A Purposeful Peek

Our home is simple, cozy, and filled with treasures that tell stories of our world travels and of the people and places who have shaped our lives.  We value experiences over things; however, some things are very special to us because they remind us of those experiences.   Some of our favorite pieces are the traditional mortar and pestle sets from 5 different continents that are perched on our living room shelves. The beautifully painted wooden pieces take us back to the many years we passed through busy marketplaces in Peru and Ecuador en route to providing medical care in the jungle. The smooth olive wooden piece sparks memories of our incredible honeymoon in Greece.  The large piece adorned with an elephant transports me back to adventurous days in Thailand, where I visited my sister while she and her family lived in Chiang Mai. The intricately carved wooden pieces are reminiscent of the blessed days we spent in Togo and Zimbabwe, Africa, serving alongside some of the most compassion

If you were to visit our home, you may be surprised by the way our family lives. It seems that every time I turn around, I see people around me who are just starting their careers and/or families and are already moving into their "dream home" - a home that my accomplished, hard-working, middle-class parents could only dream of in their retirement years. It seems that our Western culture screams, "You need bigger and newer, and you need it NOW."  It is never fair to judge a book by it's cover; likewise, it's impossible to judge someone's "success" by the cars they drive and the home they live in. While you may live next door to a modest millionaire and never suspect it, you also may live next door to a mini-mansion with a 3 car garage filled with luxury SUVs that is all underwritten by crippling debt.  People who know our family well are likely not thrown off by our very modest (at least in terms of dual-pharmacist income) home.  Bu