PHUKET, THAILAND

We were supposed to fly to Bangkok for 5 nights but because of all the craziness, we flew straight to Phuket. That's ok because Phuket is like heaven. Sun, beach, ocean, sun, bathtubs, Starbucks, fruit smoothies, sun, pools, McDonald's (sorry Dad and Doc, we had to eat there once), great stir fry, sun, sun, and more sun. Phuket is a big island with lots of small beaches and small islands off of it.


First we stayed at Karon Beach for 5 nights, ate breakfast buffets, fresh fruit smoothies, banana pancakes (a crepe with bananas and chocolate), snorkeled, and were really really lazy. We took a boat tour of the Phi Phi islands. We snorkeled with beautiful fish and coral, fed monkeys (yuk), ate great food, swam where the movie The Beach was filmed and unfortunately got a little too much sun.

Then, we rented motorbikes and drove a half hour north to Surin Beach for 3 nights. This was also a lot like heaven. Sun, great dinners on the beach, gorgeous pool, sun, fried bananas for 1 baht (like 3 pennies), elephant trekking, sun, and more sun.





There was this cool buoy/floating/dock/walkway thing. (See picture and video) We discovered that when a wave comes, if you run up the walkway and jump off the top of the wave you get tons of air. So fun. So tiring.




The elephant trek was exciting. We bonded with our elephants by sitting on their heads. That was fun and scary and really hard to balance. Elephants are massive animals with huge feet and really big jaws. They could definitely crush me in one second.














Best part of Surin....The Lotus. This is a grocery store. They had Ritz crackers, 3 different kinds of Campbell's Chunky soup, Smuckers strawberry jelly, dried shitaki mushrooms, and best of all.......Philadelphia cream cheese.



We are now back in Karon for 6 more nights before mom and dad leave. More adventures to come.

Mom and Dad Mitchell come to visit!!!

Friday, November 21 was a beautiful sunny day. My students spent the afternoon making gingerbread cookies and reviewing what we learned about the USA. Although I was fully there with my kids, my brain was waiting in expectation for Kyle and his parents to arrive from Madurai. When they came, I ran and gave them the biggest hug!!! The sun was shining, the temperature was perfect, I was eating amazing cookies made by my 3rd and 4th graders, and now we could share our new Kodai life with our parents.

Friday, November 21 at 9pm was a mess. It started to rain.....and it didn't stop until we left Friday, November 28th. YUK. It is odd for it to rain at the end of November with that much intensity, however, when there is a cyclone over southern India...run for cover. It poured nonstop the last week of school. Our laundry never dried, the mold came back, the fire wood got wet, and that damp annoying feeling was definitely present. But praise the Lord for rain boots, rain coats, and umbrellas. Owen and Lauren experienced the bad side of Kodai. At least now they will really be able to sympathize with us when monsoon season comes back in July.

Thankfully, rain doesn't hinder relationships. We were able to share our parents with our friends allowing them to get to know all the people we've come to love here in Kodai. Oh, and they got to experience Cheese Dosai. Soooo good. Unfortunately, our last day in Kodai (the day to finish up last minute responsibilities and to pack) I woke up vomiting and found out I had E-coli and a bacterial infection. YEA!!!!

Just in case you do not know what these are....it is vital that you have a bathroom handy at all times. Lucky for me the next day we had a 3 hour drive down the mountain, a 9 hour train ride, and a 4 hour flight. Sweet! The odds were definitely against us, but the Lord healed me quickly and I was fine by the time we got off the train!!!!

As you may have heard, people have been going a little crazy in this part of the world the last few weeks. There were bombings in Mumbai, more bomb threats in Chennai, protests in Bangkok which is where we were headed, and all airports closed in Thailand. We arrived in Chennai not knowing if we would even be able to get to Thailand, but they had a flight to Singapore and then to Phuket (our final destination). Do you know where Singapore is? I do now!!! It's amazing. They have Starbucks and Subway!!!! Dad was a little stressed because our plans were totally changed and we weren't sure what was going to happen. Kyle and I were in heaven...Starbucks and Subway in one place!!!!! And they had toilet paper in the bathrooms!!!!

That is our travel story. Next up....Phuket!!!

