Four years ago today we stepped off a plane into the warm muggy Chiang Mai heat and began a new chapter in our lives. I meant to document more. Tell more stories here. I thought I would fill these pages with descriptions of our days and adventures. Most of the […]
Read MoreLove Your Enemy
Last night I had the privilege of meeting a young man who is Rohingya. His father is Muslim, his grandfather is Muslim, his relatives are all Muslim. He himself has a doctorate degree in Islamic studies. In 2012 the people of Rakhine state attacked and killed the Rohingya people, burning […]
Read MoreThoughts on Marriage, sixteen years in.
2000 When Aaron asked me to marry him, he did it three times. (I wrote about the first time here.) He says he wanted to give me lots of opportunities to back out. The third time came after a period where I kept making plans for the next year, assuming […]
Read MoreRainy Season Rambles
It’s so beautiful this time of year. The air is clean, and everything is green and growing and fresh. The girls made a little nest. High up in the tree. They can see the whole valley from up there. We are settling in. It’s starting to feel like home. all […]
Read MoreCamping out in the Pink Palace
I wrote this a year ago, when we first moved into this house, and never hit publish. I was trying to take a video tour to add to the post so you could see what I was talking about, but it didn’t turn out well, and so I was going […]
Read MoreWhy your friend with many kids may say no to coffee, even if she wants to go.
Leaving the house alone is always an event for me. Aaron can get up in the morning, get himself dressed, look at his computer for a while and then casually decide to get up and walk out and drive away like it’s no big deal. He’ll be chased down by […]
Read MoreLife is pain, Highness. Anyone who tells you differently is selling something.
* For a very large part of my youth I thought the point of being a Christian was to keep bad things from happening to me. After all, the Old Testament has all these covenants, “If you ___, then God will ____.” So if I did all the right things, […]
Read MoreDid you miss me?
Hi. Remember me? Can you believe I only posted 4 times in all of 2015? I let an entire pregnancy go by without saying anything on this blog about it. That’s right. We have another baby here. He was a total surprise. Such a surprise that I think it took […]
Read MoreOrdinary Miracles – Where I praise my friends
I’m sitting on my friend Cindy’s couch when Sam comes in. He’s sad because of something that happened while playing, he got hurt, or his feelings were hurt, he needs some comfort. He lays down on the couch, head in Cindy’s lap, and she rubs his back and comforts him […]
Read MoreTogether
She sits across from me at my kitchen table, an untouched cup of tea in front of her, and speaks out the details of the very worst moment of her life. Her eyes pour out her pain, and her voice breaks and everything, every hurt, every hard thing in her […]
Read More