I say to Callum as we leave our weekly family dinner, “Say good bye to Pop,” and he hides his face in my leg. It’s too hard. A day later, his craft cat mask is ruined thanks to a brotherly dispute, and he agrees it’s time for it to go […]
Estimated reading time: 3 minutes
We are back in Australia physically, and trying to drag our heads and hearts here too. When we got into Adelaide airport, our Elliot started singing Australian folk songs and saying, ‘G’day mate’ to people. They think it’s weird; he’s reaching for the little he knows of Australia. Callum was […]
Estimated reading time: 4 minutes
8 years ago when I was studying biblical Hebrew, we read Psalm 46, famous for “Be still and know that I am God” but it was verse 2-3 that I remember so vividly: though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea, though its waters […]
Estimated reading time: 4 minutes
Once upon a time there was a little dragon called Elliot. He lived in a cave with his Mama Dragon, Dadda Dragon, and little brother Callum Dragon. Elliot was a golden dragon and Callum was a pink dragon. The family loved each other very much and most of the time […]
Estimated reading time: 5 minutes
Last night I wiped the tears and kissed the cheeks and hugged the skinny little body of my anxious three-year-old, who as he thinks about our trip to Australia, is constantly checking that Mama AND Dadda AND Elliot will be there too. “Please don’t leave me,” he sobbed. This is […]
Estimated reading time: 4 minutes
I learned a new word the other day: bi-dialectical. We’d been watching a show with Gillian Anderson in it, and wondering at why her British accent is so good. Turns out, because she lived between the US and the UK as a child, she has two accents in the same […]
Estimated reading time: 4 minutes
Today is 6 years since we arrived in Tanzania. We are often asked if we enjoy living here, but it’s not that simple. I find myself echoing the words of ‘For Good’ from the musical Wicked: Like a comet pulled from orbit As it passes a sun Like a stream […]
Estimated reading time: 4 minutes