Gift Idea: Send bread in a can!

Christmas is coming. Instead of fruitcake, why not send bread in a can?

Yes, this offer is back again this year!

I like modern technology and that includes the oven and range, but when it comes to making bread, I don’t mind being old fashioned. Neither does Ashlyn. She’s the sheriff’s daughter in my new release, Still Life in Shadows. Ashlyn makes bread. Not just any bread, but bread steamed inside a can.

Generations ago when there were no stoves and only fires to cook over, bread was made this way. A coffee can was used to pour flour, milk, and other ingredients into and then the can was sealed and steamed in a kettle of water. As the water boiled, the bread inside the coffee can, baked.

After two hours, the can was removed from the pan and if greased well, out slid a round bundle of bread. Often known as Boston brown bread due to the color of the flour and the molasses, some cooks also added raisins as an ingredient.

The recipe Ashlyn uses has molasses, buttermilk, raisins, cornmeal, whole wheat and rye. It’s truly a tasty and healthy treat. Her finance Luke, an ex-Amish man who left the Old Order lifestyle and now works as a car mechanic, likes it when she brings the bread to his shop.

Sound good? It is! Slice a round of this bread, warm it in the toaster oven or microwave and serve with butter or a dab of cream cheese. Tastes great at breakfast!

If you like the flavor of gingerbread, you'll love bread in a can!

Orders for Bread in a Can will be taken the whole month of November. Place your order by November 30th. The bread will be packed and shipped to you or to a friend's and arrive between December 11th and 15th.

Simply use Pay Pal or send a check to the address below. Also, you can order a round of bread and a copy of Still Life in Shadows. Pricing is as follows:

* 1 delicious loaf (actually in the shape of a round coffee can) of bread -- $14.99 (includes priority shipping)

* 1 delicious loaf plus an autographed copy of Still Life in Shadows -- $27.99

* Order four loaves and get one loaf sent to you or to a friend's for free! (Five loaves for the price of four!)

PAYMENT
Send check to:
201 Monticello Avenue
Durham, NC 27707

OR
Use the PayPal tab below

Bread in a can

Bread in a can $14.99 USD Bread in a can and Still Life in Shadows $27.99 USD Two loaves of bread in a can $29.98 USD Three loaves of bread in a can $44.97 USD Four loaves of bread in a can and one free loaf (five total) $59.96 USD Still Life in Shadows (1 autographed copy added to options 3-5) $15.00 USD

Is Your Workspace Killing Your Creativity? Eight Tips to Get the Muse Back

When I was a little girl, I wrote anywhere I could. I lived back in the dark ages, so there was no computer with which to create my stories on and the only typewriter was in my dad’s home office where we weren’t allowed unless something was on fire or bleeding. A notebook and pencil were my faithful tools. I wrote when commuting to elementary school on the train, wrote at the kitchen table while Mom made dinner, and on nice days, wrote outside underneath the trellis in our back yard.

Now, a full-time author and workshop instructor, I have my own laptop. I also have a work space set up in the home office. Well, I did, up until three months ago when my eldest came back to live and gained my office (her old bedroom) once again. After this change, I had to set up on the end of the dining room table. While that was an adjustment due to having to move a lot of my writing gear (desk calendar, notebooks, notes, etc.) down stairs, the experience has taught me a lot.

At first having a new work place increased my writing. I chalk that up to the view from the dining room windows. Who wouldn’t be inspired by a butterfly bush with delicate purple blooms and a colorful butterfly stopping by every hour?

But after a month I was back to spending more time on Facebook than actually writing. Writers block? No, because I don’t believe in that. However, I do believe there are things that keep us from productivity and steps that we can take to avoid or deal with any form of lack of creativity that can come our way.

1) First, make sure your desk is in a comfortable location. This doesn’t mean it has to be in a posh office, it just has to be accommodating to you. The chair has to feel right and the desk able to hold your computer or stack of books, resources and other paraphernalia.

2) Think about clutter and distractions. Everyone is different. Sometimes the messiest desks belong to the most prolific. However, if your desk is piled too high and it takes you twenty minutes to find anything, then the clutter distracts from your work. Spend a day cleaning up to create a workable environment. Place necessary items needed every day like a desk calendar to your left or right.

3) Take a walk. Pulitzer Prize winning poet, Wallace Stevens, walked over two miles to his office each day. During that time he composed poetry, claiming, "I write best when I can concentrate, and do that best while walking."

