About Us

We are a Catholic couple blessed with two children. David is presently employed as Principal of Holy Family School, a Catholic elementary school. American with widespread international interests.  He has grew up in Colorado Springs and is the oldest of five children. He and Lilia met in 2000-01 while he was working in northern Kyrgyzstan with Mercy Foundation. He has previously studied at Stanford University and worked in the PLACE teaching corps and as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Astana, the capital of Kazakhstan. Our broad goals are to become holy, to live faithful, good, and interesting lives; to help others; and to live out our vocation as a family. 

David likes to read, play the guitar, write, climb mountains, collect quotations, and travel (including England, France, Germany, Austria, Haiti, Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Egypt, Israel, Pakistan, Turkey, Canada, Mexico, Alaska, and Hawaii). Like most people on this planet, we are convinced that a simple life is a good one. After all, the most crucial things in life are elemental and accessible to all, i.e. to seek justice, love mercy, and walk humbly with God (Micah 6:8). Likewise, the most unquenchable joys in life are also the most elemental: love, friendship, a good walk, a still moment to look at the tree or sky or snow or stars with wonder as for the first time, playing with children, an evening with old friends, watching the sun set, sincere compliments given and received, running, dancing, singing, exploring wilderness, discussing life questions, meeting new and interesting people, celebrating holidays, taking each day as it comes. So, I try to find a golden mean between enjoying and living today simply but well and working toward goals that insure I do not squander my gifts through laziness or lack of forethought and planning.

We both converted to Catholic Christianity from Protestant backgrounds. David has written about the reasons for his conversion in two articles, one shorter and the other longer. We love the Church, despite its obvious faults, because it offers a refreshing counter to the prevailing values and so many inspiring saints to guide and challenge.

Favorite Books:

Bible
The Brothers Karamazov Fyodor Dostoevskii
Lost in the Cosmos Walker Percy
Confessions Augustine
A Separate Peace John Knowles
Lord of the Flies William Golding
Les Miserables Victor Hugo
Face of a Hero Pierre Boulle
To Kill A Mockingbird Harper Lee
The Great Gatsby F. Scott Fitzgerald
First Love Ivan Turgenev
All the King�s Men Robert Penn Warren
Pride and Prejudice Jane Austin
The Natural Bernard Malamud
The Bridge of San Luis Rey Thornton Wilder
Ethan Frome Edith Wharton
The Age of Innocence Edith Wharton
A Tale of Two Cities Charles Dickens
Crime and Punishment Fyodor Dostoevskii
Sorrow Acre Isak Dinesen
The Mountain of my Fear David Roberts
Dancing Alone: The Quest for Orthodox Faith in an Age of False Religions Frank Schaeffer
Darkness at Noon Arthur Koestler
Pensees Blaise Pascal
The Will to Believe William James
The 100: A Ranking of the 100 Most Influential
People of History Michael Hart
Master and Man Tolstoy
The God Who is There Francis Schaeffer
Christian Letters to a Post-Christian World Dorothy Sayers
Creed or Chaos? Dorothy Sayers
Sickness unto Death Kierkegaard
Meditations on Philosophy Descertes
Mo Tzu: Basic Writings trans/ed. Watson
Yusuf and Zulaikha Jami
Do You Believe in God? Karl Rahner
Dom Casmurro Machado de Assis
The Cocktail Party. T.S. Eliot
The Family Reunion. T.S. Eliot
The Seven Storey Mountain. Thomas Merton
No Man is an Island. Thomas Merton
Grammar of Assent John Henry Newman
The Development of Doctrine John Henry Newman
Till We Have Faces: A Myth Retold. C.S. Lewis
Surprised by Joy C.S. Lewis
The Abolition of Man. C.S. Lewis
The Problem of Pain. C.S. Lewis
The Pilgrim�s Regress. C.S. Lewis
The Great Divorce. C.S. Lewis
The Everlasting Man GK Chesterton
Orthodoxy GK Chesteron
The Man Called Thursday G.K. Chesterton
Reasonable Faith Bill Craig
The Historical Reliability of the Gospels Craig Blomberg
Scaling the Secular City J.P. Moreland
The Lessons of History Durant
The Scandal of the Evangelical Mind Mark A. Noll
Living in Truth Vaclav Havel
Native Realm Cselaw Milosz
My Century: The Intellectual Journey of a Polish
Intellectual Aleksander Wat
Under a Cruel Star Heda Kovaly
We Zamiatin
Christian Apologetics Geisler
The Recovery of Belief CEM Joad
Chaka Thomas Mofolo
The Eighth Day Marek Hlasko
Handbook of Christian Apologetics Kreeft and Tacelli
Catholicism and Fundamentalism Karl Keating
Lead, Kindly Light: My Journey to Rome Thomas Howard
Philosophers Who Believe ed. Kelly James Clark
Why Catholic? ed. John DeLaney
All Saints. Robert Ellsberg
Spiritual Exercises Ignatius of Loyola
Telling Secrets Francis Buechner
War and Peace Tolstoy
Master and Margerita Bulgakov