Raja's Monthly Memories

Aprilवी May...

this is me and my smile/laugh... I'm generally happy thus making everyone else happy too... (expect when I have fever because I'm teething...)

April started off with Palm Sunday and the next week is Easter. For us, it is a major time for celebrating the death and resurrection of our saviour, Jesus the Son of God. In the Old Testament we're told the story of how Abraham was asked of God to sacrifice his only son, Isaac. This was a test of Abraham's devotion to God who said this was the son of promise through whom he would be blessed (the whole Jewish nation was to come from his seed). But Abraham believed God could resurrect the dead (although he had never seen it), so with an open heart he was willing to give back to God what God had given him in his old age... a son. Just as he lifted the knife to sacrifice his son, God called from heaven to stop, He had a provision (a lamb was nearby). God saw Abraham's faith and blessed him. Isaac, his son, lived and had two of his own sons and from Jacob had twelve more (the twelve tribes of Israel were birthed) and later King David, and Jesus Christ (who's father was God). Abraham's sacrifice pointed to God's very own sacrifice of His one and only Son. The lamb that was the provision for Abraham pointed to the spotless Lamb of God, Jesus Christ.

Palm Sunday is the time when Jesus was entering Jerusalem on His way to be sacrificed. Good Friday (Friday after Palm Sunday) is the day He was crucified. Easter is the next Sunday when Jesus rose from the dead. The book of John says, "Because He lives, we shall also live." Jesus has ascended into heaven and is waiting till all who believe in Him, will, and He will come back and receive us as His bride (He is our bridegroom). There is no greater joy for a follower of Christ to know one day we will see His face, His nail-pierced hands and feet from hanging on the cross and dying in our place. Through His death and resurrection He has conquered sin and death - the works of the devil. He has secured our place in heaven with Himself forever. And when He returns, it will be as a triumphant warrior who will claim all whom He fought for. That gives me pause and all my life I want to sing as loud as possible, "Hallelujah...and He shall reign forever and ever!!!!!" (Handel's Messiah).

How does the fact Jesus died and rose again affect my life today? When I see the works of the devil and selfishness of men I wonder why "God so loved the world He gave His only Son"...? We know our own hearts and we know we don't deserve this amazing love and forgiveness of our sins. The provision for our sins did not come without a price as you read before. Sin kills. It even kills the Son of God. But, that's not the end of the story. God does resurrect the dead. And just as Jesus lives again, he can resurrect our shattered lives, too. How? You don't need to know allot about the Bible, but you must believe Jesus to be the One to rescue you from your sins. He understands you, He will listen. He made you and you will never know Love till you see Him. How? Realize you have been trying to live life your own way and you know it's not right. You have nowhere else to turn but to look up. Look up and say, "Jesus, if you are who you say you are, the very Son of God, and if you died for my sin so I won't have to suffer all it's consequences. Then, I give you my life. I sacrifice all my rights to myself and my dreams like Abraham did and accept your provision, Jesus. Come into my heart, you are now Lord of my life. I will do whatever you ask me. For you love me so much and I can't stop praising you! Thank you, Jesus, thank you." If this is your prayer, get a Bible and read all about your Saviour. If you have questions, don't hesitate to ask. But, a gift Jesus will give you when you call out to Him is his Holy Spirit. He will come into your heart and you will be taught how to love Jesus and love those things Jesus loves. It is an exciting adventure when you know you will never again be alone and He is coming back to receive you too! Let us know all about it!!!!

this is me and papa on Palm Sundaymama and me, same dayditto....

papa and me...

Papa got a video/camera, so he and mama are happily taking pictures and videos of me. Perhaps dadda will share some videos with you on the next blog. For now, just imagine me laughing and moving around!!!

yeah, you'll have to imagine me moving around, cause I'm not here...
here I'm moving and grooving and...
yep, "reading" a book...

