Snapshots of Egypt & India

It's so hot in India that chili peppers just wash up on the beach. I found 2 on the beach this particular morning.
These are our good friends M&K & their lovely Baby L.

Indiana Springs is the bottled water of choice in India. God bless em'.

T & I beside T's new super-eco-friendly ship of the desert.

Kids at our friends' orphanage in Chennai India. http://www.sangitacharitabletrust.com/.


P&G at the Pyramids, posing with the Sphinx.

Egypt & India

In October I took 2 friends, T & P, to Egypt for a week. I got back mid-December from a trip to Chennai, India with another friend M.

None of these guys have traveled much outside of the USA. All of them are interested in different cultures & people & global news & politics & so forth. So it was fun to take these friends to two very exotic places & introduce them to our friends in Egypt & India.

On the plane back from Chennai to Frankfurt, M asked me why I invited him to go to India. I didn’t have an immediate answer for him, which took me by surprise.

MB & I are big believers in introducing our friends to each other. & we are big believers in getting people together & seeing what happens. So naturally we want our friends from all over the world to get to know our friends from Indy & the US. & vice versa.

After going to Egypt, P & his wife are helping with support for one of our friends there. & after going to India, M is interested in supporting one of the kids at our friends’ orphanage. This is wonderful. In our partnership training sessions, MB & I teach that good relationships are the foundation of good partnerships. What MB & I really want is just for our friends all over the world to get to know each other. & hopefully by getting to know each other, we can begin to help each other & to work together.

So we want to take our Indy friends with us to meet our friends around the world. & we want to bring our friends from around the world to meet our Indy friends. & then we want to sit back & see what happens.

Random Pics from 2006

Pictures include: MB's birthday dinner in CO; Khayelitsha, South Africa, Alek, Syd & Max, friends in Indy, Halloween, & respective family pics.

2006 Christmas Card

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year!

We are very happy to be back in Indianapolis after 2 years in the DC area and half a year in South Africa! We’ve enjoyed our friends, family, and our city immensely.

Of course we’ve been globetrotting, visiting friends in places like Egypt, India, Britain, South Africa, St. Croix, DC, Texas, Colorado, and NYC! We’ve been visited…by friends from South Africa (two dear friends & their daughters were neighbors for 2 months), DC, and elsewhere.

We’ve been running (& swimming & biking). MB participated in her second sprint triathlon this summer & Kyle ran his fourth marathon this fall.

We’ve been renovating…or are starting to. We’ll post updates to our blog.

MB’s been, um, boarding. She joined 2 boards this year: Horizon International and the Harrison Center for the Arts, where she also just opened her first darkroom. She’s also been working on a photography curriculum and opening a small independent theater also at the Harrison. Fun stuff.

K’s been trading…stocks & options and as well as doing a ton of work for the International Sports Coalition & keeping Flat Earth Records alive. We’ve been adopting…a dog that is. Again, check out our blog to meet Max(ine), Syd’s new sister. Our blog address is new: http://www.mbandk.blogspot.com/. Here you can read more & see lots of pictures.

We end the year feeling grateful for each of you & for the blessing you are in our lives. We are grateful for the lives God has blessed us with. And we look forward to 2007 with great anticipation. May you each be blessed this holiday season.

K + MB
Syd & Max

Introducing Max the Wonderdog

Syd has a sister. Three weeks ago, Kyle & I adopted another dog. Her name is Max, short for Maxine.

Max, formally Juju who was formallly Dixie, is a Katrina hurricane survivor. She was five months old when the Catahoula rescue found her last December & brought her to Austin, TX where she lived until July.

A woman here in Indiana had just lost her 14-year-old dog & her younger dog, Stuart, was dealing with the death of this older dog badly. So this woman decided she needed to get another dog for Stuart. I still don't know what made her look at the Catahoula rescue in Austin but she did & found Max. She had Max flown to Indy where she planned on of course raising her.
Well, apparently she & Stuart weren't bonding...she is still a puppy & of course wants to play & have a buddy & Stuart wasn't having any of it. So she decided the best thing was to find Max a new home, which was really hard for her b/c Max is such a sweet dog.

K & I were on a date killing time one evening & wandered into Three Dog Bakery to buy Syd a treat or two. On our way out, we see this ad with a picture of Max & are amazed at how much she looks like Syd. We had been talking about getting another dog soon b/c Syd will be nine in February & we wanted him to train our next dog while still being young enough to enjoy the new dog. So we decided to to set up a play date with Max.

After three different play dates (one of which included two nights with us & an evening of Stone Soup with tons of people & kids), we decided to keep her. She didn't go home after that last play date...

So that's the story! She & Syd play great together. She's really sweet & is quickly learning our house rules. I am a teensy bit allergic to her saliva but K thinks that will pass. And we love her lots!