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Back to Where it all Began

Picture this... A 14 year old girl from Oregon, smart but insecure. Likable enough, but too reserved to really be cool. Later voted 'Most Likely to Succeed' A 15 year old boy from Ohio who would choose getting a laugh over getting an A any day of the week. Later voted 'Class Clown'.  That was us, proving that opposites do attract, and that high-school sweet-hearts can last! And it all went down in Kenya, back in the dark ages of 1991-1995, when thank goodness we didn't have social media to document all our shenanigans! We left Kenya when we graduated high school, certain that we would never be back.  After we married in 1998, life has taken us all over: a year in Oregon, seven in Ohio, then a few in Washington state. Off to Malawi, then Kenya, then North Carolina and back to Ohio. In our 25+ years of marriage, we've moved too many times to recall. And can I tell you a secret? One that really exposes my crazy??? I love moving.  For real! It's messy and exhaus

Still finding faith in the same battle-7 years later

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I started this blog decades ago (!) when we were first headed to Africa with our 2 young children. I anticipated adventures that I would enjoy sharing, and indeed we had all sorts of adventures! We spent 3.5 years in Lilongwe and added 2 kids to our crew. Then we all spent another 5 years in Nairobi, Kenya where we had more adventures--both the good and the hard kind. Our beautiful, adventurous young teen Anya was living her best life there. Our tender reed of a son, Ethan, was not. The demands of school and the loss of friend after friend to mission-life transition almost broke him. Silly little 1st grade Isaac and salty but loving pre-school Omara just went with the flow. And we made the heart-breaking decision to take a leave-of-absence from Kenya. That leave-of-absence turned into resignation as it became clearer that God was directing us to stay in the US to support Ethan. Let me be clear--it was one of the most painful things we have ever done. You can read more about it here  a

Grass is grass, no matter what side of the fence it's on

So I discovered I still had some lurking 'premeditated resentments,' and I didn't even realize it until it was too late! I assumed that setting up house would be easier in America than it had been in Kenya. I assumed that emails telling me to pay my bill would pay my bill if I obeyed and clicked HERE. I assumed that hot water heaters were electric. I assumed that $80 in kooky-sounding flours would allow me to bake again, gluten-free. Instead, we discovered the sellers had just cut the hoses close to the tap when they couldn't get the old washing machine tubes off. At midnight, after a week of VBS, Chad said, "Let me hook the washer up real quick for you." We all know those are famous last words! The twist of a wrench, the snap of metal, the spray of hot water, and Chad's calm voice calling out, "Miriam...we're doing this again!" And the saddest part was, I knew exactly what he meant. I gathered up the same towels, which I had wash

Water falls on the just and the unjust...

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Just as I said  last week , Tuesday turned into Wednesday. I LOVE it when things are predictable! At 10am, most wonderful friends showed up at the church, and we drove up with a 17-ft Uhaul. By 11:30 we were all loaded up with no place to go. Closing wasn't until 2pm. But God. God is an expert at blessing with most unexpected blessings, and the old owner of the new house texted our agent and said, 'go ahead and move in whenever you want, as long as you're sure you're actually buying the house at 2pm.' As long as I'm sure????? Wild horses from the hills of Yakima couldn't keep me from signing those papers at 2:00!!!!! Pshaw!!! So we drove over to the house, and everything we owned (minus a few boxes at our friends' where we had been living) was unloaded and put in the right rooms by 1:30pm! God knew my heart's desire was to sleep there that night, and He made it possible.  We went to our signing all sweaty and nasty--figured they wa

All ready but not yet

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Today is Tuesday. And in the wonderful way of the world, that means tomorrow is Wednesday. And Wednesday is when we close and move into our new-to-us house! I'm just a tad excited!!! I've spent the last few weeks trying to keep myself sane with Internet sales, Craig's List, and my new bff, Ikea. And when I wasn't browsing possible purchases, I was getting my nesting-needs out by helping our friends-and-hosts organize their cupboards and sun-room and garage. Anya joined in and she emptied out an old shed to turn it into a play-house, and we built new patio stairs with reclaimed wood and a pallet we found on the side of the road. I always swore I'd be more crafty if only I had a Home Depot, so now I get to try and live up to my ideal self! The storage area of the church now contains 2 couches, 4 beds, mattresses, towels, bedding, boxes of books and baking dishes. Two tables, 12 chairs, and winter clothes. Boxes of donated things I haven't even looked through

Home...mostly.

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Greetings from Ohio! We were able to stay in the Raleigh mission house for as long as we needed it, and I had planned to stay for several more weeks. I reasoned it would be easier to revel in established relationships and familiar activities for a little longer, rather than jumping into new ones before we had our own space to move into. But I underestimated a few things... One: my kids are far too experienced with transition. After a rough, emotionally charged few days where I was bewildered at every one's foul moods, Isaac, at age 8, eloquently explained, "Mom, I don't ever want to leave Raleigh. But since I know we have to, I just want to go now!" Two: there is no such thing as pacing yourself with packing and cleaning when the adult:kid ratio is 1:3. It's all or nothing. I started slowly packing, and the kids immediately reacted to things 'disappearing'. And don't even get me started about cleaning. Any parent knows it takes minutes for kids

Finite Disappointment

I read another great quote this morning, this one from Martin Luther King Jr. " We must accept finite disappointment, but never lose infinite hope." I don't even know how to characterize this past week. Some new friends invited us to go with them to their beach house for a few days. We had just been praying we'd get a chance to take the kids to the ocean once more, but it didn't look like it was going to happen. Then God blessed us through His people. We were so excited! Then we got a call from Omara's doctor. She'd been complaining of abdominal pain over the past year but lately it had been increasing. I took her in to see a doctor, expecting a minor intestinal issue thanks to Africa, but quickly discovered she had only gained 1 pound in the past year. At 6 1/2 years old, 35 lbs is a bit...little bitty. So we drew some labs (at my insistence...but who is keeping track!). Those labs came back positive for Celiac Disease, an autoimmune disease that lea