thoughts from the deep recesses

 Alhassan, one of the boys we sponsor - he was 8 in this picture - now he will be 11! A week from today Asia and I will be back in this beautiful place. The village of Banta. Sierra Leone. West Africa. My to-do list this week is quite long... lots of last minute shopping, laundry, organizing, packing. I am SO excited to be going back. I've shared with so many people about my heart for this place... that I am blessed to have children on the other side of the globe... a beloved family of lovely people who live out their days on this red earth. But some of you do not know the story. And so I offer it to you here. You can click HERE to get the whole back story to my love affair with this beautiful country and it's people... This trip was originally scheduled so we could be there for Tejan's graduation from high school. Unfortunately, the government of Sierra Leone changed the exam dates for seniors this year, so instead of taking the exams that qualify ...

It's been a million years since a Ten on Tuesday post. But insomnia woke me up at 2:30 this morning and I can only lie there awake for so long... so here we go! Cherries. Wow - can God create some amazingly delicious food or what? I'll pay $4 a pound for these crazy good little orbs every summer. There's just nothing like them. Favorite fruit, hands down. Especially when they're dark rich red and super sweet. Summer. Last summer was super hard for me as I worked through some confusion about how to deal with the reality of  having kids who were always gone. This year I haven't felt nearly as blindsided and am trying (and succeeding!) to really enjoy the freedom to spend these beautiful long days on my own. Some days (like yesterday) that means taking three walks and a lot of reading on my back deck. I'm not complaining... Asia turned 49 on Sunday. Friends - that is one year from 50. What??? He's the best almost-50 year old I know... full of life and lau...