A blog about travel, culture and finding joy in the journey!

Returning to my home country briefly has been an interesting experience. I can’t tell you how many times the excitement has hit me as I realized… “I can drink the water!” “I can brush my teeth with tap water!” “Whoa! There’s hot water in the sink! What a novelty!” (At “home” we only have hot water for one of our showers, none of the sinks). And “dryers are so cool! You can get more laundry done, faster, and you don’t have to depend on the weather to cooperate!” Every time I

Have you ever experienced Hamanitus? Thankfully, the remedy is fairly simple! Recently, as I’ve been reading through Esther, I was struck once again by Haman’s attitude. It’s easy to judge him, but unfortunately, we can often adopt a similar attitude. Esther 5:13 is a key verse. “Yet all this availeth me nothing, so long as I see Mordecai the Jew sitting at the king's gate.” He was caught in the “if only” trap. We don’t often think of ourselves as being similar to Haman, but

Growing up, food was always a fun part of fellowship. You loaded your plate up with sweet and savory snacks and found some friends to visit with while you ate. It was normal for me to put a handful of chips on my plate. I did not take one at a time. Usually the serving table was separate from the fellowship tables anyway. Well, when I was in the Philippines, I was offered some chips. Without thinking, I took a handful. My hosts were offended. “You’re selfish!” they accused. T