2022 in cities

01 - King of Prussia, PA, USA
02 - Fairfield, CT, USA
03 - Seattle, WA, USA
04 - Vienna, Austria
05 - Crikvenica, Croatia
06 - Buffalo, NY, USA
07 - Wilmington, DE, USA
08 - New York, NY, USA
09 - Washington, DC, USA
10 - Hacienda Heights, CA, USA 

11 - Head Waters, VA, USA 

12 - California, MD, USA 

13 - Arlington, VA, USA 

14 - Petersburg, VA, USA 

15 - Myrtle Beach, SC, USA 

16 - Mineral, VA, USA 

17 - Crystal City, VA, USA 

18 - Herndon, VA, USA 

19 - DisneyWorld, FL, USA 

20 - Universal Studios, FL, USA 

21 - Lisbon, Portugal 

22 - Lisbon, Portugal

23 - Cascais, Portugal 

24 - London, England

 

 [2021, 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014, 2013, 2012, 2011, 2010, 2009, 2008, 2007, 2006 in cities]

HBD Deanna

"Love does not consist of gazing at each other, but in looking outward together in the same direction." - Antoine de Saint-Exupery

HBD Emily

There are only two lasting bequests we can hope to give our children. One of these is roots, the other, wings. - Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

HBD Katie

“Children are apt to live up to what you believe of them.” — Lady Bird Johnson

HBD Emily

Dear Emily, Well, welcome to your 20s! And of course, it seems like 2021 should be interesting just like 2020 was. I certainly don't have to tell you that we are all living in unprecedented times. 

My challenge for you this year is to push. Specifically, I implore you to push your faith and your worldview. You might push them together. You might push them apart. Push them to edges or push them to centers. Push them, together or separate, into a box or out of a box. The only thing I suggest you not do is push them out of either your mind or your heart. As a young person today, your mind and your experience is still fresh. You aren't old and tainted, bitter or skeptical. And because of that, it's a great time to explore these in depth. Of course, lots of people have told you this - college is a great time to learn and experience new things. Hopefully, Mommy and I have instilled that all of life is a great time to learn. 

But the combination of these two things - your faith and your worldview - and our current cultural moment - race, class, the pandemic, the state of institutions like our government, our churches, our country - seems like a great time to be thoughtful about what you believe and how you see the world. Dig deep and push them around. I'm pretty sure you'll be pleasantly surprised. We will be too because the world needs you. 

Love DAD

2020 in cities

01 - Ocean City, MD, USA
02 - Shamokin, PA, USA
03 - Quito, Ecuador, SA
04 - Bogota, Colombia, SA
05 - Pine Grove, PA, USA
06 - Pine Knoll Shores, NC, USA
07 - Washington, DC, USA
08 - Cambridge, MD, USA
09 - Tybee Island, GA, USA
10 - Hilton Head Island, NC, USA
11 - Cumberland, MD, USA
12 - Fairfield, CT, USA

Standing goal - get outside the US at least once a year but just made it to South America in early 2020. Here's hoping 2021 allows everyone to get on the move a little more.

HBD KT

Well KT, 2020. But seriously. Happy birthday in one of the strangest, challenging times of our age.

2020 certainly makes it easy to be a pessimist. In many senses, you have inherited your parents skepticism. As someone told me a few years ago, "You are not easily impressed." On the surface, it looks like cynicism. And 2020 well, yeah of course. 

The difference though, is hope on the horizon. As bad as it gets, you can figure it out. You can muddle through it. Do the best you can, because how bad can it get?

The other side of the coin from pessimism is optimism. Things don't get better unless someone calls it out to fix the wrong. Someone must close the gap between what is and what could be. Optimists envision the art of the possible and work tirelessly towards a new future.  True skeptics are satisfied with articulating the negative from their seat in the stands. There are cynics, though, that are closet optimists and they get their skin in the game. They cannot and will not be satisfied from the stands.

So.... get in the game.

Proud of you - love you

DAD

Congratulations Katie - NYUAD Class of 2020

Dear Katie,

Congratulations on graduating University today! You know we are missing being with you and the rest of our family to celebrate and this is truly one of the most unusual times of our lives. We'll celebrate face to face in a little while when you get home.

