"After a couple of years of celebrating apart because of the pandemic, and also for having just lived through another rancorous national election, we all could use the joy and hope and anticipation that is promised us in Christmas, in the birth of a mighty little king born in a manger."
These days we seem to cram Thanksgiving between Halloween and Christmas, almost an afterthought, or a chore to be done, like feeding the chickens between breakfast and the fieldwork. Too bad. It’s a fine holiday.
"It's pretty easy to forget that the rest of us can stay inside and not deal with these things only because there are people who willingly go outside every day and do the work. When you pull a package of hamburger or a steak from your freezer, remember the ones who raised the cattle and say a little prayer for their safety and well-being."
"I like that we are still discovering creatures previously unknown to us even though we are supposedly firmly into our golden scientific age. It’s a good and humbling reminder of our place in the order of things. ... I marvel at a God who would create us in his image, but still take the time to fashion the prehistoric-looking conger eel — it’s real, look it up! — for purposes I will never comprehend."
To connect teens with adults, Northwood Public School along with a community healthcare partner held its first Multi-Generation Trivia Night with 14 teams participating. Katie Pinke was a part of the last-place team and shares the wins she still experienced between friends and three generations of her family.
Those two moments are as close as I came to becoming a military veteran. I don’t dwell on them, but when Veterans Day approaches each year, I feel a twinge of guilt.
Jenny Schlecht reflects on the little irritants on a farm, like the dust from pushing cattle or unloading corn and how it can affect parts of day-to-day life.
