Obama and Human Trafficking...

I know that this year's election was a bit... "polarized".. and the outcome may have been disappointing to some... But, take a minute to listen to this speech by our President (USA) talking about what we in Nepal, are working to fight and stop.  President Obama, whatever your political view, IS on the right side of fighting Human Trafficking.  Something we can all AGREE on...

http://www.whitehouse.gov/photos-and-video/video/2012/09/25/president-obama-speaks-clinton-global-initiative-annual-meeting

The Eve of Saint Nicolaus

On December 5th -- the Eve of the day that the Church celebrates Saint Nicolaus -- has always been the beginning of Christmas for our family.  Every year, on December 5th (or 6th!) we pull out all the Christmas "stuff" and the celebration of Christ coming to Earth... BEGINS!  This year, we were so grateful to be in the same place as most of our kids -- minus Hannah Liz :-(    -- But we talked with her on the phone, and the celebration began!  -- Each year, Everyone gets ONE present on this day, to remember the Catholic Bishop who cared for the poor, giving of himself to help them live.  He is such an inspiration to us!

Clara Cecelia giving Grandpa his present..

Doing a dance in her new pj's (like Clara in the nutcracker?)

Reading and watching "Diego" with my FAVORITE little people! 

Uncle Michael and Clara making "silly faces"..

I love them...

And my favorite 5 year old, with his Aunt Bekah Boo..

There are many people in Nepal who don't celebrate Christmas -- or even KNOW that Christmas happened in the first place! -- the birth of someone so good, that we all HOPE is really there, watching and listening to us, and moving on the Earth to forgive us and make things better.  Jesus is real.   And He influences some of us to make a difference in the world...

Today, our DTS team left for Nepal; 13 young people leaving home at Christmas time to bring blankets to the Kamaiya people who have been slaves for more than a century, and are living in the open jungle.  The DTS team  are also doing a project in our target village area where 80% of the women and children are trafficked FROM Nepal.  Would you pray with us for them?  Mary had the awesome privilege to teach them this week.  During the teaching, they each prayed and laid down their rights to serve others.  It was an amazing week.

As we celebrate a true saint in history, we are praying for everyday saints who are bringing the love of God in word and action in Nepal... Happy St Nicolaus Day!

We are so Grateful for the One who "came down" and changed everything...

Christmas came early!

Normally, we make our kids and family WAIT after Thanksgiving (no matter WHERE we are living!)  for Christmas trees, decorations, celebrations.. UNTIL.. December 6th, the feast of Saint Nicolaus.  We celebrate Advent from Dec 1st, but no tree goes up until we learn about the Catholic bishop who cared for the poor.

Then, AFTER Christmas Day, we keep everything up. way past everyone else, (we do NOT take the tree down after New Year's Day, no no, we wait until Jan 5th!) when we celebrate Epiphany, the feast of the wise men from the EAST who visited the Christ child!  The "kings" actually "move" about our home, from the most Eastern point, to the manger scene, finally arriving on Epiphany Day!  It takes weeks!

Not this year!

Yesterday, Katrina and Corban (and the J & C!) surprised us with the gift of a Christmas tree!  It was beautiful.  I cried. Corban trimmed and stood it in the stand with no fanfare or arguments about whether it was straight or not!   Uh.. he just DID it, and it was right! How does THAT happen?  In doing this, our dear eldest daughter and her husband put to rest the annual.. um.. discussion?.. about whether to BUY a tree from a lot (my choice), or cutting down an inexpensive tree from the forest (everyone else's choice.. and what we all like to call a "Charlie Brown Tree" = ugh)... or.. in Nepal, a "fake" tree?  Yep we did it last year... confession!  But... with Corban's tree... there were no "discussions" about where to get the tree or how straight it was!  JOY!

So... the choice was made for us!  THANK YOU, Corban & Katrina!  We now have a lovely, well shaped, beautiful tree this year!  And, Hannah was home to decorate it with us this weekend (she would not have been here on St. Nick's day).. and she left tonight.. :- (  Another confession:  We started reading aloud "A Christmas Carol" by Charles Dickens tonight... we usually don't start reading THAT until 5 days before Christmas Day!  (we read a stave a night).  so, yeah, we're kinda messed up!

Joy, Christmas came early this year.. to the Haegeland home...

I'm remembering last Christmas.  We had the privilege of helping our friend, Niru, establish Christmas traditions. (She wanted me to write a book about what we do at Christmas!)  Niru became a Christ follower one month after we met her.  I miss her and her beautiful family.  Perhaps -- with a Colorado team leaving next week (after I teach in their school!) -- I can send some gifts to our dear Niru and her family.

AND..  as I write this, I'm thinking of all those who simply do not know that the God of the universe CAME DOWN to them, and lived life as a man, and died so that they could be in relationship with the ONE who created them and knows them best...

Forget the dates.  Christmas is a MIRACLE, a JOY, the greatest thing that could ever have happened to the Human Race.  God come down, to KNOW us.

"Come thou long expected Jesus, born to set thy people free;
From our fears and sins release us, let us find our rest in Thee.
Israel's strength and consolation, hope of all the earth Thou art;
Dear desire of every nation, joy of every longing heart."

Blessed Advent everyone!  and the start of an early Christmas!

