What took so long? How to be on time.
We adopted our youngest daughter in 2008. She came home when she was just three months old. Our three older children were all supportive of adding to the family. My…
We left our shoes at the door. How to embrace a foreign culture.
I’ve lived in Africa since 1987, and this experience has challenged and transformed me. I have learned languages, customs, and cultural cues very different from mine. Initially, I resisted the…
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What am I doing here? Why chase the donkeys?
“What am I doing here?” It’s a question all of us have, at one time or another, asked ourselves. As I wrote in my famous-in-my-mind story about Bollywood, I’ve wondered…
Waiting for our luggage at the airport. It’s what I do.
In early 2016, I stood with my husband and daughter at Blantyre, Malawi airport, waiting for our luggage. We had just landed after a long trip from the USA. It…
What did you say? How to lean in
I think 50% of marriage is spent answering "What?" I don't know if that's true for everyone else, but it has proven true for us. Even knowing that my husband…
What had we done? How to live above rejection
Stepping off the plane for the first time in Burundi, I wondered what we had gotten ourselves into. After our plane landed, I stood on the airport tarmac with my…
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About fundraising, a necessary skill I’m not good at
I said in a recent post that my husband and I are not good fundraisers. Learning how to fundraise should be taught as a class for misisonaries. Logic says that…
Typical girl dreams, and then I wondered how I got here.
When I was young, I had all the typical girl dreams. I wanted a handsome husband, a home, a career, and kids. Like anyone else, I dreamt of a beautiful…
I baked a cake today
The following poem, I baked a cake today, was written in 2009. I wrote it for our daughter Mandy when we celebrated one of her last birthdays in Africa. How…
How did I know?
"How did you know what you were supposed to do?" My 11th-grade daughter asked about my choice to be a missionary. What a loaded question. "You always seem to know…
