Month: December 2025

A prescient Happy New Year to you all, my readers! How I value you, and your prayers! I am so blessed to have you.

Tonight there is a 24-hour prayer vigil at my church. I love this. It’s such a beautiful way to “ring in” the new year, bathing it in prayer.

Has the past year been hard? Yes. Of course.

My fall was not what I’d planned.

But I have such a grateful heart! I am well—for now. At the advanced age of 63 I expect new health issues to crop up with the passing of time.

If the Lord does not return before that. How I LONG for His return. I am Rapture-Ready. Come, Lord Jesus!

Can you see us, the bride of Christ, in the first four chapters of Revelation? I do. The church is gone after chapter four.

Chapter five is about to begin.

I am ready.

I’ve been praying people into the faith. I know that many have not made a decision yet. I will begin to pray again, each day, for their salvation. I want them in heaven with me, and with Jesus.

Many years ago I had the overwhelming idea that I was so unworthy of salvation. WE are unworthy, of course. It is the love of God that washes us with worthiness. I wanted to be an old sheep that stuck to the Shepherd’s side, never leaving, grazing close. Just let me be that sheep, Lord. I ask for nothing else. Even today I ask that. I want to be with Jesus.

Having family that loves God is such a blessing. I am blessed.

There are still loved ones that need to make things right with God. I know it is between God and them, but I can be praying for the Holy Spirit to prod and pry. How I want them to come to know God.

What are your plans for your spiritual walk this coming year? I plan to read through the Bible, do my study on Christ’s commands, and pray my “Snatch List.” (Jude 23!)

I am keeping a journal and making the words TRUTH, KINDNESS, and DISCIPLINE my focus for the year.

Faith, purpose, and service were my 2025 words.

My dear sister-in-law, who is also one of my best friends (we married brothers!) came for a brief visit.

She was praising her new pastor and his wife. She described how they SHOW UP. They are servant-hearted. They actively serve their congregation. They have mastered the word “serve!”

Although the church isn’t that huge there is a sense of family. The pastor had everyone in the congregation over for Sunday lunch over the first weeks of their tenure.

I need to have people over for Sunday lunch!

Since I am involved in my international Bible study on Sundays that isn’t the best time for me to entertain.

I want to be hospitable. That is a rule at Corgi Hollows. Hospitality must be practiced! (And I love it, when my house is dry and clean ;))

I have a sign in my kitchen: “Tea is always served at Corgi Hollows.”

Come for tea.

Come for cake and coffee on Sunday afternoons. I just loved that German tradition. While I lived in Germany we all ate apfel, or pfirsch kuchen, around 4 pm, then took long walks.

I NEED to do this again! Cozy, sweet tradition.

It’s time to make resolutions. Let’s do this!

MARANATHA!

I do not use that word lightly, but I see them every day.

This one is big though.

Firstly, my plans are not always followed, and the past few weeks I had some alterations, all wonderful, though.

Here is the true miracle story:

I was scheduled for a PET scan this past week, on Tuesday. I was shot up with radiation, as the scan requires. As the technician put the stuff in my vein I mentioned my radiation story.

Years ago, in 1986, I was a short term missionary living in Ingolstadt, Germany. I arrived in the summer that year. I was 23 years old. Some new friends and I spent an evening at a man-made lake near town picnicking and swimming in the late June light. It was so beautiful and I never forgot that fun day!

A week later we learned that the city pool in Ingolstadt had to be drained because of dangerous levels of radiation in the water! Tchernobyl disaster had happened that spring.

It was the time in history when ATMs were new and used. I had a bank card that kept erasing every few months. ! The bank asked me, “Do you work at a nuclear power plant?”

NO! I am basically an Au pair, a church worker, a “Gemeindehelferin.” Hmmm.

I am telling this little story to the technician, and she responds: “Did you tell Dr. _____ this story? ” (My surgeon?)

“No.”

“You need to tell her.”

SO at my very last post surgery appointment I said to my surgeon, “—the technician for the PET scan told me I need to tell you a story.”

Now, the appointment already revealed that my situation was a bit different from what I knew.

I had thyroid cancer in a large tumor. I had thyroid cancer in an ovary. All of this was removed surgically. I had a PET scan that revealed NOTHING ——even the nodules on my thyroid are not there (?!!!!).

There is nothing more to treat. There is nothing more of concern.

The surgeon listened with interest to my story. She said that the thyroid is the first thing to be affected by radiation. She concurred that there is probably a connection to my experience years ago.

Now, my case; It was Stage 1 cancer, no treatment prescribed, Ongoing monitoring every six months.

