The Other Mother: A Tribute to Foster Mothers, Adoptive Mothers , Stepmothers and Stand in the Gap Mothers

Late into the night, Marjorie Nagel writes in a journal listing feeding and sleeping schedules, as well as cuddle times.  She has done this for each of the eighty-two babies that Marjorie has fostered.  A diary of the daily love and care they received intermingles with the frequent photos Marjorie snaps and labels.  Of course, […]

The Mighty Eighth: The Boomtown Bomber

“Courage is not living without fear. Courage is being scared to death and doing the right thing anyway.” –Chae Richardson The bombardier died at his post. Two other crewmen sustained injuries. The pilot knew that things might not end well. But he forged ahead. On December 30, 1942, Captain Clyde Walker flew his Flying Fortress […]

The Hugging Quilt: Weighted Blankets for Autism

“He’s twenty years old, and my wife still tucks him in at night, offering a little prayer, making sure that a comforting weighted blanket covers him, and always getting his biggest smile for her effort.”   -Timothy Fountain, Raising a Child with Autism At age twenty-five, it should have been easy. But it wasn’t. When the nurse […]

The Dust Bowl: How Did It Happen?

Childhood memories Living in Greeley, Colorado, as a child, water conservation made perfect sense. My mother used a wringer washing machine with two tubs of rinse water. After hanging the wet clothes on the lines, she emptied the tubs by carrying buckets of the water to the strawberry bed, the potato patch and the pea […]

The Dust Bowl Diet: Eating in a Drought

“How can you frighten a man whose hunger is not only in his own cramped stomach but in the wretched bellies of his children? You can’t scare him–he has known a fear beyond every other.” John Steinbeck, Grapes of Wrath Sunshine in a Jar Stock photo Having been raised in farming country by a frugal mother, […]

The Comfort of Autumn Quilts

“And just like that, autumn overtook summer with the softest kiss.”   -unknown Photo by Martingale Like the bees buzzing in the air, we humans think that warm days will never cease. But the crispness of the breeze signals that a new season will dawn with produce that is ripe to the core. Abundant orchards of […]

The Code Breakers of WWII

“This kind of work, particularly in the early stages of a difficult cryptanalysis, is perhaps the most excruciating, exasperating, agonizing mental process known to man.”  – David Kahn, The Codebreakers. A female code breaker and member of the WAVES (Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service) program operated a Naval Security Station cryptanalytic machine to help decode […]

The Closing Song

“The family of God is the choir, and God is their audience.”  – Keith Getty On any given Sunday morning, the congregation is filled with people with hearts that are aching. Some face joblessness and debt. Others struggle with pornography or opioid addiction. Alcoholism. Unfaithful spouses. Rebellious children and prodigal youth. Unexpected pregnancy. Medical issues. Lost […]

The Art of Gratitude

“Gratitude turns what we have into enough. – Melody Beattie Photo by smorielorrie on flickr with Thimbleberries pattern The proverbial glass is always half full for me. Some say, “Cleo can find the good in even a garbage pile.” That’s true. For an art project in college, I water-colored a pile of overflowing trash cans […]

Thanksgiving Tribute to Legacy and Pickled Beets

On Thanksgiving Day, our family will gather around a table laden with the usual dishes: cranberries in Jell-o, mashed potatoes, sweet potato casserole, green beans, oven-warm rolls, sliced turkey and pickled beets. Lots of pickled beets, for everyone from grandpa to preschoolers relishes that tangy taste from home grown and canned pickled beets. This love […]