Outreach Team

We just got this letter from Aggu, our DTS leader, who is also leading an outreach to South India. Their team just left this last Saturday and have reached safely to their destination. Please remember them.

Dear housers,
Greetings from Vijayawada!
First of all thanks you so much for your constant prayer.We reach Vijaywada 4 hrs late than the said time but our journey was awesome. The weather was very pleasant and suitable for my team,HE knows what is best for us! Our journey starts with blessings from one of our students parents from Guwahati,they prepared breakfast,lunch and dinner for our journey which means we save our money for some other purpose to bless poeple as well as a team.
My team members are all very good and supportive and i feel honour to be thier leader. Gogo slept most of the team,meno can't speak hindi so he was hungry through out his journey cos he cannot communicate to buy food in the train/station, james hardly speak a word,Aphoa was fuss for too much in need to help poeple, Toshi was very much challenge by his Ao tune accent,sheli was not able to use the tiolet, annie was scared by the hijaras, hanari don't have time to talk to her friends cos she was very much excited to cross long river bridge, rosey was too naga to travel in the train and last but not the least Aggu was so much concern about his wife.
Anyway, the place itself was hot and humid and most of us hate to go to toilet cos we sweat alot and meno is planing to fixed a ceiling fan in our toilet. The ministry was too long for gogo that he don't want to be a team recorder cos he find it hard to translate telegu into english,toshi try to help him but his Ao accent makes him more confuss. The host were so humble and understanding that we can even cook birds,we are not far away from home when comes to kitchen. the girls need more sugar for idli and sambar.
well,all is well with our soul. so far we do house visiting and prayer fellowship and by the next week we will be moving to villages doing open air. We believe in our self to be used by God and He will. Continue to pray for us always,we need so much prayer support as we step out to reach and be reached.We were very excited and we believe that our excitement we have will not last from this outreach but will continue in each one of us.
We need your words of encouragement as well.
Always a friend,
Vithomezo(aggu).

Growing

I never knew how entertaining it was to be a parent. Every day is full of new things learned and new expressions or experiences. These days she can touch her toes and so she is often pulling at her socks and trying to take them off. Her little toes barely touch the floor in her walker and she can push off on them sometimes and move across the floor a bit. Our friend Sunny has been teaching her a couple of things and now she puts her hands in ours when we ask her to. She has a really loud and deep laugh now and we love to try and make her laugh as we tickle her and make faces. She recently became fascinated with my cell phone and sometimes I let her hold it and play with it and she has called our friend Vibu a couple of times. I think that one of my favorite parts of the day is when she first wakes up in the morning. She coos and makes some noises in her room and when I go to get her, she gives me the biggest smile and her bright blue eyes are very big with joy. No matter how tired I am, I'm always happy to see her little face with the big smile.

Dave recently had a Leadership meeting in a big city not far from here and so he found a high chair in one of the stores there. It's the perfect size as it lines up exactly with our table so she can sit with us now when we eat and someday we'll be able to eat together.

5 Months

Today is Katriel's 5 month birthday! I found this picture of me when I was about her same age and I can't believe how much more hair she has than me. It keeps growing and growing. My Mom and Grandma sent her some clips and bows for her hair and it's fun to try to arrange her little curls. It's funny because even if I have her dressed in pink and have a little bow in her hair, people come up to me and ask if she is a girl or a boy. Here babies wear all colors and so you can't easily distinguish if one is a boy or girl depending on what they wear. I always get a little surprised when they ask me, because she really looks like a little girl to me.

The DTS left this last week to go on outreach and so things have quieted down a bit as they were a pretty big group. The SOFM has started this week and we have a neat group of people from different countries and tribes. I'll post some pictures soon. Dave is teaching this week about Mission Perspectives and has been quite busy as he just returned from a Leadership Meeting in a different city.

Solid Food

This last Sunday we decided it was time to try and give our little Kate some solid food. I thought that since I always feed her, it would be fun for Dave to feed her her first solid food. Here the rice cereal is called Cerelac and you just add some hot water to the mixture and stir it for a while. He was a real cute Dad and carefully prepared the food and since we knew that this should be a well-documented event, our friend Sunny was there to take pictures. So I held her and Dave fed her. We were really looking forward to it as a great and momentous milestone, but she didn't really seem too excited about the whole thing. Dave put the watery cereal in her mouth, and she made some adorably funny faces and spit most of it out. Sunny said that she looked really surprised.

It is exciting that she will soon start to regularly eat more solid foods and yet I'm longing for the day when I can let her try some delicious cake. I bet she'll be pretty excited about that. However that day is a long way off and she'll need to eat a tremendous amount of vegetables, fruits, and rice cereal before then.

