Below is the transcript of a basic speech I put together for Toastmasters several months ago. I plan to expand this speech and mix it up with some other stories and tell it wherever people are interested in hearing it! If you know of any podcasts or radio shows or audiences who might enjoy an…
What follows is a story from my childhood. The brief background: when my sister and I were six and eight years old, our mother kidnapped us (at our request) to protect us from our abusive father, who had won custody of us. We lived as fugitives for seven years. Five of those years were in…
We’re long overdue for an earthbag house update! In today’s post, I’ll give an overview of what Keith has been working on this year. In upcoming posts, I’ll dive into more detail about each aspect of the project. Last winter, Keith had a job up in North Dakota. While he worked up there, Lee (Keith’s…
Keith and I celebrated two anniversaries this past week. More… Anniversary #1: Seven years ago this week, Keith and I started dating after a very fun weekend hiking and camping at Zion National Park. Anniversary #2: Six years ago this week, Keith surprised me at the summit of Mount Yale (after a long hike through…
If you’re my age or older, you might remember a time during the 1980s when the pictures of missing children appeared on the sides of milk cartons. I remember sitting at the kitchen table and asking about those pictures and feeling very apprehensive that a scary stranger might try to kidnap me. Not long after that,…
Are you looking forward to the release of Seven Years Running? If you enjoy these types of books, I have a recommendation for you. A couple of months ago, I read a book called Where are My Children? by Cassie Kimbrough. My mom read it recently, too. We have been talking about all the similarities with our…
It takes a lot of dedication to write a book. It’s a major undertaking! Co-authoring a book has its advantages, but also adds a new layer of complexity, especially when the co-authors live far apart, as my mom and I do. Are you curious about how we’re doing it? Here’s a behind-the-scenes look at the…
When I was a kid living on the run with my mom and younger sister, we spent about a year living in Uruapan, in the Mexican state of Michoacán. Recently, memories of Uruapan have been flooding back as we polish up that section of our book, Seven Years Running. Our favorite place in Uruapan was…
Hey, everyone! I’m excited to host my first ever guest post on the blog! This is a true story, written by my mom, Rhoda Friend. It will appear in the book we are co-writing: Seven Years Running. I’ll let you jump right in and enjoy. Take it away, Mama!…………It was my day to volunteer at…
Do you ever go grocery shopping and then try to unload everything all at once so you don’t have to make multiple trips from the car to the house? You stagger up the steps, struggle at the doorway with all your bags and fumble around to find your keys while the heavy sacks cut into your wrists, restricting your…
The bright yellow house down in the green jungle valley below beckoned us. We were in Baños, one of the most popular tourist towns in Ecuador, walking up a dirt road off the tourist radar, beyond all the hostels, tour companies, and restaurants and into the surrounding farmlands. We had recently left our beloved Loja…
Dear Readers, As I write this, we’re in the final days of 2015. How was your year? I know for many of my loved ones, 2015 brought a large share of challenges. Difficult and costly projects, lost loved ones, health problems, hearts broken… For others, it was a year of joy and new beginnings. Weddings,…