We’re super pumped about a new trip map that actually zooms through flight and driving routes. It even lingers at each of our stops on this journey. Click here … or on the TRIP MAP SO FAR link above on the...
The Evidence
posted by J
We’ve spent the last two days SEEING EVIDENCE of human life in Athens that stretches back more than 5,000 years. This is super real evidence — tools, pottery, whole buildings, ancient roads — things we can actually touch and walk around and regard or play Star Wars light...
A Borrowed Motto
posted by J
We walked today through the same tunnel once used by Roman gladiators on their way to ancient games in an ancient Athens stadium. The tunnel ended with this exhibit about the modern Olympics. The motto pictured below was too good to pass up … because OUR WANDERING IS NOT YET...
The Mix
posted by J
This photo is a great example of THE MIX — the elusive combination of history, education, family, fun, beauty, and exercise that S and I are often trying to nail on this adventure. It’s tough to make out all the details … but there’s the family, of course, then the...
Wahid to Ashra
posted by J
S and I sat next to Abu Hussain today on a flight from Tunis to Istanbul (on our way to Athens). The older man was on the first leg of a long business trip — to Turkey, Germany, Spain, then back home to Doha, Qatar. He was kind to take an interest in our year-long adventure … and...
Dude, Perfect
posted by J
With apologies to those YouTube sensation guys who do amazing things with frisbees and basketballs … here is a healthy share of video sandboard dudeness, straight from the sweet sands of the...
Listening, Living
posted by J
Please humor us for a moment — we want to share a goodly amount of photos from a two-and-a-half-day journey in to the heart of Morocco. As Ismail our translator unspooled the country’s people and places, we drank it in — the faces, the language, the smells, the colors, the...
Singing of Home
posted by J
The men in this picture are singing Gnaoua music. Their ancestors were West African slaves, taken from an area once known as Ancient Ghana. They created their music to heal their pain, to exalt the memory of their ancestors — and to simply live in a hard place far home. Here is a song...
Revolution Running
posted by J
I ran through revolution with my oldest son this evening. We are all in Tunis for one night … on our way to Greece and Turkey … so we imposed some forced family exercise before retiring for the evening. While S, H, and E rotated through stations in the hotel fitness room, W and I...
A New, Deep Place
posted by J
Morocco. Morocco. Morocco. This country now has a place — a deep place — in our hearts. We leave in the next few hours (too soon!) after cris-crossing the country, soaking in the people, their languages, and their story. We leave you with a few images from our journey … and...
البطل of the Sahara...
posted by J
Today, our journey went from this … … to this … … to this: We have come south in Morocco to THE SAHARA where, in a few hours, we will wake up early to see the sun rise over the dunes. It was an epic, nine-hour drive … that refreshed us, oddly, as we barreled...
What Is Solid
posted by J
I brought E to this courtyard a few days ago to see its MASSIVE silk tree. We talked about things he can truly RELY on that are SOLID in his life and heart — like that tree! — when life seems complicated or difficult or frustrating or scary, like the seeming craziness of the...
Advent Day 2
posted by J
(We’re sharing images of LIGHT from our travels in concert with Scripture for...
Limits of Empire
posted by J
Today, we WALKED the limits of empire. The Roman empire once stretched north nearly to Scotland. We visited the remnants of that northernmost border — Hadrian’s Wall — in September. The empire’s SOUTHERN border once stretched as far as an outpost called...
African Scholars
posted by J
Our three young scholars working hard … and their morning World School teacher, selflessly grading AN ALGEBRA...
Advent Color
posted by J
We woke up this morning in central Morocco to the LIGHT, whole splashes of COLOR and BEAUTY outside … and inside our current residence. Glorious. At breakfast — over tea and chocolat chaud — we decided to reflect on this LIGHT during Advent. We plan to produce an Advent...
Hunting Orcs
posted by J
We say goodbye — for now — to Brooke and Max, our hosts and new friends in Casablanca. With them … W helped string garlands around their Christmas tree, we ate (awesome) tajine poulet, imagined Lebron James as a baby, traded movie lines, laughed and laughed at Max’s...