Dino Chronicles

The Book of Romans

2026-06-07T05:00:00.000-05:00

God makes people right with himself through their faith in Jesus Christ. This is true for all who believe in Christ, because all people are the same: Everyone has sinned and fallen short of God’s glorious standard, and all need to be made right with God by his grace, which is a free gift. They need to be made free from sin through Jesus Christ. (Romans 3:22-24, New Century Version)

So, to recap. The first four books of the New Testament are Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. The Book of Acts is the fifth book, and I talked about that a little last week. This brings us to the next series of books, which are twenty-one letters, also called epistles, written by several different followers of Jesus to members of the new churches. The first of these letters is The Book of Romans, one of the most read books of the Bible.

Why is that? Because it gives the clearest, yet most complete study of the tenets of the Christian faith.

The Book of Romans was written by the apostle Paul in approximately 57-58 AD, and was meant to give direction, encouragement, and guidance to a church of new believers in Rome. At the time Paul wrote to the Roman church, believers there were living in relative peace and weren’t yet being persecuted for their faith. But as with any church, this one still needed to hear the what the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus really meant for them.

And I can’t tell you that as well as Paul, so here are a few passages from that epistle.

For I am not ashamed of this Good News about Christ. It is the power of God at work, saving everyone who believes—the Jew first and also the Gentile. (Romans 1:16, New Living Translation)

We know that in everything God works for the good of those who love him. They are the people he called, because that was his plan. (Romans 8:28, New Century Version)

Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good. (Romans 12:21, New International Version)

Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. (Romans 12:12, New International Version)

I consider that what we suffer at this present time cannot be compared at all with the glory that is going to be revealed to us. All of creation waits with eager longing for God to reveal his children. For creation was condemned to lose its purpose, not of its own will, but because God willed it to be so. Yet there was the hope that creation itself would one day be set free from its slavery to decay and would share the glorious freedom of the children of God. (Romans 8:18-21, Good News Translation)

Last week, I told you that you should read the Book of Acts. And I’m pretty sure that none of you did. That’s ok. How about this week just read the 8^th chapter of Romans. It is considered by some to be the best chapter in the Bible.

Oberammergau – Germany Trip Blog Post #6

2026-06-05T05:00:00.000-05:00

After our visit to Linderhof castle, we got to wander around the quaint village of Oberammergau, in the middle of the Bavarian Alps.

The town gets its name because it is in the district (gau) of the upper (ober) River Ammer.

No pictures of that river, just lots of shots of the beautiful, detailed fresco-painted buildings or Lüftlmalerei.

The paintings depict fairy tales, religious scenes and designs that look 3-D. And they are everywhere you look.

There were also pretty flowers in bloom on many street corners.

We had lunch at the Hotel Alte Post. It was first established as a hotel in 1612, as the Lowen or lion. Records show that in 1783 it also held the post office (hence today’s name Alte Post or old post office). It’s been called that since 1864. The same family has been running it since 1896.

I had the Bavarian meat loaf.

When the waitress set it in front of me, it sure didn’t look like what I expected. But, oh, it was soo good! Zehr gut!

Probably the thing that Oberammergau is most known for is its Passion Play. The entire town’s population takes part, as actors, stage hands, etc. It came to be in 1634, when the residents vowed that if God spared them from bubonic plague, that was sweeping the region, they would perform a passion play every ten years. Due to the COVID pandemic, the 2020 production had to be canceled but was held two years later. In 2030, the Play will be back on track, and I’m sure the town’s folk are already making preparations behind the scenes.

Then we had to leave, and drive through the peaceful countryside back to Ulm.

Linderhof – Germany Trip Blog Post #5

2026-06-03T05:00:00.000-05:00

Saturday, May 9, was spent on another quest to see places I had studied in high school and been fascinated by ever since.

We left our hotel at 8:30 in the morning to sunny skies and a temperature of 51 degrees. The countryside we drove through was beautiful and became more breathtaking as we drove into the Bavarian Alps.

We arrived at the parking lot of the Linderhof Castle and were immediately drawn into the romance of a time gone by. Did not expect to see several couples dressed in their nineteenth-century finery.

Linderhof Castle was built between 1874 and 1878, by King Ludwig II, and was the only one of his building projects that was completed during his lifetime. As with his other projects, there was no expense spared. You may have heard of his castle 30 west of Linderhof, Neuschwanstein. It was the inspiration for Princess Castle at Disney World. It wasn’t on the agenda for us to visit that one, but I was okay with that. Linderhof was more than enough.

The gardens surrounding the palace are extensive and beautifully manicured. I wish I would have had more time to explore the grounds.

The other disappointment was that there was no photography allowed inside the building. It was actually relatively small inside, but the rooms were covered in opulence, gold, murals, mirrors, and statues, some of which were fanciful.

King Ludwig died in 1886, just shy of his forty-first birthday, under suspicious circumstances. He had become King of Bavaria when he was only eighteen and was not well-prepared for that role. His life was complicated and tragic, filled with drama, espionage, and romance. And also, sadly, a lot of loneliness.

I hope you research more about him and his castles.

Acting out his Faith

2026-05-31T05:00:00.000-05:00

Well, let’s finally delve into the Bible.

The Old Testament is important as it is the background story for Jesus coming to live among us. But sometimes it is really heavy, a lot of words and a lot of things that we, with our twenty-first century brains, have a hard time grasping. So, I’m gonna start in the New Testament.

You hopefully have heard of the books of the Gospel – Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. They each tell the story of the life of Jesus on this earth. Many of those stories are familiar with us, especially at Christmas and Easter.

The next book in the New Testament is Acts. It is known by Biblical scholars as the History of the Early Church.

Theophilus, I wrote about Jesus in my earlier book. I wrote about all he did and taught until the day he was taken up to heaven. Before Jesus left, he gave orders to the apostles he had chosen. He did this through the Holy Spirit. (Acts 1:1-2, New International Reader's Version)

The book of Acts is named that because it describes the deeds, missions, and actions of the early Christian apostles (mostly Peter and Paul). It was written by the apostle Luke, the same guy who wrote the Gospel book named after him. I like his writing because, in pretty much any translation of the Bible, I find it easy to understand. He doesn’t use a lot of flowery language or vague metaphors; Luke tells it as it is.

