Author Archives: Sharon
I Look Not Back
https://hymnary.org/text/i_look_not_back_god_knows_the_fruitless_#pagescans There are so many changes to this “new and improved” WP site that it is basically useless to me at this point. But this New Year’s Eve, I am going to go ahead and simply post the link (above) … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
Comments Off on I Look Not Back
…..and then he said,……
I had a 24/7 front row seat to the last four months of the earthly life of Grant Donald Torgerson. He had many blessed last words. He was patient, content, and confident. Not perfectly so, but so well done. It … Continue reading
For the Dear Hearts and Gentle People Who Still Live in my Hometown – Culbertson, Montana
Like some others in the community, we (those kids of Immanuel and Edith Larsen) did not live at Culbertson except for the first decade or two of life but like most in the community, our lives were and are utterly stamped, … Continue reading
Posted in The Farm, Travel, Uncategorized
Leave a comment
Music For the 2017 Eclipse: When I Consider Your Heavens…
Psalm 8:3-5 When I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers, the moon and the stars, which You have ordained, What is man that You are mindful of him, and the son of man that You visit him? For … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
Leave a comment
My Home – All things Willamette
Our married life began in Minnesota in 1965. Then we spent 28 years in California, escaping from there in 1993 back to Minnesota farm country where we were for 18 years until moving to Oregon in 2011. One of the … Continue reading
Posted in History, Journaling, My Oregon Home, Travel
Leave a comment
WW I Vets were subject to the first peacetime draft in 1940
This post is being updated on 9/24/2017 to include historical information regarding the peace time draft first imposed in 1940. I was born in 1944 so that was all before my time – and I had not pieced together the … Continue reading
Posted in History, Larsen Family, The Farm
Leave a comment
Immanuel Larsen was born in Nebraska in 1897
In May of 2010, Grant and I were preparing for a nine-state road trip which would take us south from Minnesota on I-29 to Omaha; west across Nebraska on I-80, with a planned historical/family heritage stop in Aurora, NB, for … Continue reading
Posted in Denmark, Larsen Family, Travel
2 Comments
We Went to Yellowstone Park in 1949
At about 7:08 in the video, there’s a beautiful view of the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone, with the usual view of Yellowstone Falls. Our parents drove the family there in the old car. It was a trip of over … Continue reading
Posted in As I Remember It, Larsen Family, Travel
Leave a comment
God’s Faithfulness and Goodness is Great
Think back, if you’re old enough to, to June, 1962 – or visit that time in memory with me. My thoughts return to my high school graduation, one month earlier. Now, on some day in June, we are loading the very … Continue reading
Posted in As I Remember It, Comfort, Heritage, Working of the Word
Leave a comment
Endurance is not a feeling – it’s a choice
Three years ago I posted the thoughts shared in the devotional book, Streams in the Desert: https://mailboxesandoldbarns.com/2013/04/26/the-sepulchres-in-our-gardens/ Last week I had my regularly scheduled IV infusion of Herceptin, one of the toxic-yet-amazing tools used in the treatment of the cancer identified … Continue reading
Posted in Cancer is a Cardboard Box, Endurance, Journaling
Leave a comment
Our Farmyard in the 1950s
This photo includes primary features of my childhood memories. One unique aspect to it is that, as arranged, the large farm house completely obscures the even-larger barn! As is, it helps provide a record for sons, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren. Documenting … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
Leave a comment
March 16, 2017: It’s all good
A bunch of grape hyacinths is blooming as it should, looking a bit luxurious A decent sized flock of migrating birds moved south to north (they’re still playing at migrating) around noon – looked to be Canadian Geese and sounded … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
Leave a comment
Sayings from my Dad
The sun has riz the morning is I wonder where the birdies is This often used when he called up the long stairs to the second floor bedrooms, letting us know it was time to rise and shine No rest for … Continue reading
Posted in Larsen Family, Quotes
Leave a comment
Out of a Cardboard Box: Learning About Hospice
Six weeks before Grant died (three years ago this week) we invited hospice on to the property, signed their paperwork, and started getting acquainted with the individuals who – to one degree or another – would assist and serve us … Continue reading
Posted in Cancer is a Cardboard Box, Endurance, Journaling
Leave a comment
It’s a special day: use the sterling
“Sharon, we’ll be using the sterling…..”…was the instruction I would hear on a Saturday in 1954 as I got ready to set the dining room table for the dinner guests due to arrive on Sunday after church. Many of … Continue reading
A New Category: Cardboard Boxes
After I was diagnosed in March of 2016 I realized that a cancer diagnosis, like a new car, an old house, a bad road, or an overgrown garden, is sort of like a card board box that has stuff in … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
2 Comments
“My thoughts are not your thoughts.” – God
Sometimes that fact brings relief – when I am harsh with myself for a miscalculation and He reminds me that He has extended mercy. Sometimes it brings frustration because I persist in my assumption that my perspective is correct, and … Continue reading
Posted in Books, Quotes
2 Comments
Out in the Old Back Yard
The fingers of God at work in the trees are finishing the final touches that will provide privacy in the back yard for the next six months The Japanese elm is about thirty feet across is fully leafed now and this morning heavy … Continue reading
Posted in Original poems
Leave a comment
Lift Up Your Heart To God
Undeniable Truths of Life # 2,384 and # 2,385. Or maybe they are # 802 and #803. I can never remember. Everyone is owned by someone Everyone serves someone There is a third related truth: We choose who the Someone is. … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
Leave a comment
The Familiar Solution
Whatever has been my habitual problem-solving pattern over the years will tend to be the pattern to which I turn in the presence of a new problem. Conscious acknowledgement of that tendency makes it more likely that eventually (now would … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
Leave a comment
Mailboxes and Old Barns 