Tag: American Essence

Shaping Flowers by Hand

Adam Brand, fourth-generation co-owner of M&S Schmalberg Custom Flowers, joined his family business about 12 years ago. “My dad was a flower man. I never really appreciated what that meant,” said Brand. “The business was 90 years old at the time, and I didn’t appreciate that either.” It was only when Brand started coming into…


A Christmas Editorial That Still Pulls at the Heartstrings

One hundred and twenty-four years ago, an 8-year-old girl wrote a letter to the editor of The Sun, a New York newspaper, asking, “Please tell me the truth; is there a Santa Claus?” The answer, “Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus,” is the most reprinted newspaper editorial of all time, a classic appearing in…


Patriotism in Plaster

In spite of her “made in the USA” appeal, being an American sculptor is not something Emily Bedard was always celebrated for. “When I first entered the molding industry, I had people who questioned my ability because I wasn’t French or European,” recalled Bedard. “I would produce a really strong structural element, and the salesman…


A True Home for the Holidays

As people of deep faith, retired NFL star Benjamin Watson and his wife Kirsten know that Christmas is about much more than tinsel, tunes, and turkey. Like a 21st-century version of the eponymous family at the center of the 1970s TV series “The Waltons”—who, like the Watsons, raised four boys and three girls and likewise…


A Secret Language That Helped End World War II

In war, information can be more valuable than tanks, planes, ships, or soldiers. Information sent and received without detection can mean the difference between victory and defeat, even between life and death. Protecting information means developing elaborate codes. One code, which Native Americans developed and used, played a pivotal role in helping the United States…


Doctor Who Attended Funeral of Couple’s Late Son Cries Tears of Joy as Their Daughter Is Born

After a serendipitous encounter in the hospital between a doctor and the father of a newborn baby, the doctor was invited to hold the baby girl. He was moved to tears as two years prior, he had gone above and beyond his call of duty to help the couple’s son, who died just 36 hours…


Doctor Schedules Abortion for Baby With Down Syndrome, Parents Refuse and Now She’s Thriving

An Australian couple who were informed that their unborn child was diagnosed with Down syndrome were shocked when their doctor scheduled an abortion for them. Refusing to terminate their baby, they went ahead with the pregnancy, and now their little girl has beaten all the odds and is thriving. “We are blessed with the most…


2 Babies Survive After a Tornado in Kentucky Carried Them Away in a Bathtub

Two babies survived a tornado in Kentucky that ripped the bathtub they were sheltering in out of the ground and tossed it with them inside, their grandmother said. Clara Lutz told WFIE-TV that she put 15-month-old Kaden and 3-month-old Dallas in the bathtub on Dec. 10 with a blanket, a pillow, and a Bible. Then the house…


Founding Friends Bound Together by the Fourth of July

The United States has been blessed with many distinguished leaders. But the generation that founded our nation has a special place in the hearts of many Americans. Even among that very special generation, two of our Founders stand out not only because of their many accomplishments and their lasting mark on the country, but because…


Norman Rockwell’s America

“I was showing the America I knew and observed to others who might not have noticed.” —Norman Rockwell Norman Rockwell’s career spanned six decades, and he is certainly one of America’s best-known 20th century artists. Many of us love him. Many dismiss him as a romanticist and kitschy caricaturist, but a showing of his works…