Tag Archives: love

Once Again Time for Shamelessly Plugging My Books in a Rhyme

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T’was four weeks afore Christmas and it was once again time
for shamelessly plugging my goods in a rhyme.
There were books about Dad, and madcap books for you,
books of celebration, and books of poetry, too.

I wrote two books about the drives and adventures I had with my centenarian father, Dee Molenaar, a well-known mountaineer and artist. Are You Taking Me Home Now? Adventures with Dad, and The Second Hundred Years: Further Adventures with Dad can be purchased on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and through any of your favorite bookstores. The books have five stars on Amazon.
In her Amazon review, Heidi writes:
“This is a delightful book and Karen is a gifted writer. She lets us listen in to the conversations she and her 100 year old Dad have on their car trips, which had me laughing and crying. Interspersed are memories of earlier times. Having a relationship with an older person whose body and brain don’t work as well as it used to requires patience, humor and love. As someone else here said, ‘Karen shows us how to do it right.’ I enjoyed reading this very much. I highly recommend this book and will be giving it out for gifts.”

There’s a related book to this series, called Finding the Rainbows: Lessons from Dad and Mom.

My Cosmic Celebration series includes two books: Cosmic Connections: Sharing the Joy and Cosmic Kinship: Celebrating Community. These books can be purchased on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and through your favorite bookstore. They currently have five stars on Amazon.
C Meares writes:
“Cosmic Connections follows the excursions of an extraverted author and photographer who befriends nearly every person who crosses her path. This uplifting read highlights life’s small moments of connection — with strangers, old friends she meets by chance, the hapless, friendly dogs and former students. The author uses brief anecdotes—one or two pages—to show how much goodness permeates life. One entry describes meeting a stranger, only to find out she is the daughter of the minister who married her and her husband (in another part of the state) 30 years before. Her warm writing style and enthusiasm for life is infectious.”

In 2005, I published my first book, Blessings: Adventures of a Madcap Christian Scientist. It currently has 4.5 stars and 45 ratings on Amazon.
VoIP – Dragon User writes:
“OK, after reading the reviews, I thought this might make a nice Christmas present for a friend. When it arrived I decided to ‘peek’ at a few pages, but couldn’t put it down. I finished reading it in one sitting. But how to review the book is a challenge. It leaves you with such a joyful uplifted feeling and one of appreciation and relevance. At first I found myself saying, ‘I want to know this woman’ and after I finished the book I felt I did.

“Karen brings very positive reinforcement into the reader’s experience and the easy flowing style just melts in your mouth like comfort food. I found dozens of instances where I saw a parallel in my own life, that were entertaining and inspirational in a down to earth sort of way.

“I’m wearing a smile having read this and can’t think of a better way to pass an evening than this quick roller-coaster ride through another’s eyes of refreshing gratitude.

“It touched my heart and soul. Highly recommended.”

I now have four books in the Madcap Christian Scientist series – the last one, Looking Forward: More Adventures of the Madcap Christian Scientist was published last spring.

There’s also a fifth book related to the series called The Madcap Christian Scientist’s Christmas book.
In his review for The Madcap Christian Scientist’s Christmas Book, Jeff Chase writes:
“It’s my second Christmas with this book, and I think I’m enjoying it more this year, perhaps because it’s already feeling like a tradition. Karen’s stories, poems, and musings are full of warmth, humor, and love. There’s much to relate to here. I find myself recalling my own Christmas stories from years past. This book is a gem, made for relaxing. Enjoy!”

These Madcap Christian Scientist books can be purchased on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and your favorite bookstore.

I have three books of poetry: A Poem Lives on My Windowsill, The Brush of Angel Wings, and Since Then. These books can all be purchased on Amazon, and through your favorite bookstore.
In her Amazon review of The Brush of Angel Wings, Nikki writes:
“The author of “The Brush of Angel Wings” never fails to disappoint me. The poetry in her latest book causes a wide range of emotions in the reader, from joy to sadness, happiness to grief, humor to acceptance. Every poem is unique, yet the author’s distinct style can be found in each one. I enjoyed seeing glimpses of the author’s life through her poetry. I can’t wait for her next book to be released.”

