Going to the chapel….

Reenactment of our wedding festivities

Tyler and I went down to NC this weekend for my brother Jacob’s wedding.  We spent the whole weekend partying with lots of family from Indiana and Florida and Georgia, and every meal was a picnic with a crowd of over 30 people (as usual, eating is what my family does best).

As you can see, things did get a little out of control at times. She actually knows how to use that thing - just the night before my uncle ran into a deer on the way home, and, next thing we know, they had it all chopped up and the fridge was full of Bambi.

Tyler not sure quite what to think of his wife turning Medusa....

My sister and I were both bridesmaids and had a lot of fun getting ready in the nursery at the church of all places.

My sister Lorin enjoying pretending like she is two again

The day featured ltos of red - red dresses, red church, red flowers, red-headed bride!

Not our usual shorts and t-shirt look

Siblings and significant others: Caleb, Jennifer, John, Lorin, Tyler, Janelle

Jacob and Amanda on their big day

What would a reception be without a little groovin'?

John and Lorin, recipients of the garter and bouquet....not at all staged, of course!

John and Tyler posing - a little random but too good not to include!

After the wedding and reception, we all went back to my parent’s house and occupied the rest of the day with a tasty cook-out, rousing game of corn hole, and playing Snickerdoodle (if you don’t know what this is, you’ll have to ask or play with us sometime!).

All in all, it was a great weekend, and we wish and pray for God’s blessings for Jake and Amanda as they begin their married life together.

Arriving in India

http://picasaweb.google.co.in/lh/photo/GDuqPDlgVhQRgX-L-QEZDA?feat=directlink

Well… I’ve made it safely to India. We had a long trip but it was good. the last flight to Hyderabad had about 15 kids under the age of 4 so there was always one on cry duty, and it made for a long flight.

We got off of our plane and Andrew, who has been here since De. 8th picked us up. We went to the hotel and checked in unpacked some stuff and then went to the office to meet some people and tour the place.

then back for some much needed sleep.

So far the experience has been great.  Driving is so intense… crammed in a little cab, tons of people everywhere, no signs, lights, rules…

Anyway i have to go to sleep now and wake up at 3:30pm to be at work by 9am

I’ve got a few pics on my picasa site here

Off to India

Just a quick word here before I head off for India tomorrow.  I won’t have a phone, but I should be on Skype (tylerpgarman), AIM (snoguy63), or of course google talk. So really, it won’t even be like I’m gone!  Amazing.

The plane leaves Dulles at 6:30pm  and should arrive in Amsterdam at 8am on Wednesday (7.5 hour flight) for a 5 hour layover and then arrive in Hyderabad at 1:45am Thursday after another 9 hour flight.  I have no idea what time zone all those are in, but I’m looking at about 22 hrs of travel time….which is a lot last time I checked.

If you email me your address (tylerpgarman@gmail.com), I might even try to send you a postcard….

What’s Hangin’?

So for Christmas, Tyler got a rock climbing hangboard so that he can pretend to be climbing in our house when the weather is not nice to play outside.  Here’s a few pics of him preparing and playing with his new toy……

The Shearing

Most of you probably know (hard not to notice) that Tyler took “No Shave November” so seriously that it turned into “Don’t Shave December.”  I had begun to despair, thinking I would soon be facing “No Shave ‘09,” until Tyler received word from Rosetta Stone that they would be sending him to India in January.  With the prospect of flying internationally on his mind, Tyler began to take seriously comments made about his resemblance to terrorists and decided he need to do whatever he could to streamline his experience at the airport.  Hence, the shearing…..

Can anyone say mug shot?

"Hey, everybody, come see how good I look!"

There are no words...

The only one not rejoicing at this blessed change

Garman Christmas 2008

While pictures from the Wilkie Christmas might look like all we did was eat, pictures from the Garman Christmas would make it seem like all we did was dance…..long live DDR!

Janelle Lee and Natalie strutting their stuff on the dance mat

Tyler and Jon feeling the beat

Once the “kids” wore themselves out with all their groovin’, the experts got on stage to show them how it’s done…..

VIDEO

When we weren’t dancing, we did manage to open some presents and celebrate Christmas with LOTS of family on both sides.

Opening stockings on Christmas Eve

Janelle Lee and Jon....next Christmas they'll be married!

Group cuddle on the couch

What a blessing to be able to share in the joy of our Savior with all of our family!  I already can’t wait for next year .

