Well, our voyage from Niger to Oklahoma was… not boring. Here are the highlights; there are several. The context of this story begins with me having been sick the previous several days. At around 1 am, our taxi friend dropped us off at the airport. At around 1:10 am, I found myself in a losing discussion with a very kind…read more →
As I write this, we are anticipating getting on a plane and returning to Oklahoma for the summer. We submitted our COVID tests and are praying for negative results. We look forward to being in the States under fewer restrictions, and I am planning on visiting supporters whom I wasn’t able to visit last year. Mikey and I will be…read more →
Well, we made it to Easter Break. That’s what Spring Break is called when you live within a Christian community where people don’t necessarily equate March to spring. It’s the middle of hot season in Niger, and many expatriates hail from locales that are currently in the swing of fall. So, we are in Easter Break. Of course, that doesn’t…read more →
The Christmas story is found in the New Testament in two gospels, and these passages are full of spiritual and historical insight. One historical aspect that is often discussed, especially among skeptics, is the timing of the census in Luke. Here are two rather brief articles that might be of interest to some of you: https://www.biblicalarchaeology.org/daily/people-cultures-in-the-bible/jesus-historical-jesus/when-was-jesus-born-bc-or-ad/ and https://www.biola.edu/blogs/biola-magazine/2014/did-luke-mess-up-on-the-timing-of-the-christmas-st. This year,…read more →
This holiday season, of course, has been rather strange. But odd world events notwithstanding, Mikey and I remain committed to eating. So, I have been baking and cooking and seeking out new recipes. Did you know that thyme and oregano are very similar? I made the requisite green bean casserole for Thanksgiving. I also made Jeremy’s famous blueberry cheesecake pie,…read more →
When we arrived in Oklahoma during the middle of the summer, the results for our COVID test took about five days. With that in mind and in order to receive results within the correct timeframe for acceptability by authorities in Niger, Mikey and I were tested six days before our scheduled departure. That was a Wednesday, and in a cruel,…read more →
It feels like we’re living in a tumultuous time. The globe is grappling with an epidemic, violence seems to be commonplace, and our river in the desert here is threatening to flood. However, I’ve also seen it pointed out that current human existence is as peaceful and healthy as it has ever been. I suppose that makes sense; we’re probably…read more →
Mikey has been asking for a pet turtle. Sometimes he asks for a dog, but usually it’s a turtle. It’s a little strange. Every time he asks me, my childhood inundates me with multitudinous memories of my dad giving me a single-breathed, crazy-eyed lecture that went something like this: “No-you-can’t-have-a-pet-because-you-won’t-do-anything-and-I-wil-be-the-one-stuck-taking-care-of-it.” It seems to be an unavoidable destiny that children turn…read more →
The Christmas story in Luke tells the events of two miraculous births. The pregnancy of Elizabeth, John the Baptist’s mother, receives quite a bit of attention. Certain details surrounding Elizabeth caught my attention several years ago, and every Christmas season brings them back to my memory. Luke 1:6 declares that both Elizabeth and Zechariah were blameless in God’s sight. On…read more →
Happy Christmas I was attending a holiday event, and one of the speakers, who is not American, wished everybody season’s greetings, saying: “Happy Christmas.” It sparked in my mind something I’ve often wondered. Why does no one, in America, use happy in reference to Christmas? Maybe merry is the superlative to happy. Maybe merry is a subliminal reference to Mary….read more →
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