We've done lots of outings, too. We have a little park nearby that we walk to. Mama calls it Jasmine park because it grows there. See...!!!


We स्विंग there too... and sit in trees with cousin, Barbora...see!

April 17th was papa's big day - his birthday! I helped mama pick out a chocolate-chip cookie cake and helium balloon with Tow-Matur from the animated film, Cars, on it. Last year, mama threw a big surprise party for papa, so this year was just family and we met at our favorite family hang out - La Napolera Mexican restaurant. Even Uncle Timmy was there from Seattle! Wish I could show you pictures of it, but mama forgot the camera... oh well, here's me and papa hanging out!

who's cuter?!!!

My friend, Pervez, came home and offered to take me on a motorcycle ride. We didn't go far, just our driveway, but it sure was fun!!

And then Grandma and Grandpa, cousin Barbora, mama and dadda and I went to the beach. It was a wierd day. There were lots of forest fires nearby, so the air was smoky and the sky, hazy...

So closes April and May! See you all in June!!!

Love,

David Raja

Raja's Monthly Memories

February

ऎंड

March

Time is flying (in the shape of a crow or a parrot?). Well, mommy wants to speed these entries up because I'm full of new surprises everyday and she doesn't want to miss them! February and March were busy times as we helped prepare Maria and Kaleem to go back to India. Shopping, packing, weighing bags, re-packing, re-weighing bags... Yeah...Plus we tried to have many friends over to greet them and of course taste chef Maria's dishes... Here's a couple shots...

this is me and Alba.............. dada, mommy, Maria, Rajsekhar and his
wife, Kaleem and me.....

I just love my dada. I also love his toys....computer, cell phone, t.v., fax machine...if it beeps, gives off shiny lights I love it! So, although you may think I'm helping dada work, I'm really waiting my turn to pound on the keyboard...
don't I look mischevious?

Mommy and Maria had fun taking my photo, I even wore my teddy's bears suit...

I think my head is bigger than my teddy bear's, but couldn't you just squeeze and cuddle me? :-)

One of the biggest highlights this month is that Great-grandma McKissick came to visit me all the way from Kansas!! She thinks I am so cute! I haven't been to Kansas yet, but I can hardly wait to meet more cousins and relatives when I do. Mommy grew up there.

Daddy grew up in India and I'm planning on meeting my other grandparents, cousins and relatives the end of this year! I will keep you posted!

Mommy always feeds me breakfast outside in our backyard. My favorite food is raggi (red millet) and baby tea (thanks, Aunt Juli). After I eat, then we get to swing on the hammock.

One day I surprised everyone (technically I can't crawl) by climbing up the hammock fast as a circus monkey! It kinda scared me too, so ever since I'm just happy to sit on mom's lap. Hey, know what I'm looking at in this photo? Besides some tall grasses, we have tall yellow flowers back here. I pick the blossoms and give them to mommy? Aren't I a sweet boy? Isn't Maria strong?

Well, we said goodbye to Aunty Maria on 20th March. I won't tell you who cried most (well, I really don't know). But I want to thank you, Maria, for being a light in my young life. You give nice baths. Marie biscuits are named after you! That Dodge Magnum car still plays great! Nobody can put me to sleep quite as well as you. You sing beautifully and love me so much. Mommy and daddy appreciate all you did so self-lessly and with such joy. We pray God grants the desires of your heart and you fill others lives with much happiness and care as you did ours. We love you!

Kaleem left April 3rd. So, now, after a year we live as a small family unit. We miss all the activity, but we're adjusting. Mommy and daddy are doing their best to love and care for me. I'm happy mostly and love meeting neighbors, friends, family and anyone else who smiles at me. I haven't met a stranger yet. Are you smiling? OK, you're my friend, too!

We'll meet up again in April. (Weird how the calender says June and I'm saying April...)

God be with you till we meet again.

David Raja

Raja's Monthly Memories:

January

The weather is still chilly, so you will always see me in a hat and with gloves! This cute hat was from Aunt Juliana from Slovakia!