After his suffering and death, he appeared to them. In many ways he proved that he was alive. He appeared to them over a period of 40 days. During that time he spoke about God’s kingdom. One day Jesus was eating with them. He gave them a command. “Do not leave Jerusalem,” he said. “Wait for the gift my Father promised. You have heard me talk about it. John baptized with water. But in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.” (Acts 1:3-5, NIRV)

Later on in this book, Luke writes about how Saul was converted and became the most spirit-filled believer who spread the Gospel to pretty much the whole world at the time. You know him as Paul. Maybe if you have time this week, try to read the rest of the Book of Acts. And I’ll see you next Sunday, when I’ll tell you about some of the books that Paul wrote.

For two whole years Paul stayed there in a house he rented. He welcomed all who came to see him. He preached boldly about God’s kingdom. He taught people about the Lord Jesus Christ. And no one could keep him from teaching and preaching about these things. (Acts 28:30-31, NIRV)

(In case you don’t get around to reading those 28 chapters of the Bible this week, that is how Acts ends.)

(The picture above doesn't have anything to do with the Bible. It was taken in front of our hotel in Ulm, Germany. I took over 1300 pictures on that trip, so thought I would share some of the pretty flowers here.)

Heidelberg – Germany Trip Blog Post #4

2026-05-29T05:00:00.000-05:00

On Friday, May 8 (only our second full day in Germany), we once again climbed on our bus for the two-hour drive to Heidelberg. By the way, our bus driver for the entire trip was Erick, from Poland, and Fred, from Austria, was our tour manager the whole time. Fred’s job was mostly to make sure we got where we were supposed to go and that no one got lost. He also talked about the history of Germany and the surrounding countries, while we were riding on that bus every day, as well as answered our dumb questions.

(Can't see him well, but Fred is the tall guy in the middle of the picture.)

I don’t know if it is because of my strong German roots or if I just paid attention in German class, but I remember so many places throughout Germany, places I’ve wanted to visit for fifty years. Sometimes I forget that most people haven’t heard of these places, so I try to tell you everything. Hope I don’t bore you.

So, Heidelberg Castle is one of those places. I’ve seen so many pictures of the ruins of this massive fortress perched on the hill overlooking the Neckar River. It’s hard to describe it when I finally saw it in person.

It was built in the 1200s, and our tour guide for the day, Roman, told us so much of the history of it and its people that my head kinda started to spin. I wanted to remember it all, the melodramatic stories of what went on at that time, but there is no way. I will look it up for myself online sometime, and you can do the same.

Anyway, even though parts of the castle are still in decent shape, it has been considered a ruin since the 1700s.

We rode a funicular up the hillside to the castle and took it back down.

Once back down in the city, we wandered a few blocks down the Haupt Strasse or pedestrian street. Lots of interesting buildings and shops, but it was too overwhelming to even know what stores to go into.

The large church on the Marktplatz, or market square, was the Church of the Holy Spirit.

I walked part of the way across the Old Heidelberg Bridge, a historic stone walking bridge on Neckar River.

Along the river I walked past this swan and her partner, tending to their nest of eight eggs. Oh, wouldn’t it have been sweet if they would have just hatched.

We ate lunch at the restaurant Zum Weissen Schwanen, which means “to the white swan". Did they know about the pair of swans a few blocks away?

I had the pork schnitzel with fries. It was good. Your basic meal.

Blaubeuren – Germany Trip Blog Post #3

2026-05-27T05:00:00.000-05:00

Late morning, on our first full day in Germany, after our walking tour of Ulm, we boarded the bus for Blaubeuren.

The town of Blaubeuren is a half hour drive from our hotel in Ulm, in the Swabian region of southern Germany. Cities in this region which you may have heard of are Stuttgart and Augsburg.

Blaubeuren is a small, quiet village known for its Monastery, which was founded in 1085 by the Benedictines. During the Reformation, it was taken over by Protestants in 1535, but monks returned for a while during 30 Years War. In 1817, it became a Protestant seminary with attached boarding school.

Our tour guide spent a lot of time telling us about each of the pictures in these panels, which told the story of John the Baptist, as well as Jesus.

He also told us that all monasteries were set up using the same blueprint, such as where the chapel, the garden, the cloister, et cetera were going to be. Anyone coming from a different monastery would be able to find their way around. I never knew that before, and I also don’t know if this was something they did just around that part of Europe during those years, or if they have done this around the world for millennia.

The chapel was beautiful, with many wood carvings. I am sure that they all had a certain meaning.

But some of them were rather creepy.

Behind the monastery, was the Blautopf, the spring where the Blue River originates.

It was a serene, wooded spot, and felt so much like home to me.

We wandered up one of the streets of Blaubeuern for lunch at Restaurant Ochsen (or Oxen).

We were treated to Maultaschen, which translates to “mouth bag”. During Lent, to keep church leaders from knowing that the people were eating meat on Fridays, the women put the meat, usually beef, between sheets of rolled dough to hide it. It is a traditional Swabian dish and was very good, with the meat mixed with spinach, bread crumbs and onions. Similar to ravioli, they are square or rectangular and three to four and a half inches across. This was served with a lettuce salad atop cooked shaved potatoes, pickled beets, shaved carrots and shaved cabbage. I ordered it for lunch another day, but it wasn’t quite as good as this first one we had.

I had cut it up for the picture, so you could see what's inside.

Too Many Books

2026-05-24T02:27:54.821-05:00

Love justice, you who govern the earth, turn your minds to the Lord in a righteous way, and seek him with an upright heart. For he will be found by those who do not put him to the test, and he will reveal himself to those who do not cease to have confidence in him. (Wisdom 1:1-2, New Catholic Bible)

Today is my mom’s birthday, by the way. She would have been 99. Holy cow! How is that possible?

