Unmet Expectations and Unfinished Stories

Today, I know for a fact my life is part of a story. And right now I’m in the middle of the conflict. The part of the story where the character is slipping, losing sight of their goals and even who they are, all because of some problem, or, in my case, some unmet expectations….

The Joy of the Lord

“You make the going out of the morning and the evening to shout for joy!” (Psalm 65:8b) I love watching the sunrise and sunset. When I read this verse, I nearly danced around my room. The sunrise and sunset are exclamations of joy! For those of you who have followed my activities via Facebook and…

Happy Days

Its somewhat ironic that by the time I found time to write this blog post, I’ve shed more tears in  a single day than I thought possible. After saying goodbye to my siblings this morning, I held it together until assembly at school. When we sang “Song of Hope” (Heaven Come Down), I lost it….

Say What?

As my two youngest siblings are making the trek from the U.S. to Tanzania (please envision me bouncing up and down right now…because even if I am really sitting at my desk at school, on the inside I am bouncing around like an over-excited puppy), my other brother and I catch up via Facebook messenger….

Living Like You Are Dying

This article by Ann Voskamp fits so well with  my theme for 2014 of “Life,” I could not NOT re-post at least portions of it (the second half is scheduled to be published on A Holy Experience tomorrow).  Some key thoughts (but you should really go read the whole thing HERE): If you knew how…

Living LIFE 2014: January

Already, January is almost over. What is that about? But I’m not complaining, because my two youngest siblings are coming to visit me at the end of this month! This afternoon, I was reflecting on my word for 2014: life. At that exact moment, I just happened to be sitting on the edge of a…

Real Life

Real life isn’t just a hashtag on a silly twitter post. It isn’t just fun and games and yolo all day long. Real life is smiles and tears. It is laughter and weeping. Real life is cool breezes and power outages. It is warm sunshine and freezing rain. Real life is hello and goodbye. It…

A Day in the Life…

In case anyone wondered what a “normal” day looks like for me here in Tanzania…here is a play-by-play from earlier this week. Wednesday, January 22, 2014 4:45 a.m. deee, duum, du… Just dance… deee, duum, du… Just dance… As Lady Gaga blares from my cell phone, I groggily roll over and double-check to make sure my second…

Punctures, Apples, and Puppy Dog Paws

Writing a blog post has been on my “list” for over a week now. But the last two weeks haven’t exactly been “normal.” On New Year’s day, I got blasted in the face by a volleyball propelled  from a football kick. My teammate sarcastically noted that with that kind of luck, 2014 was sure to…

Happy New Year!

I suppose since it’s January 1, I should write some sort of reflection of 2013. It has certainly been an eventful year. One year ago, I had just discovered where Tanzania was in Africa. Now I live here. Certainly, the move to Tanzania is the biggest thing that stands out about 2013. But what an…