Serve by Design

It was a day or two before Thanksgiving that our oldest granddaughter, Chloe, popped the question, "Poppi, when are you decorating your Christmas tree?" This grand is always jazzed about Christmas! Each year, since she was a little girl, Chloe Michelle has helped her Mimi and me with Christmas decorating. If you knew that she already had her room decorations up on November 1st, you can imagine that she was more than a little anxious to help her grandparents "catch up" to the Christmas Season! Inspecting Charlie's Gingerbread House! I am a stickler about not putting up our decorations until Thanksgiving Day is over. Although I enjoy the ambience of a well-decorated family room with a beautifully lighted tree adorned with keepsake ornaments, garlands and red bows above the entry ways, and greenery threaded with red stringed beads on the mantle, I don't like to hurry into Christmas! So, Friday or Saturday after "Turkey Day" is soon enough for me! It w...

Those of us in the Midwest have had some unusually beautiful late fall days! Although it is still a day away from the official beginning of the winter solstice at 9:27pm on December 21 st , even the local tv weather person has coined a phrase, “fall-winter,” to describe the dry conditions and above average temperatures we have been enjoying for several weeks now. My fall leaf mulching detail has been extended to a few more weeks as a result! Surprise! Not just another sunrise! Photo credit: Granddaughter Eloise I’m not sure if it is directly connected to the weather, but I have personally seen some awe-inspiring sunrises during this period of above average temperatures. One of our artistic granddaughters, Eloise, captured such a gorgeous sunrise just a few days ago on her Friday car ride to school. She has an eye for beauty and found God’s handiwork that morning to be an excellent palette for her photo! She would be surprised to hear the following Sunday morning how her pastor had gott...

It is estimated that between sixty and a hundred million homeless cats live in the U.S. (peta.org). Many of them have been abandoned. Some will be sheltered for a time. A few will be fortunate enough to be rescued. A male cat named Trauma is one of the lucky ones! A cat DNA would be required (and yes, there is such a thing!) to definitively identify his breed. He is thought to be a smaller version of the Maine Coon which is one of the oldest natural breeds in North America. Trauma: Healthy and Happy! Trauma’s rescue story began with a woman who worked as a Trail Crew guide for the United States Forest  Service. Marty (not her real name) made a career of planning hiking trips for adventurous individuals. This put her in peak physical condition as she was often required to carry heavy gear as a part of her job. Fifteen years ago, Marty was out in the great outdoors when she happened upon a mangy cat that was obviously homeless and in great physical and probable psychological distre...

It has been an exciting month for space enthusiasts! (Moi included!). The Artemis 1 unmanned moon mission concluded on Sunday, December 11 with re-entry of the Orion space capsule and its splashdown and recovery after more than three-weeks. The mission, to and from, including a wide-swooping loop around the moon after 1.4 million miles, was epic. The images taken by the spacecraft cameras have been breathtaking and vivid! Borrowing an exclamation from the Star Trek television series, this mission into deep space (like the fictional Starship Enterprise) promises to take us in the future to distances beyond the moon “where no man has gone before!” "When I consider Your heavens...the moon and the stars... What is man that You are mindful  of him... that You visit him?" (Ps. 8:3-4). (Photo Credit: NASA) The 25,000-mph re-entry into earth’s atmosphere exposed Orion’s newly advanced heatshield to temperatures of more than 5000 degrees Fahrenheit. This shield had never been tested ...

Sometimes when I am reading or watching television, one phrase will stick in my mind. This is what happened Christmas Day as I watched the launching of the James Webb Space Telescope and then followed the event by reading around it in the news. The Webb Space Telescope was named after the second administrator of NASA, James Webb, who was appointed to his position by President John F. Kennedy. Webb guided the agency during the Apollo era. James Webb Space Telescope Image credit: iStock.com The launch of the J.W. Telescope is sure to eclipse the innovation and importance of its enduring predecessor, Hubble, back in April of 1990. This innovative and costly ten-billion-dollar space observatory has a unique purpose as it orbits our sun. The goal of its mission is to study infrared light in deep space. It is expected to be able to “look” 13.7 billion years back in time! Scientists hope that this telescope will give insights into the origins and beginnings of the universe. This Christmas sea...

Marc and I made a quick trip to Vandalia just days before Christmas so he could eat breakfast with Grandpa Joe. Living in Texas means that he doesn’t get the opportunity to catch up with his 92-year-old grandfather as often as he would like. Marc has always been a family guy. I refer to him as our middle child since he was born between his older brother and his twin sisters. As a result of his birth order, he has always championed both sides! He can easily brag on Matt and equally celebrate what Michelle and Melissa are accomplishing. He loves all things family and will make sacrifices of time and distance to put himself in the place where he can continue to bless all of us with his time and attention. Of course, this comes back to him because each of his siblings and his parents too, think he is a very special guy! Brooks' Farm, Vera, Illinois On many occasions when we are with grandpa, he likes to drive us around the town and countryside doing what he calls, “running his traps!”...

My wife and “editor-in-chief” has been correcting me for years! And I’m not just thinking about her weekly and helpful comments regarding this blog! She loves to correct me when I misspeak or sing the wrong word in a Christmas carol as seems to occur every holiday season. I could argue that for some reason I have always found the phrase, “I wonder as I wander” in the beautiful carol, The Wonder of Christmas by John Niles, to be somewhat of a “tongue-twister” for me! You would think two similar sounding words like these should be an allowable nuance when singing, but Monique can detect the slightest of caroling infractions in only a moment. She will lean toward me and sarcastically question, “So you wander as you wonder?” I try not to act upset, but I am! 😉 "Star of Wonder"  Credit: unsplash.com I do love the wonder of this season and I like singing about it too! Do you realize how often the word, wonder or a form of the word, comes up in carols and conversations during Chri...