And how is it possible that it’s been a month since I’ve written here about the Bible? Four weeks ago, I told you I wanted to learn more about the Bible. I know that life got in the way, so I’m not going to beat myself up, but here I am, with lots of other things to tell you, but I’m going to stick to that promise.

Okay, most versions of the Bible are composed of 66 books: 39 in the Old Testament and 27 in the New. These versions include the King James Version, New King James Version, Good News Translation, New International Version, Revised Standard Version, New Living Translation, the Message, and many, many more. Those are mostly considered Protestant versions of the Bible, but there is also the Catholic Bible.

There are also many versions of the Catholic Bible, but the biggest difference is that they all contain seven additional books in the Old Testament. They are referred to as deuterocanonical books, or the Apocrypha, and include Tobit, Judith, Wisdom, Sirach, Baruch, 1 Maccabees, and 2 Maccabees.

These were all in the original Bible, but during the Reformation, reformers like Martin Luther dropped those books. There is a long history of that, which I read online, but most of it was over my head. I would rather keep things simple, so I apologize to my Catholic friends. If you’ve never heard of those seven extra books, you can look them up on the internet.

The verse above is from one of those books, the Book of Wisdom. If you are familiar with the Bible, you may remember the Book of Proverbs, written by King Solomon. Bible scholars used to think he also wrote the Book of Wisdom, but they have since decided that is not true, and no one knows who wrote it.

And just in case your head is already spinning, there are other versions of the Bible with even many more books. I don’t have any opinion of them one way or the other; I’m just going to stick to my good old 66-book New International Version of the Bible, which I have had ever since I can remember. And which I have always counted on to speak God’s truth to me.

(The above picture is of the Central Library in Ulm, Germany. The glass, pyramid structure stands in sharp contrast to the medievel buildings around it, but it surely contains many, many books.)

Ulm City Tour, part 2 – Germany Trip Blog Post #2

2026-05-22T05:00:00.000-05:00

Our walking tour of the city of Ulm took us, in the rain, into the Fishermen's Quarter and the Tanners' Quarter. I’m not sure where one quarter started and the other ended, so I am going to dump that whole area together.

The River Blau flows thru this historic, picturesque district, which is filled with medieval half-timbered houses, narrow alleys, and small bridges.

The River Blau empties into the Danube River near this point and across the Danube is Neu-Ulm, or New Ulm.

Ulm was founded around the year 850. Isn’t that insane? Neu-Ulm was part of the original town until 1810, when the Danube River became the dividing line between the kingdoms of Bavaria and Württemberg. The left side became part of Württemberg and the right remained under Bavarian sovereignty. The handful of homes on the Bavarian side eventually grew into Neu-Ulm.

One of the truly fascinating buildings in the old part of Ulm is the Schiefes Haus or Leaning House.

It was built in 1443 but started leaning in the 17th century. At some point the foundation was shored up, but it continues to lean.

It is currently operated as a 16-room hotel and passes routine safety inspection. The guest rooms still are on a slant and anything round you put on the floor will roll into a corner.

The oldest part of the building below was built in 1370 (but I don't know if this is that section or not). It was mentioned as a town hall in 1419.

The walls on all sides are opulently painted in early renaissance murals. I’m going to guess that the paintings all tell a story, but I don’t know what it is.

The beautiful astronomical clock was installed around 1520.

The City of Ulm, part 1 – Germany Trip Blog Post #1

2026-05-20T05:00:00.000-05:00

I never know how much you really want to read about, so please just skip to the pictures if all the details bore you.

My friend Brenda and I left for Germany Tuesday morning, May 5, and arrived in Munich on Wednesday morning. We were traveling with Gate 1 Travel, the same tour group I had gone to the Czech Republic with last fall. It was a two-hour drive from the airport to Ulm, and I won’t tell you about that ride. All that matters is that we got to our hotel, checked in, and explored a little on our own. But onto the start of the tour the next morning.

Our group of 29 met at 8:30 Thursday morning in the tiny lobby of our hotel for our first full day in Germany. It was around 50 degrees out, damp and rainy. Good thing I had my faithful Hippo umbrella from my trip to Cambodia. Was kind of disappointed that no one asked me about it. Perhaps they all thought I was nuts.

First stop was this outline in the pedestrian walk just behind out hotel.

It’s the site of the house where Albert Einstein was born on March 14, 1879. He only lived there for about a year before his family moved to Munich. Unfortunately, the house was destroyed in bombing during World War II, as was 80% of the medieval city center.

The gothic Ulm Minster sustained only minor damage. But it still needs to undergo routine repairs and upgrades, which of course were going on when we were there.

Minster is Muenster in German and is a prominent church of historical significance.

Building on this church began in 1377, initially as a Catholic one, but in 1530, while it was still under construction, the city decided to switch it to Lutheran.

Hard to grasp how high the ceilings are.

Soaring to 530 feet, the steeple wasn’t finished until 1890, but at that time, and until just this past fall, it was the tallest steeple in the world.

Just amazing, isn’t it?

These last two pictures were taken from the rooftop patio at our hotel.

Only Smiles - Remembering Judy

2026-05-17T09:53:35.424-05:00

As you probably already know, my oldest sister, Judy, passed away on Tuesday, May 5. My nephew texted me the news just as I was boarding a plane to fly to Germany on a seven-day tour.

I had visited her three times over the previous four days. “Visit” is not quite an accurate word, as the only time she looked me in the face, with any sort of recognition, she exclaimed “Patti”, the name of our sister who had died in 1999.

Camping with Judy and Pat in 2013

So, we all knew she was dying and only had days left. She’d been in hospice for a few months, Alzheimer’s having worn out her body as well as her brain.

My immediate family has dwindled another notch. When our parents die, we say we are an orphan. When it’s our spouse, we are a widow or widower. What do we call ourselves when a sibling dies? Or worse, when a child dies?

Me with Val, Judy, and my niece Paula, in 2024. How is it that only two of us are left?