Lynea's Grade 3/4

My class did a read-a-thon to raise money for a village school called Kombai. First Assembly sponsored the kids at $.10 per page that they read for a month.  F/A donated above and beyond what my kids ever dreamed of raising. Here's a little thanks from us to you. 

a normal update + a message from us

Our Adventure to Pillar Rock
We needed to get away for a day but during monsoons you don’t have many options. So during the 2-hour break of rain one Sunday, we took Brian’s bike and drove about 20 minutes out to the edge of part of the mountain. Pillar Rock is mostly a tourist trap, but it is very beautiful with the clouds rolling in. Kyle is so good looking we can’t go anywhere with out someone asking for his picture. I think because he’s white, so good looking, and way taller than most Indian people. It was a beautiful ride and our first bike ride together. Kyle did great. It’s hard driving on the opposite side of the road. When you get into a pickle, you automatically want to go right which can be detrimental here. However, my husband is amazing and got us home safely.
Harvest Fest.
It seems no matter where you are in the world there is still Halloween or a Halloween substitute. The elementary school had a harvest fest last Friday night for all the ES students and a local Cresh school (preschool). The ES secretary is in charge of this preschool for Dalit children. Dalit means they are not allowed to go to English schools because of their social class. Every year the 5th graders run the harvest fest booths for the Cresh school in the morning and then the teachers run it at night for our students. I dressed up as a cat and Kyle a scarecrow…a very convincing one too!! We were in charge of the apple-dunking booth. It was gross. The kids were just dunking their whole head under water. Some kids came 5 or 6 times. By the end of the night the water was just full of spit. Luckily kids don’t care about that stuff, but I couldn’t take it. The students all looked so adorable.

My First Stuffed Chicken
As some of you may know, before moving to India I could cook pancakes and eggs. Oh and I could make a mean salad. Sadly, that was as far as my talent went. However, I am proud to say that I have broadened my horizons since being in India. I cooked my first chicken…(Mom I was actually able to find the hole this time!!! But all the guts were still in there and I had to pull them out. Gross!). I spiced it and filled it with apple-onion stuffing. It was so good!!! Sorry I’m bragging but I was so proud.

Mapping and the Earth
During the month of October my class was studying maps and the Earth (rocks and the layers of the Earth). To bring the unit to a close, we had a treasure hunt. I had the students in 6 groups running all over the ES campus. There were 10 stops. At each stop they had to complete a task with their group and then figure out the clue to get to the next stop. One of the tasks was using the library search to find out how many books we had by Eric Carl. The hardest part was figuring out how to spell Carl. Carol. Carul. Karel. Carel. They were so pooped by the end of the Hunt. They had been running up and down and around! But they all finished. I was very proud of them and they had a blast. Luckily I have an athletic husband who was willing to chase them all around the campus taking videos and pictures for you to see.

Monsoons = Mold. Lots of it!! If I say anything else I’ll get bitter so I’ll leave it at that. Just know that we had a rough 2 weeks in the middle of the season. 

A Friend Needs Help

I have a friend names Rajama. She is a grandma supporting her 3 sons, 2 daughter in laws, and 6 grandkids. She is also putting two of her granddaughters through college to be teachers, which costs WAY more than what Rajama makes from being an ayah (a maid).  She works for Heather and Brian Nelsen (my principal).  Between the Nelsens and Rajama, they have been able to pay off one school bill but still owe $5,000 ($1,000 by December) for the other granddaughter to finish school.  To make extra money, Rajama makes homemade amazing peanut butter and sells it to the teachers for 200 rupees ($5).  She only makes 40 rupees ($1) off each jar of peanut butter. In the past she has had to rent a grinder from a neighbor.  But, that one is broken so recently she has been grinding the peanuts by hand.  If she had her own grinder, she would be able to make more money off of each jar because she wouldn't have to pay rent to her neighbor.  And, it would give her a better chance of paying the $1,000 by December 23rd.  

Rajama has been bound by her low social class her whole life.  That social class binds her children and her grandchildren.  However, if her granddaughters can continue to go to school, this could break her entire family and future generations out of this low social class.  The girls will be able to get good jobs teaching and be able to support their families allowing Rajama to retire.  

I have already shared this with a few of you and together we have the peanut grinder covered. Heather found one for 5,000 rupees ($125).  However, Rajama still owes $1,000 by December 23rd. She only makes $50 a month.  Our math skills will tell us that this is impossible for her to do it on her own.  If you would like to pitch in (even $5 will help!!!) Please write a check to Carol Harrill and send it to : 1531 Parker Drive, Mayfield, OH 44124.  (Sorry we don't know how to give tax credit). My mom will put it in our account which we can access from here.  Thank you!!!!!

