I never gave an update on the rest of my So Cal trip, but if you read Alicia's blog you already know everything that happened! Even so, here's two of my favorite pictures. One is Malibu beach just as the sun was beginning to set, and the other one is us lounging on Hollyood Boulevard. When Alicia dropped me off at the airport to fly back to Kansas City we both felt bittersweet, the kind of feeling that envelopes you when change is near, and even though it's good change it's still a little hard. If you used to watch Friends maybe you would call it 'the end of an era.' The next time I see Alicia I'll be getting married.




The wedding is two months away. I've been addressing invitations, picking out flowers, and trying to figure out how to make my church gym look pretty. Lots of people have asked me how the planning is going, along with other various questions, so I thought I'd try and answer some of those on this blog.

The date is April 5th. The colors are chocolate brown, sage, and plum. We have five bridesmaids and five groomsmen. I have three songs including the processional and recessional. My cake is chocolate. Jared wants a picture of a leopard fighting a dragon on his cake but I've yet to find anything close to that. The flowers are cala lilies, hydrangeas, and tulips. We're having dinner but no dancing--I live in the country and I do not want Cotton Eye Joe played at my wedding. Along those same lines there will be no country love songs in the ceremony. We're going to Boston and Maine for our honeymoon. We're going to move in with my grandma after we get married. Jared's applied to grad school in Philadelphia and DC--so we're waiting to hear back and hopefully moving at the end of the summer! He wants to study international development and I want to pay our bills. One day we want to move back overseas. We don't know where yet.

Ok...that covers most of the questions I've been asked. Any others are welcome. I've enjoyed wedding planning, but I'm looking forward to actually being married. We've gone to several sessions of premarital counseling, and it's been fun to learn how to communicate with one another on a whole new level. I thought we were the poster couple for communication since the first year of our relationship occurred over the phone, but I've been humbled more than once through the small things. I usually make lunch for us and bring it work--nothing special, just sandwiches, fruit, veggies, and hummus. Anyway, Jared almost apologetically asked me the other day if I could put a little less mustard on his sandwich. Poor guy. I never thought about how normal people don't glob tons of mustard on their sanwiches the way I do. He'd been eating mustard with a little bread and turkey on the side for months without saying a word. I've had to learn not to assume that he likes everything the way I do. So what about all my married friends who read this blog? Any other helpful advice you can give me?

It's snowing here in the Midwest. I've been flipping through the pages of 1 John and reading about God's love and walking in the light and having fellowship with one another. On Super Bowl Sunday I'm speaking at an event put on by several churches in this area. You could say I'm the halftime entertainment...and I've gone back and forth over what to speak about. My high school bible study has been reading Isaiah 61, but for some reason I keep finding myself going back to 1 John. There's probably a reason for that. I guess I should get back to studying, but I'll let you know how it goes!

grand? canyon

i drove to kansas city friday night, woke up at 4:30 saturday morning, flew to southern california and began a whirlwind of a vacation with alicia! after hanging out with friends all day we decided to take a road trip to the grand canyon. the canyon is approximately seven hours from alicia's house so we figured if we drove through the night we could make it to see the sunrise. since we'll both turn 25 in 2008 we were in dire need of feeling young and crazy and spontaneous.

well, my friends, there are better ways to combat a quarter life crisis. my poor college graduate body passed out on the way there (i guess i couldn't handle two nights without sleep). i woke up and we were in the middle of a snowstorm. we arrived at the canyon at six in the morning and wrapped ourselves in blankets. unfortunately the sunrise was less than majestic--it was more of a bright spot rising behind a wall of fog. we couldn't even get good pictures. such a bummer. i remember briefly going to the grand canyon when i was younger and it took my breath away. this time around my breath was more concentrated on keeping my hands from turning blue. ah well--all for the sake of spontaneity right? and we did get to use our south asian turban making skills.

Journal entry from last Christmas. I was working at a counseling center in the Himalayas at the time. It's nice for me to look back on the intense lessons I learned in India--thankfully I recorded most of them.

If you want to buy rat poison in India they will ask you what it's for. Stupid question but they have to ask. Why? Because many people buy it and then consume it to commit suicide. Pinky committed suicide. I don't know if she used rat poison, but she is dead. She is dead but her face has never been more alive in my mind.

I wish a lot of things. I wish I could speak Hindi better. And I could if I practiced more. I wish I was in better shape. And I would be if I worked out more. I wish I could play some kind of instrument. And maybe I will someday if I put forth the effort. I wish I could snowboard, sew, write compelling stories, speak to large audiences, go to Ivy League schools, help end poverty, and more. And who knows? If I tried hard enough maybe I could do all these things.

But deep down I don't really care about any of these things. Deep down all I want is to save people. And I can't. I never will.

It's the first week of January and many people are in the process of trying to improve some area of their lives. Most of them will quit in another week or two. Let us not forget who really gives life meaning. Let us not shrink back from pointing others to the one who really saves people.




I've actually had a lot of fun reflecting. Jared and I celebrated the new year and our one year anniversary in downtown St. Louis. One year ago Jared asked me on Skype to be his girlfriend. It didn't really change anything since we were on opposite sides of the world, but we were still excited. We've made it through some tough challenges and transitions and now we only have three months until we get married. I'm so happy to be where we are now, but I do think back fondly on our long distance relationship. Long e-mails, hiking to ISD booths when my power went out, cards and bbq sauce in the mail...pretty special stuff, indeed.

I'm headed to Riverside, California tomorrow to spend a week with none other than, Alicia Ann Divers. I can't wait! It was NINE degrees when I went to work the other day! I was so mad! Give me some sixty degree California sunshine :)