Month: June 2022

Waiting on the jury to reach a verdict for the recent murder trial. We sat. We read. We walked out asking to be called when they returned. As the supper hour approached, we stared at the door silently begging for a verdict. A knock sounded. “They knocked! They knocked.” The message spread across the courtroom.…

A temporary return to covering the courts impressed me with the dignity and decorum expected and mandated for all attendees.  Before entering courthouse I saw signs forbidding cell phones. I took mine to my car. The officer at the metal detector audited everyone for guns, handbags and cell phones. I could take in a notebook…

A“Whether the weather be cold. Or whether the weather be hot. We’ll weather the weather, whatever the weather, whether we like it or not.” This old tongue twister recited in the middle of an otherwise unmemorable lecture caught my attention. I sat up and scribbled it down quickly and since then have quoted, especially at…

No forks. No knives. No spoons. Just a huge circle of flat bread folded in quarters on a small plate with a stack of napkins beside it acted as utensils at the Ethiopian restaurant Meskerem in St. Louis. Not what we expected when we decided to broaden our family’s culinary experience at an ethnic restaurant.…

High school graduation promises so many options to the graduates: college, work, boot camp or time to travel. Some organized graduates map out detailed, specific plans for college, summer jobs, internships and career. Many initiate those plans only to realize life does not always go as planned. Occasionally, I meet such students when I allow…

 “You watch a lot of tv,” my husband observed. “It’s a distraction. I get things done while watching shows I missed as a child. My parents said we had more important things to do than watch TV.” As a parent, I agreed. My children read the newspaper, news magazines and books. We bought a black…

With Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, life changed for former El Dorado residents Zac and Kim Wohleb Shepperson. They serve with Josiah Ventures in Slovakia. When asked how the war affected them, Kim responded: “It has changed our life in every way. We left our city and traveled to the Ukraine borders (about five and a…

                Teaching Bible to children can be challenging. Recently, a kindergartener joined my early elementary Sunday School class. He reads, knows many Bible stories, especially the one he has told me twice: “the soldier was thrown in the cave with Elisha’s bones and the soldier came back alive.” I barely had time to acknowledge his knowledge…

An era ended last week when my Aunt Calysta passed; she was just shy of her ninetieth birthday. My sister and I visited her recently. Before I arrived, health concerns landed her in the hospital.  The doctor promised, “we’ll let you out of here when your blood pressure goes down.” “It will go down, if…

In 2020, we quarantined to avoid sickness and exposing others to a disease that passed asymptomatically. We wore masks and answered contact tracing questions to protect people we love. Covid changed how we think about disease as a society. Precautions have gradually loosened. Last year when we traveled, I overheard the following in a Choice…