Thanksgiving is approaching and I have begun some early preparations. Our family has a favorite cornbread dressing, but it is a complicated and time-consuming recipe. I have made it ahead. While in the kitchen I have been thinking about many blessings in my life, especially one. I am thankful for…
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Crowds and the Confirmation Hearing
Senate confirmation hearings can be boring. Not the hearing for Judge Kavanaugh. While protests where taking place at the Capitol, groups of Students for Life were holding rallies across the country. I watched the confirmation hearing for an hour last week and witnessed the loud protests and interruptions that were…
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Flying to Finland to visit my Grandmother’s birthplace
In July of last year my husband and I flew to Finland to visit my grandmother’s birthplace and to attend a family reunion. We had a nonstop flight on Finnair from Chicago to Helsinki Finland. Relatives met us at the airport. My grandmother’s travel to the United States was much…
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Crisis & Prayer
Today I am joining a community that is writing on the prompt: PAUSE Life has been on pause. No, that is not quite right. The nonessentials of life have been on pause. A week ago my grandson developed a critical illness and has been in a pediatric ICU. My daughter…
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Supporting Mothers: The Hike for Life
Over the years I have often participated in the Hike for Life on Mother’s Day weekend. It has been a family event, children included. In the 1990s we hiked along the shore of Lake Michigan in downtown Chicago. Yesterday my daughter reminded me of her first hike. It was the…
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When the Church Responds to Foster Care Needs
On most Fridays I join the challenge to write for five minutes on a prompt given by Kate Motaung. Visit this inspiring community by clicking here. Today’s prompt is: PROVIDE My children are grown and married. Currently we are taking care of my daughter’s children while she and her husband…
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Mental Illness Affects the Whole Family
Yesterday I began the task of going through my brother’s papers. After years in psychiatric hospitals and then group homes he passed away last June. I was his guardian. When I saw the prompt for Five Minute Friday, I was already there emotionally. Sadness and REGRET. When my Dad could…
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Musing About Family and Privilege
The snow has come as forecasted and the world outside my door is cold and white. It is a good day to stay inside. It is Five Minute Friday—the day that we take five minutes, or just a little more—to write on the prompt that Kate Motaung gives us. Today’s…
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Talking About Sex
On Thursday evenings I look forward to seeing the prompt that Kate Motaung has chosen for Five Minute Friday. I enjoy linking up with this community of writers and seeing where the word takes us. Today’s prompt is: INTENTIONAL I was born in the 1950s, before the b.c. pill became…
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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…