2024
We’ve watched loved ones walk through diagnoses, treatments, and life challenges this year. But in the midst of the grief, the Lord gave us reminders of His faithfulness.
It’s been a tradition in my family for three generations… Grandpa Marvin and Grandma Mary started sending out a annual Christmas card picture the year their first child was born. I’ve heard that Grandma often included handwritten notes in each, until she finally began sending the same photocopied letter to everyone sometime in the 1980’s….
Grandma was a woman of many roles and responsibilities—a real-life Proverbs 31 woman. She was a thrifty cook and a meticulous housekeeper. A skilled nurse and industrious businesswoman. An avid photographer and a careful historian. She was a voracious reader and a frequent letter writer. A faithful wife, loving mother, precious grandmother, and doting great-grandmother….
I was born in a valley known for its production of peppermint. We named our first dog Minta as we sat on our front porch swing and watched the mint trucks drive by. When I was eight, we moved across a few fields to twenty acres planted in peppermint. My brother and I loved to…
We sat around the table the other day swapping book titles with cousins we hadn’t seen in years. Our children share a love of many of the same series and authors, but my oldest still filled both sides of a sheet of paper with hastily scribbled titles for them to check out. That conversation got…
An annual Christmas letter and family photo has been a tradition in my family since I was born, but really it goes back even further than that: my parents started the tradition in 1982 as their version of the annual Christmas card photo that my paternal grandparents began in 1957, the year their first child…
Dear Family and Friends, 2023 has held triumphs and tears, but even in the grief we’ve been held in the grip of God’s grace. In January, we attended the award banquet for the 2022 Veterans of Foreign Wars “Voice of Democracy” audio essay youth scholarship program where Ruth tied for second place in Washington state….
Step into a world filled with art…and danger! Lovers of Vincent van Gogh, Lillias Trotter (a little-known artist of the Victorian era), and Georgia O’Keefe, be prepared to meet characters with the same names and the same love of art in Carolyn Leiloglou’s new book Beneath the Swirling Sky. When Vincent’s parents drop him and…
Once upon a time, there were three cousins. Their names were Izzy, Penelope, and Luke. Each one had different interests and different opinions on almost everything, but each one also awaited a happy ending to their not-so-happy romantic lives. Izzy found her bookishly-ever-after in Authentically, Izzy and now it’s her cousin Penelope’s turn to shine…
Papa was a humble man with a hidden sense of humor.
One of his favorite sayings was, “Eat dessert first in case of the rapture.”
Papa was a man of few words, but when he spoke, it was worth listening. He taught us so many memorable lessons—in both word and in deed.
When evening on the ranch was grey
His footsteps on the path were heard.
Before the dawn he would awake,
And work until the evening came.
Many who recognize the name of Elbert Hubbard would rightly associate his name with the Roycrofters and the arts and crafts movement. But a few years ago, my husband and I heard two stories about Elbert Hubbard’s writing which we will never forget. Hubbard was a well-known writer and philosopher in his day, many of…
The End.
The End.