4) Put on music. I like Celtic music without words so as not to distract me when I write my novels. But on bleak days when I need energy, U2 gets me going. With or Without You.

5) Head out to a coffee shop. Get there before the lunch crowd so that you can chose a table removed from a busy counter.

6) Find a secluded park bench. This works best when the weather is ideal, like a day in the spring or fall. Don’t neglect what the outdoors can do for your writing. D. H. Lawrence called trees “living company” and preferred to write beneath their shade.

7) Mix it up a bit. If you normally use a computer, spend some time writing by hand and vice versa.

8) Know thyself! Know when it is time to get up and get moving to a different room, a new view or a new place. Ask yourself the important questions: Am I too distracted or lacking when I sit here? What can I do differently so that I can be productive? Know what you need and make sure you get the most out of your writing hours.

Try these tips to enhance your work space and watch how that demon known as writers block is erased like an over-used adjective.

~*
Alice J. Wisler dreams of writing in a woodsy cabin with multiple windows. She is the author of five novels with a new one on the way next year, and the grief and loss devotional, Getting Out of Bed in the Morning: Reflections of Comfort in Heartache. She teaches writing workshops both online and at conferences. Read more about her workshops here: http://www.alicewisler.com

Memories Around the Table: Phillip Richardson's Chicken Divan

Marsha Richardson, Phillip's mom, shares with readers here today. She writes, "Attached is a photo of another plate piled high with spaghetti . . . another of Phillip's short list of favorties...again, prompting mom to implore, "Human-sized bites, please!" Thank you Alice, for sharing your touching stories as well as allowing us to share ours. This is truly a healing process! Thanks again."

Chicken Divan
In Memory of: Phillip L. Richardson, III
March 16, 1989-July 17, 2010


1 large bunch of broccoli, steamed
2 cup chicken, cooked
2 cans condensed cream of chicken soup
1 cup mayonnaise
1/2 teaspoon lemon juice
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
croutons or buttered bread cut into cubes


Arrange broccoli stalks in 9x13 pan. Place chunks of chicken on top. Spread mixture of soup, mayonnaise, and lemon juice on top. Top with cheese and croutons, if desired.


Bake at 350 degrees for 30-45 minutes.


Can be served over rice or noodles.


To say that Phillip was a picky eater was the understatement of the century. He liked what he liked and could eat a ton of it. But if you didn't have what he liked, he would just plain not eat at all. I could always count on him piling his plate high with Chicken Divan---no rice, no croutons, just Chicken Divan. Ironically, the recipe was given to us by our daughter's best friend's mother who undoubtedly grew tired of it being requested every time my daughter walked through her door. It became a family favorite since it was easy and everyone liked it, which meant we could all actually eat together . . . which is priceless when you have teenagers.


I can still see Phillip shoveling his pile of Chicken Divan down with hardly a breath in between bites and me reminding him, “Human-sized bites, son!”


Special thanks to Rae and Bill and Laura Oldham for sharing this great recipe and all of the precious memories that it inspired.


--Phillip's mom, Marsha Maples Richardson

Order a copy of Memories Around the Table today, compiled by Alice J. Wisler!
Click to read rave reviews and order either a print or e-book copy.

Everybody needs a place to share

People Need a Place to Share and Remember


I wanted to give people an opportunity. People need a place where memories are freely shared and abound.

When I started out with the making of my first memorial cookbook, Slices of Sunlight, I had an urgency to get the book out there. My four-year-old son Daniel had been gone just two years, and as a writer, it was important to me to have his name printed in a book. I knew other parents would welcome the opportunity to tell their son’s or daughter’s story about a food-related experience. Other parents, like me, had to deal with that empty chair at mealtimes—the space their child once occupied, back when life was not filled with sorrow. Why not give them a platform?

I sent out many email messages to bereaved parents’ groups. I told those in my Compassionate Friends chapter that I was putting together a book of favorite recipes and memories and gave them a short tutorial on how to write a food memory.

What was fascinating to me was the feedback I received, and not just the delicious recipes coupled with remembrances. People I had never met found out about the project and wrote to say things like, “Writing the recipe and memory was therapeutic for me.” “I loved having the time to recall. Thank you.” “I remembered and I cried; it brought back many good memories.”

My husband Carl is the one to thank for Memories Around the Table, my third and most recent book. He had not been in my life when the first two came out. I considered another book but wasn’t sure I wanted to dedicate the time or money, and I wasn’t certain that another memorial cookbook was needed.

