month, with about 80% of the 55 inches they receive here coming in these monsoon times. We have cancelled sports day, two parents days, are celebrating "children's day" today in honor of Nehru's birthday but have had to go under cover fast three times so far. Assan Hospitality School is providing a feast for the children, and the food is coming out quickly before the next downpour. We did have three clear days this week and we took out all our clothes and bedding to hang in the sun for a few hours and try to dissipate the mildew odor. Things are growing in our shoes!
We have had some new challenges with the building projects, but slowly, slowly, slowly they creep forward. Ron and I will be here through Thanksgiving, and right up to Christmas as we have a large volunteer group coming the week leading up to the 25th of December. We also have discovered how quickly things go awry when we are not here--either it goes wrong or it stops!
Children are well--note their Christmas offering in the picture. Click on it and look closely at all the beautiful children. They are sending love to all of you. Everything is worth while when you look at the children.
