Obituaries

Everything has it's season ? sadly, sometimes even family traditions.Growing up, holidays revolved around spending time with my family and eating way too much food. Summers were spent at my grandparent's house at the lake where card games on the porch gave us a moment away from the glare of the hot Missouri sun during afternoons filled with swimming, kayaking and fishing.Thanksgiving was always held at my ...

About every third article I come across this week seems to be geared toward bettering oneself in the new year ? even subtly. From people showing off how they have conquered new diet trends to columns about how to love better in the next 365 days, this week is a time for people to reflect on what they have accomplished ? but more so, what they have not.Ever since I can remember, I have always craved a fresh ...

When Jens (pronounced ?Yens?) Carlsen drove down the hill for the first time on Highway 61, past the Iowa State Penitentiary, into Ft. Madison and saw the frozen Mississippi River, he wondered if he had made the right decision. Where were the hockey rinks?It wasn't until he walked into the Faeth Cigar Store and viewed fishing tackle on one side of the store and guns on the other that he decided America might be ...

Psalms 37:27-28a, ?Turn from evil and do good, and you will live in the land forever. For the Lord loves justice, and he will never abandon the godly.Want to know the secret to a long life? Here it is. Turn away from sin and do what is good in God's eyes. The promise is that if we do this, we will live forever. But here is the catch; in order for us to do this, we must confess our sins to Christ and turn them ...

Along with the conifers that serve so beautifully as Christmas trees, many of us associate several other plants with this season. Mistletoe, poinsettias and holly all have their places in Christmas lore and décor.Mistletoe is a sort of odd duck. A parasitic plant, it sometimes kills the very trees on which it depends. However, it is beneficial as either a food source or habitat to some species of wildlife. ...

Galatians 4:4-5, ?When the fullness of time came, God sent forth his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, that we might receive adoption as sons.On a sad day in September 2001, terrorism hit our nation. And on that same day came two little boys to our home through foster care. The first question one of the boys asked when he met me, ?Will this be my forever home??I didn't know that day those boys would ...

Admittedly, I was raised in a different era than today's young people.Most mothers were stay-at-home mothers during my formative years. Without any disrespect to today's working mothers, I think we were better off to have grown up with mothers nearby. I realize that in today's economics, a mother staying home often is not an option.I consider myself doubly blessed because not only was my mother always there, my ...

I will be teaching a creative writing class in my home in Mt. Pleasant this January and February. We will meet for six sessions on Saturday mornings for a couple of hours to discuss your writing. Ginnie may provide chocolate chip cookies if I can sweet talk her into it. Class size is limited to six. If interested, my contact info is at the end of this column.Speaking of Ginnie, I think she's slipping a little, ...

Psalms 32:3-4: When I refused to confess my sin, I was weak and miserable and I groaned all day long.Carrying around sin in your soul is a miserable way to live. If you care at all about the condition of your soul and your relationship with God, you will be troubled by sin. You will not be at peace with God or yourself. You will have a sense of guilt over your sin. You will wonder if anyone else knows what you ...

The days before Christmas were quickly rushing by during the winter of 2012 when I was working as a cashier at Hy-Vee. I spent many of those days picking up extra shifts during the holiday break, trying to make some extra cash to pay for Christmas gifts and put in good face time with my managers.I don't remember anyone explicitly telling me to wish customers a ?happy holiday? instead of ?merry Christmas,? but it ...