Lumbini!

Hello and Namaste from the birth place of Lord Buddha! Today we arrived in Lumbini!

We spent the last 2 nights in Tansen. It's a very small town south of Polkara and it was nice and peaceful. We had a project visit and, you guys would be amazed, it was a water project that supplied water to a small group of people that previously had to walk 2-3 hours (both ways) to get water from a river. Here's the catch. The water project only produces enough water to turn the taps on for one half hour each and every day! Wow!

I had a great host stay in Tansen. My host family was so interested in America. They asked me to cook "american" food for them one night. I made spaghetti! Really, it was chow mein noodles topped with sauteed tomatoes and onion. We even found some local goat cheese to top it with! It was awesome and I was so happy to cook. I was instantly aware of where the water was, how much I had, how clean my hands and cooking tools where, even which slippers I had on (each Nepal home has seperate slippers for the bathroom, the outdoors, the house, and you usually go bare foot on anything carpeted or any bedrooms). I was all the more appreciative of the hospitality I have been receiving in my host homes.

This morning we drove to Lumbini. It is HOT and humid here. But that didn't stop us from visiting, what I think, has been one of the highlights of the trip...the birth place of Lord Buddha! Wow! It was great! There was so much devotion and history to admire! We even had a guide with us and he filled us in on lots of Buddhist history and the meaning of what we were seeing. I'm sorry to say that I can't upload any photos right now but I've been meaning too.

So, there's a reflection pool outside Buddha's temple. His mother slipped into the pool and started to feel labor pains. Then she got out of the pool and took 25 steps to a bodi (spelling?) tree, where she held a branch over her head and when the full moon appeared, Buddha was born.

Everyone's health is well. Michelle is feeling better and hanging in there like a trooper. She's dancing again :-)

Best wishes! Thanks for keeping in touch!