Picture of the Week: Elephant-Head god

It's that time of year again. You can hear the drums beating. The lights are strung around town. Everyone's doorsteps are painted and idols line the street. Yep, it's the annual Ganesha Festival.

Hindus, devout and nominal, buy a Ganesha idol. Some are just trinket size, while others must be hauled on a truck bed. The idol is then carried home for worship. Food is offered, chants are sung and the worshiper pleads this "god" to remove their obstacles. A few days later, Ganesha is submerged in water (symbolically washing away the devotees sins...at least for a while). You see, this god is the "remover of obstacles". After all, his head was chopped off by his jealous father. Then replaced with an elephant head. What an over-comer!

I can laugh about how ridiculous this is at times. It seems downright silly to my kids that people would worship a hunk of clay shaped into an elephant-man and dunk it in their bathtub. Yet, I can't help but also grieve the seriousness of it all. This is reality. My neighbor invited me to the pooja at her apartment. It is all over the newspaper. Their are sales and special events for this festival. I can hear the drums right now. This is not some distant picture in a religion textbook of the "natives" worshiping a stone. This is here. Now. Modern civilization all around me.

Picture of the Week: Sick

It's a fact of life no matter where you live. People get sick. It just happens. I don't know why it feels harder here. It just does. 

Last week, Brian came home from  traveling. I was excited to have him back, not just to pitch in with the kids, but to start our "regular life"...routine, schedule. Instead of jumping back in, though, Brian was sick. It was a cold that turned into a sinus infection with a lingering fever and constant headache...combined with a rather unfortunate veggie burger incident. He slept, took antibiotics and about a week later he was (is) back to normal. 

Lydia made Daddy a get well card. While Brian was sick, Lydia learned how to make an "S". Great for words like "sick", "sorry", and "somebody help!". Also great for the "Stock" Household. Normal life with sickness, getting better and a practicing our handwriting. 

Since then

I will not let my blog die.

There. I said it. I have been a little busy lately. And blogging didn't seem like a huge priority for a while. Then, it got kinda long. No "picture of the week" for like...16 weeks. You come back has to be epic right? I mean, I can't just post a picture of a cow on the street (boring!) and expect all 5 of my followers to repost this on their social media preferences right?

Ok, so no to "epic", but yes to a blog recap. Since my last post:

We went to America.
Lydia was a bumblebee in a ballet recital (courtesy of my dear friend, and ballet instructor, Tennyson).

Isabella Joy Stock was born. Her name means "consecrated to the Lord" and "beautiful"...which she is.

Molly became a big sister. She calls Isabella "B-Bella".

We got to reconnect with family and friends.

We had Thanksgiving. In June. Just go with it.

We had fun.

 PopPop retired. And he's a whole lot more fun.

Lydia was in a bike parade. It was fourth of July, in case you couldn't guess by the decor.

We moved back to Asia.
Sweet Molly turned two. Also, I cut her hair. I keep getting compliments on it. I tell everyone if they would just sit in front of me and wiggle their head while I try to cut, it would turn out the same.

We reconnected with friends again.

Taylor came! And I took horrible pictures of her. Despite my lack of photographic skill, she was awesome to have here.

And I blogged. Epic or not, The Stock Household is still here!