Tea Reads

Tea Reads

Twenty-five tins that contain—or once contained tea—line the shelves and cupboards of my home. While I consider myself more of a coffee drinker than a tea fan, those special cups of tea remind me of dozens of “tea reads” over time. The main character of my original story world, Melissa Travis of Destiny at Dolphin…

The Tin Woman’s Heart

The Tin Woman’s Heart

Friends sometimes call me the Tin Woman because of my large collection of tins. The moniker recalls one of my favorite childhood movies, The Wizard of Oz. While it both terrified and fascinated me, it also taught me about some of life’s important values: brains, heart, and courage, embodied in the Scarecrow, the Tin Man,…

The Power of a Name

The Power of a Name

It’s HOT in our city of Coquimbo, Chile, during this final week of the Advent season. Still, the port’s most iconic landmark, the Third Millennium Cross, towers above the summer haze on the highest hill. A testament to the power of the Name, as I reminded a group of women at a year-end tea. During…

Soul Food

Soul Food

So much of my life revolves around food. Purchasing, preparing, eating, and cleaning up food! Even as I start to write this post, my mind wanders to the kitchen and the squash-apple soup I plan to make for lunch. I’m not a great cook or even super passionate about cooking, but I sure love to…

Whose Side is God On?

Whose Side is God On?

With all that’s going on in the world, we’re sometimes tempted to ask God: Whose side are You on? Does He love the Russians more than the Ukrainians, or the Ukrainians more than the Russians? Whatever, we’re sure He loves our own country, whichever that is, just a little more than everybody else’s. You know…

Life, Love, and Where I Wrote

Life, Love, and Where I Wrote

Sometime in the past decade, the Sahne Nuss tin pictured above came home with me in a green-and-white shopping bag from our Jumbo supermarket in Santiago. Everybody, myself included, loves classic Sahne Nuss milk-chocolate-and-almond bars, but mostly I fell in love with the image on the lid. It perfectly pictures our life in the Chiloé…

Canadian Classics

Canadian Classics

In the last few weeks, we’ve experienced the cliff notes of a whirlwind tour of Europe. We came up a little short of the goal last time. However, today we’ll jump right back into the race around the world in 80 tins, because I have LOTS of Canadian classics in my collection to tell you…

Joy to the World

Joy to the World

“What do you want to accomplish with your writing?” In meditating on this question recently, the answer, “Serve the Lord with gladness,” popped immediately into my head. What a challenge—to bring joy to the world, to the Lord, and to my own life. In Psalm 2:8, God offers Earth’s true king, our Lord and Savior:…