Typhus: The Killer and the Cure 1

By Sherri Boomershine 

In my book, A Song for Her Enemies, Dutch Resistance workers, Dr. Daniel Feldman and his girlfriend, Tamar, sneak out of the ghetto to treat Typhus victims who are hiding in abandoned houses throughout the countryside. Typhus, an often-fatal bacterial disease that is spread by body lice, swept through Europe during the second world war, but it still exists.

• There are three types of Typhus: Murine typhus. Murine (or endemic) typhus exists in many areas of the world, including the U.S. and is spread by fleas. It tends to be milder than epidemic or scrub typhus.
• Epidemic typhus is most common in parts of Africa, Central America and South America. Body lice spread epidemic typhus. There are some cases of epidemic typhus in the U.S., usually after exposure to infected flying squirrels.
• Scrub typhus. Scrub typhus exists in rural areas of Southeast and East Asia, the Pacific Islands, Russia and Australia. Chiggers (young mites) spread scrub typhus. 

 

 Some of the symptoms of Typhus are fever, body aches, headaches, cough, and a rash, which starts on the chest and spreads to the rest of the body, except for the hands and soles of the feet. Notable people who died of Typhus are writer, Charlotte Brontë (1855); Signer of the Declaration of Independence, Benjamin Rush (1825) ; and Emperor Alexander I of Russia (1813).

During World War II, Nazi propaganda portrayed Jews as major spreaders of the disease as a way of garnering public support for imprisoning them in ghettos. In November 1940, the Nazis walled more than 400,000 Jewish people inside a 3.4-square-kilometre ghetto in Warsaw, Poland. The overcrowded conditions, lack of sewage maintenance, and inadequate food and hospital resources meant that typhus rapidly infected about 100,000 people and caused 25,000 deaths.

 

However, Jewish people confined inside a Nazi ghetto during the second world war were able to curb a massive typhus outbreak by introducing similar infection control measures. By October 1941, just before the following winter, new typhus infections suddenly ground to a halt. This was unexpected, because typhus normally accelerated at the start of winter, and ghettos in other places like Ukraine were still being ravaged by the disease. “Many thought it was a miracle,” said Lewi Stone at RMIT University in Australia.

To find out how the Warsaw ghetto stamped out typhus, Stone and his colleagues examined historical documents from libraries around the world, including those kept by doctors who lived in the Warsaw ghetto. They discovered that doctors imprisoned there—including eminent microbiologist and Nobel prize nominee Ludwik Hirszfeld who helped discover different blood types—led community efforts to stop the disease from spreading. 

Hundreds of lectures were held in ghettos—wherever people were forced to gather—to educate the public about the importance of personal hygiene, social distancing, and self-isolating when sick. A secret university was also set up to train medical students in infection control, and community leaders helped to organize elaborate sanitation programs and soup kitchens. Mathematical modelling by Stone and his colleagues suggests that these measures prevented more than 100,000 typhus infections in the ghetto and tens of thousands of deaths.

 

Tragically, almost all the ghetto residents were later sent to die in extermination camps, which the Nazis tried to justify as a means to prevent future typhus outbreaks. Most notable victims were Ann Frank and her older sister, Margot at Bergen-Belson. https://www.newscientist.com/article/2249578  

Sherri Boomershine is a woman of faith who loves all things foreign whether it’s food, culture, or language. A former French teacher and flight attendant, her passion is traveling to the settings of her books, sampling the food, and visiting the sites. She visited a Netherlands concentration camp for A Song for Her Enemies, and Paris art museums for What Hides beyond the Walls. Sherri lives with her husband Mike, her high school sweetheart, whom she married fifty-five years later. As an author and editor, she hopes her books will entertain and challenge readers to live large and connect with their Savior. Join, chat, and share with her on social media. Newsletter Facebook Twitter Instagram Website

If the Nazis stole your house, wouldn’t you be justified in stealing it back?

