Community

Jacob Roseman and Molly Roseman, faculty artists from the Wausau Conservatory of Music, will present “European and American Classics for Flute and Piano” on Jan. 20 at 3 p.m.

The free concert will be presented at the Caroline S. Mark Recital Hall at the Wausau Conservatory of Music, 404 Seymour St., Wausau. The performance is part of the conservatory’s 2018-19 concert series.

Beginning in January, each Shawano County Library location will be offering a weekly story time session for preschool age children.

Story time is an opportunity to hear a variety of stories and related activities such as songs and action rhymes created especially for preschool age children. About a half hour long, story time allows social time for small children to interact together while being exposed to reading and literacy from a very young age.

The Shawano library, 128 S. Sawyer St., Shawano, will continue to have its story times at 10 a.m. Wednesdays and Thursdays. There will also be Wednesday story times at 10:30 a.m. at the Wittenberg branch, 302 S. Cherry St., Wittenberg; 11 a.m. at the Mattoon branch, 311 Slate Ave., Mattoon; and 1 p.m. at the Tigerton branch, 221 Birch St., Tigerton. There will be Thursday story times at 11 a.m. at the Bonduel branch, 125 S. Washington St., Bonduel; and 4 p.m. at the Birnamwood branch, 337 Main St., Birnamwood.

I am becoming my parents. Not that it’s a bad thing, however, as a growing child, or even young adult, I remember thinking that I would do things different.

For example, I would always get a real tree at Christmas. Now the trees of my childhood were not the perfect sheared trees of today. No, they were found in the woods, and I recall one year, the snow was so deep, that Pa cut down a cedar tree that was growing in the yard.

Never anything glamorous, but my child mind thought, no one had a better tree. I remembered the excitement of making ornaments to adorn the tree, along with the lights and some glass balls. Gingerbread cookies, walnut shells, candy canes, garland, and some tinsel, it looked perfect to me. In fact, I just saw a picture of my brother and I by one of our childhood Christmas trees.

“Any chance I get to share my love of God, I do,” said Dan Brandenburg, as he shared his journey with cancer and his faith in God, when he addressed the Brotherhood and the Christus Lutheran Church Women (CLCW) on Dec. 6 in the Christus Lutheran Church Parish Hall.

Brandenburg learned he had cancer in early 2017. A CT scan revealed that he had a large mass on his stomach and it was wrapped around the liver.

“I held Patsy’s hand and asked the oncologist if there was any chance, and he nodded his head and said, yes there was,” Brandenburg said.

Treatment began with chemotherapy.

“The angels are the mystery of faith,” Brandenburg said. “We can’t see, hear, or touch God physically. I didn’t doubt God but I wanted some assurance that he had heard my prayers. I did receive a sign. In Psalms 91, verse 11, it reads ‘For he shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways.’”

Earlier this week, I went to an upstairs closet to retrieve some of my Christmas decorations. One of the boxes I laid on the bed didn’t contain ornaments, however. It was a box I hadn’t seen for a very long time. My heart quickened as I discovered it contained wonderful memorabilia from my high school days.

On the last day before Christmas break, our school had a lyceum. The faculty selected students to participate. Our school was not lacking in talent. Some sang and others played instruments. One student performed a magic act.

My contribution was a poem. I was so excited to find it among my keepsakes. It was my version of “The Night Before Christmas.” I began, “T’was the night before Christmas and all through the school, not a teacher was stirring, not even Mousey.” Laughter erupted with cheering and clapping. It took awhile before things quieted down and I could continue.

The Green Bay-based Mobile Vet Center is making its way to Shawano to provide counseling and mental health services to veterans and their families. The vet center, a large, RV-type vehicle, will be in the parking lot of the Shawano Walmart, 1244 E. Green Bay St., from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Monday, as well as several January dates to be announced.

The Veterans Administration-funded Mobile Vet Centers provide specialized services, including emotional support for war zone veterans, military sexual trauma victims and family members of personnel who died in service to their country.

The Shawano County Historical Society is celebrating the season with an old-fashioned Christmas at Heritage Park on Dec. 20 and 21. The event will run 5-8 p.m. both nights and feature carolers in the school house, musicians in the Old Tabor Church and chestnuts roasting on an open fire.

At 7 p.m. Friday, the Longest Night Homeless Memorial Service will be held, marking the winter solstice and commemorating those who have lost their lives due to homelessness.

Refreshments of hot chocolate, holiday baked treats and Wisconsin chili will be available for sale at the Sikora House. The gift shop will be open.

Admission is free; donations will be accepted to benefit SAM25 shelter, Safe Haven and the Shawano County Historical Society.

Heritage Park is located at 524 N. Franklin St., at the corner of North Franklin and West First streets — the site where the City of Shawano was founded in the mid-1800s.

Entering into the hustle and bustle of the Christmas season, it is hard to find a bit of quality quiet time. But if I desire to hear the voice of the Prince of Peace, it is an absolute necessity to chunk out a regular habit of prayer and Bible reading; stopping the busyness of everyday living and breathe. If I start the day quieting my mind and heart and listening to the Holy Spirit’s guidance, He fills me with peace and my entire day pans out better. I’m more organized, get things done more efficiently and am more productive than intended.

For me, my quiet time is best put aside in the morning. If I do not sit with Jesus in the early morning hours, I do not sit with Him at all. Since we sold the cows and I don’t have to head out to the barn at predawn, I still get up early and make that my quiet time with God. I’ve always been a morning person anyway. By nightfall, my brain is mush and my flesh says, “Feed me and vegetate!”

When Clintonville High School principal Kelly Zeinert walked into the school library Tuesday afternoon and started to talk very loudly to those in the library, librarian Peggy Stueck was shocked, as she always tried to keep the library very quiet.

Zeinert announced that Stueck would be receiving a very special gift. Kevin Maly of the Chicago Baking Company said that Stueck was a state winner in a contest sponsored by the company. One of the prizes she would be receiving was a year’s supply of Butternut, Healthy Life bread. (Zeinert wanted to have the kids be a part of the surprise.)

With tears in her eyes, Stueck accepted the certificates for bread, a $100 gift card from Visa, $100 card from Shell, $25 gift certificate to Bath and Body Works and $25 gift certificate from Barnes and Noble. In addition, she received a gift bag filled with a blanket, books dealing with cancer, and a bread cutting knife.

Tigerton may be considered a small village on the western end of Shawano County, but when it puts on the Festival of Trees in December, the lights are bursting out all over. The festival is put on by the Tigerton Main Street, Inc, which is in its 25th year, and still going strong. A new manager, Andrea Graham, was hired this year, and there are a lot of volunteers besides.

The festival came indoors in 2009, to the 1905 Village Hall, which had been completely restored to its former glory. At one time, the building held the jail, the library, and the firehouse. Now it serves as the headquarters for the Tigerton Main Street, Inc. and is available for rental for various functions, such as; showers, small weddings, Christmas parties.