Winter in Minnesota

Carly is doing so well! She enjoys helping with the cooking, cleaning, and being involved in just everyday things. She likes to plays card games and go shopping.

She is adjusting to the climate change though the cold is not her favorite part. She does like the snow. Carly is very much part of the family as she is more comfortable with all of us!
She loves to go to church and has met some nice friends there. Everyone has been so nice to her and has made her feel very welcome!
She asks when her friend, Anamika, is coming to Minnesota and looks forward to her coming. We are ready for Christmas and are so excited to experience our first Christmas together!

Here we are with Rajeev on our last day in India. It was a very relaxing day as Rajeev took us to a nice park where we could eat, rest and the kids could play on the playground. This was also the final day of our visa work. Rajeev knew exactly what to do and everything went very smoothly!

We are home safely and are feeling a bit tired but very happy to have Carly home with us! She really has added to our family some spice! We love her so much and are learning something new about her everyday. She seems to understand more each day and is trying new words. We even got her to say UUFFDA. Imagine a Norwegian/Indian! She says it like I've never heard it said! Thank-you for all your support these past days when we were in India. We have enjoyed hearing from you all!

Love to all,
Dawn

Hi Everyone!
This will be our last blog until we get home. We will leave tonight. The visa work went well and everything has gone sooo smoothly. Thank-you for all your prayers and blog comments. We are very happy to see you all soon.

To IFS Families: Rajeev is the MAN! When you travel, just trust what he tells you and do it. He knows what he is doing. We are all very fortunate to have him to work with IFS!

Hi Everyone,
We thought that Carly was rather quiet, but we found out today that she is not. Somebody put 12 1/2 rupees (a quarter) in her and she's been going ever since! She is now is watching cartoons with the boys. She will certainly hold her own with the boys. Today we went shopping and we bought her a punjabi. She has learned all our names and has added some too. Austin is also known as "Austin Monkey"!!! Or just " Monkey". She is very lively, and full of giggles. LOTS of giggles. We leave tomorrow night for USA. YAY! We look forward to seeing you all very soon. We are going to CDT this weekend and are very excited to see the performance! We are praying for you all as you are working very hard!
Love to All!
Dawn

This monkey tried to grab Carly's leg! And she screamed and ran away laughing. Naughty monkey.

Rajeev and Renu with us at Pizza Hut. Yum!

Hello everyone! This country and people (and people and people and people) are incredible! Rajeev and Renu are the most gracious hosts ever! The weather is about 70 to 80 degrees and overcast or sunny. The kids are having a blast--playing, swimming, shopping, eating and just soaking everything in. -- Wayne

Hello all!

Carly is doing very well. We went shopping and bought Carly some new jeans! She looks very snappy in them!! She just grinned very big when she put them on. She is adjusting every day to us and us to her. She seems to trust us more now and we realize that this will be a process! We just love her sooooo much!!!

She really enjoys playing cards. That has really helped her come out of her shell! "Thank-you, Zachary!"

To IFS families: To those who contacted us, we got pictures of your children and delivered your gifts. We will e-mail you when we get home and give you pics and all the info. that observed for you. Your children are so beautiful!!! They are all very excited to go home with you! So many stories to tell you! :) Also, Rajeev and Renu, his wife, are so gracious! You will love India!!

A big thank-you to those who have blogged, read our blogs, prayed for us and kept others posted for us! We appreciate all that you have done for us. We look forward to seeing you all soon.

Love to All!

Dawn

Hey everybody! I'm having an absolutely awesome time over here! All the time there are people everywhere. Picking up Chinmayee (Carly) was the best part, but besides that, spending time with the Bethesda children was lots of fun. And seeing the Taj Mahal was so cool. So much white marble. Beautiful. Last night Renu, Mom, Chinmayee and I did a little shopping. Wahoo! It was a lot of fun. And one thing I noticed is that there were no Indian saleswoman. A little akward at times, but it was OK. lol

Chinmayee is learning all our names and growing less and less shy as the days go on. I'll have lots more to tell once we get back. LoVe you All! See you soon and God bless! :)

First Plane Ride

Hey this is Kristina, I tried to upload some other pictures, but this is all I could get. This was on the plane ride to Delhi. And that is Mitch's lap by the way. :)

Hi Everyone,

Thank-you for all your prayers and for commenting as it is fun to hear from you. We miss you and are excited to be home soon!

