So as i sit here on the eve of christmas listening to the all time great Amy Grant Christmas album, completely warn out from an amazingly long day and at a loss for words on what i'm feeling and thinking right now, i thought it would be a good insight on my life to type to you all my journal entry that i wrote (in my own personal journal, you guys are getting a special treat) very late last night... i think its the best way to tell you guys whats going on in my head and life during this very important week... bare with me, it might be decently long, its long on paper but we all konw how bad my hand writing is so i geuss we'll see... I hope you all enjoy this very private look into my life!

12/24/07

Merry Christmas Eve at 12:21 AM. I have just had an amazing and surreal experience. I had to walk over to the girls place (they dont' live at our place) to drop a couple of them off after a long night of cutting onions and potatoes for tomorows Christmas festivities! After I dropped them off, I popped on my iPod to listen to some Amy Grant Christmas (one of my all-time favorites). I started to make my way through the quiet and serene Kolkata streets. It seemed fake, like a fairy tale, or movie set, or like disney world. It was so weird to be walking through the streets of Kolkata on Christmas eve with nothing around but some stray dogs and cats, me, the sky and moon, the buildings and God. It was at that moment when I felt an extreme feeling of peace and contentment like there was no where else on earth i would rather be. The first song I picked was "Have yourself a Merry Little Christmas" and it was as if God himself was singing it into my ear, telling me to have a merry christmas! A very intimate and surreal experience to say the least. My body was overcome with chills. It's hard for me to put the whole situation into words. The sights, the silence, the peace, the cool warmth. The silence, yes silence, in Kolkata. It was as if God himself for those few minutes gave cars and people a different course to take so that there would be nothing between me and the heavens above. I felt so small and so big at the same time. Yet while all of this was going on inside of me I thought about the thousands of miles that seperates me from friends and family, and how weird it was going to be to celebrate Christmas without them. Something that I have become accustomed to and take for granted. I think spending this time here has been a sobering experience for me. Normally, I would be at home right now at this very moment, noon on Sunday afternoon, after church, all the guys would probably be coming over to hang out, which is something I love and definately miss, but this year is different. Its a good different, but still different. It is sometimes necessary for you to lose the things you love and are used to in order to really see their value and worth. Then there is family, the traditions, the familiarities, the foods, the smells, the music, the games, the laughter, the naps; its almost too good to be true. Yet, I never realized the spendid simplicity of it all. There is nothing better than spending Christmas with your family, the ones you love. It's weird to me that is took me 21 years to figure that out. Once Christmas away from home to sober me up from the dream world I was so accustomed to. Ya, ya so I'm a hopeless romantic and this is all stuff that everyone always says. But you fly to Kolkata, India for Christmas and you'd be writing this same Journal entry. I guess the reason that everyone says that is because it is true. However, whle all these things are coming to light inside of me, there is no wehre else I would rather be at this Christmas. yes, of course, i miss home and everything that comes with it at this time of year, but to be honest, this year would just have been another Christmas to come and pass. I needed a wake up call. I needed to fly half-way around the world in order to really see the meaning and enjoyment of this time of year. Which goes even deeper than friends and family as well. It has never hit me, the significance of Christmas, for what it actually is. God coming to earth as a man?! Mind blowing, simply mind blowing. So if thats what it took for me to figure that out, then by all means its worth it to me. I will never forget this Christmas. All the others seem to fade away, or blend together. This one will be in my memory forever. Next Christmas will be even sweeter than i could ever imagine I'm sure, I'll need to make up for missed Christmas, celebrate two years at once. It's going to be quite the party i'm sure. So with that i say have yourself a merry little Christmas. Never forget Christmas 2007. Never Forget what Christmas is all about.

Soooooo long story made short, i started writing this blog the other day, twice in fact, trying to post it twice, and neither of the times it would post on my blog site! It was frusterating, but today (the 26th) when i got on my blog it said i had an unfinished blog and asked if i wanted to continue so of course i said yes. And so here is the product, a blog 3 days in the making. Now looking back on Christmas from this side it was a Christmas i will never forget! On Christmas eve we spend the day with all the street kids and helped out with their Christmas program on the street! it was awesome, we also got to feed about 200 people then too! by night time i was exhausted, as was the rest of my team, so we got some dinner, then made some coffee and tea and popped in a movie! it was a good night! the next morning (Christmas morning) i was woken up to the sound of about 40 kids singing songs in Bengali, which was amazing. So i went and joined in (the kids were our street kids, for a Christmas morning event) then by the time they all left, our team started cooking a special Christmas breakfast, french toast with carmelized bananas, tea and coffee, juices! it was amazing, we didn't get done eating breakfast and listening to christmas music till about 2! we also had a little present exchange, in which i got a batman and fantastic four comic book! it was great, later that day we went out on the town! which was NUTS, everrrrryone was out for Christmas, Kolkata was packed no joke! but it was fun and we went to a really good place for dinner, then made some banana splits for desert! it was one christmas that i never thought i would have, but i will never forget! it was great.... this blog is probably unbleivably long, and i'll be surprised if anyone actually reads the whole thing! but i just want to say, merry belated christmas to everyone! as my friend tiny tim says, "God bless us, Everyone"

Korey