New Year, New Post!

It seems that every time I begin a new post, I end up just clicking away and not posting it.

Hmm..wonder why that is..maybe because I wish that it were about Ray and I being in India?!! Yeah, that is probably the reason!!!

But, I do have a post for the New Year~I won't tell you the sad things...only the Happy, Good things this time :0)

Ray and I decided to begin our New Year in a positive, grounding, centered way. So we headed out to Point Reyes and attended a 5 hour Yoga Retreat with one of our yoga teachers we had in Marin for many years. Christy Brown~ and she did, as we knew she would, have a beautiful day planned for us all!

It was a full house at the "Yoga Toes" shala, owned and run by Amanda Giacomini and her husband rapper MC Yogi. Two of the most beautiful and genuine grounded yogis I have had the pleasure of meeting in quite a while..his music is amazing and of course it is right up my alley as he sings about all of the Hindu Gods whom I love and worship. "Elephant Power" is his recent CD and I play it daily as it is in my 5 disc CD player at home along with Jai Uttal and Krishna Das...just to mention a few~

We began the day and ended the day in a perfectly perfect day and we are in hope that this New Year will bring with it all that we pray for and wish for in the world.
May it bring to you the same~~
Namaste my friends~

IT WORKED!

As it most always has in the past.
Our lives were turned upside down 2 years ago when we made the Biggest mistake of our lives (we thought) of leaving Marin and moving to Grass Valley. Hence Ray losing all of his seniority with UPS. The company that he had worked at and Loved for 20 full years.

Everything was peachy at first after the move..but when we returned from our 6 week trip to India he had been put on "lay off". And I think all of you know why..starts with an "E" (economy)... :0(

We had no choice but to leave GV and he put in his resignation..it was hard to do, made us sick to our stomachs..because we lost it all..20 years down the drain.

He was hired right away in the town we live in, (with another shipping company) the place where we met, living in the house he was born in...it was like coming Full Circle...without UPS as our provider. It was bittersweet to say the least...

But everyday, for Two full years, I have been envisioning him back at UPS. With that brown uniform..him behind that wheel of that 18 wheeler that he knows how to drive so Perfectly well!

And...yesterday...they hired him back!!!!!! My husband is back with the company that he only had 8 more years to retire with (and he's only 43 I might add!!). He got it ALL back! My Prayers and my Visualizing came to pass.....

I worked it...hard.

He starts the Monday after Thanksgiving Holiday..and Yes, we Do have much to be Thankful for this year indeed...

So, it looks like our plans are on hold for India. Because after he retires (at a very young age) with Full Pension now and Benefits...we will be set once again..and then...Look Out!

India....we will be back. Just with a little more $$ in our pockets!

OM!

Life is Good..

This photo is from one of our friends, Padmini, in Fort Cochin, India.

It makes me so happy to see her smile here..she has been through some tough times in the past.

But as Life always does, it made a turn for the better for her and her job situation.

We were here for her, if she needed our help. We made her that promise before we left Fort Cochin last year. She is our friend and we will always be there for her if she needs us.

I get regular email updates from her and we both are so grateful for one another..

cannot Wait to go back and give her a BIG hug again...

Because Life is Good.

Time...

The older I get, the more amazed I am at how fast time passes....

Days seem to just fly by lately. I like it in a way. Especially when I have a goal in mind...a plan.

I was reading Operation Shanti's blog post this morning and when I saw this photo I was blown away at how these boys have grown. It seems like just yeserday when I was there and Kaleem (the boy in blue not looking at the camera) came up to me after we had distributed the shoes at the school he was then living at, looked up at me and said "Thank You for the shoes you gave me" and I immediately teared up...

He especially holds a soft place in my heart for some reason...It's wonderful to see how much he has grown up and how handsome all those boys are. They are all well on their way now...and the future will be theirs for the taking. No doubt about that! I can't wait to go back to Mysore and see them all again...

Time....

Is it normal...

to be so extremely fixated on a country that you Know you are unable to have residency in...
that there is NO WAY you will ever be able to just "Up and Move" there and not have any sort of hassle? (although I have been told for a price Anything is possible)
Is it Normal to think about being somewhere else every single day of your life...?
Don't get me wrong, I am very Grateful for what I have and where I am right now...but OH how I long to be...
in
INDIA!

Change...

is coming...

new post soon to come.

Stay tuned my friends!

Namaste~

Friends in "High Places"!!!

I was grinning from *ear to ear* the other day when I got this photo my my friend Angela who is currently living in Cochin, South India while her husband is there working.

We met online..she was a supporter of my recent charity "Practice for the Children Pendant" in which we raised $2500.00 US dollars for the children of Operation Shanti. (i have two pendants left btw if anyone is interested ;0)
but that's not what this post is about...

This post is about Friends. Friends who can make your day with a simple photo like this one...and I DO mean "make my day"!! Every time I look at this picture it just makes me Smile!

Angela and her husband have helped bring India to me...they know how much I love the country and the little "care packages" they have sent to me have just warmed my heart and made me realise that it's these little things like "masala tea, incense that I adore and burn literally all day long, lotus oil, that each time I open the bottle and close my eyes and smell it.. transports me right back to being there in Fort Cochin...beautiful bangle bracelets...earrings..OM pendants..a very special bracelet from Amma's Ashram..stickers (that are now decorating my laptop!!!) just so many wonderful little things from the country that I just SOOOO MISS, mean the world to me. Just sitting and looking at the decorative envelopes that they arrive in with ALL the beautiful stamps, and knowing how far it has traveled to arrive here in California.

Friends...who know what makes you smile.

Thank You my friends Angela and Steven~~~~

OM Shanti!