When I was a child, my grandma and her friends made a quilt of fabric swatches that couldn’t have been more uncomplimentary, and yet everyone called it beautiful, a true work of art. I didn’t get it at the time. But as I matured, I not only began to appreciate the beauty of such “uncomfortable” collaboration, but also the tender care and commitment it takes to make it work.

The month of May means graduation. All over the country, and all over the world. Parents, teachers, professors, friends, and family gather to celebrate finishing, and new beginnings. What would you say is the predominant emotion in May? Pride. The good kind. Esteem. The empowering kind. Hope. The Kingdom of God kind.

I returned home recently from a rich and full time in Kenya, witnessing God’s abundant beauty. I was honored to co-facilitate a First Aid Arts Responder and Facilitator training in Nairobi with my good friend, Ruth Yeo Peterman.

God invited Abraham to become a blessing to all humanity by becoming an immigrant.

The city of Goma, on the volcanic border between Rwanda and Congo, is settled along the banks of Lake Kivu; a place of pristine beauty … yet of abject poverty.

Bill and I have been based in a town called Goma, on the volcanic border between Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo for just over two years now. From here we travel overland and by plane to South Sudan for temporary assignments every other month.