Twenty-five years have passed, give or take a few, since I chanced on this little gem for my tin collection. Doing errands in bustling downtown Santiago, I ducked out of the drizzle and smog into a recently discovered “treasure hoard” of a store. Todo A Mil (“Everything for 1000 Pesos”—the Chilean equivalent of a dollar…
In my travels, I’ve made a game of snapping photos of doors and windows. I find the variety absolutely fascinating. They give me windows to the world by showcasing cultures and styles of architecture predominant in a given place. What vivid object lessons! From the exterior, you can note the size and shape of a…
What if I told you all the myths of Chiloé are true…from a certain point of view? A certain point of view? That little phrase—and the echoing question—comes from the original Star Wars Trilogy. You may remember the classic scene from Return of the Jedi where a disillusioned Luke Skywalker accuses Obi-Wan Kenobi of deceiving…
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,…
“Would you be willing to endure four months of isolation on a small rocky island if you knew you would not only survive the difficult experience but would come away from it with an unwavering core of self-confidence and spiritual awareness?” The late, great Luci Swindoll throws out this journaling prompt in her inspiring book…
Happy 2023! During this year, starting today, the international mission agency that my husband and I work with in Chile will celebrate in a variety of ways one hundred years of service in this battlefield of the great spiritual war of our time. Fittingly, we were originally known as the Soldiers’ and Gospel Mission of…
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…
Always, always, it’s the thought that counts, right? So each gift we receive, chosen with love and appreciation, offered with generosity, is special. But some are more so, and today I’m going to share the best gifts I’ve been given over a lifetime. It’s hard to choose, though. For a recent ladies’ tea hosted at…
It’s Thanksgiving week in the United States, when it’s almost as important to head home “if only in my dreams” as it is at Christmas. This wonderful holiday, perhaps contrary to secular depiction, gives us an annual opportunity to reset the focus of our lives, recalibrate our values, and recommit to expressing a gratitude attitude…
Samuel Adams, perhaps the most indispensable of the Founding Fathers, wrote to his friend Richard Henry Lee near the beginning of the American Revolution (1776): “Should there be found a citizen of the United States so unprincipled as to ask what will become of us if we do not follow the corrupt maxims of the…
Legend has it that the Archipelago of Chiloé in southern Chile still hides some of the biggest pirate treasures of all time. The myriad deserted shores and maze of channels offer plenty of places for dropping off a stash of gold looted from the storied hoards of Incan Peru. Treasure islands, for sure. Between the…
When we were building our current home in the country, a small bird flew in the open front door. My husband tried to wave it out through the open back door, but instead the creature beelined for a newly installed window. Which was not open. You can guess how this story ends. Except it’s not…
