Parenting the Parentless.

The Adventures of Super Dave and Mercy continue

ContactUs@Parentless.org — Thu, 11 Nov 2010 02:30:00 GMT

Well the power outages didn't stop and they were followed by internet outage hardware failures and a series of unfortunate events that almost closed us down. We need $100,000 to buy the land we need. We did our best to raise the money but only ended up with about $6,000. We had to do something we couldn't work couldn't get a loan and were once again at the end of our rope. Either we could close it down or I would have to go back and get a job in America while Mercy stayed and took care of the girls.

I write this from Old Chicago in Topeka Kansas. Where I got a contract working for the state. The money is ok but to keep the orphanage going Mercy had to stay in India. Once again we have to spend time apart trying to keep the boat afloat. To raise the money we would need to buy the land we'll have to do this for almost 3 years.

3 years having the longest long distance relationship possible. My wife is literally a world away. To be honest I'm not sure a house full of orphans is worth it. I doubt we'll be able to do this for 3 years. I can't imagine doing it for 6 months. But we'll see how long we can tolerate being apart. We may be able to save the money we need for the land. We may get feed up and just shut it all down and move to Canada, Australia or New Zealand only time will tell. If you have a development position open in one of these three countries let me know maybe you'll make the decision for us.

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1.21 JigaWatts x 2

ContactUs@Parentless.org — Wed, 29 Sep 2010 16:02:00 GMT

Ok 1.21 Jigawatts can send a Delorian 50 years into the past.2.42 Jigawatts can bring a development shop to it's knees. Last week on Weds.a lightning strike shorted out 2 phases of power and crossed them inside our electric box the subsequent 440 volts burned out every lightbulb in the house fried 2 power strips and 4 AC/DC adapters and our cable box. Thursday a lightning strike miles away burned out most of the phone equipment and sent the internet connection and phonelines of the etire district dark for 5 days.

I grew up in the midwest of AMerica where lightning is common and worked in what I thought was the lightning capitol of the world when I was in Central Florida working in the phosphate mines but I guess I was used to clean scrubbed power because I never anticipated this. I suppose 5 days without phone lines and INternet wasn't all bad since I couldn't work I started teaching the girls double dutch. Maybe I should say jump rope since thats about all the farther they can get at the moment.

For those that read through our newsletter. I got the stiches out yesterday from the motorcycle accident.

The car loan was turned down and the bank pulled the preapproval we had or thought we had for the building loan. I guess working online doesn't count as a real job. At least not one they are willing to give any credit.

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Red Tape

ContactUs@Parentless.org — Wed, 22 Sep 2010 17:45:00 GMT

Red tape seems to be the theme of the month. We started two months ago attempting to get a car loan and after numerous trips to the bank the paperwork is still processing. Hopefully we'll hear something in the next few weeks. At the same time about 2 months we attempted to transfer some money from our account in America to our bank account in India. The transfer took about 6 weeks to process and more red tape then the car loan.

Last month we started to shop for land to build a church building, widows home and orphanage. We have found that banks in this area do not issue loans for property. You can get a house loan if we own the property but not a property loan.

The girls are doing well in their new school. They enjoy life in Kotagiri much better then they did Bangalore. The level of education at the school is more in align with what they understand and the language they use in the schools is closer to the language they grew up with. The pace of life here is slower. It feels a lot like it did when we moved from New Orleans to Iowa. we are all able to live at a slower pace.

God's hand of protection is on us every day but we often notice it more when life brings it to a point. Late one evening the 220v power that comes into our house crossed phases and became 440v. Light bulbs popped and electrical lines all over the house began to smoke. By the time we got the mains cut the smell of smoke filled the air but we couldn't see to tell much of what had happened. With a prayer we went to bed and the next morning when we could see the damage we realized that though we had lost every light bulb in the house that was on at the time the only things to melt down where 3 power strips and some ac/dc adapters. No appliances were damaged and by the grace of God the house did not catch a light. The next day DJ and I went on the motorcycle to buy some of the parts we needed for repairs. When we pulled up to an intersection and stopped the shoulder of the road gave way and DJ and I fell into the open sewer beside the road. The motorcycle lay on my legs my head down but DJ sat astride me on my chest without so much as a scratch.

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Child Bride

ContactUs@Parentless.org — Sun, 18 Jul 2010 14:49:00 GMT

There's not much I can do about it but blog it so here it goes.

3 years have passed

ContactUs@Parentless.org — Sun, 18 Jul 2010 09:54:00 GMT

A lot has happened in the last 4 months. Mercy and I are Back in India and today the girls all come back from the homes we put them in while we were in the states. When it's all said and done we don't have any more money now then we did before left and our ability to buy land and build a permanent home for the orphanage is no closer then it was a year ago.

Case of the wrong Caste

ContactUs@Parentless.org — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 20:06:00 GMT

Still on the job hunt. Downturn in the economy has put a pretty good dent in the short-term contract market. Looks like we may be back here longer then we first thought.

Back Stateside for a bit

ContactUs@Parentless.org — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 16:40:00 GMT

We are back stateside for a few months. We have decided to expand the work and have returned to the states to see if we can save up some money for a larger facilite.

Out of Surgery and doing fine

ContactUs@Parentless.org — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 05:47:00 GMT

One of our girls had to go in for heart surgery. She's out of surgery and doing fine.

Happy New Year Merry Christmas.

ContactUs@Parentless.org — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 20:18:00 GMT

A new year has come. Looking back on the last year feels better then it used to knowing your having an impact makes a lot of difference. But to be perfectly honest that doesn't mean there aren't days I wish I didn't have nearly 20 people dependent on my paycheck.

School for the girls

ContactUs@Parentless.org — Sun, 17 Aug 2008 14:35:00 GMT