For Kimberly

In Oregon, October last year, some friends and family requested that I blog again. Our dear friend Kimberly being one of them. At that point, it had been nearly a year since I had blogged... and now, 8 months since that request. Yet, the earnestness of her request lingers in my mind. Thus, here I write!

Obviously, BLOGGING is a bit out of my system, and I thought it had dropped in popularity with everyone face-booking and twittering. What do I know about social media and networking from here in Buja? Ha! (Granted, I do get turtle-speed internet on a data plan on an i-phone here).

But sure enough, I checked up on some of the old blogs I used to frequent regularly... Bekah... Tabs... and some of my friends and family with kiddos. They're still at it!

Perhaps I should give it a try again. For Kimberly. :)

But then begins the monumental task of beginning a project I let drop nearly two years prior! Do I summarize our lives since that time? Memorialize it in photographs? Oh my gosh, not possible! Do I jump right in?

Let's suffice it to say that Seth and I are still in Bujumbura and still really loving our lives here. The eternal sunshine. The old and new friendships. The film projects that are now coming Seth's way. Challenging projects and a great new boss for me in World Relief. The tennis tournament I won last weekend. Our weekend to a relaxing beach house in Kigoma for the fourth of July weekend with a bunch of friends.

And it's still challenging. Sometimes we feel stuck and discouraged in relationships, work stuff, and life. We now often joke with friends saying, "You know you've lived in Burundi too long when... " and complete the phrase by describing a random habit or idiosyncracy we have picked up while living here. And there's a few...

So what was that? Maybe a mix of a summary and a jump right in. Writing about where we are now... and thinking about where we are going.