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Parenting the Parentless

Author:	David Strickland	Created:	4/4/2007 11:25 PM
Ok well parenting your own kids can be tricky enough but parenting someone elses can be a pain even if they are only on loan. Why would anyone in thier right mind want to parent 100 screaming orphans that you can't return. Much less why would you do it half way around the world. This is our Adventures or misadventures in starting and running an orphanage in India.

Birthday's in India

By David Strickland on 2/17/2008 3:05 AM

     Well it's Feburary which means birthdays. Ash Mercy and I are all Feburary birthdays which means we could get it all over with in about 2 weeks. At least until DJ came along in Nov. which through the whole process off.

     Birthdays in India are much more exciting then I remember them in America. In the states they come and go with barely a nod. But here to ecscape it's nearly impossible.

     Before I left America I was going to get a cellphone that could contain all my contacts my schedule and everything else. But then after talking with a couple different people it seems not everything that works in America works here in India. So I decided to wait till I got to India to get it. Then when we arrived we were so busy getting everything else we needed that there wasn't much money for anything extra. In the states you can get a fairly nice phone by signing a service contract. In India there really isn't anything similar. So I got a 20$ phone that would ring and didn't do much more.

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Taxes

By David Strickland on 2/7/2008 3:16 AM

Warning Numbers Ahead if you already have a headache come back later.

Well it's that time of year taxes. I'm going self employed on March 1 working out of my house. I started to realize that ment accounting. Ok I'm a coder not an accountant so I'm REALLY not looking forward to this. However If I'm going to have time to do what we came here to do. I've got to work for myself so I have the flexibility to do it. Hey shameless plug here want a website or an application Hire me. OK so back to our regularly scheduled program. As I started to look at it and I decide the first place to analyze was taxes you know I grew up doing my taxes since I was 16 I should be able to do it in India right? As I looked at it I started to wonder which is better India or America. The tax Schedule here looks something like this.

Men:

Income less then 110000 is not taxed

Income...

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The End

By David Strickland on 1/20/2008 7:03 AM

Last month as we began to analyze our expenditures for this year and develop a budget for 2008 we realized that money was a lot tighter then we first anticipated. For a variety of reasons. A lot of people that said they would help seem to have forgotten. I guess that is normal. Intentions are always good but in the end when it gets right down to it it becomes hard to actually carry through. We had originally designed this site to stay in touch and update those that were interested in supporting us in the work we are doing. Thus as 2007 began to draw to a close we began to consider shutting down the site. It costs us about $14.00 a month to keep it going and since there are so few to keep updated it would be cheaper to simply continue to send out our newsletter instead.

So in Mid Dec. I stopped posting anticipating that we would shut it down in mid Jan. however after talking to some friends stateside they encouraged us that our blog was affecting more people then we realized and convinced us we should continue...

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How to lose another 4 kg overnight

By David Strickland on 12/11/2007 2:32 PM

That last entry was getting long so I excluded an event I decided to put here instead. That first night we spent at the hospital. We found out that evidently someone had been watching the house. Some how they knew we were gone because when I got home on Friday. All the exterior plumbing had been stolen off of the house. This uncluded the spickets and knobs in the sink on the terrace. The plumbing in the exterior bathroom on the side of the house. The two spickets on the sides of the house and the connectors for our washing area on the terrace. Not sure if it's 4 kg worth of plumbing nut probably somewhere close. In addition to the stolen fixtures there is really no telling how much water we lost before I got home and got the plumbing turned off. The water bill this month might get interesting. How much water do you think can come out of six open spickets in 8 hours? What I found real interesing is that some of the electrical extension cords etc. that we had left on the terrace as well as some tools I had left out when we went to the hospital were untouched it was just the spickets. The electric equipment and tools would have been worth far more then the spickets but the spickets is all they took.

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How to lose 4.08 kg in 9 months

By David Strickland on 12/3/2007 3:27 PM

It's been a very busy couple weeks. I finally got enough time to sit down and update everyone and I want to start with an apology that it’s been so long. As I said in my last post Manny had her baby, she will likely stay with us till first week of Jan. to make sure they are both strong and ready to face what is ahead. It will be tough for them but they should make it. I've been pro-life most of my life but I guess this is the first time I put my money where my mouth is. Manny's stay in the hospital, delivery etc. cost about 12,000 rs. I have to admit it seemed like a lot of money at the time. Just before Christmas with my own wife going into the hospital soon. However now it's good to see the two of them healthy and happy.