We love you all so much....and Thank You for the comments!!!! We love them, I know we don't respond but we read every single one. After we post, we check multiple times for the next few days seeing who commented.  Keep it up, it keeps us going at times!!!

Life on a mountain in India

Well, we celebrated our 5 month anniversary yesterday!!  We celebrated by looking at video clips and pictures of our wedding, reminiscing about our long and storied marriage.  Ok, maybe not long, but we do have a few stories so far.  Speaking of stories, it's fun to have people over to the house and hear about their life journey.  The other day we had some people over to celebrate the life of our friend Chrissy (it was her birthday).  Though the rain put a damper on our bonfire, it didn't mess with the great food and conversations we had under our roof.  Speaking of roofs, we're so thankful for our house.  Lots of people around here don't have much of one and we're really blessed to have a great one.  Hopefully it can be a place of peace and refuge and acceptance for anyone who needs it.

Speaking of refuge (this email is all about tying everything together by saying "speaking of"), I (Kyle) have been creating a vegetable refuge in our backyard known to most as a garden.  I've found that I actually miss manual labor, and it has given me joy to get out and get sweaty and dirty, making manly grunts every so ofte

n.  A lot of my work involves being in an office, and if you know me, you probably know that this kind of thing won't satisfy for the rest of life.  But for now, it's serving its purpose.  Anyway, back to the garden.  Our maid, Selvie, saw me working in the backyard, and she started scolding me, claiming the work was too hard for me and that she would call a gardener to come and do it.  I know she's just trying to protect me, but I tried to explain that I like it and that it feels good to get dirty.  She didn't underst

and.  To her a white person shouldn't 

be doing manual labor like that.  I also get weird looks from the neighboring workers who work at the small motel behind our house.  They stare at m

e, and I smile.  I'm not an 

expert at Indian culture, but I think it could be a couple things.  For one, the caste system is still in place, though not officially.  You're born into a certain caste and you're expected to do certain jobs and not do certain jobs.  I hope my perspective doesn't offend anyone, but I just don't see anyone being able to make a good case that this system isn't still here (though I admit to still knowing very little).  As a westerner coming here, I'm seen as a job opportunity for someone who does certain jobs, like gardening.  So when I get out in the backyard and work, it's not only a strange sight, but job-threatening as well.  Hmmm...It's a hard thing, trying to promote equality by your lifestyle (having no problem getting dirty or helping the maid do the dishes), and also support gardeners who need all the money they can get for their family.  So, in that social context, I decide to get my shovel and bucket and walk the street picking up fresh horse and cow manure for my garden (I eventually met this guy on the street who offered to deliver some nice soil/fertilizer to my house for a good price).  People were staring at me so hard, and I just tried to smile everything off.  I had a few people take a picture of me with their camera phones.  So I smiled.  At least they have a picture of a smiling white guy picking up cow manure instead of a scowling one.  One of the many things that I learned from my Dad is that it's always better to smile.

Speaking of smiling for random peoples' pictures, Lynea and I had just finished our tandem bike ride around the lake (more on that later), when these guys walked up beh

ind me, stood there waiting patiently for us to finish our conversation and then asked if they could have their picture with me.  I asked if it was because I was white, and he said yes.  I obliged, and now I'm forever in some random person's photo album, probably known as the tall, skinny, white guy they met in Kodaikanal.  Lots of westerners are bitter about all the attention they draw from the locals: the pictures, the stares, the laughs and shouts as we walk by.  I've tried to embrace it, just smiling my best smile and saying hi, answering their questions (sometimes in the gibberish language I make up as I go...this always confuses them and one guy even asked if I was from france, to which I replied in my own language that he and I both didn't understand).

Oh yes, the bike ride.  The school had a long weekend last week (wednesday to sunday), but we still had some weekend chaperoning responsibilities like the "around the lake bike ride."  Let me first say that riding a bike in India is life-threatening.  Secondly, the rental bikes aren't guaranteed to work when you need them to.  Lastly, the only bike they had left for us was a tandem bike.  It's kinda like driving a 15 passenger van when you're used to a Ford Fiesta.  Great fun!!  Thankfully, no one was seriously hurt.

And now for my better half...