I believe that our taste buds are a true gift from God. He didn't have to give them to us, but He did. We look forward to our baby trying and discovering different flavors and tastes in the days to come.

The Golden Age

We read in a book that between the age of 4 to 7 months, babies are in the "Golden Age." They are growing and becoming more expressive, but they are not yet moving around much. These days Kate has been greatly entertaining to us and developing in personality and in so many ways. A couple of days ago I went into the next room to get something and when I came back Kate had rolled over on her stomach and was lifting her head up high in the sky. I was so surprised because it was the first time that she had done that by herself. We need to be more aware of where we keep her now that she can roll on her own. She laughs a lot more now and is so much more aware of people and all of her surroundings.

Dave and I were watching a few videos that we made of her even a few weeks ago and it's amazing to see how much she has grown and how much more expressive she is now. Our friend Sunny said that her facial expressions change every day.

We bought her a walker in the bazaar and she loves to play in it. Her feet are still several inches off of the ground, but she likes to sit up and look around. There are little toys connected to it and she plays with them and laughs. One thing that has dramatically changed is that until a few weeks ago she was very content to just be quiet and play with herself a lot of the time. We would put her on a blanket with a few toys and she would coo and be very happy, but these days she always wants us to hold her and pay attention to her. She loves to be the center of attention and can sit quite happily in our arms for an extended period of time. Our friend told us to enjoy this time because he has a 9 month old daughter who is very mobile and he misses the days when his daughter would just let him hold her. So we are enjoying these days and marveling at how she grows and changes day by day.

Before and After

Hooray, hooray, we have a new refrigerator!! Before we were married, Dave had bought a little refrigerator to keep a few things cool and now that we have a child, we were really wanting a bigger one. We are so thankful to Jim and Ruthie's (Dave's parents) Sunday School Class who so kindly, and graciously bought it for us. Thank you! It's so nice because we can keep so many things in it and it has a freezer too! We didn't have space in our old one for vegetables and so all of our vegetables would get spoiled really quickly. Soon I'll be making baby food for Kate and it will be nice to store some veggies in the fridge.

I've been doing lots of investigating about when we should start feeding her solids and there are so many conflicting opinions about when and what to start feeding her. Some people say anywhere between 4-6 months, but others say you shouldn't give anything before 6 months. Some people say you should start with rice cereal and others say veggies and then fruits. I was talking with a friend yesterday and he said that they gave their son banana when he was three months old. I bought some Cerelac this week which is a rice cereal and we're thinking about feeding her some in the next couple of weeks.

There is a conference here this next week with many of the Church leaders throughout Northeast India. They are gathering to plan and make strategies about how to plant more churches and reach more people. It's very interesting because they are from many different denominations and organizations and there is great expectation about what God may do this next week and in the next few years to come. Dave is on the planning team and is helping to find housing for everyone in various hotels and hostels in our city. It's kind of funny, but he often gets put in charge of the housing in situations like this and jokes that it's because he's a "Houser."

"We never know the love of our parents until we become parents ourselves." -Henry Ward Beecher

Our friend Sunny came over to our house on Saturday to watch Kate for a couple of hours. It was the first time in a long time that Dave and I went somewhere alone and so we thought we'd make a date out of it. We ran some errands and stopped and got something to eat while we were out. We were sitting across from each other in what used to be our favorite restaurant, and the funniest thing happened... we didn't really know what to say to each other. After an awkward silence, Dave asked me, "What did we use to talk about before our baby was born?" I really couldn't answer him very well. I guess I feel that way about this blog too, I don't really know what else to talk about besides Kate. I'll work on it though.

Everyone told us that our lives would never be the same once she was born, and it really is very true. Dave goes to the office most days for extended periods of time and has responsibilities here in this base as well as another project that is going on with some leaders in this city, and so his days are varied and usually quite full. These days my main responsibility is to take care of our baby and there is great satisfaction in that for me. She just turned 4 months old on Saturday and it seems as if the days and weeks are flying by. Once she is 6 months old, I will be more involved with different things here, but I don't want to travel around much with her now. I'm enjoying this season of life and well aware that she won't always be this age. It's so neat to see how she daily grows and learns. Dave and I think that her hair grows longer every night, it seems to be getting taller and taller.

