Brafords In India

 small wedding of 3000-5000 We made it to Wedding day! it was a beautiful wedding held at our home church St. John's of Secunderabad, India.  Secunderabad is the twin city to Hyderabad and we live just at the border in a neighborhood called Tarnaka.  St. John's is a Church of South India (CSI) church with an Anglican heritage.  My grandfather helped form the CSI church which is a conglomerate of the Anglican, Methodist, Congregationalist, and Presbyterian churches.  It was formed the same year as India's Independence from the British Raj (rule).  The CSI Church was formed to create a sense of unity among Christians as well as to portray the unity of one God and one people in a land of multiple gods and hundreds of cultures and languages.  Denominational differences were discussed and a book of common prayer and liturgy was written.   The wedding started at 5pm and was a short and sweet ceremony.  We decided to grab dinner together at a beautiful Chinese restaura

Rogue Nation Hello again! It's been a while since I posted today has been our lazy sit at home and watch mission impossible kinda day.  We are just laying on couches watching movies and resting for the evening festivities.  It's been hit the ground running since we arrive with a Haldi each day.  Haldi or Nalugus, for those how may not have heard of them, are ceremonies in which the bride and groom are separately prepared for marriage by each of their own families.   During these ceremonies the bride or groom sits with a younger cousin (of the same sex -- called the thodu penli kuthuru: accompanying daughter/son of marriage).  They are then bathed in blessings from the family.   As a symbol of their blessings and prayers each couple rubs rose water and sandalwood representing the fragrance of love that their lives would exhibit the sweetness of their marital relationship.  Then we rub a mixture of milk and turmeric. In India milk represents life and turmeric rep

Flight We arrived to my sweet and beautiful cousin Junia waiting for us at the airport.  No delays or troubles flying which is amazing considering we traveled with a 10 month old who wants nothing more than to crawl and walk during all awake times.   Jake and I have decided (based on our one trans-continent flight experience) that we just need to always travel with an infant.  Because of Caroline's free bassinet, provided by Emirates, we had tons of leg room.  The flight attendants were super helpful! We got tons of exercise walking with Caroline up and down the isles.  She stayed sleeping for long periods of time since the low constant drum of the airplane was a soothing white noise.  While we were busy entertaining her, getting things out, putting things away, we got in total about 3 hours of sleep between the two of us.  Still they were stress free and sweet so we enjoyed it though we became exhausted.  Should we travel again, we will go via Emirates!  T

Grandpa, Grandma, & C. Si. We are coming to the end of our time in Natural Bridge and it is hard to believe the time has gone so quickly.  I am so very lucky to have such an loving family in the Brafords. Their love is gentle and their hearts true.  Living with Lea and Bill has been such a joy for us.  They opened up their home with such generosity and have made so many adjustments accommodating our unpredictability, mess, and nap determining schedules.  I am sitting in front of their beautiful Christmas tree that we all decorated together while drinking hot chocolate and having had another lovely festive meal prepared by Lea.  Walker is on the floor next to me and Sully is a few feet away, both asleep.  I can't help but to be grateful.  I have been invited to all the sweet happenings in Natural Bridge and have so loved doing things with Bill and Lea. Some of my favorite memories: Cooking with Lea.  I have loved our time in the kitchen, chatting, chopping, c

Photo Credit to Erin Braford (thanks lady!) We are going to India! It's been a long process filled with uncertainty and some obstacles.  The most critical have been a home for our loved little Walker (our little husky pup) and Caroline's (center of photo) visa. The three of us Jake, Caroline, and I are planning on a short three month journey.  It has morphed from a year long adventure to 9 months, then 6 months, and now finally 3 full months.  We applied for Caroline's visa back in August thinking that we were ahead of the curve, we would get all our ducks in a row months before we begin the journey.  Finally, two weeks before we take off, after 3 months of back and forth with the Indian visa departments, 4 rejections, and 1 trip to DC, we finally got the visa last night! Bureaucracy at its best. Walker will join Lindsey and David's household, our lovely friends who have made Richmond feel home to me the last 6 years.  We are so grateful to them and know tha