Soap for Jesus

I had a breakdown this week, probably due to exhaustion. It wasn't pretty. Atul and I are working really hard right now to try and get our house within the time limits imposed by lenders and visas and money. Love that last. It's a pain in the neck. I walked from work on Tuesday evening to get a hug from my husband at his workplace (he was on night shift). As soon as he put his arms around me, I started crying - and didn't stop for an hour. Then on and off for the next day. Took a half sick day off work. Ugh. Since my marriage, I haven't seen much of my friends. And even less and less, I've been drifting offline. Well, apart from playing Farmville or watching Netflix. Part of me is guilty for abandoning people. Part of me thinks I can't handle staying with people. Why? I had a dear friend once. Someone I adopted as a daughter. And a mutual friend betrayed her and me. When I had helped her get out of the mess, I drifted away because I was cracking and ...

Once upon a time is how all good stories begin. Ours began with a baby boy named Atul, who was born in 1989 to a loving couple in Jamalpur, India. Three years later, halfway around the world, the other half of our story was born - a little girl named Siân, born in 1992 in Walsall, United Kingdom. Atul and Siân both had happy childhoods. When Atul was 9, he moved to a Scottish missionary boarding school. Life was hard and strict; he only saw his parents once a year. In an environment full of boys, young Atul grew mature at a very early age. Siân, on the other hand, was homeschooled alongside her twin brother. Atul graduated from school and went to college, where he met some of his lifelong friends. He studied in Bangalore and became a coding engineer before deciding to go abroad and take a Master's degree. First he tried Canada, but for some unknown reason, they rejected his application. Atul gave up. His dad didn't; he applied for a UK visa for him, which was accepted....