(Romeo and Tikvah sharing Daddy's chair)

In April of 2017 we decided that it was time to get another dog.  We’d gone almost two years without one.  Tup, who was a small rat terrier type had come home with Todd…

(Joanna and Brian Rocker with the Smithlets in the background)

The following is the story behind this song as told by the bride and groom.  We met Joanna through our good friend Julia Anne Mullen who married her brother Joel.…

(The above photo was taken on their wedding day in April of 1999.)

KC was one of the first people that I met when I arrived at Luther College in Decorah, Iowa as a freshman in the fall of 1988.…

(The above photo was taken of us with the Adams Family in the fall of 2017 before we went canoeing together.)

Paula’s journal entry from March 6, 2016 (Sunday): (minor modifications made) 

We just experienced the most trying weekend of…

This song was inspired by the union of my friend Carrie (formerly Bischel) and Joel Jensen in 1998.  Carrie and I first met at an orientation banquet for Wisconsinites who had received appointments to the United States Air Force Academy.…

(In October of 2018 Auntie Elizabeth [my older sister] visited and helped the children learn to sew.  Here she is helping Thor.)

This song came to me in 1996 and was inspired by my experience as a children’s leader for…

(Note:  This photo of Papaw and Tirzah was taken a few months before he died.  We're so thankful that he got to meet her.)

This song came to me in December of 2013 when Todd and I left…

Back in June of 2010 when our twins were about two and a half years old, Tiveria, the eldest, fell from the top of the ladder that leads to the loft, roughly eight feet. Todd and I were around…

Many years ago when I lived in San Antonio shortly after getting out of the Air Force, I attended a Navigators ministry retreat with my friends and mentors Bud and Lynn Nelson.  The main speaker had been in the…

I seem to remember this song dropping into my head while walking along outside of Mitchell Hall (the cafeteria) while a cadet at the United States Air Force Academy around my junior year sometime in 1993.  Although I’d…

For about three or four years we attended a small local fellowship here in middle Tennessee where the men had the freedom to share from the pulpit at the beginning of the service. One Sunday a young man got…

“And as ye go, preach, saying, The kingdom of heaven is at hand.  Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out devils: freely ye have received, freely give.”  Matthew 10:7&8 

In the spring of…

This song was inspired by my friend Brenda whom God often uses as a conduit to share His wisdom.  I like to collect quotes and while the words of this song are not direct quotes from her, they do…

This song "Never Will I Leave You" was originally written in 1999 for a good friend who was going through a difficult time.  A few weeks ago we were recording it as a family in the living room.  The children…

This song was written in 2000 as a gift for my younger sister’s daughter Arabella on her first birthday.  We have since used it in our family as something of a “birthday” song.  I decided to post it this month…

Back in 2000 when I (Paula) was in my late 20s and attending a fellowship in San Antonio, TX the young singles helped to put on a Valentine’s Day dinner.  One of the married adults who helped to organize the…