I also published a book about 2020. 2020 seemed to me to deserve a book all of its own. That book is titled Scrapbook of a Year and a Day: January 19, 2020 to January 20, 2021.
In her Goodreads review, Maryjmetz writes:

“Karen Molenaar Terrell’s Scrapbook of a Year and a Day is, essentially, a compilation of Facebook posts written between January 19, 2020 and January 20, 2021. If I were to collect my FB posts, it would be very, very dull indeed, but Karen eliminated the silly cat videos, if she ever posted any, and has instead put together a moving and coherent account of the tumultuous year we all lived through and her personal experience of the year following the death of her father, Dee Molenaar. What I particularly love about Karen–and this book–is her perspective on things and her constant striving to live up to her ideals.

“I’m really not a dog-earrer–I find it a vile habit–and yet I folded down the corners on several pages.”

***

Thank you for letting me shamelessly plug here. It brings me such joy to connect with others through my writing.
– Karen Molenaar Terrell

Dolphin Ring

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podcast link: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/karen-molenaar-terrell/episodes/The-Dolphin-Ring-e2fo8ma

My oldest son was born 32 years ago next month. The moment I became a mother, I changed profoundly as a human being. Here was a little life that meant more to me than my own life. Here was someone I would die for – without a second’s thought.

I instantly felt connected to every mother in the universe. I hadn’t really noticed babies before I became a mother myself, but when I became a mother I suddenly discovered that there were babies everywhere! I found my motherly instincts coming out with every baby I encountered – I cooed and played peekaboo and never hesitated to hold a baby other parents handed to me when their hands were full.

Becoming a mother changed who I was as a teacher, too. Now when I looked at my students’ faces I could see them as their mothers saw them. In fact, after I became a mother I found it easier to see EVERYone as their moms might see them. It opened up a whole ‘nother world to me – a world where I better understood my connection to everyone on this planet.

Five months after I birthed my oldest son, I celebrated my first Mother’s Day as a new mom. My own mom sent me $50 for that Mother’s Day. I wanted to buy something special with that money – something that I could keep forever to remember my mom, and to celebrate my own motherhood.

I went to our local mall – at that time our mall was a lively, busy place, filled with big department stores and little kiosks. At one of the kiosks I found a silver ring that depicted two dolphins swimming alongside each other. In my mind I saw a mother dolphin swimming alongside her baby dolphin – protecting and guiding him. That ring seemed perfect for Mother’s Day!

I loved that ring and what it represented for me, but at some point – I can’t remember exactly when now – it got put in a jewelry box with other rings and I lost track of it.

And this month I found it again! I put it on – and discovered another cool thing about this ring: although my fingers are no longer size 4, the ring bends to fit my fingers – it adapts to who I am now.

When I put on my dolphin ring, I remembered my mom’s gift to me that first Mother’s Day. I pictured her sweet face smiling at me. I could hear her voice. I told her that I understand now – I understand things I didn’t understand 32 years ago. I understand her sacrifices. I understand how much I took her love and support for granted. I understand the joy she must have felt when she became a grandma, and I understand now how it feels when your children fly from the nest to make their own lives – the pride when they unfold their wings and take to the air, and the closing of a chapter as they become specks on the horizon in their flight.

When I was a young mother I embraced the sacrifices that a young mother makes. But now I understand the sacrifices a mother with grown children makes – and they are just as real and just as noble. I didn’t appreciate what Mom sacrificed as we grew up and made our own lives. She never asked for more time with us – she knew we were busy – but I remember that Christmas Eve night when I showed up at Mom and Dad’s house unannounced and I remember the look of joy on my mom’s face when she came down the hallway and saw me sitting at her table. I’m so grateful now that I gave her that Christmas Eve night. I wish I had been able to give her more.

My dolphin ring links me between two generations – links me between my mom and my sons. And I’m so grateful for all of the love this ring represents.

