Category Archives: Friendship

Shrimp Scampi and Cannoli–An Italian Feast

Janis Van Keuren

       Last weekend, our friends treated us to an Italian Dinner/Evening at their home.  We decided it would be another enjoyable way to share our heritage.  The husband is part Italian and I am pure Italian.  My grandparents came from the area around Naples.  When we get together with our friends, we always have amusing stories to recall from our ethnic heritage.     As promised, here are the recipes from the dishes my friends prepared.  She used a frozen shrimp scampi … Continue reading →

The Blessings of Family and Friends

Janis Van Keuren

Hubby and the two-month old    The closeness of family and friends, the fellowship with other Christians–immeasurable blessings that filled my week.  When you live a state away from all the family you grew up with, you treasure the moments and new memories being created with the next generation of family.  Hubby’s cousins’ children have been living nearby for a while but we’re drawing closer together as they have children and celebrate special occasions.  We joke that we have become … Continue reading →

Hearts to Encourage

Janis Van Keuren

Photo purposely blurred         Tears trickled down my cheeks as I saw the young man’s picture.  He standing there in camouflage, arm around his wife.  The same age as our youngest–friends when they were little, spending hours as imaginary superheroes.  Now, this young man was playing a real superhero–the role of his life for his country.  Last week, he was deployed to Afghanistan.     His Mom and Dad had taken the picture that day before he left.  It came by way … Continue reading →

Resting in Him

Janis Van Keuren

          As life whirls around us, we teeter attempting to keep all the activities in our life in balance.  Our pride keeps us jumping from one project to the next, proving how adept we are at handling the numerous activities to which we have said, “yes.”  We rush around, “keeping the plates spinning”, as our pastor put it this Sunday, until life falls apart and we crash along with the plates and activities.       We have not learned to … Continue reading →

Beneath His Love

Janis Van Keuren

          The smell of wet pine needles mixed with a potpourri of wild flowers, ferns, mountain meadow grasses and mud produced a heady fragrance beyond anything one could find bottled on a store shelf.  I inhaled the aroma deeply, stirring imaginations of cozy winter cabins warmed by fireplaces ablaze with crackling wood.      White tennis shoes contrasted with deep dark brown dirt as we trod up the gentle slope.  A neatly manicured trail led us along this sky-high peak at … Continue reading →

A Profusion of Blessings

Janis Van Keuren

     August in the monsoon desert brings a mixture of blessings and stifling heat.  I search for godsends round the corner,  gasping at the purple profusion of blossoms dripping from roof-high bushes.  A gasp that draws in the hot, thick, humid breath fills my lungs.  The beauty washes the August air with a refreshing breeze.      Swiftly, ominous desert clouds smother the sun-soaked sky, rolling gray clouds cross the horizon.   Temperatures drop, humidity rises, hope for rain abounds.      … Continue reading →

Cloud Hopping

Janis Van Keuren

Weekends are for hopping clouds across the sky for floating on feathery wisps of imagination for landing on mattresses of marshmallow froth and for wiggling toes in white sifted sand. May your weekend be moments of life captured in love with family and friends.      “But may the righteous be glad and rejoice before God;may they be happy and joyful.”  Psalm 68:3 NIV      What joy will fill your weekend?

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It’s Really Real

Janis Van Keuren

     “The Lord would speak to Moses face to face, as a man speaks with his friend.” Exodus 33:11 NIV      In our fast-paced, mobile society, it seems like friendships would be almost  impossible to begin let alone nurture and develop into lasting relationships. And as for online friends.  Let’s just say that everyone thinks the number of friends listed on one’s Facebook page is just a collection of sorts.  How could anyone have real friendships with that many people … Continue reading →

He Sets the Scene

Janis Van Keuren

The desert sky in summer just around the corner from our home       “My people will live in peaceful dwelling places, in secure homes, in undisturbed places of rest.” Isaiah 32:18 NIV      Who would have ever thought that the Lord meant the desert to be my peaceful dwelling place?  That in the desert our family would build a secure home–as secure as we, with all of our faults, could make it?  That, here, in the heat that nauseates my … Continue reading →

A Stream in the Desert

Janis Van Keuren

          Like three giddy girls, we begin our day of exploring Arizona’s Sabino Canyon. We long to hike beside the stream that hopefully still holds water from winter snow and heavy rains.  Unlike most years, this spring the desert is ablaze with flowers–blue lupines, desert marigolds, purple-pink penstemon.  I hold a map of the canyon’s hiking trails and attempt to lead our trio on an unforgettable hike.      Two steps and one of us stops to snap a picture.  … Continue reading →