I had really hoped to update you while I was in the U.S. However, my time there was spent traveling, speaking at different churches, small groups, etc. It was a blessed time and brought much awareness to people who had no idea the plight of the children here. Due to a delay in my visa (a God-send I believe), I finally had a chance to relax and get away during my final days there.
But now I'm back home!
I've been home for 5 days now and trying to get reoriented in everything. The hardest has been the jet lag and diving into the high temperatures. The easiest has been being reunited with my children and staff here.
There are so many things that are 'first' on my list to do. Mainly, reassessing staff, reassessing children, and getting the intervention center to run a little more smoothly. Thanks to donations, I am able to hire another staff. Instead of hiring one of my old staff back though, I've decided it's best to try and hire an Indian teacher. Since the visa process has been so difficult, I have found it might be better to have another trained person to be able to carry on in case I am not able to return. The staff I've trained have come a long way but there is still so much to learn. Since I'm only getting 1 year visas at a time, I am only getting so much training accomplished.
Another objective to work on is the goat project. I just received another donation to purchase a goat for a poor villager. This makes the 8th donation for that specific reason.
Just a week before I returned here I visited a goat farm on the west coast. I was able to get some really valuable information from them. The agency I'm with here was supposed to put up a foundation wall around our campus while I was gone. That wasn't done. However, my tibetan neighbors are building a foundation wall around their area which means I will be able to put fencing up to that area for my goat's pasture! I believe God, in His grace, allowed my desire to be fullfilled in this way, since the people that I was depending on didn't follow through.
So, I've been busily taking new photos and look forward to posting the updates soon.