“The world is a book and those who do not travel read only one page.” – St. Augustine

One year ago today. That’s when we met for the first time. It’s amazing how life changes in under a year!

We’ve been talking all day today about that first day… “At this time a year ago, we were walking to the Aquarium…” etc, etc. It’s still so vivid!

Sometimes it feels like this last year just flew by… and other times it feels like we’ve known each other for years!

So now, I go back to the States on January 5th, ending our last visit… the next time we’ll see each other is for the wedding! I hope it flies by… and it might because there is so much to do. But I also hope for some really good quality times with family and a few close friends.

Happy “Anniversary” today, Love!
xoxo

P.S. Oh, and THANKS again, Jonny and Lisa! 🙂

It is now only a little over 24 hours before I get to see my fiancee again! I can not wait.

Tomorrow Rebecca arrives in London for what will be a bit more than two weeks. She will be here for Christmas and New Year. (Sorry Chris and John for taking her from you this Christmas. Perhaps we can all spend Christmas in Europe next year? 🙂 )

We have a couple of things planned. We will go down to Dorset on the English South coast for Christmas to spend time with Guy and Debby… our cousins (well in my case, almost). We’re also spending some time with friends in Reading and crucially will be refining some of the plans for April 4th!

Keep this site bookmarked over the next few weeks as there will surely be a few more updates and more photographs!

It is now only a little over 24 hours before I get to see my fiancee again! I can not wait.

Tomorrow Rebecca arrives in London for what will be a bit more than two weeks. She will be here for Christmas and New Year. (Sorry Chris and John for taking her from you this Christmas. Perhaps we can all spend Christmas in Europe next year? 🙂 )

We have a couple of things planned. We will go down to Dorset on the English South coast for Christmas to spend time with Guy and Debby… our cousins (well in my case, almost). We’re also spending some time with friends in Reading and crucially will be refining some of the plans for April 4th!

Keep this site bookmarked over the next few weeks as there will surely be a few more updates and more photographs!

It’s Thanksgiving here in the States… a holiday many non-Americans don’t know about. But you can still help us celebrate!

This holiday started in our colonial years after the pilgrims’ first hard winter and first planting season. Thanksgiving is always in the Fall after Harvest and we take time out of our busy schedules to gather with loved ones, reflect on what we are grateful for and eat some GREAT food! A traditional meal includes turkey, stuffing, potatoes (all kinds, various ways!) cranberry sauce, squash, corn, bean casserole, pumpkin pies… and HOURS around the table talking and laughing.

So… two questions:
What are YOU thankful for???
What are your holiday traditions? (How do you celebrate?)

April is QUICKLY approaching!

Becky moved back to her parents last weekend with only what she’s taking to England or storing. She needs to sell EVERYTHING else – couches, tv, tables, dishes… you name it!

If you live near her, please contact her if you can help her on 11/13-15 for pricing and selling items left in her apartment. She’s got nice stuff! Be sure to stop by her sale on 11/15 and make a purchase!

Also, she’ll be renting out her apartment (she owns a duplex), so if you know anyone who needs a really nice apartment in a beautiful Schenectady neighborhood, please contact her as well!

…written by Rebecca.

1. Why a wedding in South Africa?

Several reasons: Keith’s family is from South Africa and Rebecca has always wanted a “destination” wedding to ensure a small, intimate setting. The economy and currency exchange rate in South Africa lend to quite a bit of savings when paying with American dollars or British pounds. (This is really just a nice way to say Rebecca’s parents know too many people and she wants a small wedding! 🙂

2. Where will you live after the wedding? We are excited to discover Europe during the first few years of our marriage while we live in England. Keith has a great job which will provide many awesome opportunities. After a few years… who knows? We’ll start taking bids after our first anniversary! 🙂 Also, we look forward to keeping in touch with our long distance family and friends via Skype, a FREE video-chat service. All you need is internet and a web-cam and we can talk regularly!

…written by Rebecca.

Completely surprised. Speechless. That’s how I remember it. Totally unexpected. Didn’t have any clue. No one gave any hints! Or, at least, I didn’t pick up on any if they did.

We were in South Africa for the month of September! I had a YFC conference to attend there and we went early and stayed late to visit Keith’s family… meeting them for the first time! And my parents came for most of the time, as well. We spent a week and a half in Cape Town before the YFC conference and then went to Kruger National Park for a “safari” for 5 days after the conference.