Tamar Kaplan is a budding soprano with the Harlaam Opera company. Her future looks bright, despite the presence of the German soldiers guarding Haarlem. But when Nazi soldiers close down the opera company, families start disappearing in the middle of the night, and Jews are stripped of their freedoms, Tamar realizes her brother Seth was right about her naiveté. She joins the resistance, her blond hair and light features making it easy for her come and go under the watchful eyes of the German guards. Tamar becomes Dr. Daniel Feldman’s assistant, as they visit families hiding out in forests and hovels, tending to their health needs. But when she returns home to find her parents gone and the family store looted, she and Daniel must go into hiding.  As they cling to the walls of an alley, Tamar recognizes a familiar face—that of Neelie Visser, the neighbor, who beckons to them to follow her. Can she trust this Gentile woman who talks about God as if he’s standing next to her? https://bit.ly/40Yucjv  

Poor vs. Wealthy: Dining in Ancient Rome (part 2 0f 2) by Liisa Eyerly

Last month, I dove into the street food culture of ancient Rome, where the scent of fish stews and sizzling vegetables drifted through narrow alleyways. In a city where most residents lived in cramped insulae—apartment buildings where cooking fires were a deadly hazard—home kitchens were often banned. Instead of stirring a pot at home, Romans flocked to their neighborhood thermopolia—bustling takeout counters lined with steaming clay jars—or to lively tabernae, where mugs of wine, dice games, and gossip flowed late into the night.

These humble establishments kept the city fed and fueled, dishing up far more than survival fare: they offered flavors, fellowship, and a taste of the empire’s diversity in every bite.

What Was on the Menu for the Poor

Specialties—Thermopolia had large clay jars called dolia set into counters, kept warm over embers, ready to ladle out hearty fare: see menu.

• Taberna/tavern Favorites—Taberna catered to travelers and locals alike with portable foods:
• Bread: Flatbreads or round loaves—panis—sometimes topped with cheese, garlic, or herbs—think of it as ancient proto-pizza.
• Olives, Cheese, and Nuts: served alongside bread.
• Cured Meats: Ham, sausages, or salted cuts for those on the go.
• Stuffed Pastries: Filled with honey, dates, or minced meat for a sweet or savory treat.

For most Romans, eating out wasn’t a luxury—it was a daily necessity.

Dining Like the Wealthy
While the working class dined on the go, the wealthy elite lived a completely different culinary life. Their homes featured fully equipped kitchens with ovens and fireplaces for roasting and boiling, as well as servants or enslaved cooks to plan, purchase, and prepare elaborate meals. Dinner parties usually included reclining on dining couches.

Luxury households included:
Imported Ice from mountaintops to chill wine and delicacies.

Maintained gardens for fresh herbs, vegetables, and flowers.

Owned farms, orchards, and vineyards, supplying their homes with meat, poultry, olives, nuts, fruit, and wine.

Stocked preserved goods: pickled vegetables, cured meats, and rare spices imported from across the empire.

For the elite, a meal was a feast, a social event, and a statement of wealth and power.

What You Wouldn’t Find on Any Table—Pasta
Despite Rome’s influence on Mediterranean cuisine, pasta as we know it didn’t exist:

Durum wheat was known, but dried pasta dishes didn’t appear until the Middle Ages, influenced by Arab cuisine. The closest Roman creation was lagana, thin sheets of dough layered with fillings—an ancestor of lasagna, but without tomato sauce or mozzarella.

Whether dining at a crowded thermopolia counter or reclining at a lavish banquet, Romans—rich or poor—shared one thing in common: a love of flavorful, well-prepared food. Their meals tell a story not only of class divides, but also of ingenuity, trade, and the rhythms of urban life two thousand years ago.

Fortunes of Death

In the bustling streets of ancient Ephesus, fortunes can change in an instant. When one of the city’s wealthiest citizens is found crushed beneath his own triumphant memorial, the powerful elite demand justice—but at what cost? Enigmatic investigator Sabina faces her most perilous case yet. As secrets unravel and enemies close in, she must navigate political intrigue, dark sorcery, and forbidden love to uncover the truth. In a city where everyone has something to hide, who can be trusted? And how far will Sabina go to solve a mystery that could cost her everything?

Liisa’s books have been called a cross between Agatha Christie and Francine Rivers. Her mystery novel, Obedient Unto Death, won the Eric Hoffer First Horizon Award for a debut novel and first place in the Spiritual Fiction category. The sequel, Fortunes of Death, continues the Secrets of Ephesus series, weaving fascinating Christian twists into the historical mystery genre of the first-century Roman Empire. Liisa’s travels to Turkey, Greece, and Italy have enriched her stories with vivid depictions of New Testament culture, history, and people.

Liisa’s journey into writing proves it’s never too late to follow your dreams and share your passion with the world.

Purchase her books at:

Crossriver Media https://www.crossrivermedia.com/product/fortunes-of-death/

Amazon book page https://amzn.to/3Di2gyQ

Visit Liisa at:

Her website www.LiisaEyerly.com

Author Facebook page at Facebook

Forgotten Ways of the Wild West

 

Forgotten Ways of the Wild West: Things We Don’t Do Anymore

By Janalyn Voigt, author of the Montana Gold series

As a historical fiction author with a deep love for the Old West, I find those intrepid individuals who carved out homes in the wilderness fascinating. While writing the Montana Gold series, I researched everything from nineteenth-century fashion to the mechanics of loading a Henry rifle. But what interested me most were the common practices they engaged in that we rarely think about today or just don’t do anymore.