“Let this one be a book with the recipes and memories of all loved ones, not just those of children,” he suggested. (I have a hunch it’s because he wanted to include a cake recipe he loves to make, known as Mom’s Cake, in the book.)

It was in Atlanta when I was invited to speak at a CURE weekend conference that I announced to a group of bereaved parents that I would do another cookbook. Once I told them about it, I knew I had to be committed to the project. I worked on getting the word out. I created a special email account where folks could send their recipes so I would have an in box dedicated to the “cookbook only” email messages. Which printer to use? Which cover? Should there be art inside? So many decisions.

When you compile a cookbook there are profound blessings along the way. First there are these priceless stories. I cried over many. The gratitude of those who submit recipes and memories are so dear. Then there is that action that many want to run from: editing. Editing to make the prose shine without taking away the essence of what the contributor supplied in the form of a memory and recipe—now that takes time.

The end result is a not just a mere book, but a legacy where love and the love of food live on. A tribute to those who once graced our tables, a reason for a contributor to take the time to write and say, "What a lovely little book. I was quite moved by the memories of loved ones and the way that the sharing of their recipes provided a way to share those memories and honor their lives. You did a very good job with this. I do thank you for doing all the work of putting this together and for including me. It is all so positive and healing."

Memories Around the Table is an invitation to all to come join us at the table, to remember and to continue to tell the stories that shape who we are.

You might want to bring a tissue.


Order your copy of Memories Around the Table (Daniel’s House Publications) by clicking this link.

~ Alice J. Wisler is a freelance writer and the author of five inspirational Southern novels, a grief and loss devotional (Getting Out of Bed in the Morning, a top seller on Kindle), and three independently-published cookbooks. She teaches grief-writing workshops across the country. Learn more at her website: http://www.alicewisler.com

(This article was first and originally posted at Julie Saffrin's blog)

Memories Around the Table: Order print or e-book today!

Memories Around the Table is selling like hotcakes! Here's what others are saying:

"Oh, Alice ... you warm my heart and make me cry. This month - 18 years since I've seen my oldest son alive, and yet these memories/recipes bring him right here with me! Thank you!" ~ Jan Lehman

"Alice J. Wisler has compiled a book of recipes and memories in a beautiful and heart-warming cookbook. If you've ever had my mother-in-law's lemon chess pie, here's your chance to get the recipe." ~ Angie Arndt

"Love, love, love it! Thanks so much for doing this project." ~ Karen Bowles

"On one of these recent rainy afternoons, I picked up your book, Memories Around the Table, and began reading the recipes and comments. What a lovely little book. I was quite moved by the memories of loved ones and the way that the sharing of their recipes provided a way to share those memories and honor their lives. You did a very good job with this. I do thank you for doing all the work of putting this together and for including me. It is all so positive and healing. Thanks again." ~ Diane Prosser

"How wonderful to find our daughter Paula's favorite eggplant parmigiana recipe and her cheesy popcorn recipe in your new cookbook. I like the ringed format, makes it easy to use in the kitchen. They will make wonderful gifts for many of our friends. Beautifully done, thanks for the memories around the table!" ~ Pam Bennett-Santoro

"Loved the book. Great cover, interesting recipes. Tried the Biscuits and Gravy, nice story, yummy breakfast." ~ Dan Bryl

"Your book is lovely with super recipes and great graphics and cover. Thanks for all the work." ~ Caroline Raby


Order a print copy by following the directions below (order via Paypal or check). Or order on Kindle.

Click here to order the e-book on Kindle.

Memories Around the Table

COSTS FOR PRINT ORDERS:
1 book: $14.99 plus $3.00 S/H for a total of $17.99
2 books, $29.98 plus $4.00 S/H for a total of $33.98
3 books, $44.97 plus $4.00 S/H for a total of $48.97
4 or more books, get free shipping!
Calculate each book at $14.99 and then pay via check or use the scroll down menu and pay via Pay Pal.

Via CHECK:
Send check to Alice Wisler at:
201 Monticello Avenue
Durham, NC 27707

OR

Via PAYPAL:

Memories Around the Table

1 copy with S/H $17.99 USD 2 copies with S/H $33.98 USD 3 copies with S/H $48.97 USD 4 copies with FREE S/H $59.96 USD 5 copies with FREE shipping $74.95 USD 6 copies with FREE shipping $89.94 USD 7 copies with FREE shipping $104.93 USD 8 copies with FREE shipping $119.92 USD

Create characters---a new writing workshop you can do in your pajamas!

