Category: Life’s Challenges
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The Worst Sin of All according to Floey
My new dog Floey and I are still getting to know each other. Christmas Day will mark the one month anniversary of Floey’s adoption date. Mim and I and all of our 93-year-olds are so happy that she joined our family. Floey loves all of us, but it’s clear that I am her favorite. She…
Marian
case weather, cash crop, christmas, Christmas shopping, commercialization of Christmas, daily devotions, devotional book, Edward Hays, Floey, foggy days, generosity, generous, God’s love, Indian Reservation, kindness, lath, life challenges, moral code, Native American, North American Indian, raising tobacco, reflections, stinginess, stingy, stripping tobacco, tobacco, worst sin -
Bucket List for Advent
The best thing about Facebook is that it has provided a means to reconnect with several people from my past. One of those connections is Claudia, an old friend from my freshman year in college. I haven’t seen her in almost 50 years. Our only communication had been Christmas cards, until we somehow found each…
Marian
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Abbey Still Has More to Say
In my imagination, Abbey has been talking to me over the last couple weeks. Her spirit is still very much alive. “Mom,” she said, “I was really sad to leave you, and I still think about you a lot. But I’ve also been really busy exploring heaven. You can’t imagine all the smells there are…
Marian
Abbey, Animal Rescue and Vet Support Services, ARVSS, assisted living, blogging, caregiver, Country Comforts, Country Comforts Assisted Living, dog adoption, dogification of love, Floey, Florence Nightingale, God’s love, Help Wanted, imagination, kindness, life changes, love your neighbor, loving companion, personification of love, reflections, spirituality, talking with God, thankful, Thanksgiving, working dog -
The Dogs in My Life
God so loved the world that she gave us dogs. The first dog in my life was Teddy. He was a big brown and white collie mix that lived in the barn. He only came into the house occasionally to warm up, when it was really cold outside. My dad had trained him to be…
Marian
Abbey, Anti-Cruelty Society, Bullet, collie mix, cousin dogs, gentleness, german shepherd, God spelled backwards, God’s love, God-given gifts, golden retriever, herding instincts, kindness, life calling, life challenges, listening for God, love your neighbor, Maia, mass in her brain, Megabyte, Mollie, my dogs, people friends, purpose on earth, reflections, Rin Tin Tin, Rinny, slow-growing mass, spirituality, talking with God, Tammy, Teddy, Tippy, wisdom -
De-Adult Me, Please
Remake me as an awe-fascinated primitive, de-adult me so as to wonder like a child … [from Edward Hays, A BOOK OF WONDERS, p. 336] The picture above is my great niece, Katie. I snapped the picture at our family Christmas celebration in 2001. Katie is in high school now. I hope she keeps her sense of awe and wonder forever.…
Marian
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THINK about the Gift of Language
Do you hate the political ads on TV as much as I do? Which ad do you hate the most? Is there any ad, from either political party, that you really like? I’ll be so glad when the election has come and gone and TV can get back to its usual commercials that we can…
Marian
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The 3 Heroes in my Life
The earliest hero in my life was Roy Rogers. I wanted to be just like him – ride a horse like Trigger, have a dog like Bullet, and wear a white cowboy hat on my head and two six-guns in a holster at my waist. I wanted to always stand up for what was right,…
Marian
A Book of Wonders, best day of my childhood, Bullet, childhood, childhood hero, childhood heroes, cowboy hat, Dale Evans, Edward Hays, Elsie Korth, God’s love, God-given gifts, hero, heroes, life calling, life challenges, life changes, listening for God, mom, Nancy, Nancy Kornelsen, reflections, Roy Rogers, sister, spirituality, talking with God, Trigger, Wisconsin State Fair, Yiddish proverb -
Thank God I’m Sick! Really?
For the past three weeks I’ve been coaxing my immune system to get busy and fix me. I think it’s been ignoring its job. The day I came home from our mini-vacation at Christmas Mountain I felt like I might be getting a cold. The next day I had a high fever and was mad…
Marian
3 Rs, A Book of Wonders, All praise belongs to God, being sick, cough, cough syrup, coughing, Country Comforts Assisted Living, daily devotions, Edward Hays, God’s love, God-given gifts, hot spiced wine, illness as a blessing, illness as purification, illusion of being in control, illusions of being invulnerable, immune system, life challenges, listening for God, mystical broom, praise God in sickness, purification, Reflection, reflections, Relaxation, Rest, sick, sickness, spirituality, talking with God -
What Do I Really Do?
Last week I heard from some voices in my past thanks to social media. A couple colleagues from the late 1970s-early 1980s when I worked for Northwest Industries in Chicago emailed me through LinkedIn, the professional networking site. Then I heard from a coworker at TDS in Madison where I worked in the mid-1990s, and…
Marian
Adventures in Hospitality, career, career path, Come Lord Jesus, consulting practice, daily devotions, devotional book, Disaster Recovery, Edward Hays, Experience Timeline, friends, God’s love, God-given gifts, homeward path, job, jobs, kindness, life calling, Linked In, LinkedIn, listening for God, love your neighbor, Northwest Industries, occupation, pilgrimage, pilgrimhood, Prayers for a Planetary Pilgrim, reflections, Sears Tower, self-employed author, social media, spirituality, talking with God, The Virus Handbook, Virus Handbook, vocation -
A Pat on the Back
This morning I looked at my beautiful old dog Abbey and said, “Hey, Abbey. Come over here a minute. I want to give you a pat on the back – not just a few pats on the head, a real pat on the back.” “Okay, Mom. Just a minute while I coax my legs to…
Marian
93-year-olds, Abbey, Adventures in Hospitality, assisted living, Country Comforts, Country Comforts Assisted Living, daily devotions, Edward Hays, endless grandmas, endless supply of grandmas, God’s love, God-given gifts, grandmas, hospitality, kindness, life calling, life challenges, life changes, love, love your neighbor, old dog, reflections, spirituality, talking with God
Whispering Winds Blog 