It’s been a rough thirteen months. It was in April of last year that we realized my brother’s mental capability had deteriorated to the point that he could no longer live alone. He’s been in assisted living since July 1, and who knows how much longer he has.

With Judy and Tom, in 2024.

But that’s the life of the youngest child in the family, I guess. The life of a mother, a sister, a daughter. The life of someone who just wants everyone to be happy and at peace.

Okay, but . . . what else can I say? I’m doing okay. I really am. And on Wednesday I promise to start sharing stories and pictures of my trip to Germany. No more tears, only smiles.

This gem was from 1991, a Christmas present for Mom and Dad

Us girls with Mom at my cousin's wedding in 1981. Yikes!

Short and Sweet Today (just like me!)

2026-05-15T05:00:00.000-05:00

I wanted to share a detailed post for you today, filling you in on everything that’s happened in my life over the last 13 months. But, for starters, I don’t know where to begin. And also, I just got home from a week-long tour in Germany, and as I write this Thursday night, the jet lag is really hitting.

So here’s just a single picture, a teaser of what you’ll see on my blog in the next few weeks.

This could be some place within forty miles of where I live. But it’s much farther away, in the picturesque German town of Blaubeuren.

Family Travels - Val's Story, Chap 6, Part 2

2026-05-01T06:04:00.000-05:00

Many years later, when Val was a high school senior, she and I took my mom on a road trip to Virginia over Spring Break, to visit relatives and see Virginia Beach.

The second night on the road, we ate dinner at the Kentucky Fried Chicken in Danville, then checked into a Super 8 motel. Hours after going to bed, Val started vomiting and couldn’t stop. By three am, my mom and I decided that enough was enough, and we dragged my poor daughter into the car to begin searching for the nearest ER.

The night clerk at the motel tried to be helpful, but in the dark of the night, her directions made no sense. We just started driving, hoping to run across a big blue H sign.

The Danville Regional Medical Center is a nice, modern facility, and the ER doctor didn’t take long to diagnose food poisoning. We immediately blamed the Colonel. With IV fluids and Compazine running, Val was able to fall right asleep in her hospital bed. Grandma and Mom, on the other hand, dozed fitfully in our hard plastic chairs, our heads bobbing and jerking, until they released Val at seven in the morning.

The poor kid never seemed to get any breaks on our vacations. Except for this time, when we got to my mom’s uncle’s house.

When we pulled the car into their driveway, Val wanted to stay in the car, sleeping off her ER visit. We left her there when we went in to see the relatives.

A short time later, the woman who came in the afternoons to help them with dinner, housework, and getting them ready for bed arrived. When she found Val in the car, she scooped my daughter up and brought her inside.

“I found dis little girl out in da car,” the woman announced in her Southern drawl. “She say she sick, and the back seat of a car ain’t no place if you sick. I goin’ put her in bed and git her some lemon tea.”

Val dutifully followed her into the bedroom and crawled into bed. When it was time to leave for the evening, Val really didn’t want to go. She found Southern hospitality much to her liking. Finally, something my baby girl agreed with!

Val on Virgina Beach

Family Travels - Val's Story, Chap 6, Part 1

2026-04-29T05:00:00.001-05:00

Over the years, we went on a few family vacations, but it seemed Val always ended up in one crisis or another.

When she was much younger, we took a trip to South Dakota. We had a cassette tape of the Peanuts characters singing country-western classics. I had never been a fan of that genre of music, but after days in the car listening to it over and over, the songs actually grew on me. Nick and Val sang their hearts out, and Jim and I often joined in.

Then there was the episode at a wayside overlooking the Wyoming prairie. Val had a craft box filled with beads for jewelry she was making. When she crawled out of the car with the box on her lap, she biffed the beads all over the parking lot.

They could hear her wailing all the way to the Mississippi River. We picked up as many beads as we could, but finally had to shove her in the car, still screaming, and get back on the road.

Another day, while driving through the empty spaces of the Badlands, she had to go to the bathroom. Nearly screaming once again, announcing she had to poop RIGHT NOW.

Jim pulled the car over, and Val and I walked a short way through the barren landscape and around the backside of a knoll. Yes, she left her mark, as I watched for traffic, reptiles, and tourists out walking among the hills.

Val left her mark somewhere out there.

The following year, we drove to Kentucky on vacation. Val once again had one crisis after another.

The first day, it was something about her camera. I don’t even know what, and I don’t think she even knew. She was just in a mood.

The next day, she left her sandals on the picnic table of a wayside when she went to wade in a stream. The only store in the next town – a Dollar General, I believe – only had one style of footwear in her size. Hot pink flipflops it was.

Her brother, by the way, always had a fantastic time on these trips. They were as different as night and day growing up. It wasn’t until they were young adults that they grew close, much to this mother’s joy.

We sent the kids on an adventure tour of Mammoth Cave in Kentucky. Luckily, I had made sure she had a pair of old tennies on the trip. Nick had a great time crawling around in the cave. Val did okay; at least she didn't have any meltdowns.

The Bible

2026-04-26T05:00:00.000-05:00

Blessed is the one who reads the words of God’s message, and blessed are the people who hear this message and do what is written in it. The time is near when all of this will happen. (Revelation 1:3, New Century Version)

I’m just wondering how many of you read your Bible? Or do you even have one? Maybe not a physical, paper copy, but at least a Bible app on your phone?

Are you familiar with the Bible? The difference between the Old and New Testaments? How the books in both Testaments are organized?

It just feels like I’ve always known those things. I can’t remember if I learned about the Bible in Sunday School or Confirmation Class, or just picked things up as I went along. Know what I’m saying?

Are there people reading this who don’t know that when you see John 3:16, the verse is in the book of John, which is the fourth book in the New Testament and the final book in the Gospel? And that the 3 is the number of the chapter and 16 is the verse. It makes it easy to find verses that way. And if you didn’t know that, don’t feel bad. When I was teaching Sunday School, one of my students knew what those numbers meant, but when she was reading her Bible, all those numbers in the middle of the words threw her off.

