My Time at the Inn

Today, I got my Mother's family Bible out to go through it. I found a some letters she had saved  that meant a lot to her. These letters gave me new insight into my mother and my grandmother.  When my mother had turned 75, We, her children, wrote the little paper from her hometown requesting anyone who remembered her to send a birthday card.  Esther Knaippelmeir wrote her a four page letter. My mother had been her teacher in a one room school.  "In the early thirties," she wrote, "the depression years where nobody had much money.  I remember the long ways to school, made over clothes, and sometimes not to (sic) much in my lunch bucket (usually syrup pails.)" She continued, "I remember when you first started teaching at Dewey, there were seven boys and one girl (me). Then later in the spring, the Bohling kids and I think the Mehlins moved in, that made about ten kids more.  Then we had enough for a ball team."  She goes to say that sometimes th...

Mark Twain once said, "Wrinkles should merely indicate where smiles have been."   Smiles can make a dull day seem brighter.  I hope these few anecdotes will bring a smile or two to your faces.  The other day while cleaning I came across an old journal in which I had written some funny things I had children say, both my own children and nieces an nephews.  Here a few of them, and I hope it brings smiles to your faces. 1.  Mama, do you know where cows go to church?  They go to the Calf-o-lic church! 2.  We had just moved into our house. Boxes lay strewn all over the floor.  My two toddlers had gotten into the Cheerio box and little round o's dotted the carpet, and the vacuum cleaner had no bags.  The doorbell rings.  Before I had a chance to think my five year goes to the door.  "Mommy, the Pastor's here." I walk into the living room and find Matthew entertaining him and heard him say, "Sorry about the mess, ...

First things first: sounds simple doesn't it ?  Put first things first in your life, but often I find myself in a quandary simply because I did not put the first thing first.  The first thing first should be prayer.  Before a commitment to do or not to do something, the best way to proceed would be to pray and ask God's direction.  Should I do this thing or should I not?  Here I am in a quandary feeling quite overwhelmed with myself all because I did not pray and seek God's direction in a certain matter.  Have you ever done that?  Often I get into these situations because I cannot bring myself to say no when I clearly know no should be the answer.  Sometimes I shamefully forget to think about praying about doing something, because the thing that needs doing is such a good thing to do.  But, even good things can be bad things, when you are not the one to be doing them.  Does that make sense?  I hope so. So, now that I have gone a...

Some people don't like rain, but I love a rainy day.  Perhaps it is because we do not get a lot of rain in the desert, but even when I lived in the mid-west, I loved rainy days.  Rainy days remind me of God's cleansing of the earth.  Rain sweetens the air and it feels fresher; it washes the earth, waters the flowers, and reminds me that God's love washes over me like rain. Rain causes my rainwater lilies to bloom.  Rain makes the trees look greener, and all the little animlas come out after the shower to drink from the pools of water.  Rain revitalizes the earth; and it always revitalizes my spirit.  It's restful. Rain reminds me of my mother.  Mama would always get the urge to bake on rainy days.  On rainy school days, we always looked forward to coming home, because we knew something yummy would await us; it might be cookies, cake, or cinnamon rolls, and always they were fresh from the oven just as we walked through the doors!  Today ...