We are still here.........

Wow! It has been 3 weeks since I posted here. There is lots to share from our end, but too little time and motivation to do the posts. It has been a year since our sabbatical to India and a lot of exciting changes have happened in our lives this past year. For one, we are in the process of shifting to a new residence after deciding on extending our sabbatical for one more yr :-). Much of this month was spent on house-hunting and at last we found a home to our liking. Movers will be here next week and we will begin settling down in our new home (with a huge lawn/garden space that my family just loves, if I may add :-)).


Although I still limp a bit, my leg is doing much better. I am back to organizing classes and doing quite a few fun things together with my family and few of the homeschool community friends. Kids have grown up a lot more physically, emotionally and mentally. My daughter has grown way taller than me and is now past her dad's shoulder who is a 6 footer himself. My son has lost much of his baby face and is now beginning to look like his dad's mini-version. Both are double-digits and one is a teen and another getting very close. For the past year, kids have moved past and away from just academic goals and took the time to concentrate on more long term, meaningful life goals, growth and principles, in addition to their passions. There were difficult patches to navigate as a family and wonderful parenting moments of guidance, understanding, support and strength too. 

DS came back from his fabulous rainforest expedition trip with 1000s of pictures, great memorable experiences, new friendships/mentors and more appreciation for nature, conservation and wildlife. I AM SO glad to have made the decision to send him on this expedition. I realize that this is something that would stay with him forever. According to DS' wildlife photography mentor, some of his wildlife and nature shots are much more mature and sophisticated that some of the adult photographers. I am sure his mentor is being extremely nice and supportive of DS' interests. Of course, now DS is looking forward to upgrading his lenses and camera, which would require us to shell out more money. But his passion and camera sense is very convincing to me and DH to finance some of his needs. And he has begun broaching the subject of wanting to charge us a fee for his portrait shots of his family and relatives as a way of saving some funds for his purchases(yikes!). I will post the links to his pictures once he gets them all uploaded in his blog. He has become extremely busy with the online and live classes ever since the his return from the trip. He still manages to work on his telescope and he is in the polishing his mirror currently with his dad's help. 

DD begun with once a week university classes but now attends 4 times a week. She is trying out a new Latin program at the 300/400 level through Lone Pine this Fall, as she wanted a less intense course that would give her more time to spend on her college courses, art and research pursuits. Also, she wanted a program that would touch upon some history, culture along with translations. We will have to wait to see how this one works out for her. DS has been bit by the Latin bug too. He began his Latin 100 through Lone Pine along with his German through OSU and Japanese through Rosette Stone. DD has also joined her brother in doing a Linguistics course through Online G3 for fun. Both kids have begun their 9 month art course that gives them a wider exposure to various performing, visual and fine art components/ fields. We will have to wait and see how the program pans out and keeps up to its promise. Both were quite thrilled and excited by their Radio Jockeying, Charcoal drawing, and Theater programs so far. Both have begun their Aeromodelling course this month and are thoroughly enjoying the sessions. Origami sessions have ended and it is time to move on to newer interests. We have found a few clay-modeling and Stained Glass studio classes that we would like to try those for the next few months. We are quite excited about spending time with the small potters community in Pottery Town that have been involved with pottery for generations. Kids will get to make their own Ganesha out of clay this week with the help of an experienced potter. Music classes are going way awesome for both kids. And both are having a lot of fun quality time with their grandpa and other relatives :-).

I was of two minds when I thought of extending our stay. Kids and DH really do miss their US home and life and would prefer very much to return to their life back there sooner. And DH's sabbatical extension beyond Dec' 11 isn't something very clear at this point, and kids very much wanted to be back in the US if their dad was unable to extend it for another yr. But then DD realized it would be best for her to finish up her UK music board diploma exams while here, along with some more in-depth Indian and western music learning and exploration. She is also interested in trying out  couple of research projects in the math/CS field. DS wants to work with couple of mentors on his research projects and out-of the box interests, which he would not probably have a chance to explore back in the US. He is also interested in going back to the rainforest for an internship with the wildlife biologist, which seems to be one of his current interests. We are just in the process of finding something meaningful to our entire family to spend our time on helping and volunteering which is quite exciting to us all. I felt some more time with our immediate family here was imperative and just one year spent on handling the chaos of settling in was just not satisfying enough :-). 


We are having a wonderful time in India with all the good and bad experiences life brings us here, and we hope to spend another few months here before we head back to the US. And isn't that all life is about? --- Taking it all in the stride and enjoying every bit of life that comes our way, while growing, learning and evolving together to be better living beings? I think we are getting to understand the meaning of life and goals better as days roll by.....and quite excited about what the future has in store for us......