Updates

First, some new quotables added. Second, a new ongoing entry link available at the sidebar for our most recommended reading.

Ships Passing In The Night

Not quite as idyllic as this photo, we have ventured into the month of February, and we are very thankful that it's the shortest month of the year, for the following reason: Rachel is on nights, and Eric on days. Rachel is off weekends, and Eric is on.

Here's the weekly run (with minor variations): Sunday night through Friday morning, Rachel works 14 hours every night. She gets off at 7am, when Eric goes into work, and goes back in at 5pm, and Eric arrives home shortly thereafter. Most of the weekend, she is free, but Eric works at least half of each weekend, including overnight. Thus the challenge.

After we spent 4 out of the 12 months before our wedding in different hemispheres, the first words out of Rachel's mouth were "Let's never do that again." And we still hold to that, and currently we wish our schedules seemed less reminiscent of that time. But there's a few things we cling to.

First, that time does pass. This is an amazing fact, but not quite as amazing as our hearts' unwillingness to recognize it. Heart knowledge of this kind seems to come with age, and we're still pretty young, as that goes. But we've learned it some, and we hold to this truth. Second, we have had difficult months before, and when entrusted to our heavenly Father, we are amazed that time together can materialize in the strangest places. Will this trend continue this month? We don't know, but God's behavior in the past gives us reason to think he might act similarly in the future.

So pray for us. Send Rachel nice emails and visit Eric in the evenings. =)

Big News

Clayton and Teresa (if you don't know them, you want to, even if you don't know that either) have some big news, of the natal tradition.

Other People's Chillins'

Before we get too far away from the event, we should share a few moments from our "South Texas Family and Friends Desert in the Winter" tour from the second week of January.

After our all-too-brief-2nd-Christmas weekend in Phoenix with Rachel's wonderful family, we flew into Houston, where we spent a few days with Patrick and Deann Taylor, Eric's cousins, and their kids Douglas and Evelyn, who are a total bundle of fun. We learned a lot about Captain Underpants, and we got the privelege of taking the kids on their very first geocache, which by some lovely mystery turned into a hunt for Davy Jones' heart and other Caribbean treasure. Patrick took us through Houston, and we saw some NASA, some Gulf coast, some oil rigs, and of course, neverending Houston. You know, the works.

Danny and Abby Fahim, Michigan med school friends at Baylor Medical now, met us for dinner at a fab old place with a mean brisket, which was next to a bar with a gigantic (I mean, 25' tall) armadillo out front.

Lastly, we headed up to see Peter and Sarah (and baby Greta!) Bast a few hours north in Temple, TX, where we also got to see Jaime Paauw. As seen truly in the photo, Greta is an adorably smiley little girl, and we all enjoyed a veritable Festival of Meats from the hand of Grillmasters Basts. A fun side trip to Austin discovered a nice Dim Sum locale, a must for topping off any traditional trip to Texas.

Carcassonne Bowl XLII

In the hours leading up to the 2nd most watched television event of all time, we decided to find out for ourselves who would be victor via German Board Games, which hold more truth than the general public is currently willing to admit.

Carcassonne, the Spiel Des Jahres of a few years back. A brilliant game, in which a match between us was played with the blue pieces (the Giants) represented by Rachel and the grey (Patriots) by Eric. The following was elucidated: The Patriots received the kickoff, and made an impressive runback. However, they were quickly dominated by the Giants, who took control firmly, until the beginning of the 4th, when the Patriots briefly took the lead by a very dramatic Hail Mary. The Giants' final drive put them back into the lead, and despite a valiant final drive by the Patriots ending deep in the red zone without anything to show for it, the Giants won 27-23.As you may or may not know, we did get the winning team right (against the odds) and our final score was only off by the tens place digit. Some of the superfluous details may have been off, but I think we all realize the real thing when we see it.

Our Time in the Sun

My uncle John published his first novel this past year (he tells us he's working on his second). My dad gave me a copy for Christmas, and I just finished wolfing it down. Quite a fun tale, and his son (my cousin) did the cover artwork you see in the photo. It was interesting to know my uncle and see how his own experiences showed through so much into his tale. I think my favorite part was when the protagonist takes part in a little humorous interlude, which just happens to be the same story my dad has told me for years about my grandfather. =) It is available for online purchase. Thanks, John, for investing your retirement in something so entertaining for me and also full of family legacy.

