Serve by Design

Mimi has upgraded her iPhone and is slowly adjusting to it. Lately, she has been visiting her setting's app more times than she would care to count! I have gotten in on some of the resets. I was pulling the comforter on my bed back recently and heard what I thought was her signature phone ringtone sounding very loudly from one of the extra bedrooms. Upon investigation, I discovered it was a back-up iPad ringing FaceTime instead. When I opened the device to power it down, I was surprised to see our five-year-old granddaughter in all of her beauty. I immediately said, “Hello, sweet girl, what are you doing back here in Mimi’s work room?” Without responding to my funny question, she simply greeted me, “Hi Poppi!” That kid melts my heart every time she calls! Even though she and her family just returned home to New Mexico from a two-week visit here in Illinois, she still loves to talk with us face to face! It’s a connection we can’t resist! Face-to-Face Connection Image Credit: clipa...

  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...

Recently, I set out on a "mail run" by way of bicycle! It was an overcast day with a slight breeze. I had tucked a plastic bag under my belt and was ready to retrieve the bulk of what is usually categorized as "junk mail." This was to be an easy mile up to the post office and another mile back to the house. Easy-peasy, I thought. After all, every morning I ride a recumbent bike as a part of my fitness workout! That workout ride has a resistance component to it to make it more challenging! I do enjoy an occasional traditional bike ride outdoors, however! This would be another occasion to let the wind part the little hair I have and push me on my way!  "Resistance and Negligence!" At first, I was breezing along without too much difficulty, but within a quarter of a mile, I felt my heart rate increasing and noticed a surprising onset of fatigue. My legs were tiring, my breathing was labored, and for a moment I thought of the obvious, even though I had none of...

 "An Amen Is Nothing to Sneeze At!" This will require some explanation, but hold on for that! When I was a teenager, I would get into trouble at church. Nothing major, but just the kind of antics that had me laughing at inappropriate times. Like when we were standing at the end of a worship service and listening to the choir as they concluded with a beautiful choral Amen. The choir members were all in harmony until the final Amen's. This is the time when the sopranos and altos with great enthusiasm and increased volume would hit the high notes in affirming, "Amen" and drawing out each syllable. Then antiphonally, the tenors and bases would chime in with their corresponding Amen's. It was both melodic and confusing. About the time I would try to step out into the aisle and head for the door, the choir would add another Amen. It seemed to be an endless exercise for an anxious teenager! At last and almost with a whisper, they would conclude, "Amen!" I...

We have one of the best postmasters at our local post office! When we got our PO Box about a year after moving back to Illinois, we were told, "Now be sure to notify everyone that you have a new address. Request that they no longer send mail to you at your physical address." Off the record though, we were all but assured that even if family, friends and businesses sent our mail to the street address, we would continue to receive our mail because the postmaster and other postal employees knew almost every resident of our small community by name! And that has continued to be the case even though Sherman has nearly doubled in size since we first purchased our home nearly thirty years ago. Even Postal Workers Get Frustrated! Since we are on a first name basis with our postmaster, it makes going to get our mail an extra enjoyable experience each day. The Post Office has become another one of our gathering spaces for catching up with friends. That's what makes this interchange ...

Dawson, our "sweet and innocent" (usually sweet, but not always innocent! 👱) four-year-old grandson, was recently disciplined by his thirteen-year-old sister, Chloe. She often plays the part of the "mother hen" when charged with childcare duties while her parents are virtually teaching. "Daws" later protested to his mother by explaining, "You won't believe this!  Chloe put me in time out and I really wasn't that naughty!" We love this kid's creative flair for expressing himself! He just may grow up to be a politician... or a preacher! I've seen some televised images of adults at play during these early days of "unofficial summer" who are attempting to finesse their way around the need for social distancing. It appears that after weeks and months of social shutdown, the tidal wave of pent-up anger could not be held back any longer. Bill McKenzie, a local professional therapist, had an interesting interpretation of what...

We have a family member who is the proprietor of a highly specialized and successful business in a major East Coast city. During a recent conversation. he surprised me by remarking, "I don't want to go back to the normal we were in before (the COVID-19 Pandemic)! Let's rebuild something better!" Although admitting that "we shut down our business and let everyone go in the hope of re-hiring whenever we get the green light," he was strongly advocating for change as things slowly begin to reopen in his city. Image compliments of lifehack.org Change is inevitable and becoming our new reality. I've heard many comments in the past weeks that we will not be returning to the "old normal" without substantial medical intervention like a vaccine or antibody therapies. So, what will things look like in the future? What should they look like? We can only speculate that things will be different as we move forward. There are the familiar protocols of ...

After several weeks of staying at home, several parts of the country are cautiously beginning to open up and allow a controlled re-entry back into the "old normal" that we all cherish and are missing. Businesses, recreational gatherings, and churches are trying to find a way to get back to this needed normality and productivity . People have been unemployed, socially isolated, and unable to join in their familiar communities of work, play and worship for too long. This pent up frustration has resulted in some push back and protests that have made enough waves to make the evening news. Image compliments of Jon Tyson www.splash.com We Americans cherish our freedoms and do not like the constraints placed upon us by the COVID-19 Pandemic. We are a restless folk that claim our constitutional rights and privileges! When someone tries to tell us otherwise, it is second nature to begin flexing our independent muscles. The health community is reservedly saying that we should no...

Lately, due to the COVID-19 Pandemic, we have been hearing a lot in the media about "essential services." Most of the time, it is in reference to medical and health care workers; police, firefighters, and other emergency services; teachers; custodial and sanitation workers; grocery, public transit employees; packing, shipping and delivery services; and farm workers and farming operations. But essential services also include those who work in carryout food preparations, hardware stores, gas stations, laundry services, and banking. All of these brave and selfless individuals should be commended for being out on the front lines fighting this pandemic! However, the list of essential workers doesn't seem quite complete. As of April 4, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), has issued a bulletin recommending that " everyone should wear a cloth face covering when out in public places to protect others in case they are unknowingly infected with the virus." When we hea...

We did not homeschool our children. We are fortunate enough to live in communities that have excellent public schools. On occasions, many of these educators attended our church. We have five public school teachers in our family! Monique taught at Sherman Elementary for over 22 years, retired in 2013, and until recently (due to the stay-at-home mandate) has continued to substitute at the same school three to five times a week.  Our twin daughters are educators as well. Melissa has taught fifteen years and Michelle is in her thirteenth year. Dan, our son-in-law, is also a teacher and has six years of experience. The combined total of this ongoing instruction in the classroom is sixty-three years!  As you can see, we are a family of educators! Eloise "Zooming" at home with her teacher and class! Well, the COVID-19 Pandemic these days has shaken up the setting for education. It has moved from the school buildings of our communities into our homes. I realize that homeschoole...

Every day we are hearing various suggestions related to how we may cope with the necessary restrictions that have been put in place due to the COVID-19 Pandemic. These are confining days of unprecedented and mandated social isolation. It has been hard on all of us, yet predictably we are helping each other to find ways to make this temporary "new normal" manageable and even instructional. The Keppler's have been maintaining our schedule. Those of you who know me well know that I love my routine! I can hear Monique shouting out, "Amen to that!" We have been getting up fairly early to get our day going and then getting to bed just after the conclusion of the early version of the late night news. The day for me starts while viewing the broadcast news with a forty-minute workout regimen downstairs involving the recumbent bicycle (1 mile at 13 mph), 31 minutes of walking (mostly 3 mph) on the treadmill with light weights ("wimpy" 5 pounders) and concludin...