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On Sunday, the carillonneurs from Iowa State worshipped with St. Paul at the 11:15 am Open Spirit service before unloading their instrument from a large freight truck and setting it up on the North Lawn for the 3 p.m. concert. When they greeted me as…
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While driving across the western half of Wisconsin earlier this week, a Department of Transportation sign caught my attention: Over 19,000 deer were killed on Wisconsin roads last year. Yikes. That’s an average of 52 deer per day. Extrapolating from…
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A new restaurant, nestled in the heart of downtown Rock Island, is putting healthy, nutrient-dense foods on tables for everyone, regardless of financial situation. Owner Laura Mahn’s 20 years of ideas, experiences, and plans have brought NEST Cafe to…
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I bought a bouquet of peonies from the grocery store last week. They were tight balls of green with a hint of bright pink, about the size of golf balls. I trimmed the stems and put them in a vase of water. My kids called them our “boring ball flowers…
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My dog sits on me… Not in a “Let’s-cuddle-up-for-a-movie” kind of way, nor in a “You’re-home-and-I-missed you” kind of way, either. In fact, my dog is one of the least snuggly pups I’ve ever met. But she sits on me sometimes when she senses anxiety i…
In May, St. Paul preschoolers were treated to a presentation by local artist and St. Paul preschool alum, Levi Folker. Levi talked about what it means to be an artist, how to work with watercolors, and where to find his artwork currently on display t…
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Earlier this month, as my daughter and I were hurrying out after Sunday services together, the rain started to fall and our trusty golf cart driver Dana pulled up and offered us a ride. We were in a hurry after receiving a phone call that our dog had…
Teresa Keller joined the St. Paul ministry in March as a part-time visitation chaplain. She has experience in a wide variety of people-centric jobs, most recently working in the Cancer Center at Genesis. Tell us about your family/where you grew up/w…
Self-care. It’s become a buzzword over the past handful of years, the topic of blog posts and magazine articles, but what is it really? And why is it important? St. Paul social worker/counselor Angie Vaaler and mental health nursing professional Stev…
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The topic of sin doesn’t have a very high place in our conversation and society anymore. When is the last time you heard anyone denounce something as “sinful” or, more importantly, acknowledge their own sin? The recollection of moralistic fire-and-br…
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It’s like an afterthought at the tail end of a conversation. A side note. A parenthetical remark. Oh, by the way … A couple that just spent an hour with me in a pre-marriage session, has the woman saying to me upon leaving: “Oh, by the way, have we t…
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My brother and sister-in-law are ultra-cyclists. They ride in long-distance self-supported races around the world with their bikes carrying everything they need. While they ride these races, cycling for twenty-some hours a day, the rest of us watch t…