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'" Will you help me practice my Torah portion, Saba? I want to read it perfectly on the day of my bar mitzvah. I want you to be proud of me."'

' '"The Almighty One's hand is in this," the elder replied. "He promised that one day the Babylonian empire would fall, and last night it happened."'

Devotional Favorite verse Prayer  John 1:1-51 John 1:3 All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made. From the time I could understand language my parents taught me that there was a Creator of the universe. My father called Him The Great Architect. He often said "without Him I couldn't twinkle my little finger." Some ideas my parents taught me I have questioned. I have never questioned or doubted the fact that a marvelous being created everything and everyone around me. For me that Creator is known by the name Jesus. Prayer Father God, today I thank you for all that you have created. You've given us so much on this earth to freely enjoy. Help me to open my eyes daily and see the magnificent around me whether it's a baby, a child, an elder adult or a tree, the ocean or just a puddle. Help me to remember to thank you for what you have given me including my mind, my hands, my feet, my whole body. Thank you. In Jesu

Scranton Pennsylvania is a place full of interesting characters living their lives like other Americans in the 1940's. However, life is tougher for the African Americans. Jim Crow is not just two names which fit well together. Jim Crow sets one man against another man. Daily making the man aware he is unequal and not privy to the freedoms of society. Pieces of The Heart is about families, friendships, romances and just plain everyday life. Life is certainly not easy for Cordelia, Bernard, Charles, Anna, Emmanuel and his wife nor for Gertie. It's hard work in a factory where a woman might face harassment. It's striving to have faith when God's face and voice seem faraway or not real. It's going to war as a whole man and coming back lost to oneself and to all the people who ever loved you. It's about forgiveness.Stepping into forgiveness doesn't happen at the same time for the people involved. I might forgive a person knowing it's hurting me more th

"And like a diary, the quilt displayed the journey she had endured since Grammy started it when Cordelia was thirteen."

history.com/topics/d-day "But the excitement today eclipsed everything. Today the Allies had invaded Normandy. Even as she walked in Scranton, soldiers fought for a fifty-mile stretch of French beaches called Utah, Omaha, Gold, Juno, and Sword. This could be a turning point in the war. bernard would come home." (web)

Amazing Grace is one hymn almost every person knows how to hum, sing or have heard in a small church or huge cathedral. The song seems to travel around the world and back. It's well loved. Who wrote it? I want to know the answer. Then, if it's not silly, I want to play different renditions here on my blog. I can seem to pick a favorite. :) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amazing_Grace

The Sand Dollar: A Story of Undying Love by Sebastian Cole is thought provoking. I will continue to think about this novel for many days to come. I never thought there were so many ways to think about romantic love.  What is love? What is  false love? Noah and Robin are the main characters. There is always something or someone who presents an obstacle to their fast growing attraction for one another.Finding out whether there love is true and can last a life time takes a long time. So often family members can present a problem for those who want to love one another forever. Noah is Jewish. Robin is not Jewish. This was not a problem for Noah or Robin. They just loved one another without a thought about the what ifs of loving someone who grew up with different traditions. However, Mariam, the mother, goes absolutely nuts when she learns that Robin is not Jewish. I was glad that Noah had the kind of love which remains steadfast through thick and thin. Robin was the one who taught him

In the beginning Denise and Derrick and there one daughter, Mackenzie do have the perfect life. Imperfections only are in their pasts, their childhoods. Neither Denise nor Derrick came from perfect home environments. It's easy to see what has gone wrong in Derrick's life. His parents are deeply involved with drug addiction and still fighting and clawing there way out of the horrible jungle of drug abuse. Still, it seems the drugs are winning in his parents' life. Whereas Denise's parents seem perfect. Perhaps their problems are more sinister than the problems of Derrick's family because everything seems perfect between Wilma and her husband. These past ghosts wind their way through the lives of Denise and Derrick and finally,  touch the life of their daughter, Mackenzie. The Perfect Marriage by Kimberla Roby Lawson is about occurring and reoccurring drug addiction between two married people. Denise and Derrick are leading the good life: fine h

Ellen is an unmarried schoolteacher. She moves from Galena, Wisconsin to Pepin, Wisconsin. In Pepin she will teach in a one room schoolroom. Little does she know how many controversial experiences will become a part of her daily life. Lyn cote in  The baby Bequest   writes an inspiring novel about life in the 1870's on the frontier. I especially liked learning about the life for the immigrants who came from the old country hoping to never return there. Kurt, Gunther and Johann are the main immigrants in the novel.Kurt is the father of one boy and an uncle to the other boy. Kurt carries a horrible secret from Germany to America. It is a deep hurt which leaves him filled with guilt and shame. It almost interferes with a love relationship. Those of us who have been called by ugly names will feel the emotional pain of Kurt every time some one calls him Dutch or just belittles him because he is a foreigner. Ellen's brother and sister don't miss a chance to let him know

"....Sitting across the circle from Ellen. Her son helped at the Ojibwa reservation in far northern Wisconsin and they were knitting items to donate to his mission work."

"She patted him and savored the last bite of the sweet yet tart apple brown betty with fresh whipped cream Ophelia had made."