Thanksgiving is a time to gather as a family and count our blessings. The one unchangeable truth about life is it can and often does change in a minute. We made plans, and God prevailed. After offering on three homes in small towns near Knoxville, TN, and having each fall through, we got the message. …
The elders of our church used to have a Christmas party each year, and one of the customs was to pass along the prize “white elephant”. It was singing bass you hung on the wall. Any time someone passed by, that fish would sing – loudly. It was good for a laugh at the party. …
We’ve always been aware of skunks in the green space behind our fence. We can smell them as they pass by in the evening or early morning before the sun comes up. Ranger went after one on the trail behind us, but I was able to drag him away from the fence before he got …
It has been a long time since I have sat in an American history class. Decades in fact. We tend to forget, and in some cases, were never taught the providential history of our nation. People often see and judge the past by current culture. We need to push through the curtain of spin to …
Last year, we didn’t harvest our merlot grapes because the degrees BRIX (sugar content) never reached the number we needed. We left the fruit on the vine, much to the delight of our growing rafter of turkeys. I counted twenty-six at one point. This year, we are hoping our “dry grow” grapes will be succulent …
In this declining world of people who strive to be politically correct, it’s good to look back and see examples of ordinary folk who, even when afraid, did not follow the crowd but stood alone and impacted nations. Think of Noah being called by God to build an ark. Can you imagine Noah’s confusion? No …
There is nothing quite so fun as entering an adventure through reading. One of the most exciting series I’ve read in a long time is Nova McBee’s Calculated, Simulated and Activated. All three books are fast-paced, with appealing characters and a plot that kept me turning the pages. Jo River is a heroine you will …
It seems there are many people following the crowd these days. I think it’s called “group think” now, but it’s really the same thing: mob mentality. We see and hear of it on social media. We see it in the news with people rioting and destroying property, and in some cases, we see and hear …
We have had German Shepherds, each with a unique personality. The first was Hercules, an “alpha”, named after the C-130 Hercules aircraft, foundation of Rick’s business. When I took Herk for a walk, people moved to the other side of the street. He didn’t bark or growl, but he walked like he owned the sidewalk, …
Some years ago, I wanted to explore the broken relationship between my grandmother and my mother. I understood in part, but not the whole. I think people sometimes become more stubborn about their wants as they grow older, and my grandmother had definite expectations in where, with whom and how she would spend her latter …