Here's a quick update on what's going on here. The Lecture Phase of the July Discipleship Training School is nearing the end and soon all 20+ students and staff will be going on outreach. Our School of Frontier Missions will be starting next month and so far has a wide mix of tribes and nations. We usually have mostly people from the Northeast, but this one will have people from America, Switzerland, New Zealand, as well as others from different parts of India. The House of Prayer here has been doing a lot of ministry in a slum area and has been seeing quite a few people coming to the Lord. Right now they have been working with another ministry to try and see a church planted there. They've been trying to figure out what to do as there isn't a home or meeting place in that area to accomodate all of them and they are looking for a hall or building to rent.

We are thankful for the neat people that are here that we get to walk and learn with.

Kate's Friends

It was Ziza's 2nd birthday party a couple of weeks ago and it was fun to see the new generation arising. Ziza is the son of our friends, Theja and Aren. He is so cute and has grown so much since we last saw him. While we were in America, one of the other couples that we work with, Lipok and Sanni, had a baby girl as well. Her name is Anna Joy and she is a month younger than Kate. While we were at Ziza's party, all the kids were taking a nap on his parents bed and we thought they were super cute.

Now another couple here are expecting a baby soon and it's neat to see our families growing together. Right now when Kate and Anna hang out, it's not too exciting as they are both really young, but pretty soon they'll be running around together and playing games. Ziza loves babies and when he sees Kate and Anna he wants to play with them.

Doctor Visit

Last Saturday we took Kate to the doctor for immunizations. We found out about this Pediatrician from two couples that we know here and they both highly recommended him. It's a really interesting process that we go through to actually see him. Dave had gone earlier in the day to meet him at the hospital and to try and figure how we should do her shots as the American schedule and Indian schedule of shots are different and we needed to catch up on some (like Tuberculosis) that are not given in America that she has already missed. He said that his clinic is open from 2:30-5:30pm and we should call ahead and get a number. So Dave called to make an appointment and about 4 or 5 times they wanted him to call back until a certain person was there. When he finally got through to her, they gave us number 18 and told us to come at 4:00. Dave called to verify if the doctor showed up yet around 3, and he hadn't arrived yet so we thought maybe we would show up at about 5 pm and sure enough we only had to wait for maybe 5 minutes or so.

We got there and waited in a tiny little room with maybe 6 or 7 other moms and their children, while others were waiting outside. We got to sit in the waiting room because our number was coming up. Kate is a big attention getter wherever she goes and everyone in the room was looking at her and different people asked us questions and told us how beautiful she is.

I was really nervous to be in the room when she got shots because the last time she had cried and cried and her little chin quivered and I was a bit traumitized for a couple of hours. I know I need to get tougher, but I had decided that this wasn't to be the time for that and so I asked Dave if he would hold her and I left the building after she was weighed and everything. I was wondering what the women in the waiting room were thinking about me as I scurried quickly through the room so I wouldn't have to hear her cry. The good thing to know for next time is that these shots weren't as hard on her as the last ones. The last time she cried and cried and was inconsolable for a long time and seemed to not recover until the next day. This time, by the time that she got home she seemed to have forgotten about the whole thing. The next few days after the shots she was a bit fussy and not feeling too well, but she's back to her happy, laughing self these days.

She weighs 6.8 kg now which is about 15 pounds. I asked the doctor if that was enough and he said, "Yes, more than enough." So I was really happy about that, she is growing and becoming taller as well.

Lots of Pictures

We have had several requests for more pictures and so I have uploaded many pictures of Katriel and her family and they can be accessed in the "My Pictures" link on the right hand side. There is an album called "Katriel and Family" at the top right and there are lots of pictures of the past few months. It will take a while, but I'm trying to slowly update everything.

Kate has an appointment today to get more shots and the last time was a bit traumatic for all of us. We don't like to see her in pain. This will be the first time that we are seeing a doctor here and we're curious to know how much she weighs and how tall she is now. Our friend here says that she is growing like a cucumber.

One of our close friends here Aren, gave Kate an Ao name a couple of days ago. It is Naro and means flower. She was also given an Angami name, but we have to ask our friend to write it down as it was difficult for us to pronounce and remember, but it means "loved by everyone." We liked that and think it's quite applicable.

Four Generations

"Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord, the fruit of the womb is a reward. Like arrows in the hand of a warrior, so are the children of one's youth. Happy is the man who has his quiver full of them..." Psalm 127:3-5a

One of the best things about our time in America was the time that we got to spend with our families. Since being married, Dave and I have never spent more time than two months or so in America and that time has always been broken up on both sides of the coast. So this was a neat time to be able to spend more time with our families and it was a great blessing to us. It was neat to take these two pictures showing four generations on bothe sides of our families. I have two nephews in California and they grow up so quickly, when we're gone they grow leaps and bounds. Since being back in Asia, this has probably been the hardest things for us as well, as we really miss our families and want them to be around Katriel as she grows up. It's always been pretty easy in the past as we prepare to leave, but this time was a lot more difficult because we have a precious little girl with us now and we want to share her with our family and close friends. Nothing really prepared us for how much we would love her, and how having her would draw us closer to our families.

