Awhile back, I asked Madeline Farni to create a collage postcard – something creative that she would send to someone to thank them. She was 17 when she created this beautiful piece. I think it perfectly captures the essence of a BlessBack. Isn’t she talented? As some of you who’ve read my book BlessBack know, I keep postcards. My friends have sent me postcards to places I’ll never have the chance to go to – India, Pisa, Japan and beyond. I love to experience travel through their eyes and hear their stories of different cultures and places they’ve visited. Today,…
Read MoreSale!
Red. It’s a hot color for fall 2013. So, just because . . . . . . red is the color of cardinals, strawberries and my new favorite wine, Apothic Red . . . red is the splash of color to add to your wardrobe this fall . . . you might not be able to afford an airplane ride to Switzerland to see what its army does with all those red knives . . . you might be a bit teary-eyed sending that son or daughter off to school (Don’t worry. They come back.) . . . you might…
Read MoreThe Obedience-Driven Life
No matter what path you’re on, sometimes you might find it hard to keep walking when you don’t see the end in sight. That was me this morning. But then, Brenda Anderson’s blog post arrived in my inbox. I’m so grateful for her encouraging post. Brenda, thank you for being my guest blogger today. THE OBEDIENCE-DRIVEN LIFE by Brenda Anderson It was by faith that Noah built a large boat to save his family from the flood. He obeyed God, who warned him about things that had never happened before. By his faith Noah condemned the rest of the world,…
Read MoreTo-Day
To-Day I know of two newscasters, one on broadcast television and on the other on cable, who end their on-air segments with the phrase “On This Day,” then recap what has happened in years past “on this day.” I love to discover a word’s origins. The word, “today” comes to us in Old English as todӕge, or to dӕge meaning “on (the) day.” “To” and “day” were separate words until the early 1900s. In German, we get *hiu tagu “on (this) day,” with Latin’s influence of “on this side.” When I think of the Latin combination of words to describe today, I…
Read MoreA Sea Glass Day
Can’t think of a better way to start out a Monday than by sitting outside, amidst my sea glass, night-blooming jasmine, with my fingers improving a long-neglected novel called That Summer Place while listening to Arthur Rubenstein play Chopin’s Opus 37. No. 1 in G minor and Prelude, Opus 28, No. 15 In D Flat . Hope you are having a great Monday too. By the way, I’m guest-posting on Joy DeKok’s blog today. Reason for you to visit? By leaving a comment, you’ll get a chance to win two free copies of the paperback version of BlessBack: Thank Those…
Read MorePeople Need a Place to Share and Remember
Today’s guest post is written by Alice J. Wisler, author and grief workshop facilitator. Her book, Getting Out of Bed in the Morning, a grief and loss devotional is a top seller on Kindle. Today her post is about her current release, Memories Around the Table, a cookbook Alice compiled of recipes and stories based on contributors’ memories of loved ones who have passed. The cookbook is getting rave reviews! After reading this post, please leave a comment about your favorite recipe handed down to you from a favorite person who has passed away. Alice will randomly draw a name from the…
Read MoreLavish Love
In college, I studied various communication theories. The one I found most memorable was Young Yun Kim’s Cross-Cultural Adaptation Theory, a theory that explains how immigrants learn to adapt to a new culture and country. Kim explained this theory in Understanding Communication Theory: The Communicative Forces for Human Action, by giving an example of how Korean immigrants accustomed themselves to living in the United States. To acclimate themselves to living in America, the immigrants planted one foot in their new country and kept the other in their old by: Speaking English to those who spoke English Speaking Korean to fellow Koreans Reading…
Read MoreA Perfect Summer Night
The back of my book BlessBack®: Thank Those Who Shaped Your Life says that you can find me in summer in Ottertail county on my Adirondack chair. It’s true. My current favorite Adirondack chair came from a man in Ottertail. He passed away two years ago. My husband and I happened to be gallivanting and spied his family’s garage sale filled with this man’s amazing talent with woodworking. It was June and Rick bought two chairs for my birthday. I love these chairs. They remind me of my dad and what he could have made in his retirement years had…
Read MoreWater fireworks
This Independence Day will mark the third time we have participated in the annual Dead Lake Fourth of July parade. I prefer to call it water fireworks. And it’s not for the faint of heart. It’s the funnest day. Boats of every kind line up at the beginning of North Bay. For an hour, we cruise along the shore in our pontoon decorated for the day. And prepare ourselves for attack. For dock wars. Dock after dock is lined with children, fingers at the ready on their super soaker squirt guns to drench us. We’re ready too. Stowed aboard are…
Read MoreCha-Peep! A guest post from author Joy DeKok
Today I have invited Joy DeKok to write a guest post, based on her newly released devotional book, Under His Wings: Lessons Learned from God While Watching the Birds. This book is a delightful glimpse into how Joy observes life. If you’d like to read my review, you can do so at Amazon here. You can purchase your eBook copy of Under His Wings at Amazon for $3.99 here. Thank you, Joy, for the wonderful post about Cha-Peep the goldfinch and the lessons you learned from watching him. What amazing insights we can learn if only we’ll slow down to glimpse them. Cha-Peep! by…
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