About

It was not while I was reading J.R. Tolkien's book that I saw the quote, "Not all those who wander are lost."  Ironically, it was on an airplane in one of those catalogs filled with odd junk. You know the kind with sciatica saddle pillows or porchy potties for your dog...look it up, it's a real thing!  If you've flown anywhere, you've probably thumbed through one of those catalogs and that is where I saw it.  Hanging thousands of feet above the Atlantic Ocean with three sleeping children buckled in beside me and one snug in my womb.  

"Not all those who wander are lost."

Those seven words summed up my life and the life the Bible calls us to live...to be strangers, pilgrims and sojourners on this earth (Hebrews 11:13-16)...to strive to hold the things of this life loosely, but form tight bonds of love for our fellow mankind.  A purposeful wandering.  

4 states, 3 countries, 15 houses, 5 children, 2 deployments to Iraq, 1 home business, 2 languages and too many adventures to count...18 years of marriage and counting.  This is our story.  Living between cultures, learning the art of transplanting, reaching out, holding tight to each other, but not to this world.  

Hi!  My name is Carie, wife to mighty, adventurous Sam and mom to five off-the-chart third culture kids.  We live in Oaxaca, Mexico, home to numerous people groups, many still under reached.  Sometimes people knock on my gate and I give them a tour of my garden, sometimes we sit with them and drink coffee, and sometimes I follow them to their home for a prenatal exam.  I love that my skills as a midwife are beginning to open ministry doors, but my favorite things are time with my Savior, walking this journey beside my husband and being a mom (in that order).  

We are the Means family, missionaries to Oaxaca, Mexico, striving to make our sojourning in this world count.