Susandoodles

Susandoodles

Love God, love life, love one another.

Susan is trained in journalism, teaching and ministry;
now retired, the blog provides a means to continue sharing thoughts.

Category: Family Notes

  • Going home . . .

      Over the weekend, we made a trip back to my hometown, Montgomery City, where the annual Old Threshers was the drawing card.   Old Threshers is a trip back to the past.  The old steam engines were on display working like they did when they first joined farmers in…

  • Resting in confusion

    Three weeks into a rest period, I find myself in confusion.  I am so used to operating on a schedule and knowing my goals, this pause in that life is very uncomfortable. I am so fortunate to have family and friends–personal and professional, who know how confusing this time is…

  • Decoration/Memorial Day Thought

    As I prepared the sermon, I started remembering how our family handled Memorial Day, which we called Decoration Day.  The day was a process–beginning in the morning picking flowers from our own yard.  No purchased ones were ever used and I never remember not having fresh ones available. The next…

  • A Mother’s Loss

    The following Letter to the Editor was published today, April 27, 2018 in the Kansas City Star.  I wrote it after reading the tribute to Barbara Bush on April 21.  The essay/editorial struck a cord that is worthy of noting.  Please read.  Thank you to the KC Star for including…

  • Back home

    Over the weekend, we traveled through six states.  We followed what had been a rare southern winter storm, seeing as much as 10 inches of snow outside of Padukah, Kentucky and finding that Florida really can be cold, too.  What a treat it can be to step away from a…

  • A New Year’s Surrender

    I surrender! Here it is New Year’s Eve, 2014, and I did not finish all my Christmas cards.  The intentions were good, but completion unsuccessful. Now, granted, the year really had no major transitions, no major calamities, or no major successes; but that does not mean it was so nondescript…

  • Identity in a Name

    This is the third essay written this summer.  I have additional topics to write, but the lack of time to complete them.  Somewhere along the line, I will get it done.  Every individual has a name.  This title becomes a beckoning call, a sound registering discipline, a connection to unknowns,…

  • Birth Place

    This is a second essay written this summer. North Kansas City Hospital:  the birthplace of both kids.  Did you know that each person’s social security number identifies where each person is born?  I didn’t, but having two kids and discovering how similar their numbers are lead me to ask that…

  • Birth Day

    Written early this summer when I began thinking about some of the family stories and how we can preserve them.  I hope you find this a bit interesting. Mom was born on April 25, 1931.  She was not the first child born of her parents; she was the second.  The…

  • Lessons from the Greatest Generation: faith, family and friends

    Mom and Dad were part of the Greatest Generation.  My brother and I are Baby Boomers.  My son and daughter are Generation X.  Today signals the final passing of the Greatest Generation in our family, but the lessons continue.  Who we are is dependent on who our parents were and…