About

I am Zoe, married to Brian, and we are beginning the adventure of our lives — adopting from Ethiopia. I’m a native Nova Scotian, eldest of 10, extrovert. He’s an introvert, only child, born in Hollywood. Somehow, it works!

This blog will record our adoption journey, as well as the stuff of life I feel like writing about.  And if you’re lucky, I may subject you to my amateur photos. (The ones here were taken by our friend, Renata Grzan, a real talent — check her out.) Please stop by whenever you can.

Zoe & Brian by www.renataphotography.com

Our Passions

Zoe: All things food and health related, human rights, reading, stimulating conversation, red shoes, farmers’ markets, body products that smell like the forest, wine, dirty martinis, dark chocolate turtles.

Brian: History, books, antiquities, mixed martial arts, books, intelligent arguments, good prose, CounterCulture coffee, books, Hendrick’s Gin, and did I mention books?

Recommended Reading

So many books, so little time… The End of the Affair by Graham Greene,  The Chess Garden by Brooks Hansen, A Soldier of the Great War by Mark Helprin, Napoleon by Vincent Cronin, Rubicon by Tom Holland, Death Comes to the Archbishop by Willa Cather, Silence by Shusaku Endo, The Omnivore’s Dilemma by Michael Pollan, anything by Ruth Reichl, anything by Wendell Berry, A Brief History of the World by E. H. Gombrich, On Writing Well by William Zinsser, Exiles by Ron Hansen, Abandonment to Divine Providence by Jean-Pierre de Caussade

Must-See Films/Series

The Wire (look for yours truly in Season 5), John Adams, Firefly, The Office (British version), Band of Brothers, Planet Earth, Rome, Thin Red Line, Sense and Sensibility, Rivers and Tides, The Kid Stays in the Picture, The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford, Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon, Iron Man, The Lives of Others, Moulin Rouge, Babette’s Feast, It’s a Wonderful Life, Doubt, Meet the Parents, Up, Food, Inc.

Favorite Saints

Joseph, Augustine, Athanasius, Francis, Therese of Lisieux, Elizabeth of Hungary, Edith Stein, Catherine of Siena, Damien de Veuster, Mother Theresa, Paul the Apostle, and the Virgin Mary

P.S. About our blog name…

“Chasing Saints” is a play on our last name and speaks to chasing down our kids — where ever they are — and bringing them home. It’s also about trying (and oh, so badly failing) to follow in the footsteps of the good and brave and holy people who show us the way to love. Brian came up with the name. He’s smart like that.