Discouragement colored my husband’s face as he came through the door and dropped the car keys on the hall tree. “I just had a fender bender.” Shocked, I asked the obvious. “Are you all right?” Nothing like this had happened in our forty-three years of marriage. But he’d had a rough Thanksgiving week. His only […]
Faith Matters
Don’t Rain on our Parade
The rain started falling last night, tapered off this morning, and returned to drizzle around noon. The community held its collective breath—would the annual Springfield Oregon Christmas parade be ruined? Dubbed the oldest and coldest parade in the nation, the event would celebrate is 66th year of issuing in the Christmas season. The show had […]
A Holiday Welcome
2018 Holiday Blog Tour Stop #18 “Welcome to Mountain Brook Ink’s 2018 Holiday Blog Tour! We’re so excited you’ve decided to join us on this journey of family, friends, traditions, and memories over the next month. You as our reader have done so much to pour into our lives, and this season we want to […]
Thank A Veteran
Veteran’s Day, a special day in which we honor those who have served in our country’s military, falls Sunday. I was reminded this week of how much I owe those individuals who have given themselves to preserve my freedoms. My elderly neighbor, now 96, served as a gunner on a B-17 during WWII. My brother-in-law spent […]
Autumn Declares God’s Glory
Has autumn’s magical wand swept through your yard yet this year? This past week seems to have brought out the seasonal changing-of-the-guard here where I live. Gold, orange, and red have replaced the green in many of the trees signaling the approach of winter and the intent of the flora around us to sleep. My […]
I Get Letters
One of the surprises I’ve experienced releasing three novels and writing a weekly blog for the past eight years has been the reactions of readers. Various individuals have blessed me with their appreciation of and their personal reactions to the messages I post. I never know how often the post gets read, but I believe […]
An Uncelebrated Birthday
This weekend my sister, the cute little girl in the front of the family photo above, would have turned another year older. I would have purchased a card and put money in it, then sent it as a surprise to her mailbox. I wrote about her untimely death in July, so I won’t repeat my words. Instead, […]
A Kite on the Wind releases
Not too many years ago our city of Springfield, Oregon was embroiled in a controversy over allowing a new medical facility, Peace Health Sacred Heart Medical Center at Riverbend, to be built near the juncture of I-5 and the city limits, not far from a community hospital already serving the community. Riverbend won the dispute […]
The Great Labor Day Divide
Labor Day has always been an oxymoron to me. On a day dedicated to the working man, no one works. Unless you have a yard, a house, and a family—then you spend the day working on those or for those. Your day off really isn’t. For some it is the last weekend for a family […]
Back From Conference
Uplifted. Refreshed. Inspired. This past week I spent the better part of four days attending the Oregon Christian Writers summer conference in Portland, Oregon. Theme for the week was Opening Doors and centered around the scripture of Colossians 4:2 (NIV), which reads: “Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful. And pray for us, too, that […]