My good Mennonite father was anti-materialist and anti-consumerist to an extreme. He firmly believed that God only asked for him to be obedient and humble in doing His will. He would take care of the rest. And he and my mother lived their…
As a young man just out of medical school, my father abandoned the possibility of a lucrative practice in the U.S. and took off for Paraguay, South America. He was on a mission to provide medical services for people living in that remote and…
As I mentioned in the last blog, my husband and I are writing a book about the life and works of an extraordinary, complicated and devout man, my father. His name was Dr. John R. Schmidt, and he’s known in medical and missionary circles…
My husband and I are currently writing a book about the life and work of an extraordinary and complicated man. His name was Dr. John R. Schmidt, and he’s mostly known in medical circles around the world as the physician who changed how leprosy is…
As I close the book on 2018, I see many year-end reviews. I’ve read that 2018 was the year for hearts — at least on Instagram. Instagram recently reported that the heart emoji was used more than 14 million times on the platform, and claimed…
You’d think, since my family lived in Paraguay, South America, that our Christmas traditions would be Hispanic, including pan dulce (a vanilla bread sort of resembling fruit cake), Papá Noel and cotton on our Christmas tree to simulate snow during the hot summer month of December. Not so. My…