About

    When I wasn't reading in a quiet corner of my house, I spent my youth with my sisters romping about the meadows and woods near my home, which was a parsonage where my father served as pastor located in central Minnesota. My mom sent us outside when we were bored. She loved to take us on walks in the wildlife reserve where we would view the eagle nests. At that time the eagle populations were low, and it was very special to see them. She kept a large garden in the far back end of the church property, and we would be sent out there to pick buckets of strawberries. Later, she would cook them up into a delicious jelly. 

    Every summer, we would go to my grandparent's farm. My grandma did all the wonderful things grandmas do. Most of them she did in her pretty blue kitchen. She baked bread for us, and would smile to make us feel better. She had a lovely window just above her corner sink, and outside that window were her bird houses. She loved to tell us about all the birds that stopped by there. If it was not too hot on our summer visit, we would be encouraged to go outside and play. One fine thing we would always do each year was tour Grandma's gardens. She kept snap dragons for her grandchildren to snap in her lovely square flower garden out front. It had a large weather vane in the middle of it. In a back corner behind her house was her enormous vegetable patch. We all knew she loved to garden.

    From these two people, my mother and grandmother, I grew an appreciation, I think, of the outdoors and especially of gardens.  

    My family moved to South Dakota as I was completing middle school. Again my mother took me to visit the refuges. While taking high school biology, I remember viewing with amazement a figure showing the mechanics of photosynthesis. Plants are beautifully and wonderfully made!

    I moved back to Minnesota to study math and biology in Mankato. There I met my husband Andrew, who was eager to study God's Word, the Bible. His conviction and kindness convinced me to marry him. We moved on to the Niagara Falls region while my husband studied theology. Meanwhile, I studied biostatistics in Buffalo, New York.

    Those were busy days, but eventually we settled down, and my husband received a call to Guttenberg, IA. We had two kids and one on the way. I was finally able to really have a garden of my own! I actually had several-- those around my house, and one way out in the boonies in a loamy area at the bottom of a riverbed which was offered to me by some dear members of our church. 

    What was really fun was the church garden right next door to mine. I enjoyed weeding with June, the church gardener, who was nearly 90 by the time I left. She is a special woman. She taught four generations of Sunday school students!

    Our family was also growing. By the time we left Iowa to move to Missouri, I had six kids. By this time, I was excited to move to a property large enough to support a sizable vegetable garden! 

    Since I have moved to Central Missouri, I have been amazed by its flora. Since we had very little landscaping on the property when we moved in, I was determined to get as many native plants as I could. They are affordable. While I still have some rough spots, I am happy with how things are filling out. We also have had another child to add to our garden of children. How thankful I am for the privilege to live a simple, good life! 

    I am sure that you can tell by now that I am a Christian. While I am not an adherent of what is today known as Evangelical Christian (rather, I am a Lutheran), I love the word evangelical. It means Good News. We have a God who is good to us! He created this beautiful home for us. Though we sin, He sent His Son, Jesus, to die for our sake and yours, too! Jesus redeemed the whole world through death on the cross because He loves us. If you would like to learn more about our loving Creator, read the Bible. You can also visit https://christforus.org/.