unofficial start

I love the start of new semesters, especially spring, because it means that the semester is shorter, summer will come sooner, and..well, for this year anyway, I'm getting married :)
Another reason I like it is because it brings new people into the fellowship. Many students come and stay for a year or 5 years (depending on whether you come with an exchange program or to do your entire course of study), so by spring semester, you're only welcoming them back from vacation. But there are some who come just for one semester of study or a short teaching stint. So they get welcomed into the fellowship halfway through the year.
And yesterday, we had several newbies. One, surprisingly, is taking Ashley and Jesse's position at the school in pukou. I met him after the service, his name's Andy, and he's from North Carolina. So Raul and I have a new person to orientate to the likes of living in pukou and commuting to the city. But he seems ready to go and excited after only being in China for a day (poor guy). It was also a blessing that he found the NICF so fast and got plugged in right away.

Lots of wedding plan stuff going on, but they're at a stand-still until we get paid. Nevertheless, I pressed on and had a good conversation with one of my "decorators", and my mom who is helping me out a ton with stuff in the US. It's coming together, but the biggies, the hotel ins and outs with food, music, transportation, and honeymoon aren't there yet. Plus, I'm hoping to meet with the tailor this week and get a move on my dress. Keep all of it in your thoughts please...I'd appreciate it.

Lastly, for interested parties, I'll be posting soon a wedding site that we set up (stole the idea from my brother and Amber) plus Target registry information....

Be blessed all!