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Hubby spends hours arranging hotels and deciding routes before we head north to visit folks. At the last minute I grab books, toys, mementoes and other items to give. Before a recent trip we had four or five places to take books. We took 28 boxes of Christian literature to Love Packages in Butler, Ill.…

Shortly after we moved into our new house 45 years ago, Hubby put in a garage door with an electronic opener. In the decades since, he has replaced the remote control three or four times, the door itself once but the track never. Only the loss of electricity interferes with its working. Well that and…

Last week we called a loved one many states away to ask a quick question. As usual no answer, but we expected a quick call back. It came from an ER nurse who had lots of questions. She explained an ambulance brought them in with a head injury from a fall. With no family accompanying…

In the background I hear Tevye and Golde of “Fiddler on the Roof” singing, “Is this the little girl I carried? Is this the little boy at play? I don’t remember growing older. When did they?” The grandchildren that arrived one after another for several years have reached adulthood. That fact hit me when I…

“There were deer standing right beside the road!” our astonished guests from Germany said. “That could be dangerous.” “Yes. It can be,” we agreed. “but what can you do in the Natural State? We can’t line the roads with barriers. We have hundreds of acres of woods and miles of forest lined roads.” They still…

The goal looked impossible when Pastor Jacob Wiebe stood before his congregation and asked if they would “trust Him to do the impossible!” The goal had been on the horizon for ten years: buy property where the Calvario congregation in Mexico could build their own church. According to Linda Wiebe, “We need more space.” They…

“Do you wash windows?” My sister-in-law asked every person on arrival at the family reunion.The question startled some, left others scrambling for an answer or thoughtfully assessing before responding, “No.” “Not often.” “Sometimes.”Hubby and I still say, “It depends on who is coming to visit and when.” We might have wanted to impress my daughter.…

Sometimes a cat shows up and becomes the pet you have been missing. That happened with my friend Natalie. The following is her story. “We have a grey tabby indoor cat who is about 12 years old. She was raised by someone in her 90s. We got her when Stephanie (Natalie’s daughter) saw a Facebook…

Jean Teadford nagged me and her friends to start a church sewing group. We agreed and began making simple clothing items for Operation Christmas Child shoeboxes. I also have made new friends. Some of the late Jean Tedford’s friends who came included three sisters: LaVerne, Barbara and Paula. I had seen LaVerne and Barbara in…

At the school bus’s last stop, a diminutive kindergartener climbed the steppled to sit in the front seat with her legs swinging her black saddle shoes. The white shoe polish on the toes still looked damp. Her mother polished those shoes as carefully as she combed and curled the child’s hair. Polishing shoes is a…

“We will be decorating tomorrow for Daily Vacation Bible School,” the group text announced. Another day of prepping the church and classrooms for five days of DVBS to look as fantastic as every church with Bible School does each summer.  It’s been a few years since I first encountered they hyper-decorated DVBS. That one had…

Followers of the Bible sometimes have to weigh the messages of conflicting verses. For instance In the 1930s and 40s German authorities reminded believers that Romans 13 admonished them to submit to those in authority. Most obediently watched as their Jewish neighbors, co-workers and friends lost their civil rights including the right to practice their…

Maligning the medical field fails to consider its many contributions.For instance, a friend tossed out a disparaging remark about doctors and modern cancer treatments. I immediately thought of my elderly friend. In her late 80s she developed breast cancer. The doctor basically told her to “go home and prepare to die.” She did not go…

The first packing guidelines from Love Packages’ founder Steve Schmidt are, “Fill the boxes nine and a half months pregnant.” In other words, overfill the boxes. A waist high Gaylord Box holds the fillers such as Our Daily Bread and The Upper Room. During our last visit Schmidt assigned Hubby and I to a corner…

Out of the mouths of babes comes wisdom, surprises and insights as shown in the following vignettes. Sam and Henry sat at the table munching cereal one morning when Sam (then 10) turned to Henry (then 7) and confidently told him, “Did you know that you are a BOGO? Buy one, get one free. Mom…