The poems and stories here are all pieces of my life. They chronicle my thoughts and lessons learned from the time I was growing up country, through love's joys and agonies, surviving the death of a loving husband, to a life of service to God. I know now that through it all God was watching over me even though, for many years, I was unaware of His care. Extended description In her poetry, Dorothy aims to convey her conviction that God presides over the universe and attends to all the cares and concerns of His creation. Dorothy relates practical truths from her life experiences and her Christian growth. Dr. C.H. Christopher Pastor, Southwest Baptist Church Crossville, TN ___ I grew up on a farm in southwest Michigan. We had no electricity, no running water, and an "outhouse" in the back yard. We got electricity the year I graduated from high school. The beauty of growing up in a rural area in the 1940s was that we didn't know any other way of life. With little communication, we thought everyone lived just the way we did. I have become used to modern conveniences. I really wouldn't want to go back to the "good old days." But if some tragic disaster should happen, and I had to live off the land, I know that I could survive. I started writing poems at the age of 15 as a way of expressing my deepest feelings, which were (and still are) difficult for me to share orally. The poems and stories here are all pieces of my life. They chronicle my thoughts and lessons learned from the time I was growing up country, through love's joys and agonies, surviving the death of a loving husband, to a life of service to God. I know now that through it all God was watching over me even though, for many years, I was unaware of His care. Dorothy Dale