2020

Hello faithful readers! It's been a minute... but I couldn't pass up sharing on #GivingTuesday. Giving is something I feel fiercely passionate about! After we've spent 18 billion dollars on Cyber Monday and Black Friday and Small Business Saturday, it's time to give to those who can't. This year, for Lent, God called me to donate $40 to 40 different ministries for the 40 days of Lent. It was an act of faith. Randy and I were missionaries in Baja California at the time, relying on donations for our own livelihoods, so giving $1,600 was more than a widow's mite. I made 39 donations (and I have the thanks-for-giving-here's-your-free-address-labels to prove it!). After moving to Ohio this summer and settling into a new neighborhood, God brought #40 into my life. Number 40 is included in this list, and it is one that I have not only given my money but also my time to, each and every week for the past two months. Today on #GivingTuesday, I challenge you t...

I didn't want Randy to be disappointed by not going to Lincoln, to visit his brother's birthplace, but as soon as he saw how close we were to the world's largest ball of twine, he quickly decided we should head south and see that instead. No sooner had we crossed the border into Kansas than we saw a sign for the Center of the United States. What???! We had already been to the Center... in South Dakota! Obviously we took the turn off and there it was -- a gorgeous little rest stop, with a tiny little chapel, marking the geologic center of the lower 48 states. This had been the center up until 1959 when Alaska and Hawaii were admitted into the U.S., and Kansas was proud of it! A short ways down the road from the Center, we came to the world's largest ball of twine. Call it cheesy if you want, but if you can't get excited about Americana and a tradition that brought a town together then you are going to miss out on so much fun! Van's favorite part of...

Of all the states we were planning to travel to in our 4 months of wandering, South Dakota was the only one I had never been to. So obviously I was most excited about this one! I had always wanted to see Mt Rushmore, and even though I've heard people say it is disappointing, I didn't care. It was still tops on my bucket list! After visiting Devil's Tower, Wyoming, we once again started heading east, making the short drive to South Dakota. We stopped at the rest stop/visitor's center on the border of the two states and asked for a recommendation of an RV park. The woman suggested we go to Wyatt's Hideaway in her hometown of Belle Fourche (pronounced "bell foosh"). We had already been to Belle Fourche -- it was the geologic center of the United States that we had passed through earlier in the day -- but we were all about taking recommendations from locals, so back to the center we went! And we were so glad we did. The plan had only been to spend o...

Randy and I got up early one morning, leaving Van in bed at Robert and Suzanne's house, and went into the city of Boise. We met up with some former employee's of Randy's and delighted in catching up with them over breakfast. It was exciting to see them making Boise their home -- finding a sense of place where they could become who they were created to be. When they had to head in to work, Randy and I walked downtown Boise, checking out the courthouse, the Basque district, local coffee shops and more. It was fun to be a tourist again and was the momentum we needed for the next leg of our adventure. Since we'd picked him up, Van regularly asked if we were going to see Niagra Falls. And each time we reminded him that Niagra Falls was on the complete other side of the United States, and that while we were going pretty far east, we weren't going that far. We'd been together for 3 weeks by now, and Van wasn't giving up. Randy and I were starting to wish we...

Way back in February -- Valentine's Day and the first day of Lent, to be exact, I took on the challenge of giving $40 to 40 different organizations over the course of the 40 days of Lent. 40-40-40 . Shortly after starting that challenge, my grandmother died unexpectedly, knocking me off course for a few weeks. Committed to seeing the challenge through, however, I decided to keep my eyes and ears and heart open while undertaking the Great American Road Trip with my husband as we transition from Mexico to Ohio. What I discovered on that journey was a great big world that is both beautiful and in need, and it is full of beautiful people who want to help. The problem is, sometimes our helping hurts . While getting to know my high school friend Jim's wife over dinner one night in Sherwood, Oregon, Mel shared with me about an organization called "Days for Girls." Days for Girls was started when a woman named Celeste inquired about what girls in India do when they ar...

Neither Randy nor I have spent much time in Colorado, so when we started looking at the map, we were overwhelmed by how much there was to do. From National Parks to state parks to monuments and museums, it seemed like we could spend a month here and not even begin to see all that Colorado has to offer. Not to mention the sheer beauty of just driving down the highway, passing one mountain range after another. And yet, what we really wanted to do was go to church in Parker with a group of people who had come to San Felipe last October on a mission trip. We made so many incredible friends while in Mexico and we were anxious to see some of them. To reminisce about what an amazing place Sonshine Hacienda is, and to pray together about what God is doing next. So we made a beeline from Albuquerque to Denver, stopping southwest of the city to go to Crossroads Community Church on Sunday morning. The church has 4 services—so a ton of people go here—yet while standing in...