Daniel's House Publications announces a new online writing workshop! Developing Memorable and Fun Characters is a three-week course for anyone who wants to make his/her story or novel characters come more alive! The course starts April 8th and is taught my novelist Alice J. Wisler. You work from the comfort of your own home, receiving lessons, and sending in completed assignments to Alice. Come and have fun putting your characters into various scenes, learning dialog tips and more!



Join us by signing up today!

Pay via PayPal or send a check to:
Alice Wisler
201 Monticello Avenue
Durham, NC 27707

PAYPAL

Developing Memorable and Fun Characters

Developing Memorable and Fun Characters


I am happy to offer (by popular demand) a brand new workshop on creating characters for your stories and novels!

Each student will develop two specific unique characters for his/her work of fiction.

By using tips from each assignment, students will add more to their two characters---descriptions, dialogue, etc. Place these characters into a scene and watch them come to life!

I will send assignments to your email box each Monday. Students complete the lessons and send them back via a MS Word file by Friday. I'll critique your work on grammar, punctuation, style and believability.


This online workshop starts April 8, 2013 and runs for three weeks---until April 26.


To pay for the workshop, either send a check of $41.00 to Alice at the address below or pay via PayPal by clicking on the Buy Now button.

1) Check
Daniel's House Publications

201 Monticello Avenue

Durham, NC 27707 USA

OR

2) PayPal

Monday's Offer for Free! A Grateful Heart Dances

It's March and I am looking forward to spring. Now that we have sprung forward an hour in the USA with daylight savings time, we are on the homestretch to warmer weather. Signs of spring are all around. I'm grateful for the many flowers that have already bloomed.

Did you know that a grateful heart dances?



Since I am feeling grateful and my heart does enjoy dancing, I wanted to offer a gift to each of you.

The gift is a pack of ten Thank You postcards and ten white envelopes. Designed by Rachel Wisler, these cards (A grateful heart dances) retail for $13.00 at my website. But today, they are free when you purchase a copy of my new devotional, Getting Out of Bed in the Morning for just $17.00 (includes all postage).

So act now! Order a book by either sending a check for $17.00 to the address below or by using the PayPal button. And receive the gift of glossy, bright thank you postcards!

Daniel's House Publications
201 Monticello Avenue
Durham, NC 27707 USA


PayPal

Offer good in USA only.

"Must read for anyone grieving the loss of a loved one, especially a child."

~ Review for Getting Out of Bed in the Morning

Memories Around the Table is looking for submissions!

There is nothing that ties us together quite like food. As Virginia Woolf said, "One cannot think well, live well, sleep well, if one has not dined well." And an old Irish proverb tells us, "Laughter is brightest where food is best."

Yes, I'm in the process of creating another cookbook of recipes and memories. Send me something today after viewing the YouTube video! The video will tell you how to submit so that the memory of your loved one can be included in the pages of Memories Around the Table.

Click to view the video.

To refer to an earlier post on this blog with written details about how to submit, view here.

And there is more! Want to help in another way with this project?

Donate today! Give any amount to help with the printing and publishing of this book. We plan to have it in print by summer 2013. All who donate will get their name on the Donations Page that will be included in the back of the cookbook.

Donate to Memories Around the Table!

Happy remembering!

A new cookbook where memories are shared!

It's been ten years since I compiled my second cookbook of memories of children who have gone too soon, Down the Cereal Aisle. And I think it's time to compile another one!

Actually, this book is going to include recipes from both Slices of Sunlight and Down the Cereal Aisle as well as new ones. It will be an edited version of the old with new submissions included. (More specific details are further below, so read on.)

You might have some questions, and hopefully they will be answered in the following instructions.

What is the name of this cookbook going to be?

Memories Around the Table: Treasured Recipes is the tentative name that will most likely stick.

Who can submit?

Anyone who wants to! The two other cookbooks I have created have been solely in memory of children. This new one is open to anyone. All you need is a recipe to share and a memory. Recipes can be for a main dish, a soup, a salad, a dessert, a drink, an appetizer, or a snack. They can be simple or complex. Speaking of very simple, Daniel loved grilled cheese sandwiches, so that recipe is in Slices of Sunlight.

What you need to do:

1.) Make sure to format the recipe and memory this way:
a) Name of recipe in first line
b) Name of person it is in memory of, along with birth and death dates in second line
2.) The recipe
3.) A 200 to 300-word memory associated with the recipe.
4.) Feel free to be creative!


