Tornado survivor

 My husband, Burton, has made hundreds, if not thousands, of hospital visits in his over 60 years of pastoral ministry. However, this morning he made his first hospital visit to a woman who survived a tornado. She and her family are alive, but their house in rural Joyce, Iowa, was moved off its foundation and farm buildings were destroyed. We pray for all those who have lost so much in the past few days of tornados in Iowa and surrounding states.

Voted

 I voted yesterday. Early voting for the Iowa primaries, June, 2, is now open. Why should I vote? Because it matters desperately this year. Trump is doing everything he can to keep people from voting, particularly people of color. The primaries set the stage. Inform your neighbors how to register to vote. And then VOTE. 

70th and 50th

 1926 marks the 70th anniversary of my graduation from high school and the 50th anniversary of my graduation from Yale Divinity School.  This year I celebrate my granddaughter Jennaya's graduation from college.

Ascension Day

 Today, Thursday May 14, is Ascension Day. The first congregation I served, in St. Louis 1960-1964, was Ascension Lutheran Church. The words we read each week as we left the sanctuary to go out into the world were "Why do you stand looking up toward heaven?" (Acts 1:1l)

Detention Centers

 Across the United States the Trump Administration is trying to purchase large empty warehouses to convert into Detention Centers, also called Trump Prison Camps. These are designed to hold thousands of people without trial who are not criminals. However, local residents are pushing back and most often succeeding in stopping these Detention Centers from materializing. We CAN do something!

Emotions

 

News casters continually say, "They got emotional." But which emotion? ADORATION, AMUSEMENT, ANGER, AWE, CONFUSION, CONTEMPT, CONTENTMENT, DESIRE, DISAPPOINTMENT, DISGUST, DISTRESS, ECSTASY, ELATION, EMBARRASSMENT, FEAR, GUILT, INTEREST, LOVE, NEUTRAL, PAIN, PRIDE, REALIZATION, RELIEF, SADNESS, SERENITY, SHAME, SURPRISE (NEGATIVE), SURPRISE (POSITIVE), SYMPATHY,  TRIUMPH and more. . . 

Mother's Day

Mother's Day planting flowers in Joel's and Rachel's backyard. I've been doing this with Jackson and Jenneya every year for about 22 years, before Jackson was born. This year Jackson and I talked while we planted about writing books. He is writing one this summer.

  

Tangier

 Go to the FB page of "Wartburg College Choir" to see and hear them singing in the Holy Spirit Cathedral in Tangier, northern Morocco on the coast of the Straight of Gibraltar. 

Bleeding Hearts

 My heart bleeds for those who are losing their right to vote and hold public office due to redistricting and to gutting the Civil Rights Act of 1965, particularly African Americans. 

Wartburg College Choir tour

 Where is Granddaughter Jennaya Everist? With the Wartburg College Choir, singing at the Wartburg Castle in Germany, riding a camel in Morocco and giving a Saturday night concert in a church in Cassablanca. 

Golden Tempo

 Cheers for Golden Tempo and the first woman trainer to win the Kentucky Derby, Cherie DeVaux.

 The Supreme Court this week issues a long-feared decision cutting back the Voting Rights decision of 1965 making voter discrimination again possible.  We need to work to make sure everyone--everyone--can vote!