Well that's a hard act to follow!!! But I'll try to keep your attention just as much.  I have come to realize that I LOVE teaching and LOVE LOVE LOVE my kids....and I tell them that every day!  Currently we are doing a read-a-thon fundraiser for a nearby village school called Kombai.  Kombai has 105 students, 55 of whom are boarding kids. They have no bathrooms, no clean water, no cafeteria/auditorium/room big enough for them all to meet, small classrooms with tiny hand held slates to learn from, and to top it all off, the boarding kids sleep on the ground in the grade 1/2 room.  Our elementary school has done some outreaches there in the past and our 5th graders decided they wanted to get clean water, bathrooms, a covered court and a playground for the children at Kombai. SO.....we are doing a read-a-thon for the month of October raising money for this school.  My students are doing amazing in their reading!! One of my students had read 1,054 pages over long weekend!! She's 8 years old!!  My students are motivated youngster who really want to help.  My class is being sponsored by my church back home, but if you still would like to donate, let me know!!!  

Speaking of long weekend, I p

ainted again!! This time I tackled the bedroom (see picture). It was fun, although my maid was here that day and kept trying to tell me not to stand on the dresser because I might fall.  Thank God she didn't see Kyle standing on two chairs stacked on top of a table.  She would have had a heart attack.  Now we have a nice picture to look at when we wake up each morning. 

Please leave comments if you have any because we love reading them!! 

Finally, another post

First of all, we need to apologize for not writing for over a month!! We were battling health problems, closing out the first quarter, and planning for field trip week all at once. But that is no excuse for not keeping you posted on all our fun and adventures. So, here's to make up for lost time.

Four major happenings.
Happening #1 Decorating our first home!!! Kyle had seen a picture on my sister-in-law's website that inspired him. He showed me and I got inspired, so I painted our living room. Kyle also wanted to spice up our corner table so he found a sweet looking stick in our yard and placed it between a lot of our wedding pictures. My next task is the bedroom.....wait until you see it!!!

Happening #2…closing out the first quarter. Grades Grades Grades. Oh my goodness we had to write so many reports for grades! And you can't just write the same for everyone, you have to make it personal. It's nice communicate to parents how their children are doing, but it takes FOREVER!! My students are wonderful and I love to talk about them. I love each one of the little rascals! They are sweet, kind, hilarious, and so darn cute! It's hard to ever be mad at them because of their cute little faces. Dimples, missing front teeth, puppy dog eyes, you name and I have it! We are in the middle of studying oceans/water. I will show pictures of all their ocean animals and water experiments soon.

Happening #3…Field Trip Week. Every year the entire school PreK-Grade 12 goes on a week long field trip in the middle of September. Each grade goes to a different place(s) in Southern India. My class gets the pleasure of going to Poondi Camp. The school owns a wilderness campus 2 ½ hours from Kodai in a town called Poondi. Since my kids are so young still (8 or 9 years old) we only went for 3 days. We had an absolute blast!!! Field Trip week is not just a random week off of school between quarters, it's an extension of the learning that takes place in the classroom. The kids were able to experience a wide range of activities at camp: Zip line, rock climbing, archery, team building to learn the importance of communication, hiking, getting lost on a hike and having to find their way out of the woods, how to make rope from leaves, making a fire, rafting, and creating team songs and skits to go along with all they learned. On Thursday, we took the kids to the lake here in Kodai to go boating and had so much fun. Friday was a recovery day because we were so tired! Overall, camp was amazing and we can't wait for next year!

Happening #4…Subduing the jungle. Kyle got inspired yet again to fix up the house. There is a jungle in our back yard with weeds taller than my 6'4" husband. He took our machete and went to work tearing out all the craziness back there. Now we have a pleasant little spot where he would like to plant a garden. While I'm painting the bedroom, he'll be planting a garden of string beans, broccoli, carrots, and who knows what else. Luckily for us, we don't get monkeys or bison around our house like all of our friends. We only have to worry about the darn crows that are always on the roof.

I promise it won't be another month and a half before you hear from us again.

Lynea

P.S. Check out our new picture links at the top, on the left or click here to see some of our newest ones.  Also, look below to see more of our living room transformation!

Lynea Transforming Our Living Room!!

pomegranates are so good!

with all the things that have been happening in our lives for the past few weeks, I might actually be most excited about the pomegranate that I (kyle) just ate.  I'm not sure how I missed out on these heavenly fruits back in the states.  maybe I didn't know about them or just didn't look on the right aisle, but i would encourage anyone who is reading this to stop, leave your computer, find the nearest fruit stand or grocery store, purchase a half dozen pomegranates, come back to the computer and finish reading the blog while enjoying this incredible fruit.  Go!!...

ok, so hopefully you have a pomegranate by now, but if not, make sure that you find one soon.  i can't get over how much i enjoy this fruit now.  it looks like a normal fruit,

 similar to an orange or an apple in shape.  but once you open

 the outer layer, you don't just find one piece of fruit like a banana or even a few pieces like an orange, but you find hundreds of little tasty treats (called arils) just waiting to be consumed by an appreciative mouth.  the color of the aril is bright red (looks to good to be true) , the taste is so sweet and yet, it is quite healthy.  ok, enough about pomegranates.  but seriously, it will enrich your life.(transition into what we've been doing)...