Read on and appreciate how far we've come since Wild West days—or maybe you’ll wish you could return to a simpler time.

1. Tying Up Horses at Hitching Posts

In modern life, we tap our key fob to lock the car and walk away. In the 1800s, you didn't drive a vehicle—you rode one with a mind of its own. Hitching posts were essential outside churches, general stores, and saloons. These sturdy wooden rails or metal rings placed near buildings allowed riders to secure their horses with a length of rope or reins.

Many towns even had watering troughs nearby so horses could drink while their owners conducted business. Imagine strolling into a dry goods store, the sun blazing overhead, and hearing the gentle stomp and snort of your horse waiting patiently outside. That sound has a place in my heart—and in many scenes of the Montana Gold series.

2. Saturday Night Baths—in a Tin Tub

These days, a warm bath is a simple matter of turning on a faucet. Not so in the Wild West. Back then, cleanliness required water to be hauled from a well, creek, lake, or river—and heated over a fire or on a wood stove. It's easy to see why bathing was a luxury often reserved for Saturday nights. Those fortunate to live in a town that held Sunday services liked to scrub up beforehand. Christian households honored Sunday as a day of rest regardless, with Bible reading and prayer. Visiters might stop by on Sunday, which made personal cleanliness desirable.

Families shared the same bathwater, starting with the eldest and working down in age. The practice gives new meaning to the old phrase, “Don’t throw the baby out with the bathwater.”

In Cheyenne Sunrise, one of the novels in the Montana Gold series, my characters face this very challenge, and it becomes both a humorous and tender moment—one of many that show how hardship could bring people closer.

3. Brushing Teeth with Chalk and Charcoal

Woman brushing in 1899;
Public domain image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons

Toothpaste in a tube wasn’t available until the late 1800s, but western settlers cleaned their teeth with baking soda, salt, powdered chalk, or even finely ground charcoal. They used homemade or imported toothbrushes—often with hog bristles and wooden handles. 

If you had a toothache, you might take whiskey for the pain and visit the local blacksmith or barber, who often doubled as a dentist. Ouch.

4. Lighting with Oil Lamps and Candles

Electricity hadn’t yet reached most western towns. Even by the late 1800s, light after dark came from kerosene lamps, whale oil lanterns, or candles. These sources required constant attention—trimming wicks, clearing soot from glass chimneys, and refilling oil. They also brought a constant threat of fire, which is why many folks kept buckets of sand or water on hand.

5. Sending Letters... and Waiting Weeks for a Reply

Advertisement for Pony Express Riders

In the era before email or even reliable phone service, letters brought distant loved ones closer. Sent by stagecoach or train, a letter could take weeks—or months—to arrive. This delay made every word precious. I often think that slowness forced a deeper kind of communication. People wrote their letters with more intention, knowing they might not hear back for some time.

Letters were more than ink on paper; they were vessels of the soul. In Stagecoach to Liberty, another novel in the Montana Gold series, my heroine carries a letter close to her heart—one that holds secrets, hopes, and the power to change everything.

6. Making Do

Folks in the Wild West couldn’t run to Walmart or order from Amazon Prime. If their clothes ripped, they mended them. If their boots wore out, they patched them—or made a trade. Children played with rag dolls, whittled toys, or made do with sticks and a little imagination. And they were the richer for it.

Why These Old Ways Still Matter

In this fast-paced world, we can slow down and savor the quiet pace of yesteryear. Remembering these forgotten practices of the Wild West connects us with the perseverance, simplicity, and faith that still resonates today.

That’s what I aim to capture in my writing—a sense of stepping into the past, not just to learn history, but to rediscover values that never go out of style: love, courage, forgiveness, and the faith to keep going.

So, the next time you flip a light switch, run a hot bath, or brush your teeth with minty freshness, pause a moment to appreciate those who came before us and the lifestyle they led.

Fall in Love with the Wild West

If you're new to the Montana Gold series, it's the perfect time to saddle up and ride into the pages of history. These bestselling Christian historical romance novels offer heartwarming stories of faith, love, and courage.

