Category Archives: Insights and Thoughts

Clark’s “Kindness Chart”

Posted on February 14, 2024 by Ann Laemmlen Lewis

A few weeks ago, before Little Lenna Lew was born, Clark made this Kindness Chart.  Every time he does something kind, he colors a heart. Let’s all be like Clark.  Happy Valentine’s Day!

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Thoughts after visiting Nuremberg’s Nazi Party Grounds

Posted on January 23, 2024 by Ann Laemmlen Lewis

We recently visited Nuremberg and Hitler’s rally grounds. As we spent the day wandering through the different sites, I felt heavy hearted. I felt ghosts hovering because of what happened there–the rallies, the marching, the confinement, and the executions.    … Continue reading →

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If you can alter the world, even by a millimeter, then you can change it.

Posted on December 1, 2023 by Ann Laemmlen Lewis

“The bottom line is this: You write in order to change the world, knowing perfectly well that you probably can’t, but also knowing that literature is indispensable to the world. The world changes according to the way people see it, … Continue reading →

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“I was in the middle before I knew that I had begun.” –Jane Austin

Posted on November 29, 2023 by Ann Laemmlen Lewis

I would describe my life as “UNFOLDING.” I could not have planned it, or consciously prepared for it. Rather, it’s like it came to me, one interesting experience after the next. When I look back, I see things I began … Continue reading →

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For as long as you remember me, I am never entirely lost.

Posted on November 18, 2023 by Ann Laemmlen Lewis

“When you remember me, it means that you have carried something of who I am with you, that I have left some mark of who I am on who you are. It means that you can summon me back to … Continue reading →

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The ultimate touchstone is witness.

Posted on November 16, 2023 by Ann Laemmlen Lewis

This photo above of my Book Club was taken in our home last year.  This group of friends has been together 36 years, since organizing into a book club in 1987, the year I came home from Nigeria.   Some of … Continue reading →

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The Enduring Power of Stones and Words

Posted on September 9, 2023 by Ann Laemmlen Lewis

Today, in a place called Marburg, I walked on stones that have been walked for more than a thousand years.  These stones are worn and old.  If they could speak, oh the stories they’d tell!  I wondered about those stories … Continue reading →

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The Invisible Woman by Nicole Johnson

Posted on September 9, 2023 by Ann Laemmlen Lewis

On my nightstand at home is a small book by Nicole Johnson that I’ve read and re-read many times as a wife and mother.  And now that I’m living in a land of cathedrals, I’m thinking about it again as … Continue reading →

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I have my moments . . . again

Posted on August 18, 2023 by Ann Laemmlen Lewis

Here’s a post I wrote in January 2015 as we were preparing to leave for 3 year to go to Yakima.  I woke this morning, remembering these words, feeling every single one of them again.  I’ve been feeling nostalgic all … Continue reading →

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Evidence that I was here, that I loved and was loved.

Posted on August 14, 2023 by Ann Laemmlen Lewis

I’ve been trying really hard this week to clean and organize my office, my work space.  The hard part is that some things need to go, or I might be called a Hoarder.  I buckled down today and did a … Continue reading →

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