12 years later

After our initial tantelising trip to India 14 years ago and after India got deep under our skin, we have always had the feeling we would one day end up living there.

About a year and a half ago we had the opportunity to return. I was so excited as I was always having dreams I was back there and then wake up disappointed. A lot had happened between our first trip and this next one. We had gone on to have 5 wonderful children. Our eldest daughter, whom I was pregnant with 14 years ago, we named Daya. It is a Hindi name meaning Love and Kindness. I think I was sick on every form of public transport possible due to morning sickness. Not once did I get any form of Delhi belly though.

So there we were ready to head back to India for 3 weeks. We took Daya with us and my parents looked after the other kids. It was the longest we had ever left them. The longest had been only a couple of days. They were amazing though and we were able to skype them. Wow! technology has bought the world so much closer.

We went to a church conference in delhi. It was a great conference although I was crook as a dog for a few days. Talk about dignity going out the door. There is nothing quite like having a bathoom with nothing more than a thin wall and a grating up high to share the effects of an upset stomach with. Never mind though I got over it.

The conference definately made us feel that we needed to be there in India on a more permanent level. We still had nothing specific about where in India or what we would do in India but we knew that our drawing to this country was getting stronger.

After the conference our friends who had travelled with us invited us down to Southern India to Bagalore (Benglaru) to meet their family. I didn't even find out much about the city before going as I had felt it was just a little add on to the trip.

As soon as I stepped out of the plane and before I had seen the city, I had an overwhelming sense of "coming home". I remember thinking it was odd because I had never been there. It turned out that David and Daya had felt the same. A couple of days later I was walking up the street with my friend Vinu and I told her how I had felt. She smiled with little chuckle and said that they had felt God had told them to bring us there. So, in a nutshell, that is where we will be heading unless God says otherwise.