Over the years, I have often said, “It was Monique’s idea to have a large family!” As she would explain it, this vision for family began to emerge when she was a little girl taking care of her many play baby dolls! Truth can now be told that after meeting and falling in love with her, I was totally unaware of her dream to build this family that now numbers twenty-one counting mom, dad, four children, spouses, and twelve grandchildren. I was naïve about how this vision would play out in our marriage and in the making of our home! I have told her, “All I ever wanted was you!” And she quickly responds, “All I ever wanted was you and all of them too!” We have been saying this to each for what will soon be fifty years this coming June! "The stockings are hung by the chimney with care!" I was thinking this week about the blessing of our four children. Our oldest has been involved in the politics of persuasion most of his life! He excelled in school, was a champion speller, knew all...

Mimi had a helper the other day as she decorated the Christmas tree. Eloise dropped in for a “working” lunch and to help get the season underway for her grandparents. She was so excited by all the ornaments and decorations in storage bins. Her excitement piqued when she saw so many personalized items. As you can see, she stretched to put her dad’s kindergarten picture ornament up as high as she could reach so that everyone could see it. This is a season to celebrate family and this granddaughter was relishing the opportunity to be decorating together. Our church has also been decorated and the worship space definitely has the feel of Christmas. We are anticipating larger crowds for this season. I believe that many are ready to get back into in-person worship after several months of caution because of the Pandemic and subsequent variants. We need to get back together for fellowship, study and inspiration. While online services have been a blessing to so many, there is still nothing to b...

During this past Christmas season our church participated in an Advent study resourced by Adam Hamilton, senior pastor of Church of the Resurrection in Leawood, Kansas. Hamilton told a vivid story in his book,  Incarnation about how Resurrection sets up the annual Christmas Eve candlelight service. They turn down all the lights in the worship center and sit in absolute darkness for what seems like an uncomfortable amount of time. They are trying to demonstrate that "we cannot appreciate the light that Christ brings until we linger in the darkness for a moment" (p.121). "Crave the Light!" Image credit: depositphotos.com Hamilton further describes the drama that builds in these moments of anticipation, "We sit there in the darkness... babies crying, children antsy, we sit there craving the light... then one candle enters the room" as a reader shares this scripture, "In the beginning was the Word... In Him was life, and that life was the light of men. T...

  Just days before Christmas and all through the room, Not a person could stand or a cleaner could broom! The gifts, stuffers, boxes and packages awaiting their wrappings Were seasonal reminders of loving and celebrative trappings! Santa's Helper! One of Santa’s most dedicated helpers was full of Christmas passion As she studied, contemplated and talked through her every abstraction. Would this match up better with a preteen grandchild or younger? Or… should I bestow this special surprise on a larger age number? The time is counting down without a way to stop the clock. Getting these sacked and delivered is causing me obvious shock! I’d ask Mike to help but he’s bossy, difficult and dismissive! I’ll just plod on my own and pretend to be short of taping adhesive! 🎄🎅🤶 It is for sure that I am not the rhyming writer of our family, but I couldn't resist this little verse! Monique has been writing the family Christmas newsletter for more than thirty years now. W...

 "Hopefully, this is the beginning of the end!" These are the sentiments of many who watched as people in the United Kingdom were being given the first shots to end the Covid-19 pandemic. At the time, I was watching the global news broadcast "France 24" through our Roku and delighted to see the first and second persons vaccinated. The first British person to receive the Pfizer-released vaccine was a ninety-year-old grandmother. The second individual to receive it was an eighty-one-year-old man who had the unique name of William Shakespeare (like the famed English playwright!). I laughed when Francois Picard, the news desk reporter said, while holding back his laughter, "We can't make this up! My colleagues in the newsroom are calling this moment, 'The Taming of the Flu!'" (an obvious and playful reference to Shakespeare's Shrew!). A Vaccine of Hope! Image Credit: iStock.com A little levity is appropriate in order to release the pressure val...

We have a daughter who is coming home with her family to spend Christmas with her identical twin sister! It is "double trouble" once again at this season. Twin sisters and their families home for the holidays! Eleven people will fill up a house for sure! If you don't know, twins are inseparable! They are a great blessing that's hard to explain and impossible to divide! The best of friends and the fiercest of rivals! One thing I have learned over the years, don't take sides because they can "turn on you" in that moment! Like the athletes they are, they will take up for each other and tag team any opposition that comes their way! Since 1939, the Wrigley company has been using twins in their marketing of chewing gum. We have delighted in seeing various twins who have been featured in television commercials over the years. As many of you, we have sung along the catchy Doublemint  tune while chewing away, "Double your pleasure, double your fun, with Doub...

Pretend this is a popular game show. The host makes a statement from a field of general knowledge (literature, history, science, religion, popular culture, etc.) and the contestant identifies the answer with a question. This is delightfully counter-intuitive! Usually, we ask a question and then the hearer simply answers it with a statement. Indulge me, please. First, the statement... "This man has been made famous by questions." Answer is... "Who is Alex Trebek?" I think you have already figured out that I was teasing you with this little exercise of engagement. "What is this about? Who is this child?"  Clip Art Credit: FAVPNG.com Alex Trebek lost his battle with pancreatic cancer on November 9 and passed away at the age of eighty. He will be missed and certainly remembered by his many followers as the quintessential and iconic host of "Jeopardy!" This syndicated game show created by Merv Griffin first aired in 1964 and Trebek had been the steady...