Story Breaks (sharing my own random stories)

While sharing stories can be good business, historically important, and enriching to families, it is also nourishing to the soul and just plain fun! This category includes miscellaneous stories in a variety of formats that offer a break from my usual instructional posts.

You can receive these delightful story breaks in your own email inbox—just use the Subscribe box at right and sign up!

[Story Break]
10 random observations about Community Clean-up Day

by Melanie Jongsma, Wordsmith May 16, 2012 Story Breaks (sharing my own random stories)

1If you want to enjoy the benefits of living in a community, you need to contribute to community life in some way. It doesn’t have to be a major contribution. A positive attitude, a friendly wave, shopping local, shoveling your walk—these are all small contributions that make a big difference. 2Spending two hours picking up trash [...]

Keep reading →

Mothers Day dilemma

by Melanie Jongsma, Wordsmith May 9, 2012 Story Breaks (sharing my own random stories)

To be quite frank, I wrote a really great Mothers Day post two years ago. I called it “Five words that describe my mom,” and it received some nice comments. That post continues to receive a lot of traffic—partly because of the topic, partly because of the title, and partly because Mothers Day comes around [...]

Keep reading →

Easter poem (part 2)

by Melanie Jongsma, Wordsmith April 8, 2012 Faith (sharing our part in God's story)

2. Sunday * Breathlessly hysterical they burst into the room, excitedly described their recent visit to the tomb— “Oh, Peter, He’s alive! He’s really risen from the dead!” But their fantastic story made me cynical instead. Outlandish speculations couldn’t lift me very high— I’d seen my Jesus crucified and watched Him slowly die. But something [...]

Keep reading →

Easter poem (part 1)

by Melanie Jongsma, Wordsmith April 4, 2012 Faith (sharing our part in God's story)

1. Friday * We leave the Skull, each buried in isolation’s tomb (my God!) to tremble empty home. * So sure! that He had been the One, our faith faints at Death’s taunts, and Memory only burns. * Alone, we wait together, * dead. *

Keep reading →

Love story

by Melanie Jongsma, Wordsmith February 29, 2012 Story Breaks (sharing my own random stories)
Thumbnail image for Love story

Last week my parents celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary. My siblings and I threw a party for them, and it was a lot of fun. In fact, I think the party and the events leading up to it highlighted two main reasons my parents’ love story is so successful: 1. Their love is enriched by community. [...]

Keep reading →

← Previous Entries