Stories

For the most part, I am strong – but I am not afraid of crying. If you know me well – you know that. Somehow I keep it together when hearing stories, when sitting across from a wounded spirit in my office, when being in the midst of pain in Africa. In the middle of…

I was sitting at Hotel Rwanda just yesterday. Yes – the One. Sitting with Jen, Adria, and Helge before my flight out of the country. Sitting in the sun. Sitting in anticipation of what was to come. Sitting in thought of what came to pass. It’s been a long month – a good month. And…

I am humbled often. I need to be. He knows that. The most recent humility began last night in a country church in Hazel, Kentucky surrounded by 11 Wednesday night attendees. It ended by a recollection of 200 displaced, praying, weeping Congolese women on a concrete floor. Beneath a cross. Stones in hand….. and a…

Back Home. It grounds me. Where people simple are who they are. Where you go to Wal-mart for a mini high school reunion and instead of getting home late from being stuck in traffic – you run short on time because you have to catch up with all your relatives you see in town. Nothing…

I have come to realize my favorite thing about cooler weather. There are many. The slight bite in the air that causes you to hug yourself a little tighter. Scarfs. The inside warmth of a long run in a cool breeze. Cold nose-tips. The appreciation of how hot tea feels as you sip it slowly.…

Will I ever be normal? I wonder. I sit at this table across from three young families as I listen to them talk of old bills and new boats and bunko. I watch them. Leaving to change diapers and cutting up chicken strips. I wonder. Will I? I am planning the next trip over to…

I like walnuts in my blackberry salad. I like them a lot. I eat the same thing when I come here. Winter Blackberry Salad: greens, blackberries, goat cheese, and………walnuts. I sit here in this house supposedly built by Al Capone on a mountain made of nostalgia amidst the presence of peace – and my thoughts…

I am in the middle of this place of conviction in the midst of a village of community in the middle of this nest of surrender in the midst of these clouds of stillness. And I am still. I worshiped tonight in a chapel in a convent among women who have given their heart and…

Birthday Week. Wow, we have had a great one – and it’s still not over! Three more days (and a few more stories). Our team has been full of inspiration and marketing ideas and benefit planning and wheels turning and as for me?……Reflection. I find myself in that place a lot. This week – I…

I am at my keyboard, yet again, typing out stories and more stories. Stories of children with broken hearts and broken lives. Strangely, it is healing for me. Children forced on the front lines of a battle they do not wish to fight in a war they desperately wish to end. But it is not…