Learn more about the series here → http://janalynvoigt.com/bookstore

About Janalyn Voigt

Hi, I'm Janalyn, an avid reader and serial daydreamer. I fell in love with literature at an early age when my father read chapters from classics as bedtime stories. When I grew older, I put herself to sleep with tales "written" in my head. Today I'm a storyteller writing in several genres. Romance, mystery, adventure, history, and whimsy appear in all my novels. If that sounds good to you, let's keep in touch.

Learn more about me and the books I write at the Janalyn Voigt website.

A Castle Rising from Ruins

Boldt Castle is one of the most romantic and famous landmarks in New York State. Located on Heart Island in the Thousand Islands, the castle was once an extravagant and heartfelt gesture of love from hotel magnate George C. Boldt to his wife Louise. When tragedy turned that dream into a haunting ruin, it sat empty and in decay for decades until a remarkable restoration brought it back to life. The Boldt Castle renovation is more than just a story of architecture—it’s a rebirth of history, passion, and purpose.

When Louise Boldt died unexpectedly in 1904, George Boldt was devastated, and construction on the castle immediately ceased. Workers were told to leave the island, and George never returned. The castle, exposed to the harsh Northern New York winters, vandals, and the slow decay of time, was left to the elements for more than seven decades.

Windows shattered, floors rotted, mold crept in, and ivy climbed over what was meant to be a castle of love. For decades, it stood as a haunting reminder of what might have been—a romantic corpse that captured imaginations but seemed destined to crumble.

In 1977, the Thousand Islands Bridge Authority (TIBA) acquired Heart Island and the unfinished castle for just one dollar on the condition that all proceeds from admission and tourism had to go directly back into restoring and preserving the property.

Now, the decades-long labor of love is not unlike George Boldt’s original vision. The restoration of Boldt Castle has been one of New York’s most ambitious historic preservation projects to date. The TIBA and hundreds of craftsmen, historians, and artisans have carefully worked to preserve the castle’s original design, all the while making it accessible and safe for visitors.

What makes the Boldt Castle renovation so special is that it’s meant to both preserve history and continue a love story. The entire island a tribute to the vision George Boldt had for his wife Louise—a vision that, though interrupted, has finally been honored.

The restoration continues to this day, so every year I visit the castle and Heart Island to experience its new and exciting developments. As new rooms are opened and old ones are improved, the goal is not to complete the castle in the traditional sense, but to tell its story—to let visitors walk through love, loss, and legacy.

Today, Boldt Castle welcomes nearly a quarter million visitors annually. Couples wed. Family frolic, history lovers learn. And romantics come to Heart Island to not only admire a castle, but to feel the love through a story that never truly ended. Boldt Castle is a living monument—a place where craftsmanship, dedication, and memory meet on the shores of the St. Lawrence River.

ABOUT MADISON’S MISSION:

Step into the captivating world of Boldt Castle in 1903, where dreams are forged in the fires of adversity and love. Madison Murray, maid to Louise Boldt, harbors a singular mission—to care for her ailing mistress while hiding her own painful past. She meets Emmett O’Connor, but just as their relationship grows, tragedy shatters their world, and Madison is ensnared in a dangerous coverup. When Mrs. Boldt passes away, Madison is left reeling, can she move forward? Will Emmett forge a future alongside the woman who has captured his heart?

ABOUT SUSAN:

Susan G Mathis is an international award-winning, multi-published author of stories set in the beautiful Thousand Islands in upstate NY. Susan has been published more than thirty times in full-length novels, novellas, and non-fiction books. She has fourteen in her fiction line. Susan is also a published author of two premarital books, stories in a dozen compilations, and hundreds of published articles. Susan lives in Colorado Springs and enjoys traveling the world. Visit www.SusanGMathis.com/fiction for more.

The Deadly Train Stunt of McClennan County

by Tom Goodman

In 1896, a railroad company crashed two trains into each other at full speed on a Texas rail line.

On purpose.

The Missouri, Kansas, and Texas Railroad—“the Katy” for short—passed among gentle hills between Hillsboro and Waco in McLennan County, Texas. A passenger agent named William Crush thought the slopes would make a perfect setting for a spectacular stunt. 

The company had two old Baldwin locomotives--obsolete but still in working order. Why not let the public watch them smash together?

Crush promoted the event nationwide. On September 15, forty thousand people gathered on the hillsides at “the Crush,” as folks had begun calling the site. Thomas Edison even sent a cameraman from New York to film the spectacle with his new motion picture machine.

At 5 p.m., the locomotives rolled forward until they stood a few feet apart, like boxers touching gloves before a fight. Then they backed up a mile.

