In the past couple weeks I have been feeding, swaddling and cuddling an infant. And I have thought about Mary. The account in Luke tells about the angel’s appearance and promise “You shall call his name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most…
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Advent and the Family
For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son . . . John 3:16 As I think about Christmas and God’s great gift to us, I find it meaningful that Jesus came to a family. He came as an infant to Mary and Joseph, to the family…
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Draw Near to the Savior
The Bluebird Café and Bookstore is a charming shop, located on Main Street in Hutchinson, Kansas. Whenever I visit my daughter we make a trip to this bookstore. As I walked through the aisles this time a colorful picture book caught my eye. Christmas in the Barn was written by…
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Merry Christmas!
Here is a portion of the Christmas letter that I wrote on December 4th and sent out with our cards: The homes in our neighborhood are decorated for Christmas, and today we had our first snowfall. The trees sparkle with white icing. At church we sang Christmas carols and wrote…
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Christmas Bells Still Ringing — from the Pen of a Poet
Over the past couple weeks I have encountered Henry Wadsworth Longfellow twice. I picked up a coffee table book at a home I was visiting. The book had beautiful photos, enticing recipes and quotes from famous writers. One of the quotes was from Longfellow and I wrote it down. I…
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Flowers and Wreaths at the Chicago Botanical Garden
We had a lovely afternoon at the Chicago Botanical Garden. The flowers were in bloom in the conservatories. Lovely wreaths adorned the walls. Poinsettias lined the displays and were hanging from the ceiling! A variety of trains were on display as a Christmas exhibit. The miniature trains travel on tracks…
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Healthy Orange Spice Cookies
My mother grew up on a small Finnish farm in Upper Michigan. At Christmas she would remind us that oranges are a special treat. When she was a girl her family had oranges only on Christmas. As a tradition we always received an orange in our Christmas stocking. When…
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We went to see Star Wars
Who is your favorite character in Star Wars? When Han Solo and then R2– D2 made their appearance in the new movie the audience gave them a round of applause. The first Star Wars movie came out during the first year of my marriage. I saw it with my husband. The…
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A Rose, Love and the Savior are in this Old Carol
The violins, piano and voices of the choir gave a beautiful rendition of an old German carol. I was swept away from the news reports and troubles in our community. Jesus is the way, the truth and the life. Here are the lyrics to this carol, Lo How A Rose:…
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A Flower that Survives the Snowstorms
It is December in Illinois, and throughout our neighborhood there are winter decorations. We have a wreath on our door. My display of angels celebrating the birth of Jesus is in our foyer. We have had two snowstorms and to my surprise the calendula flower has two buds. It may…