Wilkie Christmas 2008

My brother, Caleb, hoping he's been good this year

We were blessed this year to be able to celebrate Christmas with family in North Carolina and in Pennsylvania.  The weekend before Christmas day, we drove down to NC to see all of the Wilkie family.  Unlike more traditional Christmas meals of turkey or ham, we opted for the Wilkie tradition of making homemade pizza where EVERYBODY helps – I counted 9 of us working in the kitchen at one time!

Pizza in progress

Lorin looking like she means business

Who let Sierra have a knife?!

Mom making calzones

Just for the record, Tyler helped with the pizza preparation and managed to not cause too much havoc.  He even agreed to cut the peppers and tomatoes!  Maybe there’s hope after all….

Tyler helping in the kitchen

Speaking of liking new foods, my sister Lorin faced her nearly life-long hatred of pineapple (long story with unappetizing details) and decided it wasn’t so bad after all!

Just one bite....

Of course, no adventure in the kitchen would be complete without Oma supervising the whole process!

Oma always ready to provide the young chefs with some expert coaching

The pizza feast was a huge success and sure to be repeated in future years.  We’re thankful for Oma allowing us to take over the Lodge so we have a place large enough to accommodate our large family and all the others we randomly adopt each year for the Holidays.

A toast to a very merry Christmas!

Mom & Dad blissfully full after our holiday meal

Oma and Opa enjoy a seat by the fire

Rock Hunt

Bouldering at Rawley Springs

A few weekends ago, Tyler and I decided to hunt for the elusive “Rock Maze” at Rawley Springs, a wilderness park about half an hour away.  The Maze is famous among climbers for being a sweet bouldering hang-out and notoriously hard to find.  So, with that challenge in mind and our trusty guide book in hand, we set off for the hills and found ourselves quickly leaving trails behind in search of bigger and better rocks.

Tyler navigating our course....straight up this boulder!

Our hunt paid off, and a couple hours later after hiking and scrambling our way through the woods, we arrived at the Maze and were immediately amazed (pun intended, just for you, Dad) at the size and, well, the maze-like-ness of the rocks.  After climbing to the top of the nearest boulder, we could see how the rocks were completely level on top but were separated from each other by several feet, forming a network of passages between them….just like a maze!

Janelle sitting on top of the Maze

Tyler being eaten alive by the Maze

Janelle bouldering one of the passages

Tyler hanging from the top ledge

The sun began to set, so we had to cut our exploration short, but I’m sure we’ll be heading back to the Maze again soon!

A real cliff-hanger

Home Improvements

The next adventure

In my current state of unemployment and consequential free time, I needed a project to occupy myself and so selected painting our second bedroom, which had previously looked more like a John Deere landscape, complete with clouds and rolling hills.  Since my parents apparently weren’t busy enough building their own house, they decided to come visit and lend their expertise in painting my house.

Mom hard at work as always

Dad quite at home with a brush in his hand

Despite being relatively new to the painting process, Tyler and I made sure to supervise our painters and offer our helpful suggestions.

Hmmm....is it too late to turn back?

Tyler made sure to keep our laborers happy by playing the football game form our computer (go Mac!).

The lumberjack learns to paint

My German grandpa, Opa, also came along to contribute his considerable ability in our home improvement endeavors.  He was a master carpenter in Germany, so we benefited in all sorts of ways from his skills.

Opa doing what he does best

In addition to our painting project, mom assisted us with one other desperately needed home improvement project…….

And there was great rejoicing among the womenfolk

I even benefited from a free haircut!

My turn

Three cheers for family coming to visit and help us out!

The final product

Christmas Tree Expedition

My fearless leader sporting the lumberjack look

Saturday Tyler and I decided to venture out into the wilderness to select the “perfect” tree to bring into our home.  The “wilderness,” aka the tree farm, was huge and had many options, but in the end we selected a Douglas Fir.  I let Tyler carry it back to the car so he would feel manly.

The lumberjack in true form

Our neighbor kindly took a picture of the two of us with our perfect tree.

Tree huggers, through and through

As it turns out, choosing our tree and getting it back home was only the beginning of our adventure.  Our “perfect” tree turned out to be fat and dense, and our lights decided to put Tyler’s technical expertise (and patience) to the test.

Tyler playing nicely with the tree lights

But, in the end and after a couple trips to various stores, we had all the lights and a perfect star to top our perfect tree.  A happy beginning to our Christmas season….

Janelle loving having a tree in her house