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…

Oleander Avenue

There are solitary, soul-feeding lanes, unmarked and unpaved we all must wander down. They are places of hidden beauty and comfort where one is safe to grieve, to forget awhile, to grow and learn. Oleander and Bismarck Palm That’s when I go for a walk down Oleander Avenue. A place where the Creator and I…

The Story of Quinta Querit

We sat on our camp chairs and looked around at the beginnings of our new life. It was just a single story ranch, surrounded by flowering pink maculí trees, mangos and towering melina, sandy soil and beautiful silence. A small enclosure held a few hens. Several sheep grazed in the grass behind us. The day was…