As you are well aware, Mommy and I have had such a joyous time following your college experience. We've watched you travel [22 countries I think], traveled to visit you, heard you spout wisdom from your classes [because college kids always know best] and generally reveled in the fact that we told you that you would enjoy Uni more than high school. We certainly did!

We are also thrilled at what school taught you outside of the classroom. That the world is a huge place yet humans are connected with the same things. That the massive problems that we face are never simple and require listening first. That the Lord has blessed you with an amazing set of gifts and talents that are meant to be poured out and sacrificed for the greater good. 

Congrats, see you when you get home.

Love

DAD

When WRGY Should Have Ended

Dear Emily, 

My calendar says that today was the day you were going to fly from Asia finishing The World Race Gap Year a few days early and meeting us in the Middle East. It was planned to be a super cool family get together to help celebrate your sister finishing Uni. I'm grieving our unfortunate change of plans. 

But Mommy and I are overjoyed with you being on the Race. From the very beginning to the very end, we were so proud of you for figuring how it might work, to choosing it, to working with colleges to defer, gearing up, Training Camp and Launch and then actually being on the Race. It was a joy to watch you grow in planning and intention, choosing to do something difficult and unconventional with lots of unknowns. And seeing you on PVT - with your team and squad, serving in another country, giving us the details on your overseas home, and friends, and the mall, the bus, the empanada shop. What a trip. Little did we know, you would be home two weeks later after a short time in Cambodia. 

But instead, here we are, staying at home. Be encouraged - Jesus started something in you with the Race that is not done yet. Be challenged - you did some incredibly difficult things on the Race and those milestones will give you strength for future goals. Be bold - no one lives an incredible life by accident. 

Love 

DAD

Photo: early March 2020, before quarantine.

Mad Respect to Adventures

Well surprise, surprise, Emily is home. More about her later.

When we left her in Ecuador, at the very end of February, leadership at Adventures told us that they were watching the Coronavirus and Emily's squad in particular very closely, since her squad would be leaving the next day to fly to Cambodia. Just about two weeks later, Adventures started moving certain teams home. As I'm sure you know, the virus is moving, countries are closing borders and airlines reducing flights. Here's some notification timelines:

14 March 15:00 - Some Adventures teams coming home.
14 March 21:00 - All Adventures teams are coming home including Emilys.
15 March 12:00 - Itinerary sent for Emily's squad, including two day debrief near LAX.
17 March 12:00 - Debriefing cancelled, parents, please fly all Racers home from their gateway cities ASAP.

The team at Adventures worked 24x7, getting over 20 teams and 500 people home - an incredible feat. I had an incredible amount of respect for Adventures before this - this situation only multiplies it. Not to mention everything Emily experienced on the Race.

Adventures - thanks for taking care of these kids through this situation and contending for this generation to follow Jesus.

PVT - Quito, Ecuador

Deanna and I got to visit Emily last week in Quito, Ecuador as part of a Parent Vision Trip organized by the organization that runs The World Race Gap Year, Adventures in Missions. We had a great time with Em and just said goodbye to her again last weekend when we left Quito. PVT is structured so that you have a lot of time with your racer, while serving with them and the orgs that they have worked with, staying near them - in our case we were all on the campus of a seminary together, and having one full adventure day off to do as you please, all over about seven days.

I loved our time serving with partner organizations in and around Quito, including Camp Hope [a day center for disabled kids and young adults], Pan de Vida [poverty alleviation], Covi [an afterschool program] and Dunamis [trafficking rehabilitation - mutual connections with The Samaritan Woman in Baltimore.] Adventures also has a base in Quito run by the incredible Fabi and his wife, really phenomenal hosts. If you have a thing for Quito, these would be great places to start to think about partnerships - all run by native Ecuadorians. Also, Mosaic Ecuador [like from Erwin McManus] opened their doors the weekend before we got there. Emily went and took 2 friends - Shengs represent!

Quito is a beautiful city, sitting at 9350 feet above sea level with a population of about 2M people spread out over 207 square miles surrounded by mountains. I was a little sick from the altitude our first day here - we landed a few days early because we thought at least one of us would need to acclimate. The currency is the US dollar, the electrical current and plugs are the same as the US, and no one is really interested in practicing English here, which is different than a lot of places I have traveled to. Taxis and Ubers are dirt cheap. Food and lodging is moderate, depending on your taste. It was the rainy season when we were there so there was a lot of rain at some point almost every day.

