In January and February I receive seed catalogues in the mail. I page through them, planning what I will plant in the spring, and I send in my order (or place it on-line). When the seed packets arrive they hold the promise of plants—herbs, flowers and vegetables. It is my…
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Practice Makes the Perfect Pie Crust
Meals and special desserts are a part of family life. In our home we enjoy pies, especially fruit pies. I have practiced and tweaked my recipe for pie crust until I was satisfied. The shortening in pie crust should be 1/3 the amount of flour. (I don’t remember where I…
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Women & Children at Botanica
When we visited Botanica, the Wichita Gardens, I especially enjoyed the focus on women and children. There is a children’s garden area where they can water plants. The children can walk through monster trees and climb the stairs to a fairy house. The peonies, roses, irises and clematis were in…
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Learning from History
Recently I read the novel, Saving Amelie, by Cathy Gohlke. It is historical fiction set in Nazi Germany. The story involves twin girls who were the subjects of medical experimentation. The story was riveting. I didn’t know that there actually was a doctor (gynecologist) who was working on a vaccine…
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Touching and Being Touched
Yesterday we visited the Tanganyika Wildlife Park in Kansas. The park has interaction stations—people can touch the animals and the animals can touch the people. Our grandchildren were delighted to feed a leaf to a giraffe. On lemur island the children fed lemurs that sat demurely on a pole. They…
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The View of Jerusalem from the Mount of Olives: Visiting Gethsemane
In 2012 my husband and I made a trip to Israel with a group of friends from our church. It was amazing to see the places that we had read about in the Bible. The two weeks in Israel were an encouragement to our faith. When we went to Jerusalem…
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A Storm on the Sea of Galilee and Fleas in the Concentration Camp
We lived in troubled times and sometimes it is difficult to discern truth. It is hard to know how we should respond to things happening around us. Looking back over the centuries, this has always been the case in human history. It is thought that the writer of the book…
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March Madness, Texas Tech and Prayer
My daughter is amused that I have become a college basketball fan. “Mom, you never watched basketball!” I responded, “Michigan has a good team this year.” I followed the Wolverines in March Madness and was disappointed when Texas Tech beat them. Then I had to find out how one of…
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Unplanned and Post Abortion Help
Abortion has left a deep wound in our nation, but there are organizations that offer help and healing.
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When Spring Comes and the Flowers Appear Miraculously
For behold, the winter is past; the rain is over and gone. Song of Solomon 2:11 The flowers appear on the earth, the time of singing has come, and the voice of the turtle dove is heard in our land. Song of Solomon 2: 12 I watch my garden beds…