Saginaw Series, Holiday Series, and Much More: January 2015

Using Webber House in a Classroom - Guest Blogger Theresa Bills

Theresa Bills teaches the 9-12 age girl's group at Hillside Bible Church in Ortonville, Michigan. I asked her to write about her experience using my book in her class. Here is her response:

What young girl hasn't had secrets to share or secrets to keep? What does God say about secrets? The girls in the book, Webber House, provided a great platform in which to discuss ways that we should handle secrets in our own lives. With the enthusiasm of a bunch of girls and a great book to read, this combination had all the makings of great teaching!

Sometimes you just want an old fashioned oatmeal cookie. No nuts, no raisins, just lots of oatmeal chewy goodness. In A Light Shines Forth, Nana sends cookies to Noah in Okinawa.

Oatmeal Cookies

½ cup butter, softened

Almost 1 cup sugar

½ cup brown sugar

2 eggs

2 tsp vanilla

1 TBS water

1 tsp salt

1 tsp baking soda

1 TBS cinnamon

3 cup flour

5½ cups oats

Mix everything together and scoop onto lined cookie sheet.

Bake at 350 degrees for 10 minutes. Just until light brown. This makes 40 cookies.

Inspiration from East Side Soup Kitchen

Webber House

Obituary Inspiration

My eyes were pulled toward this obituary in the Saginaw News. When I read the description of Rosalie I knew immediately I wanted her in "A Light Shines Forth" - after talking with her daughter and emailing her granddaughter - I was so inspired. Thank you new friends. THIS IS FROM THE OBITUARY: From homesteading the farm to owning a local eatery, she raised her children by example of frugality and superior work ethic. She could stretch a penny into the next month and could feed an army on a squirrel. (And yes, thered be seconds.) Rose was a master gardener (often times with strangers stopping to admire) and was known to sleep on a cot along the row of dill to figure out how the deer got in. A canning magician, each year would produce a family squabble over who would get the last quart of dilly beans or tomato jam. An avid outdoors and fisherwoman, she raised and sold bait, smoked and sold fish, and was known to wrestle snapping turtles (for soup, of course) into her trunk on her way to pick blueberries. She was an excellent bowler, loved liver pate and cheap whiskey, produced miles of beautifully knitted and crocheted anything (no, really...anything) and was the dog whisperer of the family. For years she refused to use a microwave and she never used credit, boasting that the only plastic she owned was her laminated AARP card. She conducted her five foot self with grace and dignity but even at 85, she could swear like a sailor and wasn't afraid to take your money at the card table (or an IOU if you didnt have it). Affectionately known as Nonnie, she will be eternally missed by the grandchildren and great-grandchildren who claim that she first hung the moon and then scattered the stars.