While planning for our year, both in advance and on-the-go, TripAdvisor became our sixth family member. We poured over reviews and suggestions of restaurants, apartments, hikes, hotels, trains, and self-guided tours. As a school writing assignment, we even studied what makes a good review and...

S has a rule in our family: no making fun of moms. So I will not draw your attention to the hand sanitizer strapped to the front of my mom’s fanny pack during a tour of Bangkok’s Grand Palace. Instead, I will mention that I was astonished to learn over dinner recently that my Mom...

We have mastered a talent on this journey of arriving in cities and communities when NO ONE else typically travels to those places. We specialize in off seasons and boarded up restaurants. Our last few days in Bangkok have been the exception. This is the time people come to this city from all...

This is what it looks like to receive world-class medical care from a world-class medical facility in a sprawling Asian metropolis during a two-hour wait for tests on W’s blood. Sweet. A Dr. Phanida waited for W and his two parents today in Room 9 of the pediatric ward at...

I learned this evening that I was painfully afraid of bats as a little boy. The item was one of the stories my mom shared with our table over dinner, about how I used to be scared of walking in the dark because a bat might attack. S chimed in that one of our sons used to be quite fearful of...

  What is the saying about fish and visitors? That they both stink after three days? Somehow Mark and Melinda missed out on that message — try hosting a family of five for nearly three weeks! We had the extreme pleasure and privilege of being welcomed into their Chiang Mai home,...

Happy Birthday, S! She got a lot of love today from a wide range of animals in the animal...

Years ago, a young man named Allan courted a young woman named Joan. He was in the US Army, a veteran of the Korean War. She was on stage on Broadway, and claimed a cameo role in a “Lone Ranger” episode. They married … then moved to Thailand for full time Faith work. Decades...

A pastor’s wife met us during our border journey, on the way to a refugee camp inside Burma. Her family set out two boxes of ice cream on long tables in the shade, along with fresh watermelon, soft drinks, and water. Then S asked her for her name. “I was born at night,” she...

Our sons became actors of international renown on our recent trip along the Thailand-Burma border. Our traveling group of a dozen performed the story of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abedenego three times — once in church, and twice in refugee camps. E, H, and W played the part of the heroes...

Tonight, S and I began the process of thinking through how this trip might affect our lives when we return to Northern Virginia. Our current hosts graciously offered to keep our kids for a night … so here we are at an awesome resort … just the two of us … saying things like...

Reverend Simon leads a Bible college inside Thailand’s largest refugee camp. A walkable mountain and plain separates the campus from  war. Most of his ethnic minority students leave their homes inside Burma’s controversial regions to spend a year or two or three studying...

We’ve just returned to Chiang Mai, Thailand after accompanying an aid group to the border region between Thailand and Burma. Move your mouse over these images from the trip to hear some of the sounds from our...

Our time with the EB family began with E hanging off the side of a bucking pony. He struggled to free his foot that was stuck in a loose and sagging saddle before being thrown under the distressed animal. Days later, W was sampling cooked dog by candlelight at a jungle camp along the...

Hosannah is one our new friends that we greatly admire (true story). On the day we met, one of the first things we learned about her is that she killed a snake while out on her morning run, which made me want to sign up immediately to be on her team. Despite being lethal to snakes, to people...

For the first time in her life, S played a competitive game of five-on-five basketball. In Chiang Mai, Thailand. Go,...

The border between Thailand and Burma is just a few miles from this cafe table in Mae Sot, Thailand. Part of today’s discussion around that table was the explosive power of WORDS and NAMES. The folks in the photo are struggling with what to call the various ethnic groups along the...

Two men recently explained their life’s calling during separate conversations here in Chiang Mai, Thailand. Khem described his birthplace among the country’s poor and persecuted ethnic minority, where his parents — both farmers — sacraficed a great deal to send him and...

On a bike ride this afternoon — up off my seat, slowly climbing an especially steep incline — I noticed a few motor bike treads that had been discarded down a hillside off the road. That’s what had come of a thousand turns for those worn-out treads: a trash heap in a quiet...

Big J turned 42 yesterday in Chiang Mai, Thailand.  The boys planned a full day for him of running, eating, swimming, dancing, playing, and — special treat — napping.  We had Big Birthday Dinner with Mark and Melinda’s awesome family, stuffed ourselves with Lacy’s...