We’d been in Africa for about 3 weeks visiting family, sightseeing and attending the conference. With less than a week left, we took a day off from game viewing in Kruger and stayed at camp. While my parents were napping, Keith and I were lounging by the pool and talking about the trip; how it was going by so quickly, how it’s been awesome for both families to get to know each other. I mentioned that he and I didn’t have a “date” until my first night in England almost 4 weeks ago and that I missed him. Quite causally, he says, “Lets go out to dinner tomorrow night. I’m sure your parents won’t mind.” We didn’t really say more… it was just that. Casual. And he made it sound like it was my idea.

Fast forward to the next day. It was HOT. We drove around Kruger all day discovering animals I’ve only ever seen on T.V. We didn’t talk about dinner, I thought Keith forgot! At the gate of the park, my parents bought meat to grill, so I thought that’s what we were doing for dinner. (Little did I know that they already knew the plans!) I didn’t want to say anything about dinner, because I knew how tired Keith was and didn’t want to make him feel badly. So back at camp, I went into my hut to settle in. Keith came to ask if I still wanted to go to dinner… and I tried to get out of it because I thought he was too tired and wanted him to rest! But he convinced me to go… still making me think this was all my idea from the previous day! 😉

On the way to dinner, he was quiet. I thought he was exhausted and even asked to turn around and go back! We got to the restaurant recommended by our host at the camp and it was amazing! It is called The Deck and is just that… an outdoor covered deck overlooking Kruger Park. We heard all the night sounds of different animals and even had a few visitors close enough to the fence to see!

Keith is always really sweet and romantic; so when he ordered red wine on a REALLY hot night just because he knows I like red wine much better than white, I didn’t think twice about it. After appetizers, Keith asked the lady sitting at the table next to us to take our photo… nothing new. We’re always doing that. He speaks to her in Africans, and I think he’s explaining how to work the camera. But he’s really telling her to keep taking photos because he’s about to propose. He brings the camera back to me and I think he’s going to show me the photo and ask what settings to change. But the photo on the back of the camera is of a diamond ring. I’m so confused. I JUST saw him format (erase) that card. Where did that photo come from? I don’t remember Keith giving the camera back to the lady or getting something out of his back-pack. All I remember is he’s down on one knee asking me to marry him. I’m speechless. I’m saying “yes” in my head, but can’t talk. But I’m afraid he’ll think I’m thinking about it, so I kiss him. (Hope he took that as a yes!) Still speechless, I just kept staring at the ring. It took me a few minutes to find my voice… to finally say yes! (I really had NO clue he was going to do this! I expected it around Christmas!) We finished dinner with me continuing to check my hand every few minutes and then went back to camp to wake up my parents to have a glass of warm red wine. 🙂

…Written by Dad Richmond.

“Mr. and Mrs. John Richmond, of Schenectady, New York announce the engagement of their daughter, Rebecca, to Keith Lugthart, son of Kees and Henny Lugthart of Cape Town, South Africa. Keith proposed on 30-September 2009.

Ms. Richmond, a graduate of Nyack College and SUNY Albany, is the director of the Teen Parents Mentoring Program for Capital District Youth for Christ in New York as well as YFC/USA national director for Teen Parents. She is also a professional photographer.
Mr. Lugthart, a graduate of Rand Afrikaans University in South Africa, is a software consultant in England for KANA, a worldwide company. He also coordinates the ministry at his church for students ages 18-25.
A wedding in Cape Town in April 2009 is planned.

The couple plans to reside in Reading England. “

…Written by Keith.

Early morning, January 3rd 2008. We set off before dawn to fly to Chicago. I was with my friend, Jonny Lobel and his family, who I had met a few years earlier while I was living in Dublin. Jonny and I had very similar interests and had gone on a few road-trips together in Ireland and Scotland. Jonny had then just broken up with a girl and I had been walking solo for a while, so we started talking about the good and the bad about the past and dreaming about ‘the one’. Well suffice to say… Jonny had found his one because it was three days before his big day, and we were all on our way to Chicago for the wedding.

Just the day before, on January 2nd Jonny and I were driving around, running some errands when he started telling me about his friend. This friend’s name was Rebecca and they had known each other for a couple of years. He thought that I should certainly meet her and that Rebecca and I could make a good match! I was immediately dismissive of this notion… after all, I lived on the other side of the world! Jonny did not push the issue MUCH further.