Anyway, I know I have shared a lot of Bible verses here over the years, and I hope some of them stuck with you. I hope to share a lot more verses in the coming years. For now, though, I want to delve more into the Bible – who wrote it, what we know about those people, what texts were chosen to be included in the Bible and why, and why some versions of the Bible have more books in it than others.

I’ve told you many times that I’m not a Bible scholar, but I think that we can all stand to learn a little bit more about it. Let’s see where this leads us – starting next Sunday. 😉

The Illness and Injury Years - Val's Story, Chapter 5

2026-04-24T05:00:00.001-05:00

(At least she didn't try downhill skiing.)

I know all kids go through illnesses and injuries, but Val sure had more than her share.

When she was just a year old, Nick woke up one morning with an itchy rash which quickly turned into painful pustules. The year was 1991, when the vaccine against chicken pox was still being studied in American labs. This was also the time when all responsible moms sent their kids to whoever’s house had a chickenpox outbreak, so their kids could get it and get it “over with”. I was glad Nick contracted it then, before he started kindergarten in a few weeks.

And even though his sister was only a year old, I was relieved when a week or so later, she broke out as well.

Four years later, a few days after she started kindergarten, I got the first call from the school nurse. “Val hit her head on the playground. She says her head hurts, but otherwise seems fine. I still recommend you take her to the hospital after school to get checked out.”

Hours and an MRI later, the ER doctor confirmed she had a mild concussion and gave me the usual instructions of what to watch for. She was a little sick to her stomach that night, and the headache continued for a few days. It slowed her down for a while, but that was okay. She needed to slow down.

The following fall, within a week of school starting, the school nurse called again. Val was throwing up. I sighed into the phone; this was becoming a trend. And it was.

In August 1997, my sister Pat took the kids and me camping in Michigan’s UP. We had a great time, all of us tromping through the woods, making s’mores over the campfire, and sleeping in the pop-up camper.

About a month later, Val came home from school more tired than usual. At bedtime, she told me she was too achy to even get her pajamas on by herself. I pulled her t-shirt off over her head, and what I saw on her chest and back told me immediately what was wrong with her. A round welt the size of a small saucer on one side of her chest and a larger one on her back.

If you don’t live in northern Wisconsin or some other thickly wooded area, you might have been alarmed or at least confused. After working in the medical field for ten years and seeing many patients with this same illness, I had never seen it with quite such a remarkable presentation. But I still knew in a second. She had Lyme’s Disease.

The next day, after Val had her blood drawn, the lab tech told me that the test turned bright pink instantly, faster than anyone else’s had, confirming what we already knew.

This time, I called the school nurse to let her know that Val might be out for a few days until her symptoms abated and she felt better.

My poor little girl finally had a reprieve of a few years until September 14, 2001.

It was a sunny Sunday afternoon. Nick was mowing the lawn on the riding mower, and Val was riding her bike around the yard. Hubby and I were doing something in the front yard when Nick yelled out, “Val’s screaming.” He pointed to the side of the house.

(Picture not taken that particular day, but all this padding would not have helped anyway.)

We ran to find her crumpled underneath her bike, howling in pain. We carefully picked her up, and she grabbed her arm.

Just like that tell-tale Lyme’s rash, Hubby and I both knew right away what was wrong. Forever after, he said her right forearm looked like the kid who broke his arm in one of the Harry Potter movies. Floppy. Okay, that’s overly dramatic, but the middle of her arm truly was bent back noticeably.

I grabbed the car keys from the house while her step-dad carried her to the car. We left Nick alone, still mowing the lawn and probably unaware.

The doctor once again confirmed what I already knew and what the X-ray showed. She had broken and displaced both the ulna and radius bones in her forearm.

We were sent to the hospital in the next town over, one that had an orthopedic surgeon on call. He gave her some sedation, set her arm, and wrapped it in a cast from her fingertips to halfway up her shoulder.

For six weeks, with her right arm in a sling, she learned to write, eat, and brush her teeth with her left arm. It would be one skill that served her well over the years. When she got contact lenses a few years later, she learned to put them in each eye at the same time, using her left hand for the left eye and her right hand for the right.

It seemed that finally the curse was broken, at least for a while.

Life Happening - Val's Story, chapter 4, part 2

2026-04-22T05:00:00.001-05:00

Life happened, as it always does. They say that if three or more stressful events occur within a year – such as a death in the family or serious illness – it wears a person down and can cause all kinds of problems. 1993 would be the first of many of those years for me.

My marriage to the kids’ dad had been shaky for a while, and it finally fell apart completely. Naturally, it would be easy for me to blame him, but I know in my head that it takes two people working on it to keep any relationship going. My relationship was mostly with my babies, and his was with his friends. He moved out in March of 1993, and our divorce was final on November 11. I insisted on keeping the house because it was our children’s home. He cooperated in everything.

Don’t I wish that was all that happened that year.

My dad had been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s a few years before, and it was progressing quickly. By April of 1993, Mom was worn to a frazzle taking care of him. My siblings and I finally convinced her to admit him to the nursing home.

She took Dad in on a Friday morning, and the next day, he choked on some food – it’s common for people with advanced dementia to forget how to swallow. This choking incident resulted in aspiration pneumonia, forcing them to admit him to the hospital on Sunday.

Unless Mom agreed to put in a feeding tube, the doctors told her he would continue to choke on his food. We all agreed that a feeding tube would only prolong a life he was no longer living.

He passed away on Thursday with me and Mom, his wife of 48 years, by his side.

But that still wasn’t all for that year.

One September Saturday morning, my sister Pat woke up with severe abdominal pain. Her husband took her to the ER, and the next morning, Dr. Skye and the surgeon on call performed an emergency hysterectomy.

Initially, they thought the large growth in her uterus was an unruly fibroid. When the pathology came back a few weeks later, the report showed she had leiomyosarcoma, a rare and very deadly cancer.

A group of specialists discussed her case and decided to keep close tabs on her. They hoped that all of the cancer cells had been removed during surgery.

