The Way Home

Mini Pumpkins and Not-Forever Houses

It was a great day when I discovered that Trader Joe’s sells small pumpkins for 69 cents. America and Germany are tied in their veneration of pumpkins. In Germany, I could go to the market and find five kinds of pumpkins suitable for making various types of soup. That’s pretty much what you do with…

September: News, Thanks, and Prayers

News and Dates: September 4: First day of school for Timmy at Seattle Christian School We’re Thankful For: New Beginnings, with two new jobs for Timmy (with the Air Force Reserve and at Seattle Christian School), a new house, a new neighborhood and new friendships. Old Friends, who have shown us remarkable hospitality, welcoming us to the…

Broken Bowl, Beautiful Bread

I knew what had happened before I saw it. The familiar crash, gravity precipitating a collision between ceramic tile and ceramic dish, and then a groan of disappointment from the dropper. Usually, to be honest, it’s me dropping stuff, but this time it was my daughter, a toddler who remarkably has broken only one mug in…

Calling, Passion and Tally Ho

We turn off the road toward the workshop, hearing only the faint clink of hammer on wood from across the field. Past a high fence advertising a “dangerous work site,” we pick our way through a forest of felled and sliced oak to where the ribcage of a boat perches under a roof without walls….

August: News, Thanks, and Prayers

News and Dates: August 9: Hosting Seattle Christian School Student Council for a backyard barbecue August 1-19: Timmy completing Air Force Reserve days at Joint Base Lewis-McCord August 20: Timmy starts work at Seattle Christian School! For those who didn’t read the last post, we have a house! We’re renting in the West Seattle neighborhood of Seattle, and…

Everything Beautiful

He has made everything beautiful in its time. Ecclesiastes 3:11 After the ceremony, we drift under the pavilion, searching for cold drinks and shade. I suspect this day isn’t terribly hot by midwestern standards, but I’ve been quite literally chilling in the mountains of Washington State for the ten days since our return to Germany, so…

July: News, Thanks, and Prayers

News and Dates: July 5-8: Kristi attending former roommate’s wedding in Minnesota Timmy is in the process of transferring his Air Force Reserve service to Joint Base Lewis McChord in Olympia, Washington. He’ll start sometime in July, and is excited to get connected with a new military community. We’re Thankful For: Smooth Travels from Germany to…

Goodbye, Town.

From our last night in Kandern, Germany. (With apologies to Margaret Wise Brown.) In the great green room There is a glowing world And a tiny spoon And a picture of kids, pointing up at the moon. There are two goldfish, and a bunny dish. And two paper stars, and a purple car. And…

Last Day Letter: Our Better Country

Ever since the student-teaching days, I’ve ended school with a letter. It’s something I remember loving in high school—the one time a teacher did it—these final written words that summed up a year. Now, I write as much for myself as for them, this summing-up providing my own version of closure. I started posting them…

June: News, Thanks, and Prayers

News and Dates: June 7-8: Kristi’s last day of classes June 11-14: Final Exams June 13: Timmy taking the National Clinical Mental Health Counselors Exam (NCMHCE), an important step to licensing as a clinical mental health counselor, as well as securing board certification in this profession. June 16: Graduation Day June 26: Flying home to Seattle! Curriculum for June: Postmodern literature,…