My Brother is Awesome!!!

I was so excited because my mom emailed me to say that Daane commented on my blog. And I was a bit surprised because that means he used what little time he has nowadays with technology to check out what I wrote; this, of course, made me even happier. His comment was down a bit in the post I wrote about his Appalachian Trail Trek. So I'm putting it here for all to see. I love Daane and I can't express enough how awesome he is. Reading this makes me even more proud of him (yes, we're reaching the early stages of euphoria about now):

Hey baby,
We just got into our first town and I have to say I've never been so excited to get to a town with less that 1000 people. We got here a day late b/c we've had rain for the past 7 days including one night where we got 2 inches. Needless to say there were flash floods, making the rivers almost impossible to ford so our 13 mile average was cut to 10. Over the last 10 days the trail has shown us the hardest terrain I've ever seen. We've seen everything from miles of flooded trail and so many exposed roots that if you misstep just once you're quite likely the sprain or break an ankle. To the most uneven jagged rocks I've seen much less had to walk over. We have also been through terribly muddy bogs with thousands of mosquitoes that laugh at you when you hit them and eat DEET as an appetizer before devouring your flesh. Even through all of the hardships, climbing to the tops of the mountains and seeing the breathtaking views makes it all worth it. Thank you for all your love and support and I hope you're having a wonderful time in Korea. I LOVE YOU
-Daane

Daane, your note made me laugh and cry. You are so brave for doing this, especially because you're doing it to help other people than yourself. I can't wait to come home and see you. I'd hug the computer now, pretending it was you, but that's a bit less satisfying than getting a great, big bear hug from you. I think of you and pray for you every day. Keep fighting off the monster mosquitoes. That, or start putting sugar water in Chad's bug spray so they want to become friends with him instead. Don't tell him I said that.

Sending so much love across the world... your big sis,
Aub

P.S. To everyone else, you can check out their journal on their website here or some photos of them here. Daane is in the red bandanna or the red hat. He's so handsome!