India pics:
(Part of our media team that went following the tsunami to see about building orphanes for children who lost their parents to the tsunami)
One interesting bit of trivia about that is it only costs about five thousand American dollars to build an orphanage for a few hundred children in India.
I had a thousand and some dollars to send toward it, and prayed God would give me the rest so I could help the children have a home and beds to sleep on. My first book contract was the EXACT amount I needed! Only God could know how much it meant for me to be able to help these children I met and fell instantly in love with.
One really awesome thing, and I wish I'd had memory left in my card to get a pic of it..but for nearly a hundred miles of travel to a remote area of India, the landscape was hot, drab, brown and gray. Then this brilliant, magnificant yellow glowed on the horizon of the road. As our bus neared, I realized it was a field of yellow flowers. It seemed to go on for a mile. It was THE only bright spot for what seemed like ever. Our bus stopped in the middle of it, and across the road, mere feet away sat the site for the orphanage! It was coming along nicely as far as construction. Then the orphanage pastor told us the flowers were a mustard seed field!!! HOW COOL IS THAT? If you have faith as much as a tiny mustard seed....
Pics above are a few of the folks who were on our fifteen (or so) member team:
Logical as her father and gal with a great sense of humor...Sarah Zacharias Davis (daughter of Ravi Zaharias) who is also an author, talking to a child.
Orphans draping my neck with flower necklaces they made for our team.
Me playing in the floor with some adorable orphans...well, orphaned no more because they're all God's kids.
Beautiful and Tenderhearted Kelly McCorkle (Miss North Carolina and Amazing Race star) with the children.
Me with children. I just couldn't get or give enough hugs. LOL!
Band Pics:
The Least of These artist Ben Calhoun and his brother with a couple of their littlest fans.
Mercy Me playing.
Sound check for Mercy Me, Echoing Angels, The Least of These, Caedmon's Call and Steven D.
Oh, and another cool thing I learned at the concert is that Caedmon's Call band members have a huge heart for the dalit (outcasts, unwanted) community in India, as I do. This blessed my heart tremendously. As some of you may or may not know, I've been there on media and humanitarian missions. Mostly to pray for and help the orphan, widow, leper and Christian (four groups considered dalits) communities.
A bit of Trivia: "Share the Wealth" song was written for and about India.
I may eventually repost some of those India pics...I know they were hugely popular on my blog. But I deleted them after receiving some threatening comments from an anti-Christian extremist. I didn't want to put the children or the orphanage workers or pastors or their families in danger. I probably overreactd by deleting all the posts. Many of you have requested those photos to be put back up. I prayed about it, and decided that since I doubt terrorists are stalking my blog, I'd post a few back up.
Please pray for these bands and for the dalits of India.
Enjoy the pictures!
Warmly,
Squirrel
1 comment:
Aren't the children beautiful! I'm so glad you were able to go help!
How wonderful about the field of mustard! I know just what that looks like, too. Certain times of the year, driving along the coast of California, field after field is yellow with mustard blossoms. Father Serra brought them, and that's why they run from Mexico to the top of California, blooming with the native poppies and other wildflowers. Now I can picture that orphanage with a beautiful field of flowers right where they can see it! People underestimate the need for beauty in their surroundings. It feeds the soul, I think. I'll be praying for them.
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