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World War II Survivor

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Thrust Your Sickle Into Another's Corn

Thrust Your Sickle Into Another’s Corn is historical fiction entwined around an actual event. John F. Kennedy’s speech, the mob factions, the steel mill are all part of Warren, Ohio’s history. The personas of the main characters, Gino and Meatball, were inspired by paisanos of my Italian mother (all deceased), and they were a hoot! On October 9, 1960, presidential candidate John F. Kennedy stood…

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Evil Is Ugly

There are many amazing accounts of angels who astound onlookers with their glorious heavenly light. Yet my guardian angel never popped into view when rescuing me. But a demonic something or other did and, believe me, evil is as ugly as sin. Uglier. My first awareness of angelic intervention happened on my way home from a church function for kids. As I walked along a partially wooded road…

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God's Providence and the Psychopath

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Hay Fever Isn't COVID

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Patience is a Gift

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The Bunny in the Basement

Shortly before my middle child graduated from high school, he came home with a cage and plopped it on top of his dresser. My son had rescued a Netherland dwarf bunny, one of the smallest of the rabbit breeds. His science teacher got canned and abandoned it in the classroom after it had been poked and prodded for a year. For twelve more years, we were stewards of God’s little beast. The righteous…

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The Perils of Foul (Really Fowl!) Language

This blog post has words, language, and images that may be considered profane, vulgar, or offensive by some readers. If you proceed, you’re responsible for your own feelings. As a young girl, I talked like a foul-mouthed trucker. I even used God’s name in vain whenever anything ruffled my porcupine quills. But I knew The Ten Commandments, and the third one in Exodus 20:7 warned not to take the…

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Counting Sheep Doesn't Work

Counting Sheep Doesn’t Work

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5 posts!

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The Dueling Wisdoms of Great-Grandma and the Preschooler

The Dueling Wisdoms of Great-Grandma and the Preschooler

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The God Pause

I frequently travel on a two-lane highway that is often used by wannabe racecar drivers and reckless drivers. The racecar drivers zoom around the reckless drivers who are eating footlong hotdogs or brushing their teeth because they just ate a footlong hotdog. While driving among them, a surreal nightmare moment left me awestruck. The summer day couldn’t have been more beautiful. The cumulus…

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The Angel in the Camaro

The Angel in the Camaro

I took pictures of this Camaro for sale at a local car dealership because, except for its color, it resembled the blue late model Camaro SS an earthly angel used to rescue me. While driving home, I slowed as I approached an intersection notorious for its fatal accidents. As I closed in on the green light, the engine in my 1999 Toyota Camry shut down. I believe my Guardian Angel, who I habitually…

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Thrifty, Frugal, or Fast and Loose

Thrifty, Frugal, or Fast and Loose

My daughter made this catch-all bowl in grade school with the script I LOVE U MOM. We still use it for keys. Money can’t buy better. My kid brain believed being thrifty and frugal were stairways to heaven, and being wasteful and stingy were highways to hell. At least, that’s what I thought when I worked on not being broke and not toasting marshmallows with Satan. The Bible has a great many…

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Close Encounters of the ER Kind

Close Encounters of the ER Kind

I didn’t work at the hospital building pictured here. This facility has been closed for several years and has a date with a wrecking ball. I took this photo for posterity reasons. My husband and I, and our three children, were born. here. Twenty years ago, I worked as an emergency room registrar during the midnight shift. The nonprofit hospital offered charity care and a trauma center, so a wide…