Lillie Ammann's Blog, page 22

Thanksgiving

O MOST merciful Father, who hast blessed the labours of the husbandman in the returns of the fruits of the earth; We give thee humble and hearty thanks for this thy bounty; beseeching thee to continue thy loving-kindness to us, that our land may still yield her increase, to thy glory and our comfort; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

~ Collect for Thanksgiving Day, 1928 Book of Common Prayer

International Day of the Bible

Today, the Sunday before Thanksgiving, is the International Day of the Bible.

“Join the millions around the world on Sunday November 24th and use #BibleCelebration to share your favorite Bible verse! “

from the International Day of the Bible website

People are encouraged to read or sing or post a favorite Bible verse. I will be posting my favorite verse. I create Scripture images to post on social media regularly and usually use the English Standard Version (ESV). I will post this one in the King James Version, which is the way I memorized it as a teenager, six decades ago.

Image of young boy with Bible: © Depositphotos.com/anelina

National Adoption Month

November is National Adoption Month. Every child deserves a family, and there are kids, especially older children, waiting for their forever home. Every family who want children should have them. It’s love—not blood—that makes a family. If you have room in your heart for a child, consider adoption.

My husband and I adopted our son. He was eleven when he came to us, and our only regret was that missed his early years. We wished we could have known and loved him as a baby, as a toddler, as a first-grader … But we could not have loved him more if he were our biological child. In all the ways that matter, he is our son.

Here’s a man who has fostered thirty kids and adopted five of them. He’s raised them all—until he heard of five siblings under he age of six who were being separated. So now’s he started parenting small children all over again.

The Glory of the Lord: Advent and Christmas Devotionals

Advent, a season of preparation for the coming of the Lord, begins December 1. Every year during this season, I choose a Bible reading plan. Each day, I read the assigned Scripture, then write a personal meditation and prayer. For several years, I have posted the devotionals from the previous years on my blog and also made them available to my church as a PDF download. I will do that again this year.

The Glory of the Lord: Advent and Christmas Devotionals will also be available in paperback ($7.00) and ebook ($1.99) formats. Everything above the cost of printing and shipping will be donated to Love for the Least, a movement that shares the Good News of the Gospel with the least and unreached by making disciples of Jesus who make disciples (2 Tim 2:2) and by helping to meet the physical needs of the poorest of the poor. 

The donation to Love for the Least is part of the Advent Conspiracy. The goal of the Advent Conspiracy is to put Jesus back in Christmas by Worshiping Fully, Spending Less, Giving More, and Loving All. Every penny that goes to Love for the Least for the Advent Conspiracy provides direct relief for refugees in the Middle East. Tens of thousands of new refugees have recently arrived in desperate need.

You can help spread the love of Christ to the least this Christmas as you enhance your own Advent experience by spending time with the Lord each day.

Writing Day and Month

Today is I Love to Write Day. How do you celebrate I Love to Write Day? By writing, of course. So many people say, “I love to write but …” What comes after the but varies. “I don’t have enough time.” “I don’t know how to get started.” “I’ve got too much responsibility and too many distractions to focus on writing.” Or .

Today is a day of no excuses. Start the book that’s been floating around in your head for years. Write in your journal. Compose a letter to the editor of the newspaper. Try your hand at a poem.

Or maybe you’d like to write a memoir or a family history? November is both Family Stories Month and National Lifewriting Month. Family Stories Month is not specifically focused on writing. You can observe this month by telling your family’s stories or listening to stories from your grandparents or other family members. Or you can write your family’s stories to celebrate your love for writing.

Have a story of your own life to tell? Work on your memoir, a perfect way to observe National Lifewriting Month.

For help with memoir or family history writing, download my free guide, Preserving Memories: How to Write a Family History.

Whatever you write, don’t let I Love to Write Day pass without putting pen to paper or keys to keyboard. And take advantage of the month of November to tell some family stories or do some writing about your life.

Featured Image: © Depositphotos.com/rsedlacek

Second Image: © Depositphotos.com/gustavofrazao

Thanks to All Who Served

The Veterans Administration estimates the number of people who have served the US in the military during wartime prior to the Global War on Terror at almost 42 million. Add in those who have served in peacetime and those who have served during the Global War on Terror and the total number might be 57 million. My father and my husband were two of those. I am grateful to every single man and woman who has served our country and especially say “thank you” to those who are still with us.

