Every year I have this weird block when it comes to my first post. Like maybe I’m supposed to be coming up with some great inspiring saga to set us all aglow with renewed spiritual fervor. But I have no fantastic stories, no slideshow worthy presentation. So maybe it’s better to just give you what…
Starry Reflection
The oval window is restrictive. Annoyingly so. I crane my neck this way and that, trying to get a better view and mainly just succeed in hitting my forehead against the glass which is surprisingly closer than I thought, even though I’ve flown on probably hundreds of airplanes. I hope the individual behind me is…
Sorry, I Can’t Sing That One
When you’re missionaries or church planters or whatever you want to call people in that sort of ministry, you sometimes (often….) have some fairly small meetings. It’s your family and a few others and so from a tender age, you instruct your children to make sure they belt out the hymns. Actual singing ability is…
That Feeling of Smallness
Thursday night I was getting ready for bed when David came in from several visits. “Penelope!!” he whispered lest he rouse little miss G from her light slumber. I heard his excitement but could little guess what the next words would be. “Doña I.... was saved last night during meeting.” “What?!” I replied, incredulous and…
The One Room School House
and a few other points of Interest from the Alves Home Gone are the days of my coveted slow farmhouse breakfast. I distractedly shovel some cheerios and blueberries toward the teething baby who throws most of them to the floor while banging her tray for more. My mind is on Spanish adjectives and math facts…
Hi I’m 30, plus Life Update
My desk is a mess. It's covered in cut out foam letters and stencils and scraps. There's a stack of books and an even huger one behind me. File folders and spreadsheets. Leaning against the wall is a newly framed Rand McNally Map of the World, Classic Edition. I'm wondering how this is all going…
Diffusion
It was just a little glass triangle. The late morning sun filtered through the large schoolroom window and we watched, mesmerized, as our teacher carefully placed a prism in the stream of light. A rainbow leapt from the glass, dancing, elusive, beautiful, the white light diffused into all our favorite colors. Mystery and wonder. There…
Bye Lockdown
We walked together, warding off dogs and mosquitos, stacks of calendars in hand. “Here, Mommy, I’ll do this house....buenaaasss!!......mommy, she just went in and ignored me.” She looked at me dejectedly and with disappointment put the calendar back on her stack. I called again, this time the mother came to the door. “What is it?”…
The Crowned Goddess
I think I’ve started this blog post no less than five times. It’s a new year, but it feels wrong to cheerfully throw virtual confetti in your face while gleefully shouting “happy new year” to a world who probably doesn’t feel too happy in a year that doesn’t feel too new. That’s why January is…
We Won’t Remember
If you have followed my blog for any length of time, you’ll have quickly noticed a perhaps unintentional yet recurring theme: hope and joy despite grief and pain. More than once, I have heard believers critical of others for being open about their emotional difficulties, citing supposed bitterness or perhaps lack of spiritual toughness (“you…
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