by MarianBeaman | Jan 19, 2022 | blog, Coming of Age, Memory, Mennonite History, Mennonite Lore, Quotations, Travel, Uncategorized
Trains take me back to grade school, evoking the fondest of memories, like this one. My friend Wayne and I paused in our play in the woods during summer vacation. We waited for the dusty, black engine to emerge from the heat haze around the feed mill on the edge of...
by MarianBeaman | Jan 12, 2022 | blog, Cliff Beaman artist, Family / Nostalgia, meditation, Mennonite Lore, Quotations, Reflection, Uncategorized
Like a double-side mirror, reflect is one of those words with a dual meaning. It can either turn in upon itself or look outward. It can cast back light or enlighten the path ahead. The American Heritage Dictionary illuminates further: To give back a likeness, as...
by MarianBeaman | Jan 5, 2022 | blog, Family / Nostalgia, meditation, Mennonite History, Mennonite Lore, Quotations
Photos re-create family history like nothing else can do. Before the Henry R. Longenecker family built their home near Rheems, Pennsylvania, they lived in a small house on the corner across from Bossler Mennonite Church. In the winter of 1922, someone (perhaps...
by MarianBeaman | Dec 15, 2021 | blog, Mennonite History, Mennonite Lore, Nostalgia, Quotations
I wasn’t sure it would open. So my husband Cliff gathered assorted tools in case the clasp on Aunt Ruthie’s Diary had clamped shut with rust. A faux-leather, brown diary with an attached key has lain on my desk for years now. Ever since we cleared out Aunt...
by MarianBeaman | Nov 17, 2021 | blog, Memory, Mennonite History, Mennonite Lore, Quotations, Uncategorized
Have you heard of Heman the Ezrahite? There’s a good chance you haven’t because he’s a rather obscure Old Testament character. I just learned about him recently. In the choirs of David, musicians Heman and Jeduthun were appointed to give thanks. It was literally their...
by MarianBeaman | Oct 20, 2021 | Amish, blog, book review, Coming of Age, Education, Family / Nostalgia, Memory, Mennonite Lore, Uncategorized
Lucinda and Her Books I’ve featured Mennonite author Lucinda J. on my blog a few years ago. When her first book came out in 2017, the memoir Anything but Simple, her name was Lucinda J. Miller. You can read that post here. A few years ago, she married Ivan and changed...