The VA projects that the number of living veterans will decline from 20 million to to 13.6 million by 2037. About 389,000 World War II vets were alive in 2019, with 348 of them dying every day. I was honored to help two of them publish their memoirs. Both told me that they had never shared their stories because when the war ended, everyone wanted to forget and move on with their lives. No one wanted to hear what they had gone through. Both men were ninety-three years old when they came to me for help. Both of them wanted to tell their stories before they came to the ends of their lives. Both of them were so pleased and proud to have their books published. Both of them died last December, within a couple of weeks of each other.

George H. Vakey spent three years, three months, and fifteen days in World War II, 165 days in combat. He returned from the war to spend his life as an educator, starting as a teacher and ending as an assistant superintendent of a large school district. He initially wanted to print only 25 copies of George’s Rendezvous with Destiny to give to friends. I convinced him to make it available on Amazon and other retailers. He was so excited when he got a letter from a woman in Germany. She had been a foreign exchange student at a high school where he served as principal. She found the book on Amazon and wrote George a lovely letter after she read it.

In Time Flies, Raymond F. Schaaf shares his experiences as a boy growing up in a family of five in small-town Colorado before and during the Depression; a young man who eagerly joined the Army Air Corps to fight World War II; a gunner on thirty-five bombing missions; a husband and father of four; a civilian working a variety of jobs after the war before rejoining the military; a career officer in the Air Force, a fuels and missile expert for more than twenty-six years; a retiree enjoying hobbies, friends, and travels with his wife; a widower still enjoying friendship and travel.

I am honored that I helped these two amazing men share their memories. Today I honor them and all who have served our country.

O LORD God of Hosts, stretch forth, we pray thee, thine almighty arm to strengthen and protect the soldiers, sailors, airmen, and marines of our country. Support them in the day of battle, and in the time of peace keep them safe from all evil; endue them with courage and loyalty; and grant that in all things they may serve without reproach. Lord, bless those who have served; give them peace in their minds and spirits; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. ~ Adapted from the 1928 Book of Common Prayer

Image: © Depositphotos.com/EdZbarzhyvetsky

Alzheimer’s Awareness and Family Caregivers Month

I have combined two “month” observances in one post, because there has been a close connection between the two in my own life. November is both National Alzheimer’s Disease Awareness Month and National Family Caregivers Month.

In the late 1980s, my father started to exhibit occasional memory loss. He drove to town to pick up his grandsons and came home without them and no recollection of his reason for leaving the farm. He was leading a meeting of the local American Legion and suddenly stopped talking, confused about where he was and what he was doing. But those incidents were isolated, months apart, so we weren’t seriously concerned.

Then he had a heart attack. He was sedated for transportation from the little farming community to the big-city hospital. My niece Millie and I were at the hospital with him. The nurses told us he would wake up soon and we should not let him out of bed because he might have another heart attack. A little while later, he sat up in bed and said he had to go to the bathroom. He was totally confused because he had slept through the hundred-mile trip and the admisson into the hospital.

When he tried getting out of bed, my niece and I panicked. I couldn’t even think to look for the call button and ran down the hall to the nurses’ station. A male nurse followed me to the room. Daddy was standing beside the bed with his back to the door. The nurse put his hands on Daddy’s shoulders and forced him to sit back down on the bed. Daddy started swinging.

The nurse told us to help restrain him and called for help. It took a dozen hospital staffers plus my niece and me to hold him down, and they tied him to the bed. This man who had suffered a severe heart attack a few hours earlier had so much adrenalin flowing that I and several others were bruised from his fists.

I couldn’t understand this because Daddy was a peaceful man. He never raised a hand to anyone that I knew of, and he certainly would not have hurt Millie or me. In retrospect, we should have just told him where the bathroom was and let him walk to it. When the nurse forced him to sit down, Daddy thought he was being attacked, and he defended himself. Then when dozen people tried to restrain him, he was terrified and acted in the only way that made sense to him. I will always regret that I helped restrain him, but Millie and I were following the nurse’s instructions, doing what we thought was best.

