A few days ago, I visited a family who recently welcomed their third child into the world. This family had sat vigil for several days waiting for baby Ryan to be born. Their time of waiting ended in great rejoicing. And as I cradled this newborn in my arms, I could feel my harried-ness of […]

A friend of mine recently told me that mothers hold the sorrows of their children, even, and perhaps especially, after they’ve grown up and moved away. We may not even know the particular sorrow, but we sense it and embrace it nonetheless; Perhaps we offer it up in prayer. After my mother died, I discovered […]

They came to me with smiling faces, eager to share something with me. The oldest girl, Olivia, was clutching a clear glass jar filled with coins and a few bills. “This is the money we earned from our lemonade stand. And I want to give it to you for the kids in Kenya,” she said […]

Mother’s Day 2019 The guy who invented the Post-It-Note was a genius. I love sticky notes—these seemingly innocuous pads of pale-yellow paper with the right amount of adhesive on the top allowing them to stick to just about any surface, are remarkable. It is amazing how much writing will fit on that little 3”X 3” […]

I’ve had some time off these past few weeks and have filled it with resting, reading, walking and more often than I’d like, catching the ever shifting news. Tucked in amongst the tirades of presidential candidates, the gold medals of Olympiads, (some tarnished by bad behavior) appear heart-stopping images of victims of war and bloodshed […]

We hike up the steep cobblestone path leading to even steeper steps and eventually find our way on dirt paths that wind through the various homes tucked in the foliage of the hills above Colonia Hermano Pedro, Guatemala  Far below us is the quaint city of Antigua her streets flooded with tourists, language students and […]

It was an unlikely meeting one April morning, 2012. She, not even thirty. Me, nudging into middle age (OK, I was plunging into middle age, not liking it one bit).  Mutual friends kept insisting that we meet because of our travels and work in developing countries. And so one sunny morning we met for tea. […]

We came to the pueblo of Santa Inez as the cloudy skies glowed in the waning light just before twilight. This particular neighborhood is nestled against lush green hills, slightly above the traffic, noise and bustle of the city of Antigua. When we arrived at the home of our friends, Billy and Mirna, a small […]

Deaconesses Pamela, Mary, Callen visiting Virginia in the slums of Kawangware Loneliness and the feeling of being unwanted is the most terrible poverty. Mother Teresa There was a time, about 15 years ago, when I set my heart on traveling to Calcutta, India, to visit the hospice established by the now sainted Mother Teresa and […]

I met John several years ago while making a home visit in the rural area of Kenya. It is John who inspired the dream of opening a palliative care center/hospice house. A dream that is getting closer to becoming a reality. For John I still remember his face smooth as butter, rich and dark as […]