No ordinary day

January 16th is no ordinary day!

Eight years ago our lives as a family were permanently changed - for the better! - by the birth of our first-born daughter Asha.

What a privilege it is to think back on those years. Each one so full of

2001 saw Asha born in Jan, and us shift to Mumbai in October and her cousin Joanna's birth in December
2002 saw us move over to Thane and become involved with Jeevan Sahara Kendra
2003 witnessed the birth of Asha's brother Enoch in Feb and Asha started pre-school and her cousin Anmol was born in October
2004 was when Asha start pre-school
2005 saw us shift over to our Happy Valley appartment and Enoch began pre-school
2006 was when their cousin Ashish was born
2007 saw Asha begin primary school
2008 was when Asha began her violin lessons
2009 is when Ashish's brother or sister is to be born...

In each year, and in each day we have been blessed with so much joy. Sheba and I chose the name "Asha" for our lovely child because we knew that we would be seeing many dark things - but that we have hope in Jesus.

What we knew would happen, did! We have seen many sad and dark things - but through it all we have a well-spring of hope in our Lord. Asha fits her name!

January 16th 2009 was a very special day for another reason too:

After many years of prayer we were thrilled to see our dear Anil Sainani and Sandhya Aind become Shri and Shrimati Sainani - joining their lives together in holy matrimony in our house church! What a joy to see the answers to so many prayers being lived out as these two beautiful people promised their lives to each others.

Asha was thrilled that the wedding was on her birthday. It was a perfect day.

We Eichers are sticklers for tradition, and so the yearly Bday party was a must. This year's edition for Asha was a small event on the 17th - since Anil and Sandhya's wedding was on the 16th and their reception was on the 18th.


Asha's birthday made its appearance early on the 17th morning (the same day as we had a big church training too).

In the evening we had the children from three of our dear families come over for a small party.

A splendid time was had by all including a treasure hunt and Asha feeding all and sundry with her cake!

These are days to remember. Days of grace and the affirmation that whatever happens around us - we have a sure hope - a loving hope in our wonderful Lord.

Asha:
The sensitive, vibrant girl that she is. The remarkable, mysterious person she is becoming. The amazing, lovely, and still far-from-fully-known child of God is will be.
All a gift to us. We cherish this remarkable part of our family.

Thank God for hope.