One of my favorite passages of scripture through the years has been from Mark 10:28-30: " Then Peter began to say to Him, "See, we have left all and followed You." So Jesus answered and said, "Assuredly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or lands, for My sake and the gospels, who shall not receive a hundredfold now in this time- houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands, with persecutions- and in the age to come, eternal life."

God has been so faithful throughout the years to provide family for us in foreign lands before we ever had a baby and so we have ample reason to trust and believe that He will continue to do so now. There are friends here now who love us and our little baby and people that we can share with and cry with. But these days we are still missing our family a lot and wishing we were closer to them.

Road Trip

From Pittsburgh we drove to Ft. Wayne, Indiana and stayed there a couple of days with some friends of ours. We really enjoyed it there and wished that we could have stayed a little longer. After Ft. Wayne, we drove to Kansas City and stayed there a week. It was a good break of driving for us and we got to spend time with more friends and also at the House of Prayer. Katriel did really well in the car alonjg the way and slept most of the time. We had to stop a lot during the way to change her diaper and feed her, but we still made pretty good time. Beverley left us in Kansas City as she had other plans.
After Kansas City we drove to Colorado and spent a night in Colorado Springs with some more friends. The drive was incredible as the landscapes changed dramatically and as we got to watch the shadows mark our surroundings as the sun came up and went down again. Often our hearts were drawn to worship God as we saw the beauty of His creation and how it varied from state to state. We spent one night in Holbrook, AZ and then the next evening we made it safely to California where my family was waiting for us with a lovely dinner. So overall we passed through Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Missouri, Kansas, Colorado, New Mexico, and Arizona before reaching California. We had a really nice trip and we were really thankful to Jim and Ruthie for letting us use their car, especially as they were flying out to California to drive it back to Pennsylvania. It was good for us though as we would get to see them again before we left for Asia.

Leaving Pennsylvania

One of the most difficult times that we had while we were in America was when we had to leave Pennsylvania. We had been there for about 3 1/2 months and it had become home for our little family. We had stayed in a really nice furnished apartment owned by Wycliffe Bible Translators and we had really enjoyed being there. It was Katriel's first home and we had received so much love and support from Dave's family and church and so it was with heavy hearts that we packed all of our belongings. We had no idea how much stuff is acquired when having a baby (especially with so many generous people around us) and it took us quite a while to pack everything. We were really wondering at this point how in the world we would be able to pack everything into the 4 suitcases that we were allowed to bring on the plane to fly to Asia. Luckily at this point we didn't have to really worry about that as Jim and Ruthie (Dave's parents) kindly and graciously allowed us to use their car to drive cross America. We had no idea how it was going to work out as Katriel was only three weeks, but we were ready for an adventure and looked forward to meeting friends and family along the way.

Our close friend Beverley, from Australia, met us in Pennsylvania and came along with us for a good chunk of the journey. It was good to have her along. Our first stop was in Pittsburgh, with Andy and Sarah and their lovely family. They had a brand new baby at that time too and it was good to spend time with them.

April 24, 2008

Katriel Eden Houser was born on Thursday April 24th, 2008 at 2:34 am. She was 7 lb, 4 oz and 20 inches long.

I had gone to the doctor on Monday the 21st for a check-up and the doctor decided to induce me into labor because they said that my amniotic fluid was low. My mom had flown to Pennsylvania and I was so thankful that she was going to be there during the labor and help me through everything. So at about 8:00 am on Tuesday the 22nd I checked into Women and Babies Hospital in Lancaster. We were certain that later that day we would be proud parents, but the process took a lot longer that we anticipated. The nurses and doctors there were so kind and helpful.

How do you briefly summarize a birth? Words fail to communicate the range of emotions that I went through in that span of time. We played worship music the whole time that we were there and I really felt the presence and nearness of God as we were in the delivery room. I was scared at different times and I kept meditating on the verse "The name of the Lord is a strong tower, the righteous run to it and are safe," and the first verse of Psalm 91, "He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty." I was also excited to meet our baby and to not be pregnant any longer. However there is nothing that prepared me for the love that I would have for her. When I saw her and held her, something truly beautiful happened in my heart and I was surprised by how much I cared for her and treasured her. I loved the way that Dave looked at her and held her carefully and tenderly. I truly got a fresh glimpse into the Father heart of God as I watched him with her. I think I changed maybe two diapers the first week, and he changed all of the rest. He was so helpful to me and didn't leave the hospital the whole time that I was there. It so touched our hearts as we saw how much she meant to our families too. We cannot over emphasize the support that we had from our families and friends, we were surrounded with love on every side. I guess I could probably write a book to explain all that happened those couple of days and all that we thought and felt. I just wanted to say that we eagerly waited for her and were so happy when she finally came.The world became a more beautiful place the day that she was born.