We did, in fact, celebrate Christmas

Before we get too far into 2008, we should at least make mention of the end of 2007. We worked Christmas, before heading down to TN for McLaughlin festivities. For our gifts to each other, we got tickets to see Over The Rhine at a relatively small folk venue in Ann Arbor. General admission, and we sat on the second row. Very cool. Then, on Christmas Eve, we had a fab dinner (obtained with a Whole Foods Gift card) of crab-stuffed portabello mushrooms (you don't even know...) and of course the obligatory Christmas mulled mead.

TN was lovely with the family, who graciously held off until the 27th when we could be there, before having all the "real" holiday celebrations. We're reposting the McLaughlin Christmas photo here, a composite since there wasn't much in the way of a good chance with us all together this year. Note that we are the only couple not showing affection to each other in the picture. We would like to here state that this is a completely cultural phenomenon, such actions being taboo in Bengali culture. This does not represent any cooling of our affections as we head into our third year of marriage. We did get to visit Sami and Jonathan down in Chattanooga, and saw Curt and Chris Chaffin as well, home from their wild and crazy adoption adventure.

North Dakota Makes Liars Of Us (Again...)

Forgive us. We have lied to you. All this long while, our profile stated that we lived in the only town in the US starting with Yps-. I tried to verify this on Mapquest and found nothing. Eric Selle (Rachel's brother) pointed out that North Dakota also has a town called Ypsilanti. To which we reply, "We don't care." When I was in high school, my friends and I played in a garage band called "Helm's Deep", and were contacted by these Canadians in a band by the same name. They wanted us to change our name, because they had put out a couple records and obviously were headed for the big time. We didn't change our name. However, for the sake of honesty, we'll have to modify our profile somehow. The only problem being, there's really nothing else to say about us...

Bread of the Month Club (AKA Naan-vana)

Eric and I have come to the realization that, with our future plans, many things we love in this life may not be very readily available to us come two years from now. I’m sure we’ll continually be surprised at the availability of things in Africa, but best to plan ahead. So, for example, if we cannot live without Indian food, we should figure out how to cook it ourselves. And there are many bread-type staples throughout the world that are not only fun, but versatile and tasty as well. We are launching on a goal of learning how to make a different bread each month. Because we had already bought our groceries for the month of January by the time this plan hatched itself in my brain, by default January was going to be “Naan” month. It went with Chicken Tikka Masala, which we had already learned how to make (allrecipes.com is the best site ever!).
Above you can see a picture of our results. Obviously, Eric is one happy little naan boy! We mixed up the dough and cooked it on our pizza stone. Our friend Carlan, always a good friend to experiment on, is quoted as saying it was “addictive.” Success! Future breads of the month include pita, tortillas, and crusty French bread.

The Forty-Fifth State

December 29, 2007. A momentous day for me. Some of you know that Eric and I have been in an unofficial “race” to beat each other to all 50 states. Between the two of us, we’ve made it to all 50, but the ones that we have left individually, unfortunately, do not overlap. We were on our way to visit Eric’s sister in Chattanooga (starting from Nashville, where we had spent a delayed Christmas) and came to the realization that one of my remaining six states was only a TEN MINUTE DETOUR from our proposed route. Alabama, here we come! We turned off of I-24 and within minutes, found ourselves crossing over the state line into my forty-fifth United State of America!!! It wasn’t quite everything I hoped it would be…let’s just say the “scenic route” we chose to take was mostly trailer homes and scrub bushes (maybe there’s a reason this was #45 instead of #10 or something). But I can’t be picky.

States we have left are as follows: Eric—Hawaii, Maine, Oregon, Nevada, South Carolina. Rachel—Alaska, Vermont, Louisiana, Mississippi, West Virginia.

Books We're Giving Away

Let us know if you want any of these, or if you just want to stop over and look them over:

We'll give these to the church library if there are no takers:

Churched Turner Christian humor
Mandate for Mercy Stephens missions
Chasing the Dragon Pullinger missions
Tortured for Christ Wurmbrand missions
Always Enough Baker missions
Surprised by the Power of the Spirit Deere spiritual life
Journal of the Unknown Prophet prophecy
Secrets of the Vine Wilkinson spiritual life
Prayer of Jabez Wilkinson spiritual life
He Still Moves Stones Lucado spiritual life
Dominion Alcorn fiction
The Visitation Peretti fiction
The book of God Wangerin fiction
Intended for Pleasure Wheat marriage
Before You Say I Do Wright marriage
Books of Destiny Keith spiritual life
The Torch and the Sword Joyner prophecy
When Heaven Invades Earth Johnson spiritual life
The Message: Job and Proverbs Bible
Vital Doctrines of the Faith Furness theology
Handbook of Theological Terms Harvey theology
Teenagers Pray prayer
In the Eye of the Storm/Gentle Thunder Lucado spiritual life
First Years of Forever Wheat marriage
Bible Study Made Easy devotional
Beginner’s Guide to Prophecy prophecy
10 Things I want my Son to Know Chapman spiritual life
I Kissed Dating Goodbye relationships
Collegiate Devotional Bible Bible
Interpreter’s One Volume Commentary on the Bible

