Living in a multicultural family leads to some funny moments. While John and I were both gone this weekend—a rare occurrence—Emma had to drive down and play chauffeur. Early Saturday morning, she took MC an hour away to a softball doubleheader. A few hours later, she and her boyfriend, who is first-generation Vietnamese, dropped JT off at a TKD demo, went back …
Circle of Friends?
My daughter started college this week. Last week was orientation. One day they gathered the 435 freshmen, arranged them in a circle, and drilled into them that this was their new “community.” A “diversity expert” asked them quite personal questions and they were to step inside the circle if the questions were true for them. Questions like, “Were you abused …
Naked Babies and Toothbrushes
I’m sitting here sobbing, having a hard time typing this. A friend of mine who is working as a missionary in Kazakhstan just sent pictures from a graduation ceremony from one of the orphanages she’s connected with. 26 kids she’s known since first grade graduated today from ninth grade. They’ll be sent to boarding schools all over the country, leave …
The Best Christmas Gift Ever
My oldest daughter graduates from high school next week. It’s hard to believe. I won’t repeat the old cliché that it feels like only yesterday we brought her home from the hospital, because it doesn’t. Not that they’ve been a hard eighteen ½ years—just that I’ve enjoyed living every one of them. It took us eight years to get pregnant …
What Good is Citizenship?
On Sunday, our church had a special moment to celebrate one member becoming a US citizen. He’s been in the country for many years as a permanent resident, but a few years ago he lost his livelihood when all non-citizens working for certain government agencies lost their jobs. He had to wade through all the background checks, fingerprinting, and paperwork …
Do You Have the Right Face?
A couple weeks ago we picked up a little girl, a second grader, to take to a kids’ program at our church. I had all four of mine with me, and we went to Wendy’s to eat. They laughed and chatted about all kinds of things. As we gathered up our trash, she asked my oldest, “Why are you different?” …