We knew leaving would be hard this time, and packing up for 2.5 years is such a pain that the only words that adequately describe it are not in the vocabulary of this holy missionary, so I was forced to grunt often. Packing is hard because you have to make choices: watching Katie try not to cry because she found one of her drawings in the trash was just a rough thing.
It got worse when JT...
We found out we had won our category several days before the live show. The alleged purpose of this was to give us time to work on our acceptance speech in front of an international audience estimated to be over ten million. The real purpose was that someone had informed CNN that my flop sweat was valuable, and giving advance notice would allow them to collect several additional buckets of it.
I’ve had the thought for years that I should drop...
I was on my way to Jared’s funeral who had fought leukemia bravely for several years when we got the call: CNN wanted us to fly over to Kenya to film a segment for a show. It was Wednesday, and they wanted me to leave on Monday. Nancy was going to a convention for foreign language teachers, and so we had to scramble to get coverage for the kids. I would leave Monday and get back Friday.
I flew out on...
We have BABOONS on our front steps in Kenya, but what REALLY makes an impression on Ben and Kate are, I kid you not, squirrels. Whenever they see a squirrel, they yell as loudly as you might if you saw a baboon. If we see EIGHT squirrels, the volume doesn’t diminish, which can make for interesting car rides.
The other part that makes driving memorable with the twins is that we can eat a meal at McDonalds, but as we leave,...
We came back in the middle of July on a Wednesday and got to attend a convention in a beautiful resort starting on Thursday. The first night, we got to eat in the nicest restaurant I’ve ever eaten in. The problem was that we were so jet lagged, I would have drowned if they had served soup. So, I’m sure I made another GREAT impression.
After a few days in Dallas, we drove to Chicago to celebrate Nancy’s father’s 85th birthday....
The twins turned six and graduated from kindergarten, so there were all sorts of celebrations and excitement. Truthfully, when you have six year old twins, there is ALWAYS excitement, but this was scheduled excitement, which means you could fool yourself into thinking you could prepare for it. One of their teachers made them birthday hats:
We have almost completed three more centers. We have a new guy building them who is a force of nature, and his enthusiasm has rekindled the...
Continue ReadingEvery term I get to do a chapel for the 1st-6th graders aka the Titchies. I am not a pastor, but I believe the term that might be used for them would be `Tough Crowd.’ No one can tune you out faster than a little kid can.
I was sitting in the back of the room, trying to gather my thoughts, when the principal got up to make some announcements before I spoke. The first announcement got my attention: `Boys are...
In the end, the plague touched us all…
These are called Nairobi Eyes; they are an insect that has covered everything in our area lately. The problem with them is not that they bite, but when you squish them, they secrete a chemical that causes really nasty burns on the skin. If one drops on you at night, you swat at it, and it can really leave a mark:
JT with a nasty scar on his neck
They are starting to go away,...