Send all of this in the body of an email message to the email address below:

recipes@alicewisler.com

Is there a deadline for submissions?

Yes! Please submit your recipe no later than April 10th, 2013.

What if I submitted to one of your other cookbooks (Slices of Sunlight or Down the Cereal Aisle)?

You can email me at recipes@alicewisler.com to say that you would like your recipe(s) and/or memories in either previous cookbook to remain and be placed in Memories Around the Table. If you don't want the recipe(s) and/or memories to be included in the new venture, then you don't need to do anything. ONLY if I hear from you will your recipe be included in the new cookbook.

When can I purchase a copy?

The cookbook should be ready by the first part of summer 2013. It will be printed by Daniel's House Publications.

Fun sharing on this radio show

I so enjoyed being on two radio shows this week! You can listen to the podcast of the one from last night by clicking this link for Christian Devotions, Speak Up!

I talk about my missionary life in Japan (both as a child and as an adult), being in trouble in the dorm in high school, how I used to write and illustrate stapled books with stick figures, and the value of writing through grief. My new book, Getting Out of Bed in the Morning, even got a commercial blurb! Listen to how well this pitch for it is done by Scott McCausey.

To hear the other show I was on, The Vital Connection on 1450 AM radio, click this link for the podcast. Here I talk about my devotional that has just come out, and how hard the holidays can be for those in grief.

Getting Out of Bed: The arrival of GOOB

"You are a work of art in progress."

Yesterday, I was the happy recipient of a box of books titled Getting Out of Bed in the Morning. My two daughters (my son was at work) and husband were able to share in some of my excitement over the contents with me. My daughters breathed in the aroma of the pages, something I've taught them to do. There is nothing like the special scent of a newly-published book. Especially when your name is on the cover as the author.

Holding a copy of my devotional was a dream come true. I savored the feel of both the book and my heart. This book is compiled of forty devotions and a large piece of my broken heart.

In 1997 my son Daniel died after eight months of cancer treatments. He was four. I was thirty-six. I was angry with God for not healing him. The cancer hadn't killed him; it was the severe treatments that compromised his body. A staph infection took over and eventually his heart stopped. He died in my arms.

I was pregnant at the time. While my baby kicked inside the womb, my son gritted his teeth and left this earth. Three months to the day of his death, my fourth child, Elizabeth was born.

Getting out of bed each morning after Daniel's death was surreal. How could my son be gone? How could I still be alive? What was wrong with God? Why hadn't he saved my little boy from death? How would I live now? What was the point of going on?

I wrestled with questions, primarily to God. Why? How come? How could you? Why?

I wanted to die.

I didn't get to.

Instead, I put one foot in front of the other. And at the end of each day, I went to bed and woke to try again the next morning. One foot in front of the other. One day at a time. Deep breaths.

I would never ask God for anything again.

I knew too well that He could say, No.

Journaling was a lifeline. So was the support of the Wake County, North Carolina Compassionate Friends group. Some books helped. I wrote articles that made it into print magazines. I founded Daniel's House Publications and through it, compiled two cookbooks of recipes and memories in memory of children, who like my Daniel, had died way too soon. Slices of Sunlight came out in 1999 and two years later, Down the Cereal Aisle followed. I had an online newsletter.

I cried and missed my son. Birthdays came and I sent balloons up to him in Heaven. Christmases made me hollow and I was glad when the season ended.

I spoke at conferences. I taught on the benefits of writing through grief. I met some wonderful people---real people----the kind that know they are broken and that life is not for wimps.

I wanted to write a book on how God fit into my struggle. Believe me, I tried. I had agents and editors interested, but nothing stuck.

Until . . .

Last year, Leafwood Publishers said, Yes! This publisher took my fragile mother's heart and said, We believe in you. We read your words. You do have something to say.

I wrote Getting Out of Bed in the Morning to offer a morsel of hope to those without. I want to share with others that although they are weak and struggle, they aren't alone. God is the provider of the daily bread, the wisdom, the cup of cold water, the balm of healing, the hope of tomorrow. He has this awesome thing called sustaining grace. He supplies it. And He loves us, no matter how battered we might feel.

God is for the broken hearted.

God is for you.


To order an autographed copy of Getting Out of Bed in the Morning , head over to my Broken Psalms blog (join it, if you'd like) and visit the Rivers of Life Gift Shop.

[This post also appears on my Broken Psalms blog and my Writing the Heartache blog.]

