We had pizza the other night, and I got to slice one of them. I was rather rudely mocked by my children because my slices weren’t equal in size. On another day, we were invited to a friend’s home for pizza. Jim was a commander of a nuclear sub; now he is helping to expand the mission hospital. As I looked at his unequal pieces, it occurred to me that I could have been a commander of a nuclear sub.
This...
Occasionally, people will ask me about working at Rift Valley Academy. How does someone who has never taken an education class manage to contribute anything? Is it hard to work in a small community where everyone knows your business? I respond by saying that teaching eighth grade English left a measurable benchmark that has yet to be equaled. During the diarrhea epidemic a few years ago, it WAS embarrassing to have people remark,”So it got you also; sorry.”
My job entails...
Nancy is out with a friend, and our cat throws up ON the Christmas tree. I immediately grab my phone and text her, because I know it will make her laugh. Later, I ponder something: the enemy meant that to depress us, but what it exposed was that after 27 years, my favorite thing in the world is making my wife laugh. It was meant for evil, but He used it for good.
Hard to write a holiday letter this year....
There is this unjust, grave misconception about me that MUST be cleared up.
Some people are under the impression that I can’t dance.
I believe that this started when I was in college, and I accepted an invitation to a fraternity party. Not being a detail person, I neglected to note that it was (a) a dance party and (b) sponsored by the African American fraternity. I ended up being the only white person there, but I had a blast and danced...
Nancy went to the States to help celebrate her father’s 90th birthday in July, and so it was the twins and I together for three weeks. There were no serious injuries, and while we missed her a lot, it was actually a lot of fun. When she came back, we had a trip to Masai Mara planned to see the migration. It was a lot of money, so we were grateful for a clear day. The bad news is that...
Continue Reading“The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field that a man found and hid. In his excitement he went and sold everything he had and bought that field.”
I don’t write a lot about Rift Valley Academy, the school where we work. RVA is a boarding school for missionary kids. It is American accredited, 106 years old, has 30 different passport countries represented on it, and is so remote that there are baboons on the campus. Nancy teaches...
They came after midnight. There were seven of them, and they attacked two of our guards. They snuck up behind the first guard and hit him so hard that he was knocked unconscious and was treated for a concussion. The second guard saw them and tried to fight them. They overpowered him and beat him until they broke his leg and then they tied up both guards.
Because other computer centers had been broken into, we had reinforced all the doors....
One of the most fun things I do on campus is providing music for the K-6th grade Skate Night every term. Although it seems like they would be content for three hours of Taylor Swift, it is an enjoyable challenge to program music that they might enjoy, or at least endure. Last week, I had a special handicap; I had lost my voice.
Although I so perfectly embody the form of a holy missionary, it might shock you to know that...
