Incredible view from the top of Mt. Magazine. 

The highest point in Arkansas! 

A great day spent with this handsome guy. 

This weekend Jake and I went down to Fort Worth. We met up with some of my dear friends from college and saw Ben Folds in concert with the FW Symphony. It was great! And as always, Bass Hall, was a beautiful venue.

On Saturday we spent the day touring Fort Worth. That town just seems to get better and better each time I go back and visit. It is growing up so much! There are tons of trails, new restaurants and shops, districts…it was fun to see all the new things. We also ate some great tex-mex which I had been missing for way to long. And, the best part of all, walking around TCU:-) I miss that beautiful campus! 

Go Frogs! 

Disney World this past weekend.

Perfect 77 degree Spring weather with a light breeze. 

Lunch with Jake at a newfound Siloam treasure. 

A little jaunt at Lowe’s for flowers and gardening supplies.

Fresh baked coconut-lime cupcakes. Recipe here! 

Spending the afternoon planting a few flowers.

Good music.

Clean clothes.

JBU choir concert tonight. 

Life, it is good. 

Who knew Fashion Week would, one, ever come to NW Arkansas, and two, be such a grand event!? This week I’ve been pulled way out of my comfort zone and exposed to a whole new industry. I’ve always loved Project Runway, but my goodness, now that I’ve tasted a piece of what it is actually like behind the scenes of the fashion industry, those people are insane! I could never do what they do full-time. More power to them.

JOYN was featured at Mason’s trunk show last night in Fayetteville. We were set up, front and center and they did such a great job highlighting the products. The best part, Lisa and I got to talk about the products to people who had never heard about JOYN. It brought back such good feelings to say, “Malti isn’t begging anymore, but instead makes these bangles!” or “This bird print is a 4-color block and Rahamond is the only guy who uses it because he is so good with it and takes great pride in perfecting the pattern!” 

I was reminded of how special each of our people in India are, and what great opportunities they have now because people crave their art. What a neat thing to think about-people craving our God-given talents. If we all used our talents well and encouraged and uplifted each other in what we did, what great joy people would see/feel/taste! 

Summer rain falling all around you,

Washing all the doubts to the bone.

In the madness this world it has created, don’t forget you’re beautiful.

You get lost in the world, lost in the world, I’ll be there to find you.

Give your heart and your soul, heart and your soul, fighting to remind you.

You get lost in the world, lost in the world, I’ll be there to find you.

Just know I bleed like you. I bleed like you.

Someday, somewhere there’ll be a silver lining.

Break through walls your bound to hear.

We both know there’s no easy way around. 

Through you hear my words, ringing out.

You get lost in the world, lost in the world, I’ll be there to find you.

Give your heart and your soul, heart and your soul, fighting to remind you.

You get lost in the world, lost in the world, I’ll be there to find you.

Just know I bleed like you. I bleed like you. 

There’s no higher mountain I would climb, to rid you of the fear that rules your mind.

There’s no higher mountain I would climb, for you to see that I’m on your side.

There’s no higher mountain I would climb, to rid you of the fear that rules your mind.

There’s no higher mountain I would climb, for you to see that I’m on your side. 

GRO-Lost in the World

From the fullness of His grace, we’ve all received one blessing after another. 

So hard to believe I only have a few more days left in sweet Rajpur. The past two weeks have been really sweet. Had a wonderful Thanksgiving with great food and friends, spent some great moments with Kyna before she left for Thailand, and have had Mark and Henry in town from our board to access our business and progress. They’ve been incredible to have here. Great guys. 

This is Mussoorie, where we spent the day today with a good portion of our employees. We go up here on weekends sometimes…it is a quaint tourist town at the top of the mountains. Quite beautiful and chilly this time of year. 

We had our first ever, company lunch! So much fun. This restaurant was amazing…tucked away in the mountains in a lodge-like setting. Good to have Mark and Henry here too, to add some western thought to our Indian influenced minds. 

After our delicious meal in the mountains, we did a little walking and shopping.

Thanksgiving, as mentioned, was really wonderful. This is BimlaDidi. She made the crusts for our pies. Most delightful woman I know, as well as THEE best cook in India. We are so blessed to have her. 

We had pumpkin and apple pie with homemade whipped cream, mashed potatoes, green beans, an American football game on the projector, and all of our favorite Tibetans and Indians. A special memory indeed. 

In other food news, Nam and TP cooked us momos the other night, before Kyna left. Momos are one of my favorites. We frequent our favorite momo shop at least 3 times a week. And when we don’t, we just get these guys to cook for us. 

And finally of course, I have to end with a picture of my dear little friends. Anchal, on the right, informed the kids I’m leaving next week so we made sure to get some pictures. Anchal is the local who works with the kids all-day. She has grown to be a dear friend, one I will miss a lot too when I leave. 

The next few days entail shipping a lot of Christmas orders, spending time with friends here, packing, cleaning, and preparing to work in the states. Rikki and I are both excited to be going home soon to see friends and family, celebrate Christmas, have a warm shower and a dryer, etc. Very sad too though to say ‘see you later’ to some great people and a pretty incredible experience. 

T-5 days