To FBC friends, how is CDT going? We know that you are busy and that it is exciting right now as all the practices are now perfomances. We are praying for you all!

Yesterday, we went to the Taj and were so amazed at how huge and beautiful the building was. Carly was very busy taking pictures. We visited 2 other sites and then went to our hotel for and an hour and then went for pizza. After that we were going to see a Hindi movie but it was going to run too late so we went for Ice Cream instead at a mall. It was very good and Carly seemed to like it very much. Austin and Mitchell also went on a bungy jumping thing and they really enjoyed that! I thought they were going to be sick as they ate so much pizza and ice cream. But they didn't.

Last night, Carly had a little bit of a temperature. She was also wimpering some. At first I thought she was homesick but I think that she is just overtired. She is experiencing so much change right now. Please, pray for her that she will feel well soon. She took a 4 hour nap this afternoon and that seemed to help alot.

We are going shopping this afternoon and Wayne volunteered to stay with her today if she is not up to shopping. She really loves Wayne!! He sometimes talks to her in his Donald Duck voice and she laughs at him. She is getting more comfortable with us each day.

Sorry that we do not have pics to post for you now. We will post them when we get home for you to see. Internet or something is different.

We love you all and look forward to seeing you soon! For now we are really enjoying India, Rajeev and his wife Renu and being together as a family!

I do not know for sure when we will be able to blog again, but we will.

Love to all,

The Witte's

Hello Everyone!

Thankyou all for your prayers for us as we have traveled. We have had a very good trip! We started the first 2 days at Bethesda and the kids are doing very well. Mariama is still in the hospital but is getting better. There is so much to tell about them but I will have to share another time. The kids are so happy to get their gifts and we told them that we are all praying for them.

We went to BS yesterday and got our daughter, Chinmayee (Carly). She is very sweet and polite and loves gum!! She did share with her friends though. She is doing well and adjusting. It will be good to get her home and get her settled and in a calm setting. She has so many changes and is doing well considering! The kids love her too!

I will post pics tomorrow as we will have more time to organize them. Sorry it has taken us a long time to post but ''thank-you Cheryl for giving messages for us"! We should have more time to blog now.

To our FBC friends, we will be thinking of you as you are doing the CDT perfomances!

Love to all,

Dawn

A Happy Thanksgiving Day!!

Everyone has been praying for Wayne, Dawn and the kids! We received a phone call this evening from the happy family. They are all safe and getting ready to fly to Dehli. Dawn will post when they get there so hopefully we will get to see some pictures tomorrow!!!

Wayne said his new daughter is beautiful and they had a wonderful time at her orphanage. When they all got back to the hotel after getting her they had strawberry malts and went to bed. She is doing great and the proud daddy said, "She is so cute and missing a tooth!!" We got to hear her sweet little voice on the phone say "hello." Rajeev is with them and will continue to escort them for the remainder of their trip.

Keep sending the posts. they will love hearing from everyone now!!

Cheryl Witte (for Wayne, Dawn and kids)

Dawn's in Labor!!!!

Well, today is the big day, yes Dawn is in labor. While we all watched the news unfold here in the US, Wayne, Dawn and kids slept sound several miles away from Mumbai. We spoke with them about 7:30 P.M (CST). They were getting ready to leave for the airport. Their driver was leaving a bit early to get them there in plenty of time for their flight. They anticipated heavy traffic and security.

They will fly directly into where Carly's orphanage is. They will go either straight to the orphanage or check into their motel, freshen up and then go to be united with their beautiful baby girl. Rajeev, their Indian liason will be waitng at the airport for them.

They had a wonderful time with the kids at Bethesda and Dawn said they have so many stories to share. " It was hard to say goodbye to the kids, but we told them others would come to visit!" (That means those of you planning a trip need to book your tickets!) "I can't believe I will see my daughter today", Dawn said, I could hear the excitement in her voice!

They will arrive at about 1 A.M (CST) and will have Carly with them by the time we all sit down to eat our turkeys.

