Whispering Winds Blog

Ghostly Tricks

Over the past 14 years, Mim and I have cared for more than twenty elderly people who have lived with us in our home, usually one or two residents at a time. Almost all of them have lived out their last days with us. Some of them lived with us for just a few days,…

Marian

November 1, 2016

Assisted Living, Celebrations, Music, Reflections, Reunions

Abbey, All Saints Day, All Saints Wall, assisted living, Country Comforts Assisted Living, Doris, first grade teacher, For All the Saints, friendly ghost, funeral, ghost, Halloween, Helen, Konica Minolta printer, laser printer, O When the Saints, pipe organ, postlude, power strip, practical joke, printer/copier, saints, sense of humor, When the Saints Go Marching In
Oh, No…

I guess I still have more to learn about GRATITUDE – my special word for last year. As I checked into my timeshare condo at Christmas Mountain last week the last thing on my mind was gratitude. First came disappointment. Then anger. Then “what now?” But let me backtrack… I wasn’t even supposed to be…

Marian

October 4, 2016

Life’s Challenges, Personal Retreats, Reflections

apple crisp, centipede, Christmas Mountain, Christmas Mountain Village, devotional book, disappointments, getaway, grateful, gratitude, hymn, important papers, Wisconsin Dells
Let’s Pray, Floey

“Hey, Mom. We need to have a talk.” “OK, Floey. What’s on your mind?” “Ever since you stopped writing your blog every week, I feel that we don’t talk at all. Oh, I know we still talk about the birds and the bees and the gophers when we’re on our walks – how beautiful the…

Marian

September 13, 2016

God’s Love, Jail Ministry, Life’s Challenges, Reflections

Amazing Grace, authentic prayer, balm in gilead, chaplain, communicating with God, conversation with Floey, conversation with God, Floey, glowing prayer, God’s healing, goldfinches, gophers, Joan Chittister, killing niece, Monastic Way, murdering niece, prayer, prayer circle, praying for each other, praying in jail, role of prayer, Teresa of Avila, The Monastic Way
Memories and Hope

A couple weeks ago Mim and I drove to Chicago for the day to attend the visitation for Nita Beran, a good friend from our early years of living in Chicago. The quick trip brought back lots of memories, and prompted me to think about some of the hopes and dreams we had back in…

Marian

August 23, 2016

Uncategorized

appreciation, Austin community, Austin neighborhood, Bible study, cancer, Chicago, Circle Christian Health Center, Circle Church, Circle Urban Ministries, college roommate, David Mains, Emergency Room, Emily Bray, ER, fall wreath, family nurse practitioner, funeral home, hope, hope and appreciation for each day, John Payne, Jon Beran, medically under-served area, medically underserved, Nita Beran, nurse practitioner, nursing director, ovarian cancer, parking lot, Presbyterian-St. Luke’s Hospital, Romans 15:13, Rush University, Teamsters Union Hall, visitation, west side of Chicago
Consistency vs. Change

Five years, four months, and one week. That’s how long I’ve been writing weekly blog posts for the Whispering Winds Blog. As of today, that’s 279 posts. I’ve been fortunate enough to have had something to write about every single week without exception. Sometimes the ideas have come from Mim, or Pastor Jeff, or something…

Marian

August 9, 2016

Jail Ministry, Life’s Challenges, Music, Reflections

change, Circle, Circle Community Health Center, Circle Community Health Fellowship, daily devotional, devotional based on hymns, funeral, inconsistency, Joan Chittister, kindness, making changes, music CD, music project, Philip Yancey, Soul Survivor, virtue of inconsistency, writing project
When Floey Scolded Me…

I was sitting at my desk, clicking away on my computer. Floey came trotting up to me and sat down. “Hey, what are you doing, Mom?” she asked. “Oh, hi, Floey. I just bought two new kindle books on Amazon.” “You what???? You just organized 2,000 books on your bookcases throughout the house, and you…

