Christmas '07

Sitting pretty with Tarami and Dave

With Poppy and Gramma

Looking at ornaments with Nana

Christmas Eve with the Orange family, seated with LOTS of distant cousins!

Helping Papa (also called Grampy) open a present

Trying on a new hat made by Grandma Coates. Thanks, we love it!

Table Tunes

rickshaw ride

where to begin...

It's hard to know where to begin. I could spend the next 6 months sorting through photos and writing about our time in India. The past five weeks were filled to the brim with new, exciting, overwhelming experiences that I don't want to forget. And yet, at this point... still in the haze of jet lag and trying to comprehend that it's snowy December just weeks away from Christmas... I look back and simply can't figure out how to start to tell the stories or what captions to put under the photos. What stories are worth telling? What do I want to remember the most? What should I share?

Well, today I will start with this, without a doubt, the thing that impacted me the most:

the people who loved us

Elise with her "Garsh" and "Benny" (aka, Josh and Ben)

The whole Alfred clan - out for a thank-you dinner at the end of our stay. (From L to R, Stephen, Claire, Toby, Uncle Alfred, Patti, Claire's mom Pam, Ben, me, and Elise)

Stephen and Claire

Stephen's parents, Uncle Alfred and Patti

Kashibai

Clan Black - Dr. Adam, Alistair, Jo, and Freya

The Eicher Bunch - Asha, Dr. Sheeba, Andi, and Enoch

KV Simon with his daughter Pheobe and wife Daisy

Thank you all for everything.

home sweet home

On Sunday night we left Thane at 9:30pm to begin our journey back in time and back to home sweet home. Both flights were around 9 hours long, first to Amersterdam and then to Detroit. We couldn't have asked for better flights. We got great seats on both flights, everything was on time, and Elise was an angel. We arrived in Detroit just after 11am (although to us it was 9:30 at night and a full 24 hours since we left the Alfreds).

There is much to process and tons to unpack. We are grateful for a wonderful trip, for safety, good health, and the support of many through prayer. I'll start posting pictures soon.

And for my Marquette friends... we hope to see you this weekend. We'll be heading north in a few days.