Lynea has been doing an incredible job with with the 3rd and 4th grade.  and i'm not just saying that because she's my wife.  i've been down to see her in the classroom a few times, and the kids absolutely adore her.  they are like little sponges, excited to learn and soak up everything that she presents.  the only thing the kids get in trouble for is getting out of their seats while raising their

hand because they are so desperate to answer the question.  they make little noises...oooh oooh oooh, me me me, aaah aaah aaa

h.  if only we could all maintain that excitement and desire for learning throughout our lifetime.  as for me, i've been teaching some middle school classes and coordinating events for the exchange program.  i've been able to visit 2 orphanages in the past couple weeks (a boys one and a girls one) with some of the exchange students from the Netherlands. 

 everytime i visit a place like that, i find myself remembering my first experience with an orphanage in honduras when i was 19.  it changed my life forever.  it's the reason that i began traveling, the reason i married the girl that i married (because we have a heart for the same things) and the reason that we came here.  i know it might sound absurd that i would attribute

 my life now to a 2-week trip i took 5 years ago, but it was during that trip that i began to think more deeply about my life.  and it was all because of the kids.  out of all the huge and catastrophic things that are going on in life, maybe the most profound thing we can do is spend time with children, who don't seem to be worried about the election or global warming or the next paycheck.  sure, some can be quite selfish and bratty, but what i saw in honduras the first time and what i've seen at the 2 orphanages and even in my classes since i've been here is beautiful.  i'm not saying that everyone must go to a different country or to a foster home or an orphanage in order to solve your problems or

 experience true joy.  but maybe we all should consider what it means to become like a child.  they seem more worried about who's it during tag than if they'll have a meal on the table at night.  and even though these kids that i hung out with the past couple of weeks initially appear to have less than me (seeing that there's 32 of them in each home that's only slightly bigger than the one the 2 of us stay at), i think they actually have more of what really counts.  some are there because of the tsunami that wiped out their home.  some are their because their parents died or couldn't take care of them.  and yet you would think by their smiles and laughter that nothing had ever happened.  so may we all be more care-free, laughing and smiling more often.  may we gain a deeper sense of trust in God, finding fulfillment in the simple things in life.  and may we understand even better what it means to become like a child and see with our new kingdom eyes.

i just heard lynea say buuuurrrrr, and so i took the cue and put another blanket over her.  she's in bed not feeling so well.  she threw up last night, and i must say that it was pretty good for a girl.haha.  we're getting along fine and i'm learning how to be a better, more nurturing husband (i know that nurturing is motherly word, but she is sick and i feel that i'm giving her that type of love).  we don't really have a given set of responsibilities so far.  we trade off and switch it up often.  i usually make breakfast and she usually makes dinner.  though this could be switched depending on the day.  i did the shopping at the open air market today, though she's better at it.  we like to do most things together, seeing that we haven't even been married for 3 months (feels like 10 years...in a good way).  we have 2 bathrooms, one we use for the toilet (bec

ause the shower head points directly on the toilet seat) and one we use for showering (imagine a shower head placed randomly in your kitchen and turned on without a shower curtain...ya, everything gets soaked including the other toilet that we use for decoration).  but, although we have 2 bathrooms, we only have one bar of soap we share.  sometimes we realize that the bar of soap is in the other bathroom after we're soaking wet, trying to share the hot water that doesn't last too long.  no need to be worried, though.  this is one marital crisis that can be solved by a quick game of rock, paper, scissors (the loser has to run out of the warm, steam-filled bathroom to the other freezing cold one, retrieve the soap and come back).  come to think of it, a lot of things in life could be solved by a quick series of rock, paper, scissors.  or maybe we should just 

buy another bar of soap.  on that strange note (i'm trying to be somewhat open about our lives without going over the top), thanks for reading our update and being a part of our lives.  thanks for all of your prayers.  pray that lynea gets well soon!  we love you.

kyle and lynea

We're here!!

