Is there any word like HOME that brings nostalgic thoughts to your mind? Surely none other but this tiny four letter word has inspired us more. I thought about that word this morning as I listened to a teenager talking to a policeman who was trying to convince her to go home. She was adamant, “I can’t go home. I’ll be killed! My dad is drunk and mad as heck at me.”

So, there are families out there who don’t feel inspired when that word, home, enters their minds. However, ever since I was a little girl I have loved that word. Let me tell you about when my little sister was born. Daddy had gone sometime during the night to get Greta, the girl who took care of us when Mama and Daddy had to go someplace. This night they were going to the hospital. I couldn’t figure that out. Neither Mama or Daddy was sick. Daddy had made many hospital calls to the hospital because he was a pastor. I asked Greta about it and she just told me that Mama was going to have a baby. I still couldn’t figure out why they were going to the hospital.

Daddy came home late that afternoon and told my brother and I that we had a new sister. We were happy of course but still didn’t understand. And we really didn’t understand when Daddy stated he would make soup for supper.

“Why? Isn’t Mama coming home? You don’t know how to make soup!” I said.

He did though. And it was the best soup I have ever had. I thought Daddy could do everything!

Mama came home a few days later with a brand new sister. Oh but it was good to have her home, and with a little baby too! It was really home.

This story is in my book, He Leadeth Me: A Grandmother’s Story, and you can find it at Amazon. I really felt we were a family that day and it was good to be at home. But that teenager probably has no good feeling about home and there are many with homes like hers. I pray that your family has a home your children will want to return to after leaving home to follow their dreams. Or, after a hard days work, It’s good to have a good home to come to, Isn’t it?

Remember to thank God if you have a place on earth, a physical spot you call home, a history that tells your story and relationships that make you who you are.

We had a big snowstorm with wind last weekend and I really enjoyed it. It reminded me of living in Northern Minnesota and Wisconsin. It has been years since we have had that much winter! The snow lasted for four days. This area of Washington just doesn’t have snow, just rain, rain and more rain! I grew up in Northern Minnesota and saw plenty of the white fluffy stuff! When I watched as neighbor kids ran outdoors with their sliding gear I felt sorry for them. They have so little time to enjoy snow. I wanted to join them, but I guess an eighty year old woman sliding down a hill would look kind of silly wouldn’t it? And, let’s not talk about the broken bones I would experience!

Yes, i saw a lot of snow in Minnesota and Wisconsin and I talked about that in my book, He Leadeth Me, A Grandmother’s Story which is out now. It is an e-book and can be purchased at Amazon.com.  My dad was almost a circuit rider in a small town, Holt, in Northern Minnesota. I say almost because he was hired as pastor of three congregations but many could not attend any of these because there were no roads near them. So my dad took his Model T car as far as he could go and then walk to a farm house where neighbors gathered for their worship service. He had two of those “preaching places”.

I wrote about that time in my book. It is still called the great depression and was worse in places like Holt, but I remember it as a great life. People were one big family all going through very little but sharing what we had. It was a time when a doctor was happy to get wood for his stove and a chicken to eat for saving a child’s life. We even had horses drawing our school busses. I liked it when I went out to a farm to spend the night with my girl friend because I went on one of those school busses!

Anyhow, why not buy my book? It would help me get the book out in public especially if you wrote a review after you read it. the book costs only $2.99 at Amazon.