IT'S ALL WHITE...JAMES BROWN, WE STILL NEED YOU

IT'S HOT-HOT-HOT HERE, AND I JUST DON'T MEAN THE WEATHER...I GOT MAD READING THE NEWSPAPER YESTERDAY. THERE WAS AN ARTICLE IN THE INDIAN EXPRESS, MAY 21, 2008, "FRONT PAGE", ON RACISM IN INDIA. QUOTE: "IT'S ALL WHITE: TWO BLACK MEMBERS OF THIS CHEERLEADING TEAM WERE ALLEGEDLY ASKED TO LEAVE THE STADIUM IN MOHALI...DARK GIRLS OF PUNJAB TEAM WERE ORDERED OFF FIELD IN APRIL..." THESE BLACK CHEERLEADERS WERE ON A SQUAD FROM LONDON (ELLISHA NEWTON AND SHERINNE ANDERSON). QUOTE: "SHERINNE AND ELLESHA TOLD ME [JORGE ALDANA, THEIR DIRECTOR] THAT A GUY FROM WIZCRAFT HAD FORBIDDEN THEM FROM ENTERING THE GROUND. THEY (WIEPL) SAID PEOPLE DON'T LIKE DARK GIRLS HERE." THE ARTLICLE GOES ON..."ALL THEY WANT IS BIGOTRY, LIGHT-SKINNED BRIDES IN MATRIMONIAL ADS, FAIRNESS CREAMS, CASTE-BASED APARTHEID, THE FINANCIAL MUSCLES OF THE BCCI (whatever that is) TO SWEAR 'TERI MAA KI' AND 'MONKEY' IN THE SAME BREATH, AND EXPLANATIONS DESIGNED TO INTERPRET RACIST BEHAVIOR BY INDIANS AS ANYTHING BUT THAT"...
YEAH, I'M SEEING RED. I THINK I WILL GO SWIM A FEW LAPS.
THE ELECTRICIANS ARE SUPPOSED TO BE HERE AGAIN TOMORROW TO GET THE AIR CONDITIONERS "STRAIGHT", AND THE POWER MAY BE OFF FOR TWO DAYS. GUESS WE MAY BE HEADING FOR A HOTEL.

I'M EXHAUSTED

JOHN HAD ME DOWNLOAD PRINCE'S GREATEST HITS, SO ...PURPLE RAIN HAS BEEN POURING THROUGH MY HEAD. I'M EXHAUSTED, 11 YEARS OF OUR LIFE POURED OUT OF THE SEA CRATE INTO THIS HOUSE...AND IT'S FINALLY COMING TOGETHER. I DON'T KNOW IF I CAN STAND IT RIGHT NOW. MY BREAKING POINT CAME WHEN I FOUND A BOX THAT I OPENED AND DISCOVERED IT WAS A BOX FROM MY MOTHER'S HOUSE, LIKE A TIME CAPSULE FROM RIGHT BEFORE SHE DIED...A LOT OF MEDICAL THINGS...A LOT OF PAIN.
IT FEELS GOOD TO HAVE A LOT OF PERSONAL "STUFF" AROUND AGAIN. IT'S FUNNY HOW WE BOND WITH THINGS...PICTURES, PILLOWS, FAVORITE MUGS...IT FEELS GOOD. I'M REALLY SLEEPY..."I ONLY WANT TO SEE YOU LAUGHING IN THE PURPLE RAIN..."

THE DAY HAS FINALLY COME...

Well,
The moment of truth has finally come. Our FURNITURE will be delivered tomorrow. I'm at a loss for words...tears welled up in my eyes, my heart began pounding...LORD, JUST LET ME SLEEP ON MY TEMPERPEDIC MATTRESS ONE MORE TIME...Do you know how bad it can be sleeping on an air mattress for weeks? After my hip popped out, it never healed properly on that crazy bed. John would get up, I would roll to the center...
The electrician is here trying to wire the house so that the tv's will work. Stephanie (truly an angel in disguise) came to my rescue. I totally crashed and burned this week. We got the email stating that Briana would not be admitted to the American International School, and I exploded. Naturally Bri watched me explode and you know that the "apple doesn't fall too far from the tree"...well BRI exploeded. She wanted to go home...I told her I didn't blame her. She ran to her room, threw all of her clothes into her suitcase ...it went downhill from there. We had both worked ourselves up into a tizzy and Stephanie rescued me. She took me to lunch, calmed me down, showed me another international school, took me to the OWC meeting as her guest (Overseas Women's Club). It's going to be all right.

