• Family - Recipes

    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…

  • Children - Family

    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…

  • Faith - Family

    A Reward with Added Dimension

    Her name was Naomi, but she said, “Call me Mara”. Mara means bitter. Her husband and her sons had died and left no heir. She was impoverished. Ruth saw the great sorrow of her mother-in-law and chose to stay with her. She was willing to travel from Moab to Judea,…

  • Family - Michigan

    Celebration with Finnish Prune Tarts

    There are special holiday treats in the Finnish tradition. One of them is the prune tart or joulutorttu (Christmas tart). My mother and my aunt made these at Christmas time. My Aunt Syl made them for my wedding reception. During the last summer vacation with my Dad (he was 89…

  • Children - Faith - Family

    It’s Okay to be Different

    Currently I am studying the book of Deuteronomy. The nation of Israel was about to enter the promised land and Moses was giving instructions to the people. In the book, the word— fear— appears 29 times. Israel is instructed to fear (revere) God and NOT to fear man. It is…

  • Faith - Family

    A Mother’s Role

    It is a blessing to participate in the Five Minute Friday writing community. We write on the prompt that Kate Motaung gives. Visit the site to meet other writers and to read their posts. Today’s prompt is: JUST The dictionary offers these definitions for just: conforming to a standard of…

  • Berries - Family - Finland

    Traditions and Heritage

    My mother picked strawberries and wild blueberries with her mother, and so did I. My Finnish heritage has given me a an appreciation for berries, wild and cultivated.  Berries are abundant in Finland (37 types of edible wild berries) and an important addition to the diet. Enjoyment of berries is…

  • Faith - Family

    Seasons of Life

    There are season of the year and seasons of life.  Being transformed from a young professional to a mother . . . The wonder of motherhood and being stretched in mind and body. So quickly the days scurry by with play groups, preschool and            …

  • Children - Faith - Family

    Building a Home

    It is day eight for #Write28Days.  I am joining the Five Minute Friday Community and will write with Kate’s prompt for today: BUILD. One of the Songs of Ascents in the book of Psalms mentions building a house. The Hebrew word for house in the text is bayith. The definition,…