America

We stayed in Asia until I was about 6 months pregnant and decided that we wanted to have the baby in America. It took us a while to figure out which state we would be in for the delivery and we did a lot of research and prayed a whole bunch, and finally decided that Pennsylvania would be the best location. While it was difficult to be away from my family (they're in California), we were overwhelmed by the love and support that was lavished on us by Dave's family and church. We were showered with gifts and supplies way before our baby was born and were wondering how in the world we were going to be able to pack everything into a few suitcases. The doctors and nurses that we saw for all of the prenatal care were really good and helpful and we loved the Childbirth Classes. We really enjoyed watching Winter turning into Spring in Lancaster County, and eagerly counted down the weeks and days until our precious baby was born. I vividly remember the joy I felt watching the first flowers bloom and the squirrels and bunnies coming out to play in the warming weather. But that joy was nothing compared to the joy we felt when we finally saw her little face.

Gallbladder Flush

In October 2007, Dave began having severe pain in the right side of his stomach and after going to the doctor and running a few tests we discovered he had many gallstones. After doing a bunch of research on the internet he decided he wanted to do a Gallbladder flush, which included drinking 2 cups of olive oil and 2 cups of lemon juice. It was definitely a true adventure and unfortunately another ultrasound showed that the gall stones were still there. He had his gallbladder successfully removed in Thailand in January.

Good News

Dear Friends and Family around the world,

We hope all of you are doing well. Things have been going pretty well with us and our YWAM family in Shillong.We have some big news to share with you today. Summer had an ultrasound yesterday which confirmed that she is in the early stages of pregnancy. We are excited, as well as a little nervous.

Summer has been doing well, and so far, has not been sick. She does feel very tired. She calls it "supernaturally tired". Everything she has felt so far though has matched well with what the books tell us to expect.

We wanted to ask all of you to pray for us, as well as for our little Houser forming inside of her. We will need grace, health, and protection. We want to be good parents, and we want to have a healthy child who becomes a spiritual child of God.

We appreciate so much your love and support for our lives and ministry. We are so blessed to know all of you, and we hope for God's best blessings to come to each of you wherever you are.

Love Feast

This last Friday we had a love feast at our base, hosted by the Discipleship Training School staff. They worked so hard to decorate the room with beautiful cloths, candles, and special tables. Wati went aroud and sang songs at each table and there was great joy written on everyones faces. They prepared a true feast with rice, chicken, pork, vegetables, and fruit.

Everyone was shown to a seat and then the staff came and served us food and took really good care of us. They brought us seconds and even washed our plates, it was a true labor of love and we were all touched.

Water Tank

A few weeks ago after one of our trips away from home, we returned and our water was very dirty. From every tap in our house, some sort of green vegetation, as well and bugs and other debris, came out every time we tried to use water. It was a bit scary and frustrating, and we figured it was time to clean out our water tank.

The city that we live in receives a tremendous amount of rainfall every year, but for some reason there is a major water problem here. Every day for our base we have to call people to come and bring water supply in a truck to our house.

Our water tank is separate from the base. Every morning and every evening, some supply from the city is released into our tank. It is usually enough for us. The tank is quite large, and made of concrete. Houser couldn't remember the last time that it had been cleaned it was definitely in need of special attention. Many of our friends helped Houser clean it out. All of the water was drained out and then a lot of scrubbing inside was done. Then Houser had to bang all of the pipes to get all of the greenery and different things out. Thankfully, ever since then our water has been clean and fresh.

Surprise!

We had just returned from our trip to Thailand and as we entered our home, it was hardly recognizable. Beverley and Sanni had spent hours decorating our home with streamers, confetti, balloons, and all manner of things, in honor of my birthday. We were so surprised.

The kitchen had the most decorations, with presents on the table, streamers and confetti everywhere, and balloons all over the floor. There was even a really big picture of a blond Barbie that said Happy Birthday.

It was nice that they thought of me. I'm so thankful to God for the incredible friends and family that I have in my life. So many people did so many things to make me feel special on my birthday even though we are far far away.