These will go to Goodwill or the Public Library if no takers:

Spanish Dictionary
Musculoskeletal Exam
Dorland’s Illustrated Medical Dictionary
Stedman’s Concise Medical Dictionary
Les Miserables (old) Hugo
The Lord of the Rings Tolkien
The Hobbit Tolkien
Jane Eyre Bronte
Five Plays Chekov
The Black Cauldron Alexander
Master and Commander O’Brian
Let’s Go New Zealand 2000
Roget’s thesaurus
My Fair Lady Lerner
Dubliners Joyce
Streetcar Named Desire Williams
Letters of Abelard and Heloise
Cold Mountain Frazier
Last Lecture Pausch
Deception Point Brown
Anne Frank in German or English
Deep End of the Ocean Mitchard
Chocolat Harris
Dangerous Minds Johnson
Absolute Truths Howatch
Utopia
Christmas Carol Dickens

Memoir

This is an old photo, but on rediscovering it, we thought we'd share it with everyone. Celebrating Rachel's car hitting 100,000 miles, she took this photo. Note the speedometer. Please don't show our car insurance company.

Brown Chaffin

For those of you who know (and thus, love) Curt and Chris Chaffin, here's a link to the chronicle of their adoption saga. Merry Christmas, Chaffins 3!

Wine Review

I was listening to NPR this past summer and heard a segment about how the Bordeaux wines from the 2005 season were being called "the best vintage in the last fifty years". I knew then that we would spare no cost to to experience this gustatory rarity. Thus, on our next expedition to Trader Joe's, where such a vintage can be purchased for $6, we let down our normally frugal defenses, and took the plunge. We kept it until an occassion suitable for such elegance, namely our friends Adam and Kelly Rogers visiting a month ago. The complexity of the palatal sensations accompanying such a wine took a full month to process, so it is not until now that we are prepared to offer the following review:

The 2005 Bordeaux experience starts with a smooth uncorking that exudes the most delicate hint of caramel and English toffee. It stands strong in the decanter and displays thin leg support in the crystal itself. The frontal palate senses textures of oak, beech, and bamboo with the nose of a cherry. Just before a finish of a chocolate nutmeg tail, there is subtle but definite distinction which is a mixture of an apricot in one hand, a pineapple in the other, and a heart that beats of cinnamon. We decided it would be best to draw a picture of it using Microsoft Paint. We posted it here.

In all, we would like to officially add our endorsement to Le Figaro, who states "Face to these perfect climatic conditions, numerous wine growers also made a real gustative choice and punched the fruit around the body. Some wine-makers have never seen such a lively fruit!"

Merry Christmas 2007

Merry Christmas family, friends, and blogosphere! Many of you already know how most of our year went, and if you really want a whole lot of details, we refer you to the rest of this website. =)

The holiday season of 2007 also marks the end of our second year of marriage. What a great thing our marriage is. Rachel works a whole bunch at the hospital, and so does Eric, but the important thing is that we still learn, and we take it on faith that all our efforts are resulting in care of the sick and needy. And the schedules aren't as bad as they once were. Together we have delivered enough babies to fill 75.18 minivans (minus the driver; babies don't drive. Babies don't ride in the front passenger seat either, but don't be picky.)

We continue to travel, read, love music, play German board games, geocache, and try to find ways to carve out time with our friends and families. We look to the future, which is not at all far away, and start to set wheels in motion for our careers abroad in medical missions. And in the rush, we do well to stop and seek God, source of life. May God bless your Christmas. May our eyes be opened to know him.

February on Antigua, Eastern Caribbean

Rachel in DC in March

In San Francisco with our friends Adam and Kelly in May

Canoeing Ann Arbor with Mom and Dad in May

Sami and Jonathan's June Wedding in Nashville

Eric and Clayton celebrate their Alma Mater's committment to 'American Idol'

(See "September" for lots of Bangladesh/UAE pictures)

We carve a monacled pumpkin after the fashion of Mr. Peanut in October

Yay! Rachel's family in MN in November!