Janet's Blog

I don't know about you, but I grew up in a time and place where Christians were pretty complacent about their faith. Everyone I knew went to church most Sundays. All the kids in town attended Vacation Bible School in the summer; some attended multiple Bible Schools at several different churches. I didn't know anyone who claimed to be an atheist or agnostic--I didn't even know what the words meant. If I went to a friend's house for a meal, I expected that we would pray before we ate, and we usually did. We always said our prayers at bedtime, too. We believed in God. Everyone did, or so it seemed. We practiced Christian values. We knew lots of Bible stories. We could recite the Ten Commandments and John 3:16. No one told us we couldn't pray in school, but it didn't really matter to us, because praying was something we did at home at mealtime and bedtime, and in church on Sundays. No one I knew worked too hard to be a Christian, because Christianity was our way o...

I had been to a Hobby Lobby in the Denver area once or twice over the years, but I really had no idea why people were so excited about the new Hobby Lobby store that was moving into half of the old WalMart building in Scottsbluff. Oh, I was glad that the vacant building was finally being utilized. I was thrilled that Dunham Sports moved into the other half of the building, too, and that our thirty-year-old mall is finally being revitalized. Like everyone else in our community, I have been visiting Monument Mall more often lately. It is great to see so many cars in the parking lot again. For too many years, when I ventured into the mall, it was common to see only the aging mall walkers, those exercisers who window shop as they walk, but seldom stop to buy anything. I really appreciate the new flurry of activity inside since the mall has attracted so many new stores, anchored by the old, reliable Herbergers store at one end, and Hobby Lobby at the other end of the mall. I ...

You may wonder why we keep our marshmallows in the safe. The answer is simple, really. If anyone in the family wants to have marshmallows to put in our hot chocolate on a cold winter day, we have to hide them from Levi. We've tried lots of hiding places--on a high kitchen shelf, under the dresser in my bedroom, in my closet. No matter where we put them, Levi finds them and eats them all. Or, even worse, he eats half of them and puts the open bag under his bed for later, only to find that they have gone the way of all marshmallows left in the open air: they've turned into very sweet rocks. So, the best place for our family supply of marshmallows is in the safe. That's also where we keep the chocolate and the yogurt raisins. You see, some kids with ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder) have an extreme craving for sweets. Levi is proof of that. But, in addition, his doctors have recommended that he limit his consumption of sugar in hopes of preventing more menta...

When I was in Kindergarten, such a l-o-n-g time ago now, I walked the three blocks to Lincoln School by myself nearly every day. Mom and little brother, Danny, walked with me for the first few weeks, but then I was on my own. Well, not really. Since virtually all of the kids walked or rode their bikes to and from our neighborhood grade school, I usually found myself walking with at least one of my fellow students, long before I reached the playground. I always wore a dress to school. Always. Girls were not allowed to wear pants or, as we called them, slacks. When the weather was chilly, I pulled on a pair of slacks under my dress for the walk to school, and again at recess time. But the pants came off when we took off our coats and settled down for our school work. When the weather was snowy, we still walked to school, but we added more clothes. I can still remember that pervasive smell of wet wool, wafting out of the coat closet when its three garage-style doors were rolled up tow...