We went on a little camping expedition to Chanderthal. Chanderthal literally means 'moon lake' in Hindi and it's one of my favorite places on earth. It takes forever to get there...and that's partly why I love it so much. The lake is a true oasis. You drive through miles and miles of dust and rugged mountains and sort of stumble upon it, clear jewel-like water sitting in the middle of a lunar landscape.

There's not much to do. Most of our group went hiking up to a waterfall, but I chose to stay behind and chill by the lake, reading, writing, and doing my best to enjoy the silence that is nearly impossible to find in India. At night the stars were AMAZING. Emily, Bruce, and I stayed up for a long time watching meteor showers. We tried to convince Anil aliens were landing but he didn't believe us. Then we made up stories about how they were Russian satellites full of classified information. Chanderthal would be the perfect place to hide satellites. No one would ever find them.

Emily and I were quite miserable in our little tent. I was wearing three shirts, a fleece, a heavy jacket, two pairs of socks, trekking pants, and a scarf, hat, and gloves and I still couldn't get warm. I know my friends in Delhi are about to die right now at the thought of wearing so many clothes, but yes, it's late June and we were freezing to death. We finally put my sleeping bag inside of Emily's and both crawled in it together. It was a little cramped and we didn't sleep much but I'm convinced it saved our lives :)

All in all what purpose does beauty serve in our lives? I'm convinced it's there to remind us of what lies beyond--a glimpse of what life was meant to be like and what it will be like when we're fully redeemed. Life freakin' hurts sometimes so I'm thankful that there are some things in this world that point me towards ultimate goodness.

Here are a few pictures from our adventure!












I begin another adventure tomorrow. It's actually going to be a little crazy because I'll be in six different countries in six weeks. First I'm going to Thailand, Malaysia, and Indonesia. Then it's back to India to pack up and say goodbye. On August 1st I'm headed to Africa to reunite with the lovely Abigail Mae after two very long years. Afterwards, my favorite Arab, Suzanne Adel Ammari, will welcome me back to America and we'll hang in DC for a couple of days. Then I'll have two weeks in the grand south with the most wonderful guy in the world--we'll be in the same hemisphere for the first time in over a year. And last but not least I will return to the Midwest and see all my family and friends!!!

So in the middle of all this I will try to update my blog, but the truth is I'm hoping to be close to many of you again in the near future so maybe you won't need this to know what's happening in my life. Here's to hoping...