A Smile from the Cosmos

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Up in the middle of the night.
Battling fears. Battling dismay.
Something catches the corner
of my eye – I look outside to see
a little star sparkling at me –
flashing red to blue –
above all my fears
above my dismay –
a reassuring light in the darkness.
A promise. A smile from the Cosmos.
“You are my precious child.”
-Karen Molenaar Terrell

podcast link: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/karen-molenaar-terrell/episodes/A-Smile-from-the-Cosmos-e2fo93t

Without Love, We Have Nothing

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When I first woke up this morning I was feeling scared and beyond hope for our world. Doomed, you know? And then something happened – something changed in my thoughts. I’m sitting here, trying to trace back what caused the change, and I’m not sure, exactly.

Maybe it was learning in the first post I saw on Facebook this morning that a friend who’s been trying for years to get pregnant just learned she was expecting. Or maybe I started thinking about how my friend, Janie, and her husband, showed up at my doorstep last night with cookies. Or maybe I was thinking about my little granddaughter in Australia. But I suddenly felt Love touching my shoulder and smiling at me, and the hymn “Tender Mercies” came into my thoughts.

I found Lisa Redfern’s version of the song on Youtube, and I’ve been listening to it. So beautiful. So pure.

I feel like the sun is rising in my thoughts – like light is rising over the hills and filling the dark places in my inner landscape. I’m feeling hope.

As long as we can feel love, there’s hope. I know this maybe sounds naive and simplistic – but I know there’s power in Love. I know Love is the only real thing. And as long as we can hang onto it, and live in it, we have everything that really matters. Without love, we have nothing. We can “win wars” and have gazillions of dollars – but without Love, we have nothing.

Actually – that sounds a lot like I Corinthians 13, doesn’t it? “If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.”

And “Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.”

“Love never fails.”

“And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.”

Let’s keep hope. Let’s keep faith. But let’s especially keep love.

***

I awake each morn to a brand new day,
Singing Hallelujah! as I go on my way,
For my heart is fixed on this one guarantee,
The Love that is All holds me tenderly.

Tender mercies, oh, tender mercies,
Tender mercies are holding me.
Tender mercies, oh, tender mercies,
Tender mercies are holding me.

I can walk in Love through the valley of fear,
Singing Hallelujah! when hope is deferred,
The desert of my longings can’t fulfill,
But Love fills all need and bids want be still.

So no matter the need and no matter the threat,
I’m secure in Your love, no fear, no regret.
Can there be a sweeter comfort, a grace more secure,
Than the thought that your Love is lovingly here?
– Susan Mack

Love the Hell Out of the World

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My dear Humoristian hooligans,

Today may you love the hell out of the world. May you open the floodgates of Love and let Love water the weary hearts athirst for kindness and caring. May you refuse to allow fear and hate to steal your hope and courage. May the bigots, bullies, and busybodies be transformed by your open hearts and good will to all. May the stodgy, stuffy, and stingy be transformed by your irrepressible joy. May you bring laughter to those in sorry need of a good laugh, and hope to those ascared of the future.

Go out there and work your magic, my friends!

Karen

New Review for *Looking Forward*

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I just got a new review on Goodreads for Looking Forward: More Adventures of the Madcap Christian Scientist. The reviewer filled my heart with her kindness. I really needed her kindness today. Here’s what H. Benson wrote:

Karen’s message is one of LOVE’s ability to carry us through the ups and downs of daily life as well as support us and provide hope in these crazy times when the world seems to have gone mad.

I’ve had the pleasure of reading 3 of Karen Molenaar Terrell’s books, the most recent being “Looking Forward,” which I’ve read twice in the past couple of months. It provides solace to the soul as you read of the kindness, love, humor, and compassion that infuses Karen’s life and daily activities with aging parents, husband, adult sons, extended family, pets, and community. She shares about her life with such openness and vulnerability that when you’ve finished reading, you feel like you’ve thoroughly enjoyed catching up with your best friend and you’re looking forward to your next get-together.

All teachers should read Karen’s chapter on education. The country and the world would be a far better place if teachers shared Karen’s perspective on students and incorporated her creative ways of sharing academic lessons and life’s wisdom with students.

Karen’s political campaign gives the reader a taste of how our country’s leaders could and should be: intelligent, passionate, respectful, articulate and kind. How we sorely need that in this world!

