July is Mother’s birthday month. If she were still living, she would be 103 years old on the 23rd. Like most Mennonite women in the 1950s, Mother Ruth expended energy in keeping house, making meals, and preserving a garden harvest. She especially enjoyed motherhood and read to me from a Bible story book. From this I learned about Adam and Eve, Noah and the Flood, David keeping sheep, Elijah being whisked to heaven in a chariot, and Jesus born in a manger. This is what the story book’s cover looked like:
