A New Kind of Strange

January 12, 2016

Living in a new culture and climate is all about adjustment, flexing and bending with the current. There’s the life-changing adjustments that happen every once in a long while, but mostly life is made up of subtle, minuscule changes over time. It’s fun to look back and see what has become normal after 9 months. For […]

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 I

September 9, 2015

It took me the better part of 4 months to actually hear the word(s) “dasa wisma.” The fact that it is also shortened to “da’wis,” didn’t help. But seeing as how the word had definitley floated around in countless neighbourhood conversations, I can’t believe it never even registered at all (more on this later)! This got […]

Weighing In

August 22, 2015

So, I’m not going to write a birth story since I’d rather not revisit the insanity of it all. I’ll just say that it was the hardest thing I’ve ever done, and I wish that my water hadn’t broken early. I definitely got a taste of the curse. Only by the grace of God and […]

Absorption – Soaking Up a New Language

May 9, 2015

A is for Absorption! So how do we get these old brains of ours to learn new tricks? By old, I’m mostly referring to the language part of our brains that hasn’t had new work for quite a few years now! The human brain is amazing, but we’ve had to shake it up a bit to get it going! Hopefully, […]

Not So Different

April 3, 2015

Welcome to our new surroundings! We’re just beginning to find our way around our neighborhood as well as explore the city nearby. We’re not really allowed to drive yet because the traffic here takes some getting used to. For now we’re content walking and riding the little public transportation vans! They cost only about $0.25 […]

Glossy or Matte?

March 9, 2015

After a good, long week in Colorado and a 10 hour drive ahead of us, Payton and I had a chance to let our thoughts settle and take shape. A lot had happened in a week as we had the chance to see old friends and faces through Missouri, Kansas, and Colorado. On our way from Wichita to […]

What should I say?

January 2, 2015

So, I haven’t blogged for a while. It’s not because I haven’t had time. It’s not because I didn’t have anything to say. It’s not because there’s been nothing going on. It’s because I’ve had no clue how to put it all into words. But, I believe with all of my heart that God wants […]

California, land of rest and sweat

October 15, 2014

Rest. This is the first time since we started training a few years ago that my brain has been able to rest. There’s extra space or something. Maybe it’s the 45 minute drive to get to a good grocery store. Maybe it’s the quiet mornings without the frantic hustle and bustle to make breakfast and […]

Language and Violin

October 8, 2014

I can’t believe that last month marked 5 years since we got married. God has been good to us! We were in Michigan at the time working on adoption stuff, but we did give each other some pretty neat presents. Payton worked with a friend of ours who is a jeweler to make me a […]