The tributes are pouring in for First Lady Rosalynn Carter, wife of the 39th President of the United States. Born Eleanor Rosalynn Smith on August 18, 1927, in Plains, GA, she married her childhood sweetheart when she was just 18 years old. For 77 years, Rosalynn and Jimmy Carter lived together, worshipped together, and worked together. Rosalynn was never just the ‘wife of,’ living in the shadow o...  Read More

We have all received the invitation in the mail… to an event intended to raise funds for a worthy cause. Perhaps one of the earliest such invitations was sent by King David almost 1000 years before the birth of Jesus. He called the leaders of Israel to the palace, treated them to a feast, and then invited them to invest in the building of a Temple to honor Yahweh. The funds raised that evening gav...  Read More

Lenape Valley was hopping this weekend… It all began on Friday night when our GrandFamilies gathered to enjoy a meal and share the challenge and joy of raising grandchildren. I am thankful for Beth Jester’s vision and leadership that creates a safe-haven for these families. When I arrived at the church mid-morning on Saturday, the New Britain Car Show was already in full swing. Classic and vintage...  Read More

As I write, a snuggly Ewok from Star Wars, and a bookish Belle fresh from her dance with the Beast, and Winnie the Pooh’s mopey friend Eeyore are getting ready for a stroll through the neighborhood in search of candy. Sound familiar? Every year we send our children out like beggars vying for sweets to pack in their lunches. When I was a child, my brothers and I competed with each other, not for th...  Read More

I am a planner… most would call me Type-A, and not always as a compliment. I concentrate on the details, believing that success, and often beauty, is found in the details. Imagine what happened in my mind when our daughter and now son-in-law announced their engagement… a list immediately formed. This wedding would be one year in the planning, but a lifetime in the dreaming. This occasion would dra...  Read More

We picture the scene of Jesus surrounded by little ones, some cradled in his lap. The disciples want to dismiss the children as interruptions, but Jesus insists that they are ‘precious in his sight.’ That’s the ‘what a friend we have in Jesus’ image we all love. We want to imagine that we, too, are among the little ones he welcomes. Now picture the scenes that have flashed across our TVs and inter...  Read More