Anyway, here we were at Albany airport rushing with bags and boarding passes in hand towards the gate. I look up and I see this young lady with lovely dark hair chatting intently on her phone. As we walked up she politely greeted the Lobels and Jonny introduced us. How pleasant! Soon after our arrival it was time for the early boarders to get onto the plane and lo and behold, it was pretty much the whole Lobel clan! Besides Mr Lobel and Peter, Jonny’s younger brother, Rebecca and I were left to get on the plane later! So I decide to be brave and chat, so I sit down right next to Rebecca and start chatting away… It must have been some form of small-talk since I have no idea what was said. We were separated on the plane and did not chat any more until we got to the airport in Chicago, where I struck up the conversation about camera’s. See Rebecca was the wedding photographer and had offered to shoot the Lobel wedding. I had just recently purchased a new Canon SLR camera before my trip so I knew that would make for some conversation… See, Rebecca is a Canon snot and so am I… who need’s Nikon anyway? It even transpires that we’re both avid Mac fans too. Mmmmm.

Well, once we got to the hotel in Chicago City Centre, we decided to go site seeing and I certainly did not want to do more solo site seeing so I suggested we all go to the same place. Peter was also keen to head out and we all decided to go to the Shedd Aquarium which was about 1.5 miles away. I suggested we walk, having forgotten that it was January 3rd in ‘the windy city’. We EVENTUALLY got to the aquarium and it was absolutely gorgeous. Thankfully it was relatively warm there too, since we were near frostbite! Who’s clever idea was it to walk? Jonny’s dad later joined us there but we hardly saw him cause he had found other parts of the aquarium to look at with Peter, leaving us to explore the place for ourselves. Again I used the fact that I did not know my camera quite that well to ask Rebecca to be the photographer at the aquarium. Another clever ploy to keep her close. 🙂

That evening all the lads, accompanied by a few ladies, went off to see the Chicago Bulls play the Philadelphia Trailblazers. The ladies found their place at the end of the row and the lads were all sitting on the near side. Later discussions with Beck revealed that we both felt that evening as we were sitting down that we were a bit far from one another. Something must have started on the very first day!

We hung out some more over the next two days, which included a very tall coffee in Starbucks for internet access and the ability to log onto Facebook for much needed updates. Beck decided at this point that she would friend request herself on my behalf from my profile. 🙂 That evening at the rehearsal dinner, which was on the 95th floor of the John Hancock Centre in Chicago, overlooking the city lights, we ‘somehow’ ended up siting next to each other. Even though Beck was on the job we did manage to have some really lovely conversations and I started to see even more about the depth of personalty that she has.

The day of the wedding, Beck was clearly busy and I did not get to talk to her all that much. I made sure once or twice that she had something to drink while she was running around. I thought it was rather peculiar that I was called out to the dance floor by one of the groomsmen and I thought that we were going to dance with the bridesmaids or something. But one of the bridesmaids (Jonny’s sister Beata, in fact) handed Rebecca off to me for a dance after literally stealing her camera! I’ll be honest… I did want to have a dance with Rebecca that day but she was busy and feeling a bit awkward dancing while on the job. It was great!! 🙂

That evening after the wedding, we first went to the Irish pub down the road from the hotel where there were some seriously bad Karaoke renditions of ‘Sweet Caroline’, but Beck did not really mind since it’s a Red Sox anthem, and I was just enjoying Beck’s company. After the pub a couple of us went to the hotel and ended up hanging around to the lobby wishing for something extra to suppress our appetite. Nothing was open at that time of night, but we were too much on a high from that night’s festivities to care to sleep. Besides, time was now running out since I had to be up early the next morning to catch my flight back to New York and on to London. Well eventually we did go upstairs to our rooms and as I left Beck at her room I felt a serious conflict in my mind. I felt like I wanted to kiss her, but at the same time I knew that the distance between our homes was huge! I eventually put it out my mind as being the extra exhaustion of it being 3:00AM and went to sleep!

The next morning I briefly saw Beck as I finished breakfast… she had got up early to say goodbye! 🙂 As I left I felt somewhat sad, but at the same time I felt like I had really made a great new friend! We kept contact via text messages on the mobile phone while I was still able to send them from US soil, and once I got home we reverted to Facebook… Soon after, I introduced her to Skype and, well, suffice to say… the rest is history and we should now own shares in Skype, Inc. 🙂