PERRY IS A SUPERSTAR******

Anybody that knows Perry knows that he has a heart of gold. He's always got a twinkle in his eye, and will let you know in a second "don't let the grey hair fool you"... Well, my sister Dorothy emailed me with Perry's latest accomplishments, and I just had to share them with you.

Here goes:

"Perry got inducted into the Lakeland College Hall of Fame for his outstanding record with basketball. He was the first All- American recipient at Lakeland in 1973. I took pictures of his banner with Sweet Pea, 1973 on it. He received a plaque and he'll have his name carved into the wall of the gym there. It was a nice banquet, and I'm very proud of him. He scored over 1500 points in one season with an average of 26 points per game. "

---Dorothy----

We're proud of you too, Perry. Lord knows if Dorothy could just step off the plane with a pan of your BBQ ribs, I'd be in hog heaven...but I understand. Just send a picture or two of the banquet and that will suffice.

FEELING KIND OF SALTY...

Yesterday,
I cooked breakfast for John and the girls (as usual). I laid out slices of bread, buttered them up, fried them in a pan, did the oatmeal, egg thing. Anyway, I guess one of my daughters, who shall remain nameless, entered the kitchen later straightening up a little. Unbeknownst to me she threw extra bread that had been taken out of the package and not put back in the wrapper into the garbage can.
Well, the maid came in to clean, looked into the trash can and called me..."Madame, look madam" as she reached into the trash can. "This bread, waste Madame...my children..." I felt the sting...I felty "salty". I immediately went to the refrigerator and gave her the rest of the loaf of bread. I sat it on the counter top. Later in the morning after she left, I saw that she had put the bread back into the refrigerator. I went to talk to my daughter about this...about the food prices going up everywhere, about the hungry children here in India...about waste. Can't we all hear this saying from our mothers..."clean your plate, there are children starving in Africa.."
In times like these, there are children starving everywhere, including the good ol' USA.
Anyway, the point was made.

Today we went out for breakfast, got there too late, and had to wait for lunch. That's the thing about India, no later Saturday breakfasts here, they shut down at about 10:00 a.m. So, to kill time me and the girls went to this parlor and had our eyebrows "threaded". OH MY GOSH!!! I was tearing up from the pain. Don't get me wrong, my brows looked great when they finished, but it was like someone grabbing the tweezers and pulling out 20 hairs at one time.

Last night John told us he is going to England to be in a forum and speak around 40 minutes. I can't believe it...I'm so proud of him. (I wanna go too...but that ain't happenin'). Life is moving so fast for us. We have booked out trip to Egypt for June 12th, and I will fill you all in with the details later. Gotta go now, Ash wants to go work out. We joined this cool spa at the Asiana Hotel. (The things I do to keep these kids happy).

A SHOUT OUT TO JERRY AND ROLLAND

JUST A SHOUT OUT TODAY TO MY BROTHER-IN-LAW JERRY. WHAT'S UP JERRY. TELL PERSEPHONE HAPPY BIRTHDAY. I CAN IMAGINE HOW YOU GUYS FEEL WITH YOUR LITTLE ONE ABOUT TO FLY THE COOP. THEN AGAIN, MAYBE YOU BOTH WILL BE SINGING..."OH HAPPY DAY"...(UNTIL IT COMES TIME TO PAY THAT TUITION BILL. )

AND...HERE'S A SHOUT OUT TO ROLLAND. MISS YOU ALL A BUNCH. TELL SYLVIA TO EMAIL ME SOMETIME!!! IT'S GETTING A LITTLE BETTER HERE, BUT THERE IS NO PLACE LIKE HOME.

A LITTLE BIT OF EVERYTHING...

It's getting late, but I wanted to bring everyone up to date on a few things. Kelly told me WENDY is gonna be in the film with Joyce as well. WOW. This is great, it's a wonder you girls can get any work done these days with all the excitement going on.

Bree got baptized last week...John preached again today...this weekend we went to St. Thomas Mount... This is where the apostle THOMAS was murdered in a cave. They still have some of his bones here, and in 1986 the Pope came to bless them...It was a very moving experience to be there, visualizing Thomas's anguish. I'm posting pictures from the area, as well as the promised pictures of John's vehicle. They put flowers on it and even a bow. I'm hoping one of my sisters will make it over in JULY...stand by for further updates. Oh yeah, found another great, reasonable restaurant. Our furniture should be here on the 7th, then it will have to clear customs. I CAN'T WAIT.