Three Days with Grandma...

K & C went away for three days and we got to watch J & C!  THREE WHOLE DAYS!  What a joy!

We went to "The HOUSE of BOUNCE!

J hitting a "floating" baseball (held up by air!)

C scaling the giant slide ladder!

It was easier for J!

Then we printed vegies!  

(I have memories of doing this with K & B when they were little)

"I just printed my first TOMATO!"

J meticulously inking an onion!

Then... we made a gingerbread HOUSE!

it was beautiful!

C wanted to go to the pet store to see the puppies!

There were rides at the pet store!

J took his lil sis cruisin'

On the last nite, Grandpa had to fix a leaky bathtub, 

so C took a bath in the SINK!  

Washin' up like they washed the whale in "Free Willy"

(yes, we watched the movie... that, and Star Wars...)

Bubbles!

while J took a grown up boy's shower downstairs, 

C stayed here for almost an hour and came out 'all wrinkly'!

 After mom came home, 

we went to one of Michael's soccer games 

(not this one, but here he is anyway!)

And that was three days with Grandma...  

Returning

re·turn/riˈtərn/

Verb:	Come or go back to.
Noun:	An act of coming or going back to something.
Synonyms:

verb.  restore - give back - come back - get back - revert noun.  recurrence - restitution Yep, that's what I've been doing!  Returning to the USA this summer, returning to friends and family, returning to raising funds for our work in Nepal, leaving and returning to Nepal, again and again throughout this year, from teaching around the world -- and now, returning to writing on this blog!

sorry for the year long (!) lapse, no excuses...  (well, actually, I have PLENTY of excuses, just none that I would want to bore you with)

Our family all together in Colorado -- same time, same place!  -- A miracle!

Having time to write again, I wondered if I could even continue to keep 

"Himal Days" as the name of this blog? Technically, I'm closer to the Rocky mountains... (btw, my Nepali friends call the Rockies, "foothills" not mountains) ... anyway, I'm not living in the Himalayas or anywhere near them for a YEAR!   but, I decided to keep the name... my heart is there, even if my body isn't.  And.. I've decided in my returning... to chronicle things about Nepal that I know about.  Things that matter to me.   So here goes: Returning blog - Post #1: Nepal declares 2013 as "Anti-trafficking Year" "Poverty spawns human trafficking: PM"  - so goes the title of an October 2nd article in My Republica.com  (my favorite Nepali newspaper online or in print)!  The article reported that Nepal's Prime Minister (PM) announced 2013 as the year against human trafficking.  "Trafficking is a result of the poor political economic situation of the country" , he went on to say.  Indeed.  I'm curious to see what "effective mechanism to fight human trafficking holistically" that he plans to establish.  Stay tuned for that!  But hey!  it's a start! Living and working in Nepal, we've identified and focused on three key factors that contribute to human trafficking.   I. Lack of Education (75% of women trafficked are illiterate - they can't read things like billboards to know where they are, or debt agreements, or bills, or human rights laws... II.  Lack of Economic Opportunity (synonym: poverty) - Nepal is the poorest nation in South Asia; living off what they grow in most of the rural areas.  Nepal's money comes mostly from:  1.  Aid from other nations; 2.  Tourism and 3.  Nepalis sending money home from abroad  -- All of these basically rely on foreigners. III.  Cultural worldview regarding women, children and caste - Although on the law books, there is no discrimination between gender and castes, in Nepal, lower caste people receive less resources and education and are preyed upon for exploitation.  Women and girl children are less valuable than a water buffalo, in some communities, and even little village boys are sold as "servants" to more affluent Nepalis in the cities.  I've met many of them. I'm adding another factor -- Political Corruption. Anuradha Koirala, founder of Maiti, Nepal (a rescue shelter and leading voice on this issue globally) asked, "How can a young girl of 14, obtain a machine readable passport giving her age as 24, without someone in a government office?"   Good question.  There are a number of ways that the corruption of government officials contributes to the sale of Nepal's most vulnerable people -- Everything from police arresting the girls, but not their owners, (adding to their debt and slavery) to border officials who 'turn the other way' when they see trafficking.  Bribes, political favors, even high end brothels used and owned by government officials are evidence of political corruption as a contributing factor of HT.   Not sure what to do about it yet.   I'll return here.

last days...

today, Katrina came and collected J & C... We're so glad "Mom" is back!  

Here's some photos of our last days in KTM, watching the kids...

J operating a "saving helicopter" (like Uncle P!)

A house!

J "reading" to C in his room...

funky mirrors.. J is tall!  (like Daddy!)

the bouncy castle!

"you can do it, C!"

getting ready to go out in monsoon... rain didn't stop them!

J entertaining C 

 big brother's arm around C as they rode the train

 J climbing the mountain

"wait for me, J!"

sunset on the last day... we miss them!!

chakkajam?

Today was a vehicular movement strike by all the public transport companies in Nepal... It sure wrecked our plans to go to the mall and play in the children's area... :- (   Instead... we took photos of the kids watching movies ("hams 1, 2 & 3 below); and went for a walk (in the rain!) through our neighborhood, eventually stopping at an Italian coffee shop for ice cream... J & C charmed everyone!

"Ham #1"

"Ham #2"

"Hams".. the both of them!