tell me everything is wonderful now...

Finally time for an update! Wow, blogging sure has gone down the drain for me. In some ways it makes me happy that my life doesn't revolve around my computer--or that I don't know who Heidi and Spencer are (who are they?) or what music is popular right now. But I sure do enjoy writing and I have to admit that blog ideas float around my head on a regular basis. So, yes, I still love my blog even though we're slightly estranged at the moment.

We're in the midst of a winter wonderland in the Ozarks. Some would call it an ice fortress. We had a terrible ice storm here last year that I was fortunate to miss. Everyone is afraid of losing power again, but I wouldn't mind so much. I'm used to losing power and would love an excuse to go to bed at eight-o-clock. Even so, life must go on and for now I have to settle for waking up earlier so I can scrape ice off my car. But who really cares? As I write this I'm nearly falling asleep and you must be too. I don't want to write about the weather or how I'm trying to keep myself busy at work or how I need to finish my Christmas shopping. I want to write poetry, or at least in the spirit of poetry. I want to take the ordinary things in life and make them exciting and beautiful to read about. But it seems like the more I try to jazz up life the more I realize it's hardly the movie I create in my head. It wasn't even like that in India although I could make it sound that way on this blog. Life is completing the task before you that day, it's giving your time to others, it's being patient during the mess of transition, it's choosing to believe God instead of popular culture, it's scraping ice off your car and doing your job and buying gifts with joy in your heart. And it's good. It's good for what it is right now and better for what it's leading us towards.

Jared and I have been involved in numerous activities lately. We're serving on the missions team at church and our first project is this weekend. We're having a tutoring session for high school students in the community before their finals! I'm so excited! I've also starting mentoring high school girls. We meet once a week and it's been a humble experience so far. It's quite a change to go from Indian village people to American teenagers, but I'm finding that my heart is really with this group. We're learning some good stuff and I'll probably elaborate on that in future blogs. Finally, Jared took the GMAT last week and has begun applying to grad school. I'm so proud of him! He's worked really hard and it's such a blessing to see it all move forward. I look forward to informing you all of our future plans once they unfold. For now I will leave you with a plethora of pictures from Halloween, Thanksgiving, and our office Christmas party where Jared performed an incredible version of What Child is This?

and in case you were wondering...

I MISS INDIA!

but...

I STILL AM HAPPY TO BE WHERE I AM