Sand anyone?

10 Truckloads of sand have been delivered with which to mix the cement for the new building. Within weeks the foundation, support pillars, and compound walls will be done.

Iron work

Workmen twist and bend the iron rods to be used as supports inside the cement pillars for the new buildings.

Boulders for foundation

10 truck loads of boulders arrive at MG for the foundation of the new dorms.

A Heavy Burden

Karthik (age 6) sports the heavy book bag that all the kids must carry to school every day. The English medium school kids walk about a mile and a half each way, and the Tamil medium kids, about a mile.

A view from afar

The Miracle Garden campus from the main road. Tall ashoka trees, neem trees and batham (almond) trees peek above the compound wall. Year-round at MG various fruits and nuts are plentiful on the trees, such as almonds, mangos, papayas, lemons, pomegranates, and nellikai. Although we also have more than 10 coconut palms on campus, they will not bear fruit for another 3 years.

Vitamins anyone?

Deepa hands a plate with children's chewable vitamins to Sri Vithya for her to take one. After breakfast, morning study time inlcudes vitamins and school work review for about 15-20 minutes.

Coloring contestants

A coloring contest - what else could spark such artful competition. Boys Little Prakash, Balakrishnan, Little M. Sathish, Velusamy, and others with their pages from various Christmas coloring books. While sometimes we bring the children's artwork back stateside to share with their sponsors, these beautifully colored pictures were hung around the chapel and classrooms as Christmas decorations for the party. The kids enjoyed lollipops and tootsie rolls while coloring as well. :-)

7, 8, Lay them Straight

MG girls keeping their Christmas sandals in order. Thank you to everyone who sent a little extra in their sponsorship and/or donations toward Christmas gifts for the children. They got many things they needed and lots of little extras!

A Natural Match

Kids and puppies - a natural match. Pictured here, saving a piece of styrofoam from the newest addition to MG's canine family (Roxie), are (left to right) Karthik, Manikandan, Velusamy, David, Big Sathish, Anis, Sumed, Gokul, and Susheel.

Fruit of the Day

Little Sangeetha (center) enjoys ripe, sweet cherries along with Ellakiya (right), Mahalakshmi, Esther, Nandini, and other girls (left). The cherries are from the trees behind her. The children climb the trees everyday to pick the ripe ones and share with everyone.