December 2, 2011 was the 40th anniversary of the formation of the UAE (United Arab Emirates). Things you need to know: this country is only 40 years old. It formed from seven tribal states into one super rich country sitting on loads of oil. The guy who united them all is very impressive (late UAE … Continue reading My first foreign National Day
Our spectacular summer vacation of 2012 came into be with this one question: "How can we take advantage of our layover on the way back to the USA, and turn it into a vacation?" Most of the flights with layovers were through London. We didn't really want to spend this vacation with millions of our … Continue reading How to fly to Ireland for $100
My favorite moments...honestly, the ones that keep me going...are when we see glimpses of God's glory in creation. It's like seeing a wrinkle in the space between us & heaven. For a moment, we can see straight through the haze of our broken world, noisy lives, the things we worship with our time and money, … Continue reading Wrinkle in time
I find this word so frustrating because the expectations are so varied and absurd. I'm a woman. And the word "feminine" means so much and so little. Why must we hold back from talking about our bodies? Why are periods a secret? Every human on the planet is here because some woman was having periods … Continue reading Femininity
I've been married 10 years. I'm starting to realize that the longer I'm married, the less I know about marriage. I thought I would arrive at year 10 all knowing, wise, and coast the rest of the way. But the longer we are here, the more we know each other, the less I have it … Continue reading 2 become 1
Let's just get this out of the way: I don't think singing patriotic songs as part of a Christian worship service pleases God. We Americans have a hard time seeing it unless we've been outside the US context and watched the damage done by mixing the fallible US government, past actions, & current culture with … Continue reading But I’m still patriotic
America. I love you like the childhood home we return to as adults. Only to find she's smaller than we remember, and need a lot of repairs. After living overseas, I see that America is a box. A box I created because this is where I learned to follow the rules. Follow the rules to … Continue reading *shrug* America
This one is from the archives: written in 2011 when we had our first baby and had just moved overseas for the first time. We were living in a hotel waiting to find out where our employer would assign and house us. For some time now, my mind has been swirling. Undoing a life without … Continue reading Where will we land?
I promised a few friends I would explain how we went about getting rid of just about all our belongings when we left the United States. The first time, we only had about two and a half months to do so: trying to strike a balance between efficiency and getting some cash. Post all our … Continue reading How to downsize, like really.
Twice in the last 7 years I've consolidated all our belongings to a few suitcases. One time we were a family of four. The first time, we had a baby (and so much baby stuff). At one point we were living as a family out of 2 hotel rooms (no kitchen) for 70 days. Another … Continue reading What it’s like to downsize to a few suitcases