My condition is of interest to a panel/board of doctors, it is extremely rare. (Less than 1% of similar situations!)

I see a miracle. I see a miracle that even though I was affected by radiation I have five children, I am cancer free, I am healthy. I see a miracle that even in a few weeks nodules on my thyroid seem to have disappeared.

God chose to heal me. God answered my prayer with healing.

I know this does not happen to everyone. God graciously gave me a beautiful gift. I will say that His plans are always the best plans. He knows the best. Dark and hard it may seem to us, but HE KNOWS THE BEST.

This is trust.

I am looking out at the snowy landscape. Cheri and I have holiday chaos indoors, as we are trying to decorate some, along with restoring order to a house hampered by water for four years! We are using the season to re-organize and clean. It never ends, but we try. I still have stacks of books to re-shelve.

I was unable to swim (after all) until yesterday. The surgeon gave the green light on swimming, but she mandated that I ease into it.

It was quite difficult. My body has gained weight, become stiffer, generally lost strength over these past four months.

I have a physical recovery to manage. I need to be back in shape by the wedding in Japan that we are attending in May!

Getting old is not for the faint of heart! I keep thinking about all of us being 30ish in heaven, robed in light, healthy and JOYFUL. We have an eternity of happiness that awaits, with each other. This is the promise of Scripture! So much beauty and love, peace.

I will attempt to become stronger. I am cutting back on the “Home-Chemotherapy” and I am still treating radiation. (My friend said to take kelp for the aftermath of the PET scan.)

Corwyn is back to normal. She is healthy. Ed had a bad virus, but he seems to be getting better.

I will be cooking for a day or two now. Plans for gathering continue.

I got to go to Hitchville’s Christmas concert this past weekend. What an incredibly talented ensemble! They are as good as Pentatonix, but have such wide talent and ability beyond that! I highly recommend their Christmas concert. So joyful!

I did get to see “The Singers” at Westwood Lutheran Church, with Ed. Such angelic sound! A peaceful and precious time.

Last Friday, my niece, Cherie, and I went to the Norwegian Lutheran Church (Mindekirk) in MInneapolis, for the Gregorian Singers Scandinavian Christmas Concert. They are really top-notch, too! Such an fun evening of sound and sweet traditional Scandinavian folk Christmas. Hardanger fiddle music!

The season has been full of music and joy.

I have a JOYFUL heart.

Surely Jesus is coming quickly….

MERRY CHRISTMAS, dear readers!!! Love to you all.

MARANATHA!!

Today was the second day back in the classroom.

I look back on the last six weeks of recovery as a time to process. I did NOT find it a profitable time, as in getting things done. I wasn’t mentally sharp enough to make stuff or write much. Even reading —I usually get through a lot of books in a time like that, but I just didn’t have the energy. The stacks of books were touched, but not enough.

Still, a quiet time of processing is profitable. Things come into focus, decisions are made subconsciously. Time just rolls on and change happens.

Healing is change. I went from pain to healed, fogginess to more clarity.

There is nothing so constant as change.

I came back to school more cognizant of my abilities and desires as a teacher. As I age my authority grows. Kids who have known me for years are listening to me. I can still have “bad” days when they seem disrespectful and difficult to manage. It lies in the poor discipline they have received since birth (some of them), or congenital issues, or they are just having a bad day.

There is a spirit in each classroom. I can sense it. Keeping a lid on bad behaviors is a challenge, constant, as a teacher. If some are allowed the escalation is remarkable. It spreads like wildfire.

I have my management techniques, but I think the spirit of the room is the most important to consider. I can completely fail on a given day.

If the students don’t respect you, you’ve lost.

I try to keep control by limiting noise. As a substitute teacher, spending only a day with the students, I always feel they can handle silence for one class period or even a day. I don’t demand silence from the little ones, but from 5th grade up it is part of my program.

Respect is such an issue in today’s classroom. I don’t think there is any teacher who does not see this. It’s a chronic problem. I am always writing notes to teachers about the lack of it in certain students. They already know, but it is the only way I can “control” a student who is acting badly. “I am writing this down for your teacher.,.,.”

That can help unless the student has escalated. Then there is nothing to do but call in back-up. That has happened several times over my years of teaching.

Disrespect happens. It happens a lot.

This is a problem throughout our culture. Kids (at least in public school, which I am qualified to generalize) seem to have lost their ability to see adults in a way that shows deference. Adults have had to resort to being “a friend.”

Teachers need to appeal for good behavior.

This is so backwards from historical educational culture. Perhaps some may see this as progression. Sadly, the structure of classroom education isn’t conducive to appeals from the teacher for good behavior. Enforcement is difficult.

