by Laura on February 9, 2012

One of the benefits of living in Asia is all the hole-in-the-wall restaurants that serve entire meals for a dollar a plate. Honestly, it takes about the same amount of money to fix a Western meal as it does to buy a Thai one. Now, if I really had it together, I would cook Thai [...]
by Laura on February 6, 2012

My amazing writer-artist-friend Kelley Leigh has begun writing again. Her words are simple and powerful over at her new blog, Forming Sentences, and just recently she posted an inspirational video from a girl she knew several years back. The girl’s name is Katie, and the story of her life screams redemption in the midst of [...]
by Laura on February 4, 2012

The following is my humble, quick attempt to convince my fellow missionary-types to jump the hurdles of fear, time and know-how and just go ahead and start a blog of some sort. {That is, of course, unless you are one of those super-amazing people living in a closed country where blogs are illegal or in [...]
by Laura on January 28, 2012

So I met a family last week that suddenly made me want to sell all my stuff and go live in the red-light district of Bangkok, buying rice for the homeless crazy woman in the mornings and giving warm socks to the male prostitute on the street corner, trying to make a buck. Their story [...]
by Laura on January 21, 2012

Admittedly, I am a crappy pray-er. I have the attention span of a cocker-spaniel whose owners are having a dinnerparty, and the result of my distraction is that my prayer life is sporadic, hurried, and fuzzy, at best. Last week, though, I learned about a new tool to use in prayer that has really helped [...]
by Laura on January 18, 2012

So the number one comment I read last week asked for more writings, images, and videos of our daily life here in Thailand. I’ve done videos of the local market where most people shop, the process of riding local transportation, my daughter eating worms, my husband making chopsticks and riding an ostrich, but I realized [...]
by Laura on January 11, 2012

So, yeah, our family has food issues. I have one kid that has claimed vegetarianism for the past 6 months, one kid that I think has a gluten-allergy and also hates rice {yeah, in Asia, he hates rice}, and another child that literally wants ketchup on everything from noodles to watermelon {yeah, I am not [...]
by Laura on December 23, 2011

Merry Christmas, Friends. Thanks for journeying with our family, for entering conversations here, and for supporting us in a million different ways this past year. We hope your holiday season is full of rich, take-your-breath-away-good-kind-of moments. We hope, too, that the gift of the King-who-came-down truly overshadows everything, everything, else. Happy Holidays, ya’ll. And we’ll [...]
by Laura on December 13, 2011

So you are slammed with making cookies for the kid’s class party and ordering that present for your mom and wrapping up that project at work, and, geez, it’s already mid-December. And your last-minute to-do list grows longer than your 3 year-old’s wish list for Santa. I get it. This is a pyscho time of [...]
by Laura on December 11, 2011

I posted this vlog about struggling with guilt at Christmas last year for another site, but thought it worth a second look. Ya know, because it’s the holidays and all. . . **************** What is the biggest thing you struggle with during the holiday season, in general? During THIS holiday season, in particular? Go ahead, [...]
by Laura on November 27, 2011

I used to kindly roll my eyes at those espousing the importance of fair trade. I never really understood it, and, honestly, living on a youth pastor’s salary with three kids is no joke when it comes to stretching the ol’ family budget. I know what it’s like to try purchasing decent Christmas presents for your 17 [...]