I remember a dream that I had when my oldest son was nine. He and I and two angels dressed in white were standing in heaven beside a giant Bible, taller than we were. The pages of the Bible had fallen open to these words: In the dream, I …( read more )

These days, there are few daylight hours. Here in Red Deer, Alberta, Canada, at latitude 52 degrees, 16 minutes north, on the winter solstice, December 21st, the shortest day of the year, there were 7 hours and 41 minutes of daylight. That …( read more )

Last year, COVID-19 restrictions made life tough for all of us. Here in Alberta, Canada, we couldn't get together for Christmas with our family as usual. Our visits were limited to brief encounters outside as my husband and I delivered …( read more )

When my son was little, he and his brother had an Advent calendar for a month before Christmas. Every day, the boys would open a window and see the picture and verse inside — no chocolate in those days! As Christmas approached, they would …( read more )

When my brother was young, he would be the one to check the family before we went away on a holiday. "Did you unplug the iron?" he would say to our mother. "Is the stove off?" We could go once he was satisfied that nothing was left …( read more )

This time of the year reminds me of the weeks when my husband and I volunteered at North Okanagan Valley Gleaners, a non-profit organization near Vernon, British Columbia, Canada. We spent our mornings cutting vegetables into chunks to be …( read more )

One fall day, just before Thanksgiving, my husband and I were driving by a large organic food market. It was lunch time, and we were getting hungry. "Look! People are sitting outside with plates of food. Maybe we could get something at …( read more )

When I was thirteen, our family visited Czechoslovakia, but I developed pneumonia after a lingering cold. Treatment there in those days was cautious: bed rest and penicillin shots. I was in bed for a month! I had never met any of my …( read more )

Our youngest son, Nick, invited his parents on an annual family hike. His family likes to hike to waterfalls, and they have found new waterfalls to explore for the past several years. The hike has to be in the easy-to-moderate category to …( read more )

It should have been easy to back the Ford Escape out of the garage. After all, it's half the size of our former Ford Expedition. With that big vehicle, I had figured out when to start and stop turning in the eight-metre space between the …( read more )

My grandchildren and I were playing with a new set of Play-Doh the other day. The modelling compound was satisfyingly soft and pliable, and it was fun to work it into people and animals. Moulds came with the set, to be turned out into …( read more )

My husband has a moderate-to-severe hearing loss and wears hearing aids. At first, they were the basic kind. As we drove in the car, he would complain, "You're talking to the windshield. I can't hear you." I would get impatient with this …( read more )

Looking at a first-level workbook in the Accelerated Christian Education system, a high school student exclaimed, "Mrs. B, I want to do this work. It looks so easy!" To him it appeared easy, but to the first grader whose book it was, it …( read more )

When my husband and I received our teaching degrees after five long years at the University of Victoria, we became qualified to teach at schools in British Columbia, Canada. We were able to sign up for interviews and to look for jobs in …( read more )

Since my father's birthday falls on Father's Day this year, I'm doubly remembering my dad, who has been gone now for 37 years. When I was a child, my dad was my hero. We formed an early bond when I was a baby. My dad was ready to be a …( read more )

I was struck by an unusual sight one day as I walked by the kindergarten room. There was Sophia sitting in a little chair right in front of the gerbil cage, in a world of her own. The rest of the children had gone for the day, but for some …( read more )

Having grown up on the west coast of British Columbia, Canada, I'm somewhat familiar with ocean tides. Sometimes, we could swim easily, but other times, we had to walk a long way to reach the edge of the water. In 1972, my husband and I …( read more )

For the first two weeks of my life, I was not called Alice, my present name. My parents were trying out the name Helen. They must not have been sure about it, because there was no definite mention of a name in the early letters to my …( read more )

My husband had been having a hard time at the school where we worked together. He was letting the overwhelming needs of the students, both academic and emotional, get to him. Our school was small, and students of all ages were rewarded …( read more )

A stone wall was planned as a retaining wall above our house to keep the sandy bank from eroding. A lovely, mature cedar tree grew there, and we didn't want it to topple onto our house. My husband hired a skilled local mason, and prepared …( read more )

After a couple of days at the YWAM base in Belize, I wondered what I was doing there. The setting, despite its beautiful name, "Destination Paradise", was a challenge. High heat with humidity, mosquitoes, fire ants, sudden tropical …( read more )

Our trip was going well until everything went sideways. The road in front of us was straight and the traffic light. All of a sudden, our small travel trailer began fishtailing back and forth, my husband fighting valiantly to control the …( read more )