Personality and emotion can really have an effect on the spirit of the classroom. The teacher can’t be the same person every day any more than anyone. We bring our ups and downs to the space. It’s dynamic. It has effect.

I have thought in the past that teaching is really acting. It seems that the teacher must put on a performance the entire day.

Acting, performing, getting a point across; this is the state of current education. The time for learning is minimal, but the brain is constantly learning. It’s learning something.

Our brains are vacuums. The space must be filled by the minutes we exist.

It is a challenge to fill those minutes productively.

I’m reflecting on productivity as I come out of my “house arrest.”

I want to do things better, progress.

Lord God, Heavenly Father, Thank You!

Thank you for providing richness in your Spirit, for abiding in my life. Thank you for providing all I need. You have provided for my rest, my sustenance, my peace, by warmth.

Living in the land of snow and ice you have provided protection.

Thank you for the ability to move around, by my healthy legs and feet, by my vehicle, by the help of others.

Thank you for all I get to see every day, the beauty, the colors, the wonders of your creation, the faces of those I love.

Thank you for my eyes, my ears, my senses, my heart and all the other things that sustain my life.

I pray that you would keep me healthy and free from disease. Thank you that I have options for the things that have made me ill. Thank you for removing the cancer from my body. I pray that cancer would not come back, and if I do have it in my body still, that you would heal me.

I pray for my family, Lord. I think of my parents and how they are aging. Please be near them as they deal with their weakening bodies.

I pray for my children and my grandchildren. I trust you to keep them safe. I trust you to help them and guide them. I trust your Holy Spirit to convict them of sin and anything that needs to change in their spiritual lives. Teach them gently, Lord. Give wisdom and love. Let them experience your love and the love of those around them.

Help them be servants in their relationships. Help them to live purposeful and effective lives. Make them who you want them to be.

I pray for those who minister to me. I pray for my pastor, my leaders, my employers. I pray for them to be kind and fair, to be helpful and understanding. Thank you for putting them in my life.

I thank you for the seasons, the changes, the beauty of December and celebrating Christmas.

I thank you for all you have taught me, and help me to do what is right, to understand what is truth and what is a lie. Teach me your ways, Lord. Help me to obey your commands. I want to show my love for you, so I want to know and obey, follow your commands.

Lord, there is so much more to know about you. Please reveal yourself to me in your word and in my friendships. Thank you for the wise counsel of dear friends who I trust. Keep them in your Word, and give them the wisdom and knowledge they need to advise me.

Lord, help me to be humble. Forgive my pride.

Help me to bring my sin to you every day. Help me to look at you and strive to please you every moment.

I pray these things in Jesus’ Precious Name!

Amen.

PS; Come soon, come quickly, Lord. MARANATHA!

It is that time of year when we formulate plans for upcoming change. Resolutions, beginnings, goals, ideas.

I do it every year, and although I seldom feel I achieved much at any time, I do see progress. Therefore I conclude that setting goals is important, even if they are not attained.

I have notebooks of goals and lists. It is probably a form of mental illness. For me, it grounds. I am keeping my ideas in my brain, in the back of my day’s schedule, even on the calendar to some extent.

Today I return to the classroom. Only a half day, perfect for a re-entry.

It has been an interesting six weeks since surgery, twelve weeks since we found my tumor. Today the restrictions are lifted for my post-op regimen. I can lift more than 15 lbs, but I need to ease into it.

I can swim, which I plan to do tomorrow. I have been anticipating getting back in the pool at the Y this entire time.

The extra weight I gained from lack of exercise should disappear, right?

Four of my five kids got their life guard certification. Three worked as guards at area YMCA’s. I must swim, and I have swam all through my adult life, extra pounds or not! One of my sons said to me, “Mom, don’t worry about how you look. I’ve seen it all!”

As a woman in her 60’s I should not care, anyway, right? I am there for my health. I see all of my older peers being faithful to exercise, too. I will brave the stigma of being out-of-shape and join them tomorrow!

We celebrated our family Christmas this past weekend. It was marvelous. We were all together. We ate our traditional Christmas repast: Swedish Smorgasbord. We sang and read Christmas songs and passages. We gave gifts, thoughtful, homemade, sweetness. We laughed and hugged, held babies and remembered. We watched the delight of children opening new toys.

I think it was perfect.

I have determined to do a study on the commands of Christ this upcoming year. I want 2026 to be my year for practicing His commands, understanding them, obeying. I gifted each of my children with a study on His commands in hopes that they will join me in this pursuit. We actually did this study years ago as a home-school, and I think it was one of the most memorable and effective Bible studies we did. I think my “students” even remember all of the commands in the curriculum. (I’ve tested them surreptitiously).

