welcome

The house is alive. We're listening to Christmas songs (to get us in the mood), and I realize that I am being called away from the laptop every thirty seconds - so many issues arising (and being quenched) in a mere matter of minutes.

To give a live example: "NATHAN COME AND EAT YOUR RAMEN!"

So while I am eating my ramen (credits http://twobites.files.wordpress.com), I will introduce this blog.

This blog is
a living, dynamic, moving, active, changing collection
of stories, thoughts, conversations, links, commentaries, and adventures
through the media of images, videos, and text.

We are going to a small island in the southeast Asian Pacific known as Singapore. Singapore is located only four degrees north of the equator. This means it is very hot there. It also means that it is very humid there. The average high is 87 degrees Fahrenheit - but it feels like the high 90s. Yuck.

Singapore is also known for other various things, such as a chewing gum ban, an extremely low crime rate, and great food! (Interestingly enough, the crime rate report lists Philadelphia for comparison purposes at the top of the crime chart. Yeah living in the city! heehee)

We will be departing the country sometime on Tuesday morning. A somewhat 24-hour trip will get us near Hong Kong, which is only an hour or so away from Singapore. By the time we reach the other side of the world, we will not only be suffering from jet lag (for the next few days), we will also be struck with a climate change (heat wave).

We have a lot of family there. Dad has five or six siblings, and so we have about fifteen or so cousins. Good times!!

Dan, Andrew, Jeremy, and myself will be taking the main responsibility for the blog during the trip (we'll leave the trip planning to the parents). We'll be armed with cameras, video recorders, pens, and will be hoping to find adventure everywhere we look. Of course, at times the blog may degenerate into the latest happenings of the most recent Chinese soap opera - but we pray that will not happen... too often.

Comments are highly welcome and encouraged!!! we may or may not get back to you, but we'll do what we can. Please be praying for us that we would be able to witness to our family there and that whatever we do, we'll grow closer to Christ and continue to glorify him!