All smiles

We had a grand week,

embracing opportunities,

 

charting territory,

 

challenging boundaries,

 

seeking adventures,

and sticking together.

There were voices of dissent,

but we can gratify with less than perfection--we aim instead for authenticity (including in our group shots).

We spent our last evening together in Tbilisi. It was a beautiful night, and an unforgettable time.

“In friendship . . . we think we have chosen our peers. In reality a few years' difference in the dates of our births, a few more miles between certain houses, the choice of one university instead of another . . . the accident of a topic being raised or not raised at a first meeting--any of these chances might have kept us apart. But, for a Christian there are, strictly speaking, no chances. A secret master of ceremonies has been at work. Christ, who said to the disciples, "Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you," can truly say to every group of Christian friends, "Ye have not chosen one another but I have chosen you for one another." The friendship is not a reward for our discriminating and good taste in finding one another out. It is the instrument by which God reveals to each of us the beauties of others.”
-C.S. Lewis, The Four Loves