Back to Rwanda!

Zae, Caleb, and I are back in Rwanda for a visit!  We left the day after Christmas, flew overnight to Frankfurt, spent a tired day there yesterday, flew to Brussels and stayed there last night, and then flew to Kigali all day today.  Arrived around 9 pm and Kevine and Anaclet picked us up at the airport.  So good to see them!  We stopped by Sole Luna on the way to the house to pick up a couple of pizzas, and then drove to the house.  Since it was after 10 by then I thought we might just sneak in, but our big safari vehicle was spotted by a couple of neighborhood kids as we were driving up and a crowd quickly assembled to greet us!  Lots of hugs from mamas and kiddos - hard to recognize many of them in the dark!  We'll see them again tomorrow.  Came up to the house and Theo blessed us with a long prayer in Kinyarwanda, and then we had our pizza and said goodnight.  Figured out internet and put on the Bronco game, which is just starting at 11pm.  I'm gonna help Zae get to bed and probably turn in myself.  

The TV that was not stolen (after we replaced the stolen one)

It's good to be back!  So familiar and so different to be here for a visit instead of a long, living here, figuring everything out adventure.  We'll share more as we settle in and do our thing.

It was colder in Frankfurt

Election Eve Thoughts

Oh hey there, blog.  It's been a minute.

It’s Election Eve 2024 and boy are there a lot of feelings.  I am trying to figure out how to survive the next few days/weeks… who knows how long it will take to have a result, and who knows what chaos, and possibility, that result will birth.  Living with this uncertainty is brutal.  I want to fast forward but I also don’t, afraid of what I might see.  I’ve also been cycling through phases of wanting to mentally & emotionally prepare myself, somehow, for the outcome that terrifies me, and wanting to live with and hold onto a space of hope and joy and opportunity that a Kamala Harris presidency carries for me, for as long as possible.  If suffering is ahead, why suffer now?  So I’m trying to stay in that hopeful place, and also to remind myself of the good and light that will continue to exist in the world no matter what happens.  The absolute beauty of my mountains and this big, wide, gorgeous natural world. My magical and ridiculous children. My parents and my siblings and my wonderful partner and my whole loving family and my wider community of friends and neighbors who support me and work with me and play with me and imagine with me.  All of the passionate and caring and inspiring people I see and connect with, who I know will continue loving and fighting and working to make the world better.  All of that is mine – ours – to have and to hold, no matter what this week brings.