A new business together

Stop in to this Indiegogo campaign and support our new business venture. If all you do is comment it will help us. A donation of $1 is great too! Thanks!

What a week! This is the first time I have ever taken a summer class.....not sure what I was thinking taking two in one session. I'm on the home stretch as far as being finished with school. Why is it that when we get to the end of something, like a race, the last little push seems the hardest? Mental fatigue has set in. I feel my motivation slipping! I see the finish line....

I've decided to use the blog I already had set up. I've tried to correct the issues I had with the tumblr account and can't figure out what happened. Over the past two weeks I've enjoyed being able to learn about how to set up online surveys and watching the TED talk about Captchas. I am more familiar with using Excel and Word so it's not as interesting and feels a little more mundane. I enjoy the more interactive parts of the class.

Is it March already?

Most of the people who we love and care about will not hear anything new during this "catch-up", but here is what Ashley and I have been doing since we came back from New Zealand at the beginning of September last year.

We re-roofed my dad's house with shingles that I gave him...that were given to me. Also put some new gutters on it.
Attended my brother and sister-in-law's wedding
Went to stay in Texas with my grandmother, who we call Mimi, who has Alzheimer's
Came back to Atlanta and then to Charlotte in the week before Christmas when Ashley's aunt Joy died
Left Texas after our birthdays and headed back to NC, stopping in Charlotte and then heading up to West Jefferson
Moved into a cabin owned by some friends

West Jefferson is about twenty-five minutes from Boone, where Ashley has applied as a transfer student to complete her undergraduate studies-focusing on Nutrition.

I am negotiating a deal with a chiropractor to practice massage out of her office, as well as working in the evenings at a local college burrito bar. Ashley is going to work as a server at the other restaurant that the owner of the burrito bar is about to open, a combination theater/live music venue with a kitchen and bar called the Reel House. I am also looking for employment with one of the rafting/adventure companies in the area, which would be just for the warm season.

Our dates for pilgrimage fall during Ridvan, near the end of the month of April, and we have done a lot of back and forth on whether or not we should go. At the moment, we feel like we will be leaving mid-April for the Middle East.

Our cabin has multiple beds, and we would love some visitors. So send us an email. Our phone numbers have changed, because our previous service doesn't work up here.

One last thing...thank you SO MUCH to all of our family and friends who have supported us with places to stay, food to eat, and just generally opening up their homes and lives to us as we have "wandered" from place to place since November of 2008 when we got married. We are very excited to finally have a place we can call our own, with the knowledge that we (at least plan to!) will be staying put for a minimum of two years.

Back to the East Coast

Ashley and I are headed to Georgia tomorrow morning to be with our family there in the wake of Aunt Joy's death yesterday morning.

Then we are going to come back up to Charlotte for a few days, which should be on Wednesday...maybe.

Link to another blog

This is from David Khorram's blog....his explanation of the Baha'i Faithand I just wanted to share it.

woo hoo

watching Ryan sit next to Adalia, I was struck by the momentum
of life, the eternal forward motion of the reality we all take
part in...the physical aging and maturing
the mental and emotional growth
and the opening of our hearts and lives to include others
in a deeper way than we previously know.
as a four year old boy waking up to my grandmother telling me
that I had a new baby brother I was unsure of the future--
what it meant for me. Maybe I was worried I wasn't up to the
job of being a big brother-and I wasn't, for quite some time-
but I did my best, and my parents did their best-
and ryan did his best...and what that leads to-I think-
is the best lives we could have-with what we are given.
and what we make.
and today I can say that I would cross the world to be there for
him and my new sister...
of course I would have to make sure my wife was okay with it first!