She wasn’t only my sister; she was my best friend. My kids were just as close to her, worshipping the ground she walked on. I can still hear their little voices announcing, “Aunt Patti’s here,” whenever she drove into our yard.

It had been a bad year, but better years would follow. And so would bad ones.

Aunt Patti, Val and Nick, April 18, 1993, four days after Val turned 3 and 11 days before my dad died.

What will you do now?

2026-04-19T05:00:00.001-05:00

What do you think? Is it time that I move on and write on Sundays about something other than the message of Easter? I thought I would close out this year’s Lenten series with some of the last things that Jesus did and said before He ascended into heaven, according to each of the Gospel writers.

Still later he appeared to the eleven disciples as they were eating together. He rebuked them for their stubborn unbelief because they refused to believe those who had seen him after he had been raised from the dead.

And then he told them, “Go into all the world and preach the Good News to everyone. Anyone who believes and is baptized will be saved. But anyone who refuses to believe will be condemned.” (Mark 16:14-16, NLT)

It seems that right up to the very end, Jesus had to keep reminding them who He was, but Jesus also had faith in them, that they would carry His message out into the world.

Then the eleven disciples left for Galilee, going to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go. When they saw him, they worshiped him—but some of them doubted!

Jesus came and told his disciples, “I have been given all authority in heaven and on earth. Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you. And be sure of this: I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” (Matthew 28:16-20, New Living Translation)

Even though there were those among them who continued to have doubts, Jesus expected them to spread the words of the Gospel, to carry out the Great Commission.

It was also written that this message would be proclaimed in the authority of his name to all the nations, beginning in Jerusalem: ‘There is forgiveness of sins for all who repent.’ You are witnesses of all these things.

“And now I will send the Holy Spirit, just as my Father promised. But stay here in the city until the Holy Spirit comes and fills you with power from heaven.”

Then Jesus led them to Bethany, and lifting his hands to heaven, he blessed them. While he was blessing them, he left them and was taken up to heaven. (Luke 24:47-51, NLT)

Then suddenly, Jesus was gone again, this time taken to heaven where He will reign for all eternity. And where He will be waiting for us.

There are so many other things Jesus did. If they were all written down, each of them, one by one, I can’t imagine a world big enough to hold such a library of books. (John 21:25, The Message)

The stories of Jesus will be told until the end of time. And it’s up to each of us to carry out the Great Commission and keep sharing those stories. Will you?

Life Happening - Val's Story, chapter 4, part 1

2026-04-17T05:00:00.001-05:00

Val was born on a sunny, warm Saturday afternoon in April. The next day, Easter, as I lay in the hospital bed, nursing her, snow was falling outside. There were still a few inches on the ground when we took her home on Monday, but it warmed up quickly and melted before we knew it.

We were living in a mobile home in a trailer court in town when Val was born. Her father and I had talked about buying a house and started looking in earnest. Our first outing with Val was a visit to see my sister Pat, and on the way there, we stopped to look at a house. I waited in the car while he met with the owner and went inside.

He came out and said it was only two bedrooms, but had a bath and a half and a large living room. The two-car garage was attached, and it sat on just over four acres. I had already fallen in love with the large, grass-covered yard and the trees surrounding it. No neighbors nearby. It seemed perfect except for only having two bedrooms. We had two kids – a boy and a girl – so we would need a third bedroom at some point.

We hired a real estate agent and looked at a few other houses in the area. But we kept coming back to that first house and finally put in an offer on it. We moved in at the end of September.

It was the sixth place we’d lived in since getting married five years before. As a baby, Nick had made all those moves with us, but I don’t think he remembered any of them except for the trailer house.

This house, a few miles south of town on a piece of land that would become paradise to me over the years, would be the only home Val had when she was growing up.

Not a good picture, but this is from the sale's flyer on our house. So, the first picture I have of it.

The End of Nine Months - Val's Story, chap 3 continued

2026-04-14T14:00:00.001-05:00

Saturday morning, April 14, 1990, the day before Easter and one week before my due date, I called my mom around ten to check in. My husband and I were talking about doing some shopping and wondered if Mom wanted to watch Nick.

She agreed and said we could drop him off at my aunt’s, who lived next door to us, and that she would pick him up in a little while. We were still on the phone, saying our good-byes, when I got up from the kitchen chair where I had been sitting to put the phone receiver back on its hook.

There was a gush, and within seconds I was standing in a puddle of water.

“Um, Mom, you still there?”

“Yes. Is something wrong?”

“No, not really. But I don’t think we’re going shopping, I think we’re going to the hospital instead. My water just broke.”

“Well, take Nick to Helen’s house, and I’ll be there to get him as soon as I can. Get going.”

I called the hospital and told them I was on my way. When we got there 45 minutes later, they tucked me into bed and hooked me up to the monitors. A nurse reached under the blankets to check me.

“You’re only dilated to three, so settle in. This could take a while.”

Once again, I thought to myself, “There ain’t no stinkin’ way. They won’t let me eat until this baby is out, and I’m hungry already.”

Dr. Skye came along a half hour or so later and told me the same thing that the nurse had, adding, “If you haven’t had this baby by tomorrow morning, we’ll start you on Pitocin.”

An even more emphatic “no stinkin’ way” rang through my head.

My husband had been sitting in the chair next to my bed, totally unconcerned, watching MTV. When he heard it was going to be a while, he finally perked up. “Then I’m going to run to Burger King for something to eat.”

“Sure, go ahead,” I told him. Someone might as well eat!

Shortly after he left, the music video for “Let It Rain Down” by Phil Collins came on the TV hanging from the wall. Of all the videos that were on that morning, I don’t know why I remembered that one. But just like married couples have a song, this would forever be the song for my baby and me.

Two hours later, my husband had returned and was finishing his Whopper, when I had the urge to push. I rang for the nurse, who arrived within a few minutes.

She looked very skeptical when I told her I thought it was time, but she checked me and confirmed my story. “I’ll page Dr. Skye,” she said, hurrying from the room.

