It was the usual mayhem of opened plastic totes, lids tossed aside and Christmas decor spilling onto the floor. A just decorated tree and mantel already changed the entire look of the room. Awash with color and lights, every inch announced the arrival of the season. Three little boys added intensity with high pitched squeals, […]
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A year ago, before the shadow of Covid darkened our skies, my daughter wrote a guest post. As we look for the light at the end of the 2020 tunnel, it relates to our lives now even more. The most powerful lessons of thanksgiving often come from the least likely of dark places. My life […]
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I’ve written before about my hatred for goats, but somehow this year, it seems appropriate to revisit that dislike. No Thank You I hated goats. Dorothy hated being milked. She was an ugly brown thing, clumsy and dumb, the recipient of my deepest scorn. It was still pitch dark and the ground was frozen. […]
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“Why?” my grandson asks. A little hand pats my leg, soft but insistent. Round blue eyes search mine as if the connection somehow might supply what he needs to know. Maybe those annoying repetitions of a child are much more than they seem. Read the Article Here on Just18summers.com
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Proclamation 118—Thanksgiving Day, 1864 October 20, 1864 Now, therefore, I, Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States, do hereby appoint and set apart the last Thursday in November next as a day which I desire to be observed by all my fellow-citizens, wherever they may then be, as a day of thanksgiving and praise to […]
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Our first child cried a lot. Understatement. New mom terror of that piercing cry and the absolute certainty it brought reinforced my insecurity. I had no idea what I was doing. In the rare quiet moments, I hardly dared breathe. I was afraid of breaking the spell and bringing her quivering bleat to a scream […]
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Somewhere between the I-can’t-do-everything-around-here and the it’s-easier-to-do-it-myself syndrome I hear the whisper, “Don’t forget Me.” But the day is full and fragmented. A tiny face with serious eyes bores into my closed ones. Level with my pillowed head they pull me from a dead sleep. “I gotta go potty,” a little voice announces. It is […]
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“For we are co-workers in God’s service; you are God’s field, God’s building.” 1 Cor. 3:9 (NIV) “A house tells a lot about the person who lived in it,” my husband, the carpenter mumbled. He looked his grimy self, covered with sawdust, clothed in painter’s attire. “I’m sure the owner of our previous house is […]
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“You’re never too old to want your dad to be proud of you,” my husband stated the other night as we both collapsed into bed, tired from a day of hard work. Those poignant words took me immediately to the memory of my dad. His praise had such a huge impact on me then that […]
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“So,” she asked, “are you beginning to feel settled yet?” How do I answer that, I wonder? Should I mention we haven’t even carried our furniture up from the basement because first we have to paint the walls and redo the flooring? Or should I begin with the re-wiring saga, or drywalling? Maybe I could […]
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