The quotations and book references with which Karen begins each chapter have been added to my reading list. If they inspired Karen, they are sure to inspire me.

This “Madcap Christian Scientist” has a heartfelt and hopeful message for all of us: LOVE and a sense of humor are the keys to a fulfilling life.

“And Loss Is Gain”

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podcast link: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/karen-molenaar-terrell/episodes/And-Loss-Is-Gain-e2fof90

A “short” I wrote entitled “No Separation in Love” appears in November’s Christian Science Journal. (An audio recording of the article is available, too.)

In my newest book, Looking Forward: More Adventures of the Madcap Christian Scientist, I talk more about my experience with loss in the chapter titled “And Loss Is Gain.” I think that chapter dovetails really well with the short in the Journal. There are details you’ll find in the Journal article that you won’t find in my book, and there are details in my chapter you won’t find in the Journal article.

Here’s the chapter from my book:

“And Loss Is Gain”

“O make me glad for every scalding tear,
For hope deferred, ingratitude, disdain!
Wait, and love more for every hate, and fear
No ill, — since God is good, and loss is gain.”
– Mary Baker Eddy, “Mother’s Evening Prayer”

When I learned Andrew and Christina might be moving to, literally, the other side of the world, I went through a period of deep mourning. It felt like someone I loved had died – like another huge loss in a long series of huge losses.

And then I started pulling together all the tools I had been collecting over the years – the insights and healings and epiphanies – and I constructed a bridge for myself over the deep mourning.

I remembered the dream I’d had when the sons had first started moving out of the house and creating their own lives: In the dream I was in some building that just went on forever. I was walking in a leisurely pace from room to room, and periodically this voice would ask, “Karen, do you want to turn around or not?” I’d grin like it was a joke, and just keep moving forward. I didn’t want to turn around. I didn’t want to go back. I didn’t want to be like Lot’s wife in the Bible, who turned around and became a pillar of salt – fixed in time. I didn’t want to yearn for what WAS, but I wanted to look forward to what was to come.

And then I remembered the time when my youngest son showed me yet another tattoo he’d had etched on himself, and I’d felt so grieved that he was covering his beautiful skin with these permanent etchings that I’d reached my thoughts out to God for help. The voice of Love had immediately answered my prayers with these words, “Xander doesn’t belong to you. He belongs to himself and he belongs to Me. What he does with his body and his life is NONE OF YOUR BUSINESS. Xander is fine, and will always be fine. And so are you.” I’d immediately felt the fears and grief lift from me. And when, the next day, Xander showed me the new tattoos on his knuckles, I found myself saying to him, “Oh! Those are cool! What do they mean?” He’d looked a little surprised by my reaction, and then he’d gone through and told me what each tattoo meant – the pine tree represented the Pacific Northwest; the top hat and smiley face represented humor; the mountain range represented our family heritage; the feather represented freedom; and the crown represented purpose. Isn’t that beautiful?

Another tool I pulled out was the memory of a time when my family was scattered out across the United States – I was in Chicago for my Christian Science Association, Andrew was living in Los Angeles, Xander and Scott were in Washington State – and I had a sort of revelation. Did our physical separation in any way weaken my love for my family? Did the fact that we weren’t in close physical proximity in any way make me love my sons and husband less? The answer, of course, was no. And then I thought about the loved ones who have died through the years and realized that death hasn’t stopped me from loving them, either. It became clear to me that NOTHING can separate us from the love we have for each other.

One morning, a couple of weeks after I’d learned of Andrew and Christina’s possible move, I woke up feeling full of joy. I walked out and stood on our back deck in the sunshine, breathed in the morning air, and listened to the birdsong. The thought came to me that something amazing is coming. I realized that not only does God have wonderful plans for Andrew and Christina, and Xander and Kyla, but She has wonderful plans for me, too.

-Karen Molenaar Terrell

My new grandbaby and me getting acquainted.

