Diane & Aaron Mitschke

After spending the first 6 years of our marriage studying and exploring in Michigan (Ann Arbor) and Hawaii (Waialua, Oahu), we headed back to our home state, Texas, to begin our family. 

Hoping to find a "ranchette" within commuting  distance to the University of Texas at Arlington, where Diane teaches in the School of Social Work, we found just what we were looking for in Venus, TX.  Venus is a tiny town about 25 minutes south of UTA, and we absolutely love that we've found this little slice of rural paradise so close to the DFW metroplex.

In the process of finding our "niche," we've become involved in the refugee community in Dallas, and have cultivated relationships with many Karen families from Burma who have been resettled from refugee camps in Thailand.  We recently started a nonprofit organization called One World Outreach to provide assistance to these families in the Dallas/Fort Worth area.  You can read about our work on the One World Outreach blog or check out our website at www.oneworldoutreach.org.  We can always use volunteers as well as donations-- please check out the list of items needed on the website! 

We have grown our family in several different ways.  First, we adopted a beautiful little boy, Kai Lane, in October 2009, who is literally the light of our lives.  The adoption journey was not an easy one for us, but we are so thrilled that we finally found "our missing piece." Kai is Marshallese, and was born in Hawaii.  To read more about Kai's birth family and the adoption experience, check out our blog.

Next, in May 2010, Pla Shee, a 9 year old little boy who is the youngest in a Karen refugee family of four children, came to live with us.  His father, Pu Lue, stays with us also, and we have been blessed by their presence in our lives.  And now Diane is pregnant with a new baby who will arrive in October 2011.  So the excitement continues...