I’m standing in the heart of the city, trains whirring past. Dogs barking. A hundred languages mingle in the chilled, pre-spring air. I’m in the middle of a vibrant, metropolitan city but my heart is a million miles away. It roams far green fields, sits on rock walls and watches the fog roll in from the ocean. It’s in a …
Someone once said that Paris is a woman, London is a man, and New York City is a transvestite. Granted, I haven’t been to New York outside the airport, but after my visits to Paris and London, I must say I find that statement to be shockingly true. It always amazes – and delights – me how each major European …
I see her sitting there everyday. Rain, shine, snow, wind, she’s there. Her skin is dark, weathered, worn. Wisps of black-grey hair peek out from underneath her near thread-bare scarf, her long skirts gathered around her legs as she sits criss cross on the sidewalk under the tree. That big tree that leafs large in the summer, rains gold in …
Having grown up a desert rat in central and southern Arizona, skiing was always somewhat of a foreign concept to me. It was something either rich people did, or college kids on winter break. Certainly not an option for a girl like me: not an athletic bone in her body who lived hours away from any possibility of snow. Then …
I stand at the sink, sleeves rolled, heart heavy. I dunk the plate into the bowl of as-hot-as-I-can-stand-it soapy water because the pipes have been backed up since Wednesday and the plumber doesn’t come until Monday but I need to do something. The suds swirl and cover the dish and I scrub and I pray. Please, God. The liar whispers, …
Bombs exploding around the world. Children gunned down in their schools and classrooms. The “Land of the Free” and “Home of the Brave” ripped apart once again by racial tensions and ethnic divides. The world is going to hell in a hand basket and it flies in the face of what we see and hear during this Christmas season. We …
Lights twinkle white and rainbow in windows, on trees, stores and street lights, and one words seems to be on everyone’s lips. We sing songs about it, pose our kids with cardboard letters of it, and plaster smiles on our faces as we spread Christmas cheer near and far. JOY Yet, maybe it all feels lost on you this year? …
Have you ever felt like even though you’re doing all the right things, God seems glaringly absent in your daily life? Does it seem no matter how hard you work, things just don’t seem to get better and the outlook seems bleak? I have so been there, friend. I want to encourage you, though, that God is present and He …
What comes to mind when you think of the Christmas season? Joy? Reflection? Family? Stress? Shopping? Pressure? Chaos? Is it over yet? For those of us in the western world, Christmas seems to bring quite the hodgepodge of emotions, and conjure a myriad of thoughts and expectations. Particularly in the Pintrest-Crazy Internet Land, it can be easy to succumb to …
We get a lot of comments from people about how lucky we are to live where we do, how exotic our lives must be, and one question we get asked all.the.time: What’s it like living in a foreign country?? Let me tell you a story… Today, I needed to run some errands. I needed a winter coat – like, a …