For our adventure day, we visited a little town in the Andes mountain called Mindo. Mindo is advertised as the cloud forest and is about 2 hours outside of Quito. We visited a butterfly and hummingbird garden and went on a chocolate factory tour [adventure!] Interesting side note: One of the relatives of a team member on a team that we have partnered with in Italy pinged me after seeing on FB that we had been in Mindo. He worked on a well project there 10 years ago and a church community started out of that work.

We had a weekend stopover in Bogota on the way home, which was probably too much. Deanna and I were so exhausted so we spent a lot of time at our hotel. But Bogota is a beautiful city with a mix of very modern and a classic old town. We tried to go up Monserrate but it was way too crowded so instead just hung around Bolivar Square for a few hours.

As you can imagine, we loved our time with Em and had so much fun exploring Quito and seeing a glimpse of her life on the Race. The Race has definitely stretched and grown her, we chatted about things she would have never talked about had she gone right to college.

To SquadAyyee - we love you and are praying for your last 3 months in Cambodia and that the Lord makes you strong and a force to be reckoned with for the Kingdom for your whole long lives. To the parents of the squad - job well done, you have some amazing kids that have the admiration of many. But you already knew this. Loved hanging and getting to know you.

PVT only encouraged our absolute joy with the Race.

50

Dear Deanna,

Some say it's all downhill from here but I don't think so either. Instead, now that we are both in our 50s, I think you are going to pick up the pace on all the things that you are so good at and the things that give you life. Things like: caring well and having fun with your family and pushing them out the door for adventure, exploring wonder and mystery at places you haven't been yet, and challenging the next generation to create something so amazing for the rest of us. And of course all of these things because the Lord has seen to bless you so that you can bless others.

Happy 50th - I am expectantly praying that this year God shows us even more of His exceedingly abundance.

Hey, let's get on a plane!

19

Happy 19th Emily!

As you know, it has been quite the change not having any kids at home. It has been super quiet, no gatherings of kids just showing up and your dog has been super needy. But we are thrilled at what you are doing this year.

It is a year of firsts - first holiday, first birthday, first loss of a family member - all of these away from home. We believe that all of that is difficult and worth it - it is a year where you grow up a bit, grow in community and grow in your capacity to serve and be served. Remember that sometimes, rewards are on the other side of difficulty, sometimes that is life. We believe that your reward will also be a bigger heart for the world and the things of the Lord.

Have fun celebrating at 10,000 feet. Proud of you, you are loved!
Love,
DAD

22

Dear Kt,

From the time you were little, one of our family mantras has been 'you are blessed to be a blessing.' Even typing this now, it is as much of a reminder to me as it is to you, that our lives are meant to be poured out for the service of others since we have been given so much privilege.

I think it's a good reminder as you get ready for another round of big life changes: graduation in May, leaving good friends from school who will return to far flung home countries, and navigating the next season of life as a university graduate - if you move home, I may charge you rent. But we hope that mantra continues to inform your intention and direction. We need the reminder too.

Immensely proud of you,
Love,
DAD

[Photo by Jakob, somewhere outside Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Nov 2019]

From last week.... Hawaii Five-0

via Instagram

Diamond Head Summit

Parent Launch - The World Race Gap Year

We spent this past weekend in Atlanta participating in the Parent Launch for Emily for The World Race Gap Year. I was a teary mess most of the weekend - saying goodbye to Emily was one of the hardest things I have ever had to do.

We cannot say enough great things about the ethos and execution about Adventures in Missions and The World Race. Since of course this kind of thing is my jam too, I went through the weekend both making mental notes about how good their ideas were and being in total admiration of their execution of these great ideas. They really do an incredible job in preparing both the Racers and their parents - this weekend it was around 300 Racers and most of their parents. Our time as parents included sessions about insurance, risk, our journey as parents, releasing our kids, Q&A with past Racers and parents and Adventures' thinking about discipling this generation. I heard this multiple times and believe it - they love this generation.

