I’ve been back from Guatemala for a few days, and I had forgotten how much trouble I have coping when I get home.  I have trouble concentrating.  I find myself being irritable about things that shouldn’t bother me.  I sit and stare at the wall, thinking about orphans.  And that’s me coping well after [...]

It’s hard to write something coherent on the last day of the mission trip.  My brain is full of images, thoughts, reflections, sadness, joy, and the list goes on.  There is much to say about the wonderful visits we had, and there is a great deal that God has taught each of us as [...]

Today held one of the moments I’d been looking forward to: seeing Christel again.  She’s one of my favorites, a sweet and smart little girl who I held on my first trip when she was just a sick baby.  Now she is healthy and has an infectious laughter, and you can’t help but smile [...]

This was our first full day of missions in Guatemala City, and it was a great day.  We started with a trip with Compassion International to visit Shawn and Wendy Wallace’s sponsored child and his family.  My sponsored child, Miguel, had a family emergency and was out of town.  Shawn and Wendy took groceries [...]

I’m leaving again for Guatemala on Thursday for a quick trip to continue the work our church and our brothers and sisters have started with some a bunch of strong, beautiful, brilliant orphans.  The weeks and days leading up to the trip are full of details, things like budget, schedule, emails, packing, and other [...]

My lament all through childhood was that it was unfair that my birthday was in January, and my brother’s birthday was in July.  He had birthday pool parties with ice cream cakes outside on the picnic table; my birthday parties were often canceled due to weather conditions.
The most memorable birthday I experienced involved one of [...]

29But he wanted to justify himself, so he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”
30In reply Jesus said: “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, when he fell into the hands of robbers. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went away, leaving him half dead. 31A priest happened to [...]

My parents were very intentional throughout my youth to create traditions for our family.  My brother and I enjoyed a variety of family traditions as we grew up, including german chocolate cake on Christmas Eve as a birthday cake for Jesus (Dad maintains that it’s Jesus’s favorite cake), communion on Christmas Eve after attending church, [...]

This little boy has been on my mind all day.  We met in Guatemala about 3 years ago, when he also met his parents.  Juan Pablo was an orphan, abandoned by his parents after he was burned in a home accident and his medical expenses became to great for his family to bear.  But [...]

I used to hate reading the book of Job.  It didn’t make much sense to me, and there was all this talking, talking, talking, and these 4 guys.  Then one day I read the entire book in one sitting while I was home sick with strep throat, probably because I was feeling especially Job-like and [...]