I found Rachel Haltiwanger online, only to discover that we have so much in common! We’re both ESL teachers, we’ve both traveled to other countries, and (wait for it) we both live in Nashville! Rachel just moved here from Mexico, so we haven’t met up in person just yet, but plan to soon. Rachel writes …
Do you ever encounter something so profound that you can’t stop thinking about it? That happened to me today. Today I listened to a talk about all of the refugee populations in Nashville. The speaker was someone from Catholic Charities, one of the three refugee resettlement agencies in Nashville. While I have a bit of …
I’m proud to share that The Pavilion, a literary magazine for expats and former expats, has published my essay “Water is Everywhere.” There was a smell in the air, when it would flood. Like damp rags, or a slightly moldy basement. It wasn’t quite a stench. We stood in our gazebo and watched the rain …
Dear Karissa, You are right to be happy. You are happy because you are home. Yes, you are a third culture kid, and you will always know that. But you have found belonging. Freedom. Awe. Friendship. You have friends at school and friends at church and friends at home. You have a caring family. Everywhere …
You know that I love the story of Jacob wrestling with God. You know I love the idea that our faith often feels like wrestling with conflicting ideas. You know that I no longer believe that strong faith has to be equivalent to certainty. As Barbara Brown Taylor said, “I had done everything they had …
