The New School Year Begins!

Since our vacation to Sri Lanka we haven't stopped moving!!! Literally moving, the offices have moved to the new building. We have moved several classrooms, and moved the new eighth and ninth standards into their new rooms. We have moved the children's rooms around and we now have four girl rooms and four boy rooms. This is nice so the house mothers don't have so many children in one room. We moved the volunteer hostel around to get ready for our first volunteer session. Since the volunteers arrived we have kept them very busy helping with all these many dirty tasks and they have been awesome! We cleaned storage rooms, class rooms, children's rooms that have all been piling up with things because of the lack of room and no place to put them..it really is nice to now have space to be organized.



The children arrived on Sunday and it was a happy and sad day. Of course the children and the parents are sad to leave each other but at the same time they all know that this is a great opportunity for them. Steele spent most of the day in the office with Padma and Amy talking with parents and admitting children. He had one father come in who was blind to admit his son into second grade. They were talking and Padma was asking how the Father supports his son. He said that he sits in the church everyday and the church pays him 125 rupees a week, which is two dollars and fifty cents! Padma said to him that maybe we could help him and he started to cry uncontrollably. His son started to cry watching his father cry. The father was so happy for his son's opportunity to go to Rising Star and possibly getting a micro loan to support himself. I sat at the park later that day watching all the children play and saw this little boy laughing and having a blast with all his new friends!

Our volunteers spent most of the day doing lice treatments on the children and at first were grossed out but they had a blast getting to know the children and already love the children and said they would take lice any day just to be able to be with these amazing children.

We had 25 new student enroll this year, mostly kindergarten. The little children are so cute and small. The parents are so strong to entrust their little ones into our care in hopes that we will be able to teach them and give them a better opportunity in life. It really is amazing the difference between the little kindergarten children, who are now in first standard and the new ones coming in. The first graders used to be like these children only a year ago, but they now speak English very well, look healthy, are confident, and happy. I had a few of the kindergarten kids and first graders over today to color and this is when I really saw the difference. The first graders were translating for me and were telling me what color and what kind of picture they wanted to draw. The new children were very shy and timid. I sat one little girl Magesheawri at my kitchen table to color and she just sat and looked at the crayons and the paper as if she didn't know what to do. I put a few colors in front of her and she still just sat. I started to color a part of the picture pink and encouraged her to do the same. She hesitantly took the crayon and started to color. When she finished coloring the section pink she then sat and waited and just looked at me. I handed her another color and encouraged her to color the ponies hair. She did it so carefully. She started to smile at her work and started to understand that she could pick the colors and color. It seemed like she had never colored before and if she had she may have never been able to choose what picture or color to use. This little Mageshearwi is already becoming one of my favorites. I can't wait to watch and see her grow over these next few months. She has a smile that lights up the room! When I took her picture I had a hard time getting her to smile. She would just stare as is custom to do in India, but when she saw her picture in the camera she smiled so big, she loved it. She then couldn't help but smile so big every time I took a picture of her.




Sanjay had a birthday today..he his 7! He came over to my house to pick a gift from the birthday box. He picked a little match box car. He was so thrilled and carried it in his front shirt pocket all day..so cute...another one of my favorites. He gives me a special smile and hug every time I see him. If anyone is feeling sad or down you don't need therapy, just come to India and spend a few weeks with these children that have so much love to give. You will learn so much about yourself as you serve and think of others.




Cole, Olivia, Boston, Oaks and Belle are glad the children are back and have been playing with them constantly since they have arrived. My kids have worked so hard along side myself, Steele and the volunteers to help get the school and hostel ready. I am proud of them and how they love to help and serve others. They really had so much fun washing walls, organizing and moving this week. Cole even got to go to a colony and help build toilets. He shoveled and moved a lot of dirt on his head. He worked so hard...he came home proud of his work. He said he couldn't believe that these construction workers work this hard all day for only three dollars a day!

We feel blessed to serve and be a part of this work and feel like we are getting more from Rising Star than we can give. We have come to India to serve the children here but we feel like they have served and blessed us as a family!