Fall without the leaves

November 28, 2017

It’s weird to be in a place where the months and seasons move without any noticeable change. We don’t really even have a distinct rainy season here in our town, so it’s just always between 80-95 F with a mix of rain and wind on occasion. The consistent, unchanging temperature makes […]

Collection 1

September 12, 2017

Lately, there seems to be not enough time in the days to try to blog. We just got fiber internet, which will probably help make it possible to upload photos instead of plugging and unplugging the USB drive to reset the internet when it gets overheated. And truthfully, there’s just not enough energy to write […]

Enjoying life at home

June 11, 2017

Fasting month here is a whole change of pace for us. It’s quiet most of the day, but crazy busy after dark. Early on an toward the end there are plenty of fireworks too. Some places are open to eat, but mostly, we don’t get to eat out much during this month. Every bit of […]

Trip #1

May 1, 2017

It was weird to not have a small person clinging to me or asking me for something every few minutes, but Payton and I agreed that my first trip to the jungle should be toddler-free. I’m so glad it was. It gave me the ability to focus and observe rather than chase and manage Finn. […]

A Family Week

April 25, 2016

My family braved the double digit flights hours, transits in strange lands, and airplane food to come and see us for a week. To me this was an unbelievable feat since my dad is always balancing preaching and running the safe and lock shops, which makes for very little down time. But they made it, and […]

A Day Like Today

April 20, 2016

Sometimes you have days like this: You start losing the 3 week battle with the tiny ants and are mostly just glad they’re not crawling on your skin at the moment, so you let them have at the puddle of sweet tea on the counter. This also means you’ve spent considerable time hiding food on top […]

Buffalo and Ducks…and other suprises

March 20, 2016

Sometimes when a day starts, you never quite know what it will hold. Like when you are going to a Chinese New Year something-or-other with friends (sometimes things get lost in translation) and you think it will be a big red dragon parade and instead you get rain, a variety of dragons, loud drums, a […]

Learning Language is like…

March 5, 2016

by Payton Downing There’s two things I’m new at: language learning and beginning a retirement account. Funny enough, these two things have some striking parallels that are worth musing over for a moment: Amusement One: Both need consistent inflow for anything substantial to happen. I’m sure your somewhat familiar with the retirement graph that shows a line that progressively get’s steeper and steeper as years […]

A Kettle in Singapore

October 13, 2015

Just over a week ago we experienced was a flurry of travel, although I wish it had been a real Michigan snow flurry after we encountered the sweat-inducing temperatures of Singapore. Several weeks ago God began our journey toward Singapore. Finn had an infection, a UTI to be precise. It involved lots of tests. Since then I’ve […]

Whatsa dasawisma? Part II

September 12, 2015

Just when you think you’ve got a grip on things, something slaps you in the face and reminds you that you, in fact, still have a long way to go. You can either take it in stride and keep moving or wallow in your own pool of pity, wondering why you weren’t as smart as you had assumed. If […]