Interview on building self-esteem after the death of a child

When a child dies, our self-image suffers. Join me and Gloria and Heidi Horsley on Open to Hope Radio as we discuss how to build self-esteem and confidence after the death of a child.

The show has been recorded and will air on May 13 at noon (EST),
9AM Pacific time.

This link will take you to where you can listen to the program via your
computer speakers. It'll only take 18 minutes of your time.

Freedom to Cry at The Expanded Sky

Are you grieving the death of a loved one? Be sure to check out my columns in The Expanded Sky at this site.

Why is it hard going down the cereal aisle?

Everything screams difficult after the death of a child. The cereal aisle is no exception. Walking down the cereal aisle after a child has died can be painful. Memories lie with the boxes of Cocoa Puffs and Fruit Loops.

Down the Cereal Aisle is more than a cookbook. The pages contain not only recipes, but food-related memories and stories of children gone too soon. You can read the book and cry, as well as create one of the recipes and weep. And while you're doing it, it will make your heart feel good that you are remembering a child who did live, was loved and is missed every day. Learn to make Chicken Broccoli Casserole and Tommy's Chocolate Cake. Or just sit down with a cup of your favorite tea and read the poetry and stories in this tender book.

Down the Cereal Aisle was compiled by me, with the help of dozens of moms and dads who contributed to the cookbook.

James Cox of Midwest Book Review says, "Down The Cereal Aisle: A Basket Of Recipes And Remembrances is a unique and very special cookbook of favorite recipes of children who have since been lost to their parents. As much a testimony of grief and bereavement as it is a fond memory of cherished dining with their loved ones, Down The Cereal Aisle is a soulful, meditative, and sober compilation of easy-to-prepare dishes. From Aunt Vicki's Macaroni and Cheese Stuff (in memory of Michael Haskins, May 9, 1979--October 11, 1996) to 7 Layer Bars (in memory of Teresa Wesley Hough, April 25, 1968--October 2, 1993), Down The Cereal Aisle blends capsules memorial tributes with recipes from the heart's own memory."

Order a copy today at the discount price. Send $12.00 (that includes shipping and handling) per book to the address below.
Visit this page at my Writing the Heartache website to read more about the book.

Address check to Alice J. Wisler and send to:

201 Monticello Avenue
Durham, NC 27707

Easter

Easter was late that year, just like this year. Down in South Carolina, at Daniel's grandparents' home, the dogwood and azaleas were in vibrant bloom. Three-year-old Daniel was more interested in his Easter basket, an assortment of treats that he managed to eat without getting too much chocolate on his new Easter outfit.

We didn't know. No one, but God knows these things. Looking back, you see it all differently, putting emphasis on the curve of Daniel's smile, his genuine excitement, the awe his eyes portrayed as he and his older sister looked for dyed eggs.

Twelve years later, you view the scene through murky glasses with an odd rosy tint. You didn't know on that Easter, Easter 1996, that it would be the last one Daniel would ever find a colorful egg.

Yet, it was. Shortly after the chocolate was consumed, Daniel was diagnosed with a small blue cell tumor. I'd never heard of neuroblastoma before.

Daniel was a brave cookie. He thrived, much of the time, even though doctors insisted on filling his small body with radiation and chemo. The cancer had to die. In his hospital room, Daniel loved Toy Story, The Three Stooges and Little Foot and he really loved it when his parents brought him hotcakes from McDonalds.

Eight months worth of potent chemicals filled his body and worked to kill the poison in his neck. But in the end, those chemicals were what killed him, the little boy, that Brave Cookie.

I have four children. I hope that you will understand that while three of them continue to bring me joy here on Earth, one brings me hope in Heaven. He resides there now.

This Easter, once more, I am thankful that even cancer cannot destroy our souls. Death is swallowed up in victory. Daniel lives.

Hallelujah!

Good-Bye at Four

How small four is...

a footprint the span of my hand


How young four is...

believing in heroes that fly


How brave four is...

treatments that linger into the night


How trusting four is...

kneeling in the hospital chapel to pray


How tiny four is...

escorted to Heaven on angel's wings


How sad four is...

leaving sand castles yet to build


How short four is...

dates inscribed on a single stone


How lonely four is...

we left here to ponder


Forever.

my notes: I wrote the above in 2003, six years after Daniel died from cancer treatments. Now we are about to enter into twelve years since I last held his hand. Does it get easier? Sure, I think. But I still find tears in my eyes when I see his tiny jeans jacket hanging in the closet...