We made it!!! 56 hours later we made it to Kodaikanal.  Our house is perfect...well almost perfect.  Our showers make the entire bathroom wet, the toilets leak, and the power goes out on average all the time. But, it's perfect.  We love it. We cannot wait until our shipment comes so we can finish decorating and really settle in.  So far we have met a few new staff that we have connected very well with.   There are people here from all over the world!  I think there's about 40 or so nationalities represented between the staff and students.

Right now, we're going to lots of meetings, learning about our new responsibilities and trying to get over jet lag.  Lynea will be teaching grades 3 and 4 (they're combined) and I will be taking over the foreign ex

change program at the school as well as teaching a few middle school RE (religious education) courses.  It might not sound overwhelming, but I assure you it is!

Altogether, though, things are turning out quite nice and we are excited to see what God has planned for this season of our lives.

Uh oh.  I just got a call informing me that I do in fact need antibiotics!  Indian food is good to the taste but extremely hard on the stomach and I'm already having my fair share of aches.  Pray for us to get well soon, since Lynea is in bed not feeling well either.

Anyway, that's it for now.  We love ya.

Kyle and Lynea

Leaving...

We are sitting in the Orlando airport waiting to start our 50 hour journey to Kodaikanal.  I can't even begin to explain the emotions running through us.  We're excited, nervous, joyful, sad, and can't wait to jump in the puddles that this adventure brings us.  Before we leave American soil...I have to take a second to say Thank You. Thank you to our family for loving and supporting us.  And thank you to our friends for loving and supporting us.  Thank you to anyone who has offered encouragement, prayer, financial support, emotional support, or a hug along the way. We could not be doing this without you.  

We have successfully packed up our life in one shipment (that will arrive in about a month), four check in bags, two carry on bags and two instrument cases (that will hopefully arrive with us in India!!!!)  Packing up puts your life in a sort of perspective.  As you sift 

through your room full of memories, it reminds you of 

where you've been, where you are and as you shove it all in a suitcase...where you are going.  

The Sunshine State

We've now been in Florida for 3 weeks. Man was it hard to leave everyone in Cleveland. Our time there was full of love, laughter, and volleyball with our friends and family. Although it was hard leaving, we were welcomed here with wide open arms...and we hit the ground running, helping with Kenna's (Kyle's sister) wedding. The wedding was beautiful!! We now have a new and improved appreciation for everyone that helped with our wedding! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!!!! Weddings are crazy behind the scenes! Since the wedding we have spent much time with my new Dad and Mom. We went to the beach for a weekend and played in the waves, went running, played some frisbee, and had some great conversations. Owen and I played horse the other day, he beat me 3 games in a row. I don't get it...both my dads can run circles around me. That is not right. These last 7 days will be filled with love, laughter, and not volleyball (way to hot!!!) But I will be challenging Dad to one more round of horse. Pray for me...ha.
Lynea

We're married!

Well, the wedding day couldn't have gone any better.  We're still having a hard time believing that it actually happened like it did.  The weather was beautiful, the food was tasty, the music was delightful and the smiles and tears were all over the place.

After the wedding, we jetted off to a cozy little cabin in the southern part of Ohio and enjoyed the sights and sounds of nature that we don't always get here in the city.  Then we headed up to Niagara Falls (stopping to camp out in our 2 person tent for one night on the way - which turned out to be rainy and cold, yet adventurous nonetheless) for a couple more nights.  

Now, we're gearing up to head to Florida to stay with my (Kyle's) family for about a month before we fly off to India.

The end is near

In less than 3 weeks from now, Lynea and I will have already embarked on a new journey affectionately known as marriage. As the end of our singleness draws near, we're beginning to learn new lessons in selflessness, humility and love. Over the past couple years, we've built our friendship and communication skills, talked about our pasts and dreamed about our future. We've been together for months at a time and traveled apart for what seemed like forever (though it was only a few months). We've asked other people for wisdom, read books together, learned each others strengths and weaknesses and sleeping habits and eating methods. We've learned how to be patient and how to express our feelings with each other, how to have deep conversations and playful ones. We've laughed and played and danced and climbed trees and sang and even cried a few times. Yet there is still the unknown of what it will be like living everyday with the same person for the rest of your life; what it will be like to wake up every morning with this person's morning breath and slobber all up in your face. I imagine that there will be times to celebrate and times to cry, times to be together every second of every day and times to give each other a bit of space, times to be romantic and times to be brutally honest. We don't expect marriage to be the solution to all problems, and we don't expect each other to meet our every need. But we do expect something beautiful and fresh to come out of this joining of our lives as we begin a new life together. And we hope that you can celebrate this with us!!