• Burundian bikers

    Burundian bikers

    I always told Jonah he should shoot a documentary on the cyclists that transport bananas, charcoal, people, animals and so much more up and down these hills… Well–someone else did. This documentary give some pretty good insight to what life is like here for so many people who live around us.

  • And there they go…

    And there they go…

    The day two of our kids were supposed to be flying to Kenya to return to school we were still unsure what would happen. Kenya was in the midst of a COVID spike that caused increased restrictions several weeks earlier. We are incredibly grateful that they even got home for this break since the day…

  • Teza Trails

    Teza Trails

    The day before the kids flew back to RVA we had the chance as a family to do a great run/walk/hike up in the tea fields of Burundi. It’s a beautiful area, with incredibly lush green rolling hills at high elevation. Similar to an image you’d think of when you think of tea fields in…

  • Kid’s Break – covid-style

    Kid’s Break – covid-style

    Normally when the kids come home from Kenya we always make a habit of going away a bit as a family. Someone wiser than me whose kids went through RVA years ago told me they always made a habit of getting away as a family every time the kids come back, no matter what. So…

  • The in-between time

    The in-between time

    Today is the Saturday between Good Friday and Easter Sunday. Between death and resurrection. Between defeat and victory. Every year this day resonates with me a bit more. I think perhaps more and more it feels like so much of this life is that in-between time. The already-but-not-yet time. Yes, this day is about waiting…

  • Betrayal – take Two

    Betrayal – take Two

    One year ago, we were sitting here in this same place. The same physical space, our home here in Kibuye. The same chronological space, most of the way through holy week. Mentally, emotionally – it’s not the same. Still different – but a different different than a year ago. Last week I was moving things…

  • Six Years.

    Six Years.

    Six years ago today our family landed in Bujumbura for the first time. We packed up our 13 bags in Edmonton, and about a day and a half later walked down to the stairs onto the tarmac at the Bujumbura airport on what i remember as a hot, humid, Sunday evening. Our first month was…

  • Matea is 17

    Matea is 17

    Seriously – our second child is 17! If I didn’t know us – I’d think we were old. But…I do….and we’re not. So let’s move on. She’s had some eventful birthdays – birthdays in warm places and cold places. Birthday’s at home and traveling. But this is now the third year she’s celebrated her birthday…

  • Three Hundred and Sixty-five Days Later

    Three Hundred and Sixty-five Days Later

    or Our SD is now one-year PT One year ago today, we had a violent attack inside our house. A word like ‘anniversary’ doesn’t quite fit, as it feels like it has an underlying sense of celebration. But today is a marker in time no matter how it’s referred to, and I can’t think of…

  • What I’m giving up for lent

    What I’m giving up for lent

    Yesterday was the day many traditions in the Christian faith refer to as Ash Wednesday. It’s the beginning of the period of Lent leads up to Easter. (Also the day before Shrove Thursday – or “Pancakes-For-Supper-Day” as it’s also known) It’s called Ash Wednesday because in many churches there is a service in which ashes…

  • yup – that’s what we did

    yup – that’s what we did

    It feels like there are frequently times in our lives here where we have to stop and almost double-check if something just happened There is the more surreal: “Did we just drive across the country during a military coup d’état and we didn’t know it?” There is the bizarre: “Did someone just knock on our…

  • Signs of COVID

    Signs of COVID

    For almost a year various health agencies around the world have struggled to communicate to the public at large, what needs to be done to help reduce the spread of this virus. Of course, this task has been made harder by individuals and groups who for reasons incomprehensible to me, seem to ignore, minimize, or…

  • Team blog updates

    if you don’t regularly read our team blog – — you should. There’s a couple recent posts I wanted to point to Our friend/neighbor/teammate Jess just wrote on the harsh realities of sending our kids to school. There are several sentences that I feel reflect my thoughts so much they could have been written by…

  • Now for something different

    Now for something different

    For a LOT of years now I’ve been doing a lot of thinking, and reading, and writing on one topic. Early mornings before others get up is usually when I’m sitting at my desk, wrestling with one idea: CONTENTMENT. But I’ve never shared it anywhere. I’d like to change that now. Starting this Thursday I’ll…

  • Joy?

    Joy?

    To THIS world? The other day I was listening to something Scotty Smith said – about the ‘weary world rejoicing” in O Holy Night. There is some real truth in there, particularly relevant for many of us this Christmas particularly. The last year feels like it has been so full of sorrow, disappointment, and loss…

  • what it takes to get home

    what it takes to get home

    Getting our family from Edmonton to rural Burundi is not exactly a straight forward nor a simple task. Really, getting here from most places is not easy, even from most places in Africa. Our trip was 15,912 km of flying over 9 time zones, several transfers, at various airports in multiple countries. When we returned…

  • anxious

    anxious

    We are anxious to get back to Burundi. We are feeling anxious about getting back to Burundi. There are two distinct implications of that word. One feels like an anticipatory excitement. “I’m so anxious for you to meet our new baby”. The other feels like dread that has been dragged from an expected future into…

  • Family Hikes in the Canadian Rockies.

    Family Hikes in the Canadian Rockies.

    So this is quite a bit late on account of what our month or so has looked like. However, we had such a great family getaway – and it was so beautiful that I have to share some of these pictures. Since it was now almost two months ago.. I don’t have a lot to…

  • Thanksgiving

    Thanksgiving

    I am sitting in my mom’s hospital room where she has been sitting up, eating, getting out of bed, having a conversation with me, and was able to walk (with assistance) down the hall. About a week ago she could do none of those things. About a week before that the doctor told us as…

  • our kids do stuff….

    our kids do stuff….

    The blog has been quiet as of late, as life kind of sideswiped us there for a few weeks (oh 2020, you’re the gift that just keeps on giving). I’ll update that soon, but in the meantime… I have shared my daughter and fake daughter’s blog – BOARDING PASSES & BOOK BAGS here before but…

  • seven months on

    seven months on

    A lot can happen in seven months. On February 22 the BBC reported that Australia was burning, Megan and Henry (Harry??) were leaving, and the following was written about a strange new virus that seemed to be spreading: Outside China 1,152 cases of the virus have been confirmed in 26 countries with eight deaths, including…

  • Where they’re from…

    Where they’re from…

    My daughter and my fake daughter just posted some poems on their blog that they wrote for school on the topic “Where I”m From.” As Third Culture Kids, the answers are complex and layered, and they both do a beautiful job of allowing us who grew up differently, an understanding of what their life experience…

  • Nine!

    Nine!

    Well, our youngest turned nine. This birthday marks just the second time she’s been in Canada on the day of her birth. We’ve been in Canada for over 4 months now, meaning this is the second-longest length of time (and 3rd time ever) that little A has been here. Being born in France, and having…

  • 14

    14

    So Micah turned 14 yesterday. We were all together. We were in one place. We were not currently packing or unpacking bags. We weren’t getting on a plane, didn’t just get off one, or have immediate plans to get on one. That in itself sets this birthday for him apart from quite a few that…

  • La Vie en Noir

    La Vie en Noir

    {PART OF THE MEA CULPA SERIES OF POSTS _ where I post things I should have written a long time ago… yeah…that’s on me. Apparently I reposted this in Dec 2019 during my MEA CUPLA series…but this one was tagged 2011 so it showed up not as a new post.} {{{This is a post I…