+ The Race is not incredible every day. Some days, it is just tough work. There is fruit on the other side of brokenness and sometimes we need to be challenged to push through rather than quit early.
+ Jesus apprenticed the disciples through a journey. It was a rite of passage and these are now rare in our culture.
+ We are stewarding the collapse of the church in the US [in the context of the Nones and Gen Z.]
+ 12 percent of this generation has an anxiety disorder.
+ The Holy Spirit is still the best at giving the answers.
+ There should be a transfer of the primary voice in your kids lives from yours to the Lords. [Peterson]
+ Put what God is doing in their life above wanting them home.
+ Pay attention to stirrings in your heart this year - one of the worst things you can do is to be in the exact same place you are now when your Racer comes home.
+ Release your racer from their past experience with God. Don't expect God to move in the same way.
+ There was a worship and teaching session the night before everyone left with all the Racers and parents. It was unforgettable - I haven't seen such intensity and passion from young people in a long time.

I could not imagine a better experience for Emily after finishing high school and before college and we are so thrilled for her. Thanks for so many of you who have supported our family in this. Follow along with her updates here.

Summer 19

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The four of us for 3 weeks together in June - Venice, driving down the coast of Croatia, the greek island of Spetses and working a small Ember project in Athens with 4 other leaders. Who knows where our kids will end up in the next few years so we try to get time like this.

In August, I went to visit Katie in Cape Town for a few days and although we had a great time being together, getting there and getting home was full of misery. Miserable: 3 missed connections and over 24 hours of flying on the way there including an unexpected leg through Doha, driving a rental car home from NYC on the way home because of another missed connection, and a stomach bug during the whole trip home. And there was a traumatic accident on my last day there when I ended up hitting and killing someone's dog. I would not have wished this on anyone.

Katie started her senior year in the UAE this past week. This coming weekend, we send Emily off for 9 months. Time doesn't wait. Put a mark in human history today.

Good Hope

Flying home from Cape Town later today after visiting Katie for 4 days, where she is working at an internship on social protection and poverty.

Travel Notes - Corinth, Spetses, Athens, Greece

To celebrate our younger daughter finishing high school and because our kids are going to be scattered around the world in a few months, we decided to spend 3 weeks as a family traveling through the Balkans.

Here are some details about our time in Greece. Greece is, of course, a travelers destination with lots to see and an incredible amount of places to visit, so you will have to accept the fact that you won't be able to do it all. For us, since we spent a few days in Athens last summer, our goal was to get on an island, see another city and spend some more time in Athens. See part 1 about Venice here and part 2 about Croatia here.

We left Croatia from Dubrovnik and flew into Athens. From there, we picked up a rental car and drove an hour into Corinth, that place from the Bible. We opted to stay one night near ancient Corinth instead of modern Corinth and we were definitely glad. Ancient Corinth is fascinating and the museum there is excellent. Well worth the price of admission. There is also a quaint little town right outside ancient Corinth where we had dinner the night before. Probably the best gyro I have ever had and no ATMs in this little village.

From Corinth, we drove about 2 hours through the mountains to Kosta, a little port. The only thing I know about Kosta is there is a parking lot that you can park your car there for multiple days for cheap. Our goal was to get to Spetses, a tiny island and an easy (!) ten minute boat ride from Kosta. No cars except for delivery vehicles are allowed on the island and there are 4 or 5 different beaches there. Lots of places to eat and hotels to stay in. We spent four nights there and it was beautiful. Our goal for these few days was just to sit and relax and our mission was accomplished. We did take a bus 20 minutes around the island one day to go to a different beach and Katie and I rode [electric] bikes back. Deanna and I also went on a horse drawn carriage ride and every meal we had on the island was excellent. We stayed in a hotel right down the street from the port - convenient because of too much luggage - long story.

As we were sitting on the sea wall watching the sunset one night, there was an older lady fishing with a hook on a line and clumps of bread. The first night, I only saw her catch small fish and she had me and a stray cat as the audience. The second night, I saw the real catch - a squid.

Our hotel, family owned and run, was managed by two brothers. As beautiful as the island was, they said it was dismal in the winter. Cold and rainy with no visitors - the same boring people in the nightclubs every night.

Our time in Athens was centered around hanging with the Streetlights team, although we did see the Acropolis Museum, had our good friend Spyri give a little reflection about the apostle Paul on Mars Hill, and a few of us went all the way up to the top of the Acropolis. The Acropolis is a little expensive but definitely worth it. If you go there with students, people aged 18 and under are free. Like I referred to in this post, 4 Ember students joined us for our time in Athens at the end of this little family excursion. And this excursion, man, this was one for the books.