We are anxiously awaitng a new family portrait.

Happy Thanksgiving Wayne and Dawn, we love you and your family!!!

Cheryl Witte

(For Wayne, Dawn and kids)

Hello from India

Hello everyone,

Once again it is Cheryl posting for Wayne, Dawn and kids. We talked to all of them this evening on the phone. It was Wed. morning for them. They had a big Indian breakfast and were getting ready to head back to Bethesda to spend the day with the kids. They fly to meet up with Rajeev early Thursday morning. (Which will be about 8:00 P.M. Wed eve CST) Then they will travel to the orphanage and meet Carly!!!

Here are a few quotes from the family: (they spent all day at Bethesda Children's Home and all of them loved it!! They had a blast playing with the kids and getting to know them.


Mitch "Wow all the soccer made me not be able to bend my knees!"

Austin " How's my puppy and the kids are so much fun."

Zac "Wow"

Kristina "We left America in the afternoon, arrived in Amsterdam in early morning, arrived in India very late at night, it was so confusing. Bethesda was amazing"

Wayne "No Gene I am not feeling comfortable going for an auto rickshaw ride without any doors around me. (I think he is missing his volvo!!)

Dawn "Tell everyone hi, we miss them, thanks for praying and to all my fellow CDT friends, praying as you start your first performances!"

They went through customs with no issues and were very thankful for that. They all send their love and thank you all for your prayers. Drop them notes they should be able to have internet access in the next day or so!!

Safe In India!!!

Hello Everyone,

Well the down side of this update is it is Cheryl Witte writing on behalf of the Witte's in India. Dawn asked me to do some of the posting if they were limited to computer access, which they currently are. I just got off the phone with Shekar Eda's sister Kala in India and got an update on everyone.

They made it safely to India. When I talked with Wayne on Sunday they had cleared security in Minneapolis and he was enjoying a sub sandwhich at Subway. Hopefully all went well clearing customs in India!

Once they arrived in India, Bitchia, (Shekar and Irene Eda's driver) had two vehicles that picked them up from the airport. I am sure they were a sight:)

They spent today at Bethesda Children's Home. Kala said they had a great time. They had gotten back to the house at about 9 P.M. Kala fed them and when I called they were already at the guest house sleeping. It was about 10:15 P.M. on Tues. eve. (they are about 11 1/2 hours ahead of us). Kala said they will go back to Bethesda tom. to spend another day with the kids and then they fly out to get ready to pick up Carly.

We will try talking to them this evening as Kala thought they would be at the house about 9:30 for breakfeast.

Send them some posts!!! They will be able to read them once they get to Dehli and meet up with Rajeev their liason. Kala said the weather was pleasant right now. Pray that they get a good night's rest this evening and refreshed for another busy day tom.

On behalf of the Wittes in India,

Cheryl Witte

These pictures were taken this fall when Nathan came home to visit us on a weekend. Nathan lives in Iowa and won't be traveling with us but will hold down the home front for us. We have ALL been waiting for the day when we would be bringing Carly home to us! Tomorrow we travel and finally get to go get her! We officially get her on the 27th. Thanksgiving Day! I told my dad that this year it would be totally ok if we did not eat turkey on Thanksgiving Day! To us it will be such a gift to get her that day. We are so thankful to God that soon we will be together as a complete family!

Our next post will be when we are in India. We are flying into Mumbia and visit the Bethesda Children's Home first. There are 64 children living there right now. In January, I was able to take a missions trip there and there were 37 kids then. The kids are so great! They are always happy to get visitors. They have lots of energy and love to laugh! It will be fun to see and meet the kids!

We'll talk more soon!
Dawn

Just a little note on the picture Carly is holding. We sent a picture book to her in January. She has a book of pics of family-grandparents, aunts ,uncles, pets and of our family when we went up north camping with family. I love this picture of Carly because she does look happy and is holding her family in her fingers! :)

Our Family

Got the blog set up(Thank-you, Amy)! You are welcome to visit and comment on our blog. We are very excited to get her soon. We are traveling to India on Nov. 23 and we are getting her on the 27th. on Thanksgiving Day.