I’m Siding with Love

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podcast link: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/karen-molenaar-terrell/episodes/Im-Siding-with-Love-e2fofg1

I’m siding with peace
not just the kind where wars cease
but the kind where we work together
to make the world a BETTER
place

I’m siding with compassion
I’m not just siding with whatever faction is in fashion
but I’m siding with the Source of kindness
that underlies what blesses
ALL of humanity

I’m siding with Love –
below, around, above –
the only lasting power, always here,
bigger than hate, bigger than fear.

-Karen Molenaar Terrell
(Photo by Karen Molenaar Terrell.)

A Prayer of Peace

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Love is all-powerful, ever-present, all-wise, ever Good.
Feel the force of infinite Life unfolding, unfettered,
unrestrained, unhampered, untouched by hate
and war, vengeance and ego and human history.
Love and Life are All,
and we all are of Love and Life, and everything Good –
created for Good, by Good, of Good.

Amen.
-Karen Molenaar Terrell

“If This Isn’t Nice, I Don’t Know What Is.”

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Kurt Vonnegut said, “I urge you to please notice when you are happy, and exclaim or murmur or think at some point, ‘If this isn’t nice, I don’t know what is.'”

And this morning I took notice. This morning was magic – from beginning to end – this morning was magic:

I decided today would be a good day to make my monthly drive to La Conner and pay my broadband bill. As I was getting in my car to head out, I had my first snow geese sighting of the year – a flock of them flew right over our house!

I stopped on the way to La Conner to take a quick walk on the Padilla Bay Dike Trail, and saw a blue heron flapping around a couple of egrets – that was very cool – I don’t often see egrets up here. And I don’t think I’ve ever seen them with a heron.

Jolyne and Jeri were both manning the broadband office today – I always enjoy seeing them every month – they are a comedy team. Jolyne was talking today about starting a “J and J” podcast and I would watch that, for sure.

After I paid my bill I headed towards the La Conner boardwalk for a walk along the Swinomish Channel. On my way to the boardwalk I spotted a squirrel hopping along the street, one of the last of this year’s dragonflies, and a bee on the last of this year’s flowers. I met a man named Don on the boardwalk, in La Conner for a reunion with some of his friends from the Seattle University class of 1962. As we chatted I found out he’d grown up in Winlock – he didn’t think I would have even heard of Winlock – but, coincidentally, I have a couple of friends who grew up there! It was fun to find that connection.

I hadn’t been planning this, but when I got to the Calico Cafe, I decided to turn in there for lunch. I asked for a seat outside, and the hostess led me to a nice seat in the sunshine where I could watch the seagulls and pigeons winging over the water, and the fishing boats motoring by on the channel. The hostess was cheery and helpful and brought me a mocha and punched my espresso card while I waited for the waitress.

It was perfect out there – just the right temperature – I could feel the sun warming my back. I felt safe and happy. I had everything I needed in that moment. And I looked around at all the life going on around me – the birds and the people and the little ladybug in the potted plants. Such joy!

When Kaya, the waitress, came for my order, I ordered a pesto froccacia scramble – scrambled eggs full of spinach, tomatoes, feta cheese, and focaccia bread. When Kaya brought it out, I just looked at the beauty of it for a moment. Took a picture of it with Kaya – I told her she had to be in the picture, too – and she graciously let me include her in the photo. I asked Kaya her name and she told me and then I told her my name was (pause for dramatic effect) “Karen” and she started laughing, passing my Karen Test.

Two women came into the outside dining area with a little girl skipping along behind them. The way the little girl approached life just tickled me. She was just so happy to be there. I chatted to the women and found out that they were sisters and the little girl was the daughter of one of them.

Kaya came up to give me a box for my leftovers and to give me my bill. I told her everything was just perfect. I was enjoying one of life’s perfect moments. She smiled and got a little teary and thanked me for sharing that.

As I got up to leave the mother of the little girl turned and wished me a good day, and I told her then that I love the way her little girl approached life – just so happy.

As I walked back to my car I passed a couple on the sidewalk and said, “Isn’t it a perfect day?” And they smiled and agreed it was.

I stopped to wave to the balcony of the apartment where Mom and Dad used to live, and felt Moz waving back to me. I felt her walking with me in Love.

This morning was perfect. And I’m so glad I let myself be conscious of that.