Mercy went into labor Weds. the 28th of Nov. I had a speaking engagement at 6:00 pm so she stayed at home while I went. While I was up talking she was going into labor. Mercy’s contractions were sporadic and of variable strength when we timed then later that night after I got home. Thinking they might simply be Braxton Hicks Mercy wanted to wait before we packed up and went to the hospital. All night the contractions continued Mercy eventually kicked me out of the bedroom because she said she would be more comfortable by herself. It wasn’t till the next day I found out that she was actually in pain all night and actually kicked me out so at least one of us would get some sleep. Finally at about 6:00 am we called a friend to take us to the hospital. We went to Baptist Hospital here in Bangalore. Baptist has one of the only private birthing rooms in Bangalore and fortunately the birthing room was empty when we arrived. from 6 till almost one Mercy was in labor. Finally at 12:58 David john Strickland was born weighing 4.08 kg.

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Manny's Baby

By David Strickland on 11/13/2007 5:50 AM

A bouncing 2.2 kilo baby boy was born at 10 am this morning. We are still waiting on the doctors report but the baby is breathing on his own and with his mother which I am told is a good sign.

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Manny goes for a checkup

By David Strickland on 11/12/2007 9:55 AM

Last Weds. Manny went in for a checkup. After an ultrasound and some tests they wrote on her chart that she had "reduced liquor" and they needed some more tests. Ok first off I'm guess the translation there would be liquid versus a surprising lack of whiskey. After she got home we got to talking with her and asked her how much water she was drinking every day. She told us that she couldn't drink more then about a glass or she would vomit. We found out the same held for almost anything milk, soda. No matter what she drank she couldn't keeep it down.

Today we took her in for the additional tests. It was the first day the labs were open since our last visit. The doctors did the tests and monitored the babies heart rate. The heart rate was variable going up and down. In 4 days the babys condition had gone from stable to critical. As I type this they are inducing her. The baby is a little over 8 months old but according to the doctors the development stopped almost a month ago. So we are looking at a 7 month...

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Diwali

By David Strickland on 11/10/2007 7:48 PM

Diwali. Is the india festival of Lights. I'm told it takes about the same spot in the India mind as Christmas does in America. It's the festival time. A time to spend with family. There are actually three times of year that you could consider the Holidays in India. It really depends on your religious heritage. Hindu's have Diwali. Christian celebrate Christmas. Muslims celebrate Ramadan.

OK though it is the Holiday season I'd have to say the resemblence to christmas stops there. Christmas to me is quiet and calm. Family and friends and carols and cold winter nights. Diwali is loud and Hot. with Christmas are the scents of pine and apple cider. With Diwali is sulfer and ashe. Diwali is the fireworks time of the year and to be perfectly honest the forth of JUly ain't got nothing on this. There is no centralized display. Almost every family in town will buy some fireworks and starting at midnight the night of Diwali and going on for days after they light them off.

My son attempted to tell one of our...

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Bunking the orphanage

By David Strickland on 11/2/2007 8:07 AM

Went out shopping a couple days ago for bunk beds and a baby cradle. We weren't sure how much it was going to cost for the beds we needed for the orphanage. After some shopping we finally found a couple different options ranging from 18,000 rs. ($400) to 10,000 rs. ($200) both were more then we really wanted to spend especially when you figure we need 6 of them now and many more in the future. Next shop was the carpenter maybe we could have it made. Well that was better about half the price but still too much.

So finally I decided to build my own. I never realized what a mess that would cause. When I went to by the lumber the prices were unbelievable. 1 1x6 8' long was over $100 at one shop and more at another. I'm sure I just didn't find the right shops and there is doubtless cheaper lumber around but when they quoted me all the lumber I thought I'd need for a baby bed and a bunk bed it was into the thousands. Ok lumber might not be such a good idea. However on the way home I noticed a shop that sold...

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Ruby Red Slippers

By David Strickland on 10/31/2007 12:35 AM

I'm a star Trek fan. Maybe that goes without saying since I'm a computer programmer. Got to thinking this morning I wonder if I became a programmer because I watched Star Trek as a kid or started watching star trek because I was destined to be a programmer? Anyway I brought along some DVD's and sat down yesterday and watched one. As I watched them "Beam" the 100th person that episode I got to thinking it would be nice if I could just "Beam" back stateside every now and then.

Been here a little over 2 months I guess homesick was bound to set in eventually it would be dim to think otherwise. Last couple weeks have been tough ones. Nothing moves quickly in India especially on a shoestring budget. Of course we could pay the expedite fee("bribe") and get it all done faster but don't think we are that desperate yet. We have been waiting on the lawyer to get the paperwork filed for the orphanage for almost a month today it looks like we will have to get a new lawyer. Last month we put down a deposit on a hall. We wanted to start teaching some classes but then the hall fell through and we aren't sure we'll be able to get our deposit back. If patience is a virtue if I stay around here long enough my "virtue" will out shine the sun because it seems that patience is all I've gotten for our efforts to date.

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