Marian

August 2, 2016

Book Recommendations, God’s Love, Life’s Challenges, Reflections

Barry Corey, book about kindness, book on kindness, built-in bookcase, Dalai Lama, Debbie Macomber, Evangelical, Evangelical authors, Floey, gratitude, Italian psychotherapist, joy, Kindle, kindle books, kindness, kindness theme, Love Kindness, Max Lucado, meow, my secret, Philip Yancey, Piero Ferrucci, psychotherapist, Religious Right, scolding, special word, The Power of Kindness
Two Thousand “Ducks in a Row”

Just imagine 2,000 ducks waddling around a big pond. Some wood ducks. Some mallards. Some plain white farmyard ducks. Some old. Some fluffy little yellow ducklings. And they’re all mixed up. Now imagine that it is your job to organize them by species and subspecies, and then line them up alphabetically by name – from…

Marian

July 26, 2016

Book Recommendations, Goals, Life’s Challenges, Reflections

2000 books, bookcase, books are friends, bookshelves, Country Comforts Bed and Breakfast, down-sizing sale, ducks in a row, favorite authors, give-away library, lending library, library, Max Lucado, organizing books, Philip Yancey, whispering winds, Whispering Winds Retreat Haven
God’s Garden – and Mine

I think God laughed a little at my lazy approach to gardening on the deck this summer, but decided to bless it anyway. The lettuce did very well in its bed of Miracle-Gro® Potting Mix. We’ve had several salads, and the lettuce keeps coming back when I cut it. It’s not quite as sweet and…

Marian

July 19, 2016

Assisted Living, Gardening, God’s Love, Nature, Reflections

95-year-olds, abundance, butterflies, Charlie Chipmunk, cherry tomatoes, chipmunk, delight our senses, garden, Genesis, God’s Garden, goldfinch, Happy Summertime, hotdogs, Jones Dairy Farm, listening for God, milkweed, Miracle Grow, Miracle-Gro, potting mix, radishes, Sweet 100, tastes of summer, The Message, thistle seeds, thistles, whispering winds, wild canaries
Do Something!

“You’re not dead yet. Do something!” That’s what Pastor Jeff preached about at Messiah last Sunday. He talked about how difficult the past week had been – with two black men being shot in our country, just a day apart, and then five police officers being killed and more injured in Dallas just days later. When…

Marian

July 12, 2016

God’s Love, Jail Ministry, Life’s Challenges, Reflections

Buenos Vecinos, Christmas baskets, coats for inmates, Dane County Jail, Ellen Finn, Good Neighbors, Good Samaritan, Honduras, jail ministry, Jeff Vanden Heuvel, killing black men, operating expenses, Pastor Jeff, racial injustice, shooting black men, The Good Samaritan, Who are my neighbors?, Who is my neighbor?, winter coats, You’re not dead yet
Dot-to-Dot Life

Dot-to-Dot books were my absolute favorite activity books when I was a little girl – even better than coloring books – well, maybe my Red Ryder cowboy coloring book was the best of all – but other than that, dot-to-dot pages were my favorites. I could spend hours drawing lines from number to number…

Marian

July 5, 2016

Book Recommendations, Goals, God’s Love, Life’s Challenges, Reflections

50th high school class reunion, 50th reunion, activity books, career aspirations, career changes, career dreams, Catherine of Siena, class reunion, coloring books, David Viscott, destiny, different gifts, discovering our gifts, dot-to-dot, dot-to-dot books, early writings, Firstlight, God’s gift to us, high school reunion, Joan Chittister, Lee Kampstad, life calling, lifelong adventure, meaning of life, Merton, Monastic Way, Navy Parachute Rigger, one dot at a time, our gift to God, parachute jumping, purpose of life, Red Ryder, ripcord, selfhood, St. Catherine of Siena, Sue Monk Kidd, That First Step, The Monastic Way, vocation, work of life