I don’t know why I remember so many details of this birth. Can other mothers recall everything?

When I was in labor with Nick, all I remember is that we had lasagna for supper the night before and that I pooped all over the doctor when I was pushing (that is very common, and the doctor and nurses are used to it, in case any young women read this and freak out). I also remember driving to the hospital in the middle of the night. We were living in Colorado at the time, and there was one point on I-25 heading into Denver, where it is so dark along the highway, and then you turn a wide curve, and all the lights of the city are suddenly there.

Now, though, as I lay in that bed with music videos staring at me, Dr. Skye walked in the room and announced, “I was at the store reaching into the cooler for a gallon of milk when my pager went off.”

Why? Why did she tell me that? And why can I still hear her words in my head to this day?

Anyway, it was less than an hour later that she was cradling that pink, wrinkly eight-pound, five-ounce baby girl in her arms. She brought the bundle to my side and lay her in my arms.

She said to my daughter, “You have parents who love you so much.”

At the time, I didn’t think of her father; I only thought, “Yes, I will love you with all my heart. Forever.”

Nine Months - Val's Story, Chapter 3a

2026-04-13T06:52:00.001-05:00

Most of the nine months of my second pregancny were uneventful, other than having unrelenting indigestion no matter what I did or didn't consume. I was incubating this little bundle like a bun in the oven, or maybe like a little Easter ham. My due date was April 21, a week after Easter.

At twenty weeks, I had the usual ultrasound they did around then to make sure Baby was growing all the right parts in the right places. At that time, ultrasounds weren't as detailed as they are now, but the technician could usually pick out if a boy or a girl was cooking in there.

When asked if I wanted to know, I emphatically answered, "NO!"

I hadn't had a clue when I was pregnant with my firstborn, and I didn't want to know now. Very few mothers-to-be feel the way I do, but I wanted to be surprised when the bundle popped out. I felt that if I knew ahead of time, there would be no thrill of discovery at the delivery.

One of the three obstetricians working in our clinic at the time, Dr. Skye, was going to give a presentation to colleagues from around the state and needed a willing pregnant woman to offer her unborn child a chance at stardom. Of course, I offered.

So, a few weeks later, another ultrasound was performed on my growing belly; this time, it was being recorded. I still have a copy of it on an old VHS tape somewhere.

Summer had turned to fall – a season that is always too short where we live. Winter brought the usual cold and snow. At some point during that time, I was able to transfer to the clinic in town, saving me the half-hour trip every day. The local clinic was also much more laid-back and less stressful – just what the doctor ordered. And my OB doctor even rotated to that clinic, so I didn't have to take time off for my routine pregnancy checks.

"Hmmm?" Dr. Skye was checking me one day when I was about 4 weeks away from my delivery date. She pushed on my bulging belly again. "Well, Chris, I hate to tell you, but this baby seems to be positioned butt-down. At this point in the pregnancy, Baby should already be turned with their head down."

I had worked in labor and delivery at another hospital several years earlier, so I knew what that meant.

"You should maybe get yourself psyched up for the possibility of a Cesarean."

I nodded in understanding, but thought to myself, "There ain't no stinkin' way I'm having a C-section. This baby is going to turn."

The next week, when she checked me, Baby's head was down, pointing at the birth canal. One of the few things this child of mine ever made easy on me.

Nick and the dog we had for a while when we were living in the mobile home. Maybe doesn't have much to do with this story, but it's where we were living when I was pregnant with Val. There were a few pictures I had in my head that would fit better (including one of that ultrasound), but I couldn't find any of them.

He is Still Risen

2026-04-12T05:00:00.001-05:00

Only last week, I took down the last of my Christmas decorations. Okay, it was really a snowman welcome sign, but still, it reminded me of Christmas. But it does make me a little crazy when people take down their tree and other decorations by New Year's.

I feel the same way about Easter. Just last Sunday, we celebrated the rising of our Savior from the grave, our salvation for all time secured because He died and rose again on the third day. But everyone has moved on to other things – spring, yard work, summer vacation plans.

I think that any day which is not spent celebrating Jesus' birth should be spent celebrating His rebirth. So, here are the Bible verses about how Jesus appeared to some of His followers later that first Easter day on the road to Emmaus.

That same day two of Jesus’ followers were walking to the village of Emmaus, seven miles from Jerusalem. As they walked along they were talking about everything that had happened. As they talked and discussed these things, Jesus himself suddenly came and began walking with them. But God kept them from recognizing him.

He asked them, “What are you discussing so intently as you walk along?”

They stopped short, sadness written across their faces. Then one of them, Cleopas, replied, “You must be the only person in Jerusalem who hasn’t heard about all the things that have happened there the last few days.”

“What things?” Jesus asked.

“The things that happened to Jesus, the man from Nazareth,” they said. “He was a prophet who did powerful miracles, and he was a mighty teacher in the eyes of God and all the people. But our leading priests and other religious leaders handed him over to be condemned to death, and they crucified him. We had hoped he was the Messiah who had come to rescue Israel. This all happened three days ago.

“Then some women from our group of his followers were at his tomb early this morning, and they came back with an amazing report. They said his body was missing, and they had seen angels who told them Jesus is alive! Some of our men ran out to see, and sure enough, his body was gone, just as the women had said.”

Then Jesus said to them, “You foolish people! You find it so hard to believe all that the prophets wrote in the Scriptures. Wasn’t it clearly predicted that the Messiah would have to suffer all these things before entering his glory?” Then Jesus took them through the writings of Moses and all the prophets, explaining from all the Scriptures the things concerning himself.

By this time they were nearing Emmaus and the end of their journey. Jesus acted as if he were going on, but they begged him, “Stay the night with us, since it is getting late.” So he went home with them. As they sat down to eat, he took the bread and blessed it. Then he broke it and gave it to them. Suddenly, their eyes were opened, and they recognized him. And at that moment he disappeared!