Well, here's me in my red-neck hat! Don't I look grown up?

This is my Amma and Dada on mommy's birthday! I stayed home with Aunty Maria while they went out to eat at Biscotti's. Don't they look festive? Two days later, we had a huge birthday party at home. I was told it was a grand slam: food, Tamil movie on the big screen, the house decked with saris (thanks, Kaleem). Well, I helped celebrate by sleeping all the while in my swing! But, I heard it was a big hit. In fact, they all loved the big screen movie so much, the sheet is still on the wall!


Oh, I forgot to introduce you to Kaleem! He's a friend of Maria's who came and stayed with us for three months. I learned Hindi songs and ate (vicariously) scrumptuos biryani and stuffed parathas... Kaleem worked for Uncle Nate at Outdoordecor.com (check it out!). Here's a picture of him with Maria and friend Andrea...
hey, where are we?


Vineyard Church, where we go too (the other one is Christ Church Presbyterian) wanted to honor me with a baby shower AFTER I was born! We went to a beautiful home on a lake! Thanks Richard, Susan, Miss Cathy, Barrett and Andrea for all you did!
here's papa and Barrett on the swing! And my beautiful cake with FROGGIE! my favorite toy!

Aunty Smitha likes to come visit me. I got to go to the walk-through of her new condo. It's beautiful and I just love her new tv (especially with cartoons!)

This is my first piano lesson with mommy. I'm not very good yet, but when I'm ready to give my first concert, I'll let you all know! Oh, and I found out it's hard to play the notes with these gloves on!

See you in February! Bye for now,


David Raja

Raja's Monthly Memories

December
yawn, busy month...this is really serious...
you're making me think...

Okay, so December can be a busy time! But, we remember our Saviour's birth and share His love with everyone...







mom made this for a neighbor...

mom made this for us...

Christmas this year was extra-special! Last year mommy and papa were in India, so this was the first Christmas celebrated in our house in Jacksonville, and I was here to enjoy it! We tried something a little unusual and went to Daytona Beach the week before Christmas... someplace "warm" for Aunty Maria.

here's the view from our room!!

here's me crying, mommy and Aunty Maria

this is my favorite picture, see how they just love me!

Christmas morning!!!

these are our stockings all lined up in a row, can you guess which one is mine?!our friends, Nag, little Anish and Sheela came to visit me on Christmas Day all the way from South Carolina!

this is me in my zebra suit with Miss India (aka, Aunty Maria, shhh, don't tell!)!

After Christmas, everyone thought we should take a wild trip up to Atlanta for the New Year holiday! What a better way to introduce Maria to daddy's friends (he lived there before he moved to Jacksonville and met mommy) and show me off! We stayed at Andre's house and friends who wanted to meet me came there instead of me gallavanting all over the countryside!

meet Anu and Kishore!

and Stephen and Marie

and here we all are with Sandeep and Shivani!

One day during our week in Atlanta, we traveled to Lookout Mountian, GA where mommy went to college and visited her friends, the Pettit's. We had planned to stay for tea, but Aunty Maria offered to stay and cook a full Indian meal for them. With all of us, that was 17 people! It was so much fun!

here's Linda and Ethan Pettit

The Georgia Aqaurium was new in Atlanta, so we went with Andre and I slept mostly...

here's Andre, Maria and mommy

these sea anemones attracted mommy's attention for their ethereal beauty, like watching a silk scarf ripple in the wind...isn't God's creation just amazing!!!

daddy really liked the sea horses, can you see why? Si? If only I could lasso one and ride on it's back, but it may be hard to catch my breath!

We went to daddy's old church, the Marietta Vineyard too. the former pastor, Rick Coffin now lives and ministers in India! Isn't this mural pretty? Bangalore, where daddy and Aunty Maria are from, is painted there too! Hope I can visit soon!