After that, Daddy stayed very confused. He became paranoid and started hallucinating. When he recovered enough to be discharged from the hospital, we took him home. But his bizarre behavior continued, and we demanded that the neurologist he had been referred to see him the next day.

When the doctor said Daddy’s symptoms were caused by Alzheimer’s, none of us in the family had ever heard of the disease. President Ronald Reagan, who ironically succumbed to the disease years later, had designated November as Alzheimer’s Awareness Month in 1983, at a time when fewer than two million people had the disease. Now that number is headed toward six million.

My sisters and I were caregivers for our father for several years until he required round-the-clock care. Mama put him in a residential care home about fifty miles away, the closest facility that could accommodate his needs. He was totally incapacitated for quite some time before he finally died in the mid-1990s.

My sister Nancy Nicholson was so impacted that she returned to school for a degree in social work and has worked ever since in nursing homes. She is excellent with dementia patients and has even written a book, Help! What Do I Do Now? Caring for Your Loved one with Alzheimer’s. This was just what our family needed when Daddy was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s. It wasn’t available to us then, but it is available for caregivers today.

More than a decade after my father’s death, my husband Jack’s behavior changed. He became withdrawn and reclusive and eventually became aggressive—all those things totally foreign to his normal personality. After my experience with Daddy, I thought I would recognize Alzheimer’s if I encountered again, but Jack’s symptoms were behavioral for a long time before the memory loss became apparent.

Again, I was a caregiver for an Alzheimer’s patient. I was so blessed that, with assistance from a paid helper and my sister, I was able to care for Jack and keep him home. After seeing my father deteriorate, Jack was always afraid that he would forget me. Even before I realized he had the disease, he often said, “I don’t understand how your father could forget your mother.” He would open the door to my office in the middle of the day and said, “No matter what happens, I want you to remember how much I love you.” Praise God, Jack knew me to the end. His Alzheimer’s didn’t advance as far as Daddy’s because he died of kidney failure first.

I didn’t want to lose him, and I still miss him and wish he were here. But I am thankful that he never forgot me or our love. He spent one week in a nursing home while my helper was getting some things done to the house so we could bring him home. I was with him constantly, and I made sure to say we were in the hospital.

One morning, a nurse came in and said, “Where’s your wife?” He answered that I was “over there.” I was getting dressed in the adjoining bathroom and could hear the entire conversation. “She sure takes good care of you,” the nurse said. “Yes, she does,” Jack answered. “We both meant it when we said ‘for better for worse, for richer for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish, till death us do part.'”

He could not carry on a coherent conversation at that point, but he remembered our wedding vows. I am so grateful for that blessing.

Family Caregivers Month honors the thirty-five-to-forty million estimated unpaid family members who provide care for loved ones. That includes caring for people with a wide variety of physical and mental illnesses, but I associated this recognition with Alzheimer’s Month because my caregiving experiences have been with Alzheimer’s patients. Regardless of what kind or how much care is needed, everyone who cares for family members deserves appreciation and recognition.

Persecuted But Not Abandoned

Today is the International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church. Today one in nine Christians around the world is persecuted. See some examples in the video below.

Let us pray for our persecuted brothers and sisters:

O MERCIFUL God, and heavenly Father, who hast taught us in thy holy Word that thou dost not willingly afflict or grieve the children of men; Look with pity, we beseech thee, upon the sorrows of thy persecuted servants for whom our prayers are offered. We would ask for protection and safety, Lord, but they ask for boldness and courage to stand strong. Remember them, O Lord, in mercy; endue their souls with patience; comfort them with a sense of thy goodness; lift up thy countenance upon them, and give them peace; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

~ Adapted from the 1928 Book of Common Prayer.

IDOP 2019: Persecuted but not abandoned from IDOP on Vimeo.

Authors’ Day

November 1 is Authors’ Day, a day to celebrate and enjoy the work of authors.

Whether you are a fan of all-time greats or have a favorite among contemporary, lesser-known authors, enjoy reading their words today.

If you know them or follow them on social media, thank them for the entertainment or education they have provided you through the years.

Writing can be a lonely endeavor, and not all authors feel affirmed for their efforts. Even big-name authors appreciate a genuine compliment or expression of gratitude.

