Kelley is the counselor. Nate is the coach. Last year we packed up our Chicago bags and our 8-month-old baby and bought two one-way tickets to Quito, Ecuador. The baby came with but all he needed was a luggage tag. We traded our Chicago skyline for a view of the Andes mountains in order to do coaching, counseling and chaplaincy at an international, Christian school. Since then, we thought we'd ensure our biculturalism by adding another baby to the family: this one with an Ecuadorian passport! We moved here because we believe God will use us to help kids know His love. But that’s only a small part of the story …

Nate moved to Argentina along with his family when he was three years old. There he developed a life-long love of soccer and acquired the unmistakable sound of an Argentine accent. Kelley’s parents hauled her down to the jungles of Ecuador to live when she was just three weeks old. Not that she had much choice at that point, but she loved life in the jungle, running barefoot and always sporting a pile of twigs in her curls.

Kelley and Nate met at the ripe age of thirteen at the same international, Christian school they have returned to. Somehow through the awkwardness of adolescence Nate developed his second life-long love: Kelley. Fast-forward thru two high school and college graduations, one marriage, seven years of life in Chicago, and two babies and they are back right where they started at thirteen … hopefully with a little more to give and a lot more years to come.