I need a review. I plan to study a different command each week. This curriculum has 49, so it should take most of 2026. I’m starting this week, though. Christmas is already celebrated and I am one to strike while there’s a will to start!

Head start on 2026!

Matthew 4:17 says “From that time Jesus began to preach, and he said,”Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” ”

This command is “Repent.”

What an interesting study for this week!

My first thought about obeying this command is to just look at Jesus instead of looking at the world. I look for His beauty, His goodness, His mercy, His grace. I see His forgiveness for my sin. I am turning toward Him.

This is repentance, for me, today.

Of course there will be other thoughts, but I need something easy to begin with.

I will look at Jesus today.

When you look at Jesus you are looking at the pure and wonderful.

The dirt just doesn’t attract.

It’s supposed to snow today. Lots of snow is predicted. It is one of those days I love being by the fire, writing or reading!

But I really need to get back to work. I am thankful. I am blessed.

Next week will be a week of medical things, another scan to see if cancer is gone, another post op examination. It will be busy. I am praying for good reports.

This week is a gift. Looking at Jesus. Understanding Repentance. Snow. Thankfulness.

Come, Lord Jesus!

MARANATHA!

I’ve always been an advocate of celebration! I love the memories that decor evokes. I like the freshness of unpacking a box of decorations or seasonal decor after a year.

It is a hassle, but it marks time, and I firmly believe that God ordains festivals and holy days to mark time, to remember.

As a musician, I love the music of the seasons. I love the contemplative performances of Christmas time. We are so privileged to have world-class ensembles based in the Twin Cities. It is practically criminal to miss a concert!

I hope to go and hear “The Singers” this Sunday. I wanted to get to the National Lutheran Choir performance, but I can’t do everything.

Along with that I am committed to playing and singing worship services several times at my own church. I am happy to help out.

A huge snag happened this past Thanksgiving weekend.

Cherie and I drove up to Lake Superior for the night. We like to “greet” the lake at least once a year. Snow was on the ground but we were able to visit the Split Rock Lighthouse (most photographed lighthouse in Minnesota) and visit the Northern Waters Smokehaus for their amazing smoked salmon. We drove down Minnesota point, and shopped briefly at some of our favorite shops. Our trip went splendidly, even with snowy roads.

Upon return home we found Corwyn breathing hard. Ed had been watching her, but had wisely waited for us to return. It was a holiday weekend and only emergency pet vets were open.

We took her to the pet hospital. She has pneumonia. She stayed overnight one night, on oxygen and IV antibiotics.

We were able to bring her home yesterday, but I must say—-she and I are both in recovery now! Limited activity, medications, (for me natural/ home chemo) and QUIET.

As we drove toward the hospital my mind and heart, and my voice, were all crying out to God for mercy and grace. I was praying for His will to be done. I was placing the problem in His hands. I was trusting Him to walk the path before us.

I asked all of my friends to PRAY!

That is what a Christian does. We completely rely on God!

As a single woman I hate making big decisions on my own the most. My friend who also lost her husband commiserated with me on this. We feel so responsible for each and every thing we decide. We lost our “united front” as a couple, two brains are better than one status…

That is so hard when it comes to big things. Big decisions.

It is the worst.

So, I walk forward trusting that God is directing my steps and my path. I trust Him to close doors that need closing, open doors (windows), paths that need opening. I trustingly walk through them. I am casting the responsibility onto Him.

HE is in charge.

Yet in this world of material orientation His voice isn’t audible to me. He speaks, but only through my knowledge of Scripture and the character He shows me. I must trust what I have learned about Him and His teaching, His commands, to step forward.

It takes incredible faith. And I don’t even have a mustard-seed sized faith. I look at the hills and mountains in my life and they still seem to be fixed.

But where else do I go?

Looking back I have seen God in everything, even in my failings. I have trusted Him.

And I am grateful.

We just came through Thanksgiving, and my heart was full of gratitude. I know Jesus is returning for us soon. The season proclaims “LAST DAYS!” We just need to hold out a bit longer.

God is restoring relationships. God is providing. God is healing. God is good, gracious, merciful, and a wonder to me.

I am truly thankful.

The only reason He is waiting is so that more dear people can come to the truth of salvation in Christ alone. God is merciful.

Keep praying. Keep thanking. Keep trusting.

Celebrate that Jesus came 2,000 years ago as a baby. I am.

I am going to the piano right now to play a couple of carols. Christmas is HERE!

Love,

MARANATHA!