Taking my own advice, I’d like to thank authors I’ve had the pleasure of working with. You can read about them and their books on my Books page. I highly recommend each one—not because I had anything to do with the book, but because I choose to work with authors only if I love their work.

The photo is me with my sister Nancy Nicholson at a booksigning at a fall festival at my church several years ago. Nancy wrote a wonderful, short, and concise guide for people who have just become caregivers for Alzheimer’s patients. This disease is affecting more and more people today, and consequently, many individuals who never expected it are caring for parents or spouses.

As an avid reader, I have too many favorite authors to list. However, you can visit my Goodreads page—look for four- and five-star reviews, and you’ll find authors I love. I thank each one for the joy they have brought me. I show my appreciation by reviewing every book I finish, but I’m sorry to say that I am a couple of months behind in reviews right now. I will catch up, but for Authors’ Day, you’ll have to find my favorites by the ratings only.

Happy reading on Authors’ Day!

Domestic Violence Awareness Month 2019

October is Domestic Violence Awareness Month.

Fifty years ago, I was totally unaware of domestic violence. I taught a third-grade Sunday School class at my church. One Sunday morning, one of the boys in my class was excitedly telling me a story before class started and accidentally knocked over my coffee on the table beside me, spilling it on my skirt. Although I felt a little heat, I wasn’t injured. I looked up to see the young boy backing away from me, holding up his hands in front of his face.

“It was an accident! I didn’t mean to! I’m sorry!” he repeated over and over again. I assured him I was fine, and it was my fault for having the coffee there in the first place. I wondered why he overreacted so strongly, but it was many years later that I realized he must have been a victim of domestic violence. He was holding up his hands to ward off the blows he expected, and he was apologizing repeatedly in the hope of easing my anger. Of course, I wasn’t angry at him—frustrated with myself for being so thoughtless as to have a hot drink in a room ful of enthusiastic kids, but not upset with him.

Had I been aware of domestic violence at that time, I probably wouldn’t have suspected that child could be his victim. His father was a high-ranking military officer, and his mother was a teacher. Both were active in the church and seemed to be very nice people. Now I know that domestic abusers can be church-going men and women successful in their careers and nice to people outside their families.

I have remembered this child and this incident often through the years, regretting that I didn’t recognize the symptoms and take action, wishing that I knew what happened to him, and praying that someone more aware than I got help for him.

When I started writing my romantic mystery novel, Dream or Destiny, I had no idea that one of the main characters would be an adult survivor of child abuse. This was my first experience of my character directing the story. I’d heard authors say their characters took over, but I’d never really believed it. In this case, however, David led me down a path to the horrors of his childhood. I did a lot of research, especially reading many first-person survivor stories.

I had some wonderful reactions to the novel, but my favorite came from a reviewer who interviewed me on her podcast. She asked me a question that took me by surprise. “I hope I don’t offend you with this question,” she said, “but were you ever a victim of domestic violence?”

“No,” I answered. “Furthermore, I have never been aware of anyone I’ve known being abused.” I didn’t mention the boy I described above because it wasn’t pertinent. “Why do you ask?”

She explained that she is an attorney who has volunteered extensively as an advocate for victims of domestic violence. “I’ve never encountered a fictional character who is such an accurate portrayal of an adult survivor of domestic violence,” she said. “I was sure that either you were writing from firsthand experience or you were very close to someone who had been abused.”

I treasure that compliment and hope that my novel helps raise awareness of this important issue.

Dream or Destiny is out of print because the publisher closed when the wife half of the team died. The husband gave me the remaining inventory, so I have copies on hand. In honor of Domestic Violence Awareness Month, you can order the book directly from me for only $5.00 plus $3.00 shipping. Just tell me via my contact form how you would like it autographed and where you would like it sent. You can pay through PayPal.

O MERCIFUL God, and heavenly Father, who hast taught us in thy holy Word that thou dost not willingly afflict or grieve the children of men; Look with pity, we beseech thee, upon the sorrows of those who are abused by those who claim to love them. Remember them, O Lord, in mercy; protect them from harm; endue their souls with patience; comfort them with a sense of thy goodness; lift up thy countenance upon them, and give them peace; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Adapted from the 1928 Book of Common Prayer

Image: © Depositphotos.com/Sergllin