We rolled up the legs on our trousers and jumped into the wild, warm surf as our little speedboat tugged against its anchor in the rising tide. Before us was a mesmerizingly beautiful beach, drawing, it seemed, all things toward itself. As our team waded through the water with baggage and provisions atop our heads, stumbling in the thick, powdery sand, we felt like explorers in a new land.
January 1st, my birthday. In the cool, dark, early morning hours of the new year, I stood in my backyard with a good friend and turned a telescope toward the eastern sky. Saturn was rising, a bright dot in the arc of the ecliptic, preceding the sun by only a couple of hours. Ted and [...]
(I recently returned from a 12-day trip to Madagascar with our media crew. View Photos for this Travelog here.) Madagascar is sometimes called the “Eighth Continent” for its unique diversity of people, plants, and animals. Indeed, it was the most “out of Africa” I have felt in Africa. We landed in the capital city, Antananarivo, [...]
Leaving Rockford Illinois on the way through Normal and then on to friends in Indianapolis, I began to reflect on all the places we’ve seen in recent weeks and months. From Kenya to France to a place that feels a little like home in New Jersey. We packed the little white Volkswagon to the gills [...]
It is possible that I had something of an idyllic childhood. I grew up mostly in the 80’s, a full fledged suburban kid – not too spoiled or privileged, but not missing out on anything that really mattered. Most importantly, I had a “whole” family with a stay-at-home mom and a responsible dad. And on [...]
(Below is an article I wrote for AIM’s magazine. Over the years, I had the privilege of flying the Nobles around southern Sudan as they skirted conflicts and flooded roads to teach in some of the country’s most remote places. In January, I spent a weekend with them in Torit to learn a little more [...]
I woke ridiculously early yesterday morning to catch the red-eye out of Rwanda. After checking in, I sat in a passenger lounge and caught a half hour of CNN through bleary eyes. Sudan was in the headlines. On Sunday, South Sudan began a week long voting process on what is surely the most important vote [...]