CONS 1. It is depressing. 2. Your 4 year old still kisses your stomach and tells the baby hello. 3. Your 5 year old (who is only slightly more logical) asks when the NEXT baby is coming out. 4. You have to avoid eye contact with people in elevators when you see them look down at your belly and then up at you in an attempt to bypass the awkward question, "So...when is your baby due?" PROS 1. People still are kind and patient with you in public because they think you're expecting. 2. In Read More
The Chronicles of Language Acquisition
The last nine months of learning (what is said to be) one of the hardest languages in the world: Month 1: I can say my name, how old I am, and where I am from.My Icelandic is as good as Darcy’s English (2 year old level). I feel completely overwhelmed by the complex grammar structure of this language.There are 48 words for the number one. FOURTY-EIGHT. My husband, Colby, has studied 2 languages with similar grammar and gets it immediately. Although the grammar is ridiculous, I am learning new Read More
13 months and 9 days…
The moment came at the perfect time. We were at the home of Irma, an amazing Finnish woman who glows with the presence of God and who owns a lovely piece of property in the outskirts of town. We had just sat down for afternoon coffee with her and our dear friends here, the Pauls, when Darcy busted in the front door from playing outside screaming, “I have to go POO-POO!” Colby got up to help her when I heard his phone ring. My stomach immediately dropped and the Finnish fancy cake I was chewing Read More
Ever After..
My husband wrote this on our anniversary: Today is our 8th Wedding Anniversary. It's always hard to believe we are getting older, but we are edging ever closer to ten years of marriage and that is unfathomable. These are the moments we say, "time flies" or "before you know it," hoping to capture in words our sense of the fleeting nature of life. I must say...I like marriage. Not so much because either of us are very good at it, but precisely because we are not. There is nothing more rigorous Read More
Middle of the Night
How do you shield your children from the reality of death? Do you pretend it isn't a fact of life and ignore it? Do you guard them from thinking about it and constantly divert their attention to juvenile things? Or do you talk candidly about it, helping them think about it in a healthy way? The reality of death is really everywhere. You really can't teach your kids Bible stories without running into this theme rather quickly. Disney films don't even try to hide the fact that people pass Read More
Bustin’ Out…
I've heard a lot about how high depression is here in the winter. They have special things here called "happy lights" that you can sit under that apparently boost your mood. On Tuesday when we went to the pool, I asked if one had to wait till the winter to use these lights. The "summer" here has been hard for me. I keep waiting for it to come. Finally, last Wednesday, I stopped being angry about it, I stopped fighting it, and I just accepted it. This is what you get. 50's...and if we're Read More
Memorial Day
Being in another country cuts you off from the usual festivities of Memorial Day, but on Monday night, the 25th, as I was falling asleep, I thought about Mark Stratton, a friend from Stafford Baptist, in Afghanistan and started laughing out loud in bed, (Colby hates it when I do this) thinking about a funny Mark memory. On Tuesday, we got up and started on our mile-long to-do list to get ready for a volunteer group of 13 people who were arriving the next day. I knew something was not right Read More
Dear Diary,
Life has never felt so uncertain. Our home back in Virginia is significantly damaged, and we no longer have renters. We can't begin to advertise for new renters until things get fixed, and we don't know how long that will take. In addition to that uncertainty, we still haven't figured out what to do with our car and don't know what the wisest thing is to do. On top of it all, the decision about the VISA has been made, but they are not telling us what it is until it is officially documented. Read More
Great Joy
Refiner’s Fire
Bill Jessup called me yesterday. I knew right away that something wasn't right. I have been with him on more than a few occasions of talking about difficult news. Do you have a few minutes... I need to talk to you about something. I don't know any other way to say this... It is amazing how many things you can feel and think in the split second between a sentence like this and the next one. I thought, surely I have negligently caused someone's death. No, maybe somebody I love has died. Lord, have Read More