Thailand. 2005.

Hey, remember when we got married?  Wasn’t that a sweet day?  We listened to Nickel Creek as you walked down the aisle in my mom’s yard?  Remember how it was an AWESOME day for weather?  Remember how worried you were that it might rain on our outdoor wedding-parade?  Remember the night before when we were cramming last-minute music into a playlist for the reception?  Remember when we only had money enough to drive 2 hours to Indianapolis for our honeymoon?  Remember how much I wish I could have taken you to the ends of the earth to celebrate our special day finally coming when instead I took to you Buffalo Wild Wings for our first meal together as a married couple?  Hey, remember when we had to cut that sloppy honeymoon short so I could go for a job interview in Wisconsin?

I love so much about you…  …and I definitely don’t tell you this enough…

So, here are the Top Several Things I LOVE About You… (in no particular order… …I mean, it is midnight after all…)

• I love how beautiful you are.  Seriously, you all need to recognize that I am married to flippin’ sexy lady!  Even at 6 AM, with your tattered hair and horrible breath, you still got everything I saw when I first met you….
• I love that you and I, even after months of forgetting our giftedness, can come across a song in which we harmonize, sing together ridiculously, or sing along with an absurd YouTube song…  …I love that you love music just as much as I do…  And I’m not sure anything makes me feel more in love with you than when we are singing together…
• I love that you are soooooooo patient.  I’m pretty sure that when you signed up to be with me forever and ever and ever and ever you would have to be an AMAZING woman, but dang have I put you through the the grinder from time to time; yet, you still are patient with me.  Even as we moved to the other side of the world, you are patient with our situation (even though some times it sucks, hurts, is awful).  You still remain focused on the passion God has given you, the goals He has placed before you, and the purpose we have here…  You’re an inspiration…
• I love your sense of humor.  Anyone spending their day-in and day-out with me has to have one, but you have a sense of humor that sneaks up on me, catches me off guard, and never ceases to bring me a laugh…  …even if it is at my expense…
• I love that you love to cook.  I mean, my Cholesterol doesn’t love the fact that you love to cook anything I desire, but I do love the joy you find in creating new dishes, sharing them with others and opening our home so that others can come, connect, and relate together.  Oh, and the things you can do with food!!!!
• I love that you love old things.  Your perfect vacation would be to go look at old stuff for a week…  …be it houses, boxes from the 1700′s, or just to go to a museum…  you love old things!
• I love that through the last 4 years… … through all the things I have drug us through… …through all the transitions, goodbyes, hellos, aches, pains, joys, etc… …you still trust me.  You still believe in me… …believe in us…  Despite everything around us that at times seem like it may implode, you still are my biggest fan…

You are just as beautiful as the day I met you nearly 8 years ago.  Happy 4th Anniversary, Baby!  Sorry I couldn’t take you to Buffalo Wild Wings to celebrate…  I’m sure you understand

Here’s to 10x as many more anniversaries to come!

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I just wanted to say a quick thanks to everyone who wished me a happy birthday yesterday!  Your thoughts and comments were such an encouragement!

Over 100 people commented via Twitter and Facebook and despite being over 7,000 miles from home back in the States, we felt a bit closer with all your thoughts and good wishes!

Thanks!

Wearing my sick face...

I haven’t been feeling well all week.  It’s a simple head cold, but it is somehow taking me down…

I hate being sick…and I hardly ever am.  But I just haven’t been able to kick this bug I picked up.  And, you know the only thing worse than having a cold?  It’s when you have a cold in 95% humidity and 90 degree temperatures!

Tomorrow we leave for a day-trip to Cambodia to take care of renewing our visa and I really don’t want to have a foggy head all day.  So, this afternoon I took a 3 hour nap…  Yep, that’s right, a three hour nap…  And it was glorious!

So, how do you handle being under the weather?

Brook and Sara rock Bang Saen

Four years ago we served at a church in Bang Saen, a city that we have grown to love.  It’s a small university town that is MUCH quieter than Bangkok or other large cities.

When we showed up in Thailand this time, we scheduled it so that we could go down to Bang Saen for a few days to get un-jet-lagged and relax before jumping into our coming lives of language learning and cultural adjustment.  Only this time, we brought friends…

We met Jason and April Ruggles through some online connections a sometime in January or February of this year.  They were living in Fort Wayne and were about to depart to Thailand to serve as missionaries in Bangkok with their denomination.  We grabbed some Thai food in Fort Wayne with them and quickly they became great friends with like-minded hearts.  We liked that.

They’ve been working in Bangkok for nearly 3 months and for the past few days have opened their apartment to us for us to stay with them.  It’s been great fun and a great way to transition into life again in Thailand.

Soon enough (i.e. tomorrow) we’ll be in Bangkok and Lopburi beginning  our Language and Cultural Learning assignment for the next 8-10+ months.  Pray for us as we get started.  The Thai language is not easy to grasp and not something you pick up over night.  Pray for Jason and April as they continue to serve in one of the largest cities in Southeast Asia and on one of the largest universities in the world, Ramkhamhaeng University.

We appreciate all of your prayers and thoughts.  Thanks for being a part of our world and God’s plan for us!

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Philippians 2:10-11 “that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord…”