Kathy Stimpson grew up in various places across the US, courtesy of her father’s military career. She graduated with a Bachelor’s degree in Business Education (back when shorthand and typewriters were a thing). As what she considers compensation for having endured three older brothers, she and her husband were blessed with three daughters. Now that the children are grown, she enjoys spending as much time with the six grandchildren as possible, while also taking time with her husband to do some traveling and hiking (the only form of exercise she likes).
This month’s tenet states, “We are empowered by our feminine nature and biology, and we honor our procreative power.” I have been thinking about the strength of women and their feminine nature lately. As a friend was relating to me recently the extreme trials her daughter went through during the pregnancy and birth of her…
I remember when I first started working with a group of 3-year-olds in a church class, I was completely at a loss as to how to deal with some of the children. They weren’t like my own 3-year-old! Some were rambunctious. Some seemed to have an aversion to actually sitting on their chairs. Some felt…
When my older brother returned from the war in Vietnam, he was treated cruelly by some people, just like other returning veterans of that particular war were treated. It was a dark time in our history, with many people essentially taking out their frustrations about the war on the returning soldiers, most of whom didn’t…
A woman in my former neighborhood simply amazes me. She sees a need in the community, and she does something about it. When I first met her, I didn’t understand her reasoning; I thought she must be trying to stir up trouble. But later I began to understand. Her main goal is to build understanding…
As I thought about this month’s tenet, “We greatly value the unique and contributing role of families,” my mind went to the great variety of the makeup of families. It’s very true that families come in all shapes and sizes. In a perfect world, all children would be brought up in loving homes, with two…
“We are empowered by our feminine nature and biology, and we honor our procreative power.” I have come to the realization that I am old. (Not quite an official senior citizen, but close enough.) I have seen quite a shift in attitudes towards women over the years. Most of that is for the best, but…
I’m a big fan of trees. I love to admire their beauty in all seasons. My admiration for trees started when I was about 16 years old. A caring teacher used a tree as an example of standing tall and confident, quite unlike my cowering, shy self, afraid to bring my gaze up. So I…
I have to admit, this month’s tenet, “We work in partnership with our global sisters to create generative solutions,” was pretty overwhelming to me and seemed completely beyond my skillset. But after reading the articles written with this tenet in mind, I realized that I don’t necessarily have to be the one to come up…
What if do-overs were something we were really allowed in our life? Sometimes we are given the opportunity to correct a wrong, but we don’t ever get the option to go back in time and handle things differently. But if we did, I know exactly what one of my first do-overs would be. As a…
As I sat watching the sun set over the Grand Canyon several weeks ago, I was in complete awe of the abundance of beauty before me. No other place is quite like the Grand Canyon, but there is beauty to be found everywhere. Even in the stark, arid landscape where I grew up, the sunsets…