Happy Holidays!

We hope after traveling 8000 miles to your home, that this card finds you happy, healthy, and surrounded by your friends and family. For the first time in our lives, we were not able to go home for the holidays, but we wanted to send you our love and an update from a far away land.

By any measure, it has been a very big year. Courtney’s father got married, Scott’s sister is having a baby boy and we got engaged and moved to India. We began the year geographically apart with Scott pursuing his MPA at the University of Delaware and Courtney learning how to speak Hindi at the State Department’s Foreign Service Institute in DC. In March, Scott proposed exactly five years after we met at the very same spot that he first used that cheesy pick up line. Miraculously, it worked a second time, and we celebrated with a fun vacation in the Virgin Islands before Courtney got on a plane to start her new position with State at the U.S. Embassy in New Delhi, India. In a nutshell, Courtney is spending her first year as a Foreign Service Officer adjudicating visas for Indians who want to visit, work or move to the U.S. Next year in April she will move to the political section, where she will report to the State Department about foreign relations with India.

Despite being an aging youth activist, interest in Millennial Manifesto took Scott all over the country speaking about generational politics – culminating in an incredible cross-country road trip with Mobilizing America’s Youth. Over the summer, Scott went to India to volunteer with Ashoka and spend time with Courtney. While in Delhi, he was hired by the State Department in a rewarding position to fighting human trafficking of women and children. He went home to continue his Masters in the fall before returning to India after Election Day.

I suppose every year is a “big” year. No one lives 365 days without life changing events, tragedies and celebrations. For us, what makes this year so special is that we are beginning a new adventure, a new stage of our lives together. We’ve experienced so much living in India: bright colors, baby elephants, relentless honking and camel rides.. We’ve witnessed poverty, diplomatic dances, ancient temples, and modern Asia. We’ve been able to do much of it together, providing an opportunity to share adventures, reflect on hardship, and find comfort when homesick. We love India but miss Christmas trees and holiday parties with our friends. We long for snow fights with siblings, holiday songs and bell ringing Santas. We’re thankful for the many blessings in our lives and only wish that of the 1.2 billion people in India, more of them were our old friends and family.

Please stay in touch and let us know how you are doing. We send out monthly emails with updates and are putting pictures online at www.scottbeale.com. We can be reached at no additional postage at the US return address on the envelope and via phone at no additional costs at 202-669-4497 (10.5 hours ahead of the east coast). So no excuses not to contact us!

Wishing you and yours a safe and happy holiday season.

With love,

Courtney and Scott