They said to each other, “Didn’t our hearts burn within us as he talked with us on the road and explained the Scriptures to us?” And within the hour they were on their way back to Jerusalem. There they found the eleven disciples and the others who had gathered with them, who said, “The Lord has really risen! He appeared to Peter.” (Luke 24:13-34, New Living Translation)

Almost a Miracle - Val's Story, Chapter 2

2026-04-10T05:00:00.001-05:00

When our son, Nick, turned three in January of 1989, I talked to his father about having another baby. I didn’t want Nick to be raised alone; I wanted him to have a younger brother or sister, so he’d always have someone to play with and fight with.

I went off the pill in April or May, so we could work on Baby #2.

At the end of July, we went camping but got rained out. We scrapped the tent and found a small cabin for rent a few miles away. It only had one bed, so I tucked Nick into bed on the couch before my husband and I went into the bedroom.

A week or two later, my husband’s back went out – I can’t remember how, but his back had bothered him before. Usually, a few visits to the chiropractor healed him. Not this time.

On a Saturday night, I took him to the ER because the pain had gotten so bad that he couldn’t urinate. After some tests, they called in a back specialist, who determined that he had a ruptured disc, which was pushing on the nerves that controlled the part of his body that allowed him to go pee and get an erection.

Or that’s the way I remember it. Since then, I have worked in the medical field for close to thirty years, including time with a urologist, and I have never heard of that happening to anyone else. But anyway.

The specialist claimed my husband needed an emergency surgery on that disc, or he might need a catheter and be impotent for the rest of his life. So into surgery he went on Sunday afternoon.

During that time, I thought I might already be pregnant. I was having heartburn, but I also hadn’t missed a period yet. Too soon to tell. But I thought, if this surgery didn’t work and my husband couldn’t have sex again, it would be like this baby was a miracle. Their conception timed just right.

Of course, I never thought of the horrible consequences such a failed surgery would bring on my husband and our relationship. I must have already had baby brain.

As it turned out, the surgery was a success, and he had an uneventful and full recovery. A few weeks later, one of the lab techs at the clinic where I worked privately showed me the slip of paper with the word “positive” circled in red.

Okay for One Day

2026-04-08T05:00:00.001-05:00

“I am so happy.” My daughter Val was eating breakfast at the kitchen counter one Saturday morning. “I have a good job, my own car, and a wonderful boyfriend. Everything is going great for me right now.”

I don’t remember where she was working at the time, who her boyfriend was, or what car she was driving. She went through all three of those things with regularity at that time in her life. I do think she was all of nineteen years old that day.

She hugged me as she left the house, climbed into her car, and drove off down our driveway, a fresh layer of snow under her tires. As her mother, having lived those nineteen years with her, I knew these good days would continue to wax and wane.

Five minutes later, the phone rang.

“I ran in the ditch by Bob’s house.”

Bob was an elderly neighbor who lived a quarter mile from our house. Just past his house was a small hill on a curve. On many winter days, my own car would gently slide through that piece of the road.

“I’ll be right there.” Her stepdad was at work, and I was sure my vehicle couldn’t pull out her larger car, but I had to do something.

When I got to the curve, I found her car buried in the ditch and Val standing at the side of the road, cell phone to her ear.

“My boyfriend and his friends are on their way.” She said the boyfriend’s name, but, as I mentioned earlier, I don’t remember which one it was.

“It’ll be okay.” I drew her into a hug.

“Why me?” she asked. “I wasn’t even going that fast.”

I doubted that, but didn’t tell her what I was thinking. I just repeated, “It will be okay.”

And for that one day, it was okay.

She had more than a few incidents with vehicles.
At least no one let her drive this truck. Picture is from 2014.

The Easter Bunny

2026-04-06T06:25:00.001-05:00

Since the middle of January, I've been writing once a week about relatives I have lost over the years. I'm not sure that you saw this coming, but all of that was in prelude to the family member I lost most recently and that I will never get over. But you know that since I find the greatest solace in writing, I would eventually subject you to a memoir of my daughter's life.

I plan to start sharing Val's life on Wednesday; however, yesterday I was reminded of a story I had completely forgotten about. And since yesterday was Easter, I had to share this one now.

Val held many jobs over the years. Some of them she quit for something more to her liking, but she was also fired from several. But whatever the case, she would dig in her heels and search for employment wherever she could.

She lost a job early one spring, and when no one was hiring, she took a part-time, seasonal gig at the mall, doing the last thing I would have envisioned. She was the Easter Bunny's assistant.

She hated it! I can't remember what her costume was – it had to be better than a giant rabbit – but she still hated what she had to wear. The kiddos who she hoisted onto the bunny's lap were generally spoiled and obnoxious. She hated their behavior. The pay wasn’t like a dangling carrot, but it was enough to mess with her unemployment.

I can't remember where she worked next, but it wasn't long after that that she hopped on a respectable job again.

But that was our Val. There was always something that sprang up in her life that was out of the ordinary. Oh, if only she were still here to tell those stories.

Nick and Val, Easter 1995 (the only Easter picture I have of them)

He is Risen Indeed

2026-04-05T04:00:00.001-05:00

Now after the Sabbath, as the first day of the week began to dawn, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary came to see the tomb. 2 And behold, there was a great earthquake; for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven, and came and rolled back the stone from the door, and sat on it. 3 His countenance was like lightning, and his clothing as white as snow. 4 And the guards shook for fear of him, and became like dead men.

5 But the angel answered and said to the women, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified. 6 He is not here; for He is risen, as He said. Come, see the place where the Lord lay. 7 And go quickly and tell His disciples that He is risen from the dead, and indeed He is going before you into Galilee; there you will see Him. Behold, I have told you.”

8 So they went out quickly from the tomb with fear and great joy, and ran to bring His disciples word.

9 And as they went to tell His disciples, behold, Jesus met them, saying, “Rejoice!” So they came and held Him by the feet and worshiped Him. 10 Then Jesus said to them, “Do not be afraid. Go and tell My brethren to go to Galilee, and there they will see Me.” (Matthew 28:1-10, New King James Version)

He is Risen, He is Risen indeed, and we have nothing to fear.