At 5:10, on signal, the engineers opened the throttles. The locomotives roared forward, building to forty-five miles an hour. At the last moment, the crews jumped clear.

Only when the engines slammed head-on did spectators realize what a terrible idea this was. Crush had been assured the boilers could withstand the impact. They couldn’t. Both exploded, sending jagged metal into the crowd. Dozens were injured. Two people died.

One writer said the scene “will haunt a man for many, many days, make him nervous when he hears an engine whistle, and disturb his dreams with black clouds of death-dealing iron hail.”

Lawsuits followed. The railroad fired Crush.

But the next day, when the president saw how much publicity the stunt had generated, Crush was rehired.

Humorist Alex Sweet suggested that Crush’s next event “be a prearranged, scheduled meeting between a waterspout and a tornado.”

The famous ragtime composer Scott Joplin wrote a piano piece about the incident called “The Great Crush Collision March.” Listen to it here:

Want to relive the grit and charm of turn-of-the-century Texas with nuggets of history, recommended books and films, and behind-the-scenes looks at my novels? Sign up for my monthly newsletter here. You'll receive a complimentary book featuring photos of the real characters and places that inspired my award-winning debut novel, The Last Man: A Novel of the 1927 Santa Claus Bank Robbery. 

A borrowed name and passion to serve: Elias Boudinot

 

 

 My husband and I visited the Oklahoma Historical Museum in Oklahoma City this year. We love learning new things about our adopted state. The other thing we enjoy doing is learning about our ancestors. While at the museum, we found an interesting link to both.

The museum had a wonderful display of the Native Americans and their achievements. My husband recognized a name on a plaque, took a photo, and later researched it at home.   

My husband’s fourth great grand uncle was Elias Boudinot (May 2, 1740-October 24,1821) a little-known founding father and signer of the Constitution.

 Among his achievements: Director of the United States Mint under the first three U.S. Presidents, New Jersey U.S. Representative from 1789-1795, 4th President of the Continental Congress 1782-1783. Advocated for women’s rights, Native American rights and ending slavery.  Elias helped found the American Bible Society. He was a prolific writer and used his words to work toward change. He sponsored students who attended the Board School for Indians in Connecticut and the Foreign Mission School in New Jersey. One of those students stayed with him in his home in Burlington, New Jersey. Gallegina Uwati, known as Buck Wati. His mother, Suzanne Reeves, was half Cherokee. He was the oldest of nine children.

Buck and Elias formed a strong bond, so much so that Buck asked if he could borrow his name. The statesman agreed. I wonder if he considered the Cherokee the son he never had.

Elias Boudinot- Cherokee

Buck began going by Elias Boudinot even while in school. He also met and married Harriet Ruggle Gold, the daughter of a prominent family who supported the Cornwall Misson School where Elias was attending. This was the second interracial marriage connected to the school and caused such a firestorm of prejudice that the school was forced to close immediately. Elias and his bride returned to High Tower, Cherokee Nation in Georgia, where they worked with the mission. His heart focused on helping every way he could. Here we see he borrowed his namesake’s passion for making a better nation. He fixed his attention and efforts on his Cherokee brethren.

The Boudinot passion continues

This passion included making sure his children and other mix race Cherokee would always be considered part of the Nation. Because the Cherokee are a matriarchal society all children born to white women would be consider white not Cherokee. Boudinot and his cousin John Ridge, who had also married a white woman, worked together to change that tradition for all interracial couples. He used his influence as a chief’s son to bring about this important change. He wanted his children to be considered Cherokee. This was just the beginning of his work to better things for his people and help them to acculturate into American society. The Cherokee were the first tribe to see the need to adapt to the white man’s culture in order to preserve their own. Even so, whites still insisted on their prejudices.

Elias not only borrowed the Stateman’s name but his desire to make changes and right wrongs. With the help of his uncle, Major Ridge, he produced the first Cherokee newspaper, the Cherokee Phoenix. It was bilingual, written both in Cherokee and English. Some historians believed that he wrote most of the paper in English as a way to explain to whites how his people had assimilated and taken on many white customs. He spoke around the country and wrote many pamphlets in an effort to persuade the whites to accept them. Many of his writings have been preserved.

 Elias was an advocate for allowing the Cherokee to stay on their land. But after his efforts to educate the whites seemed to be failing, he saw the writing on the wall. Andrew Jackson and many others were determined to remove the Indians, especially after gold was found in Georgia. Elias changed positions and worked tirelessly to get the best possible treaty for his people.

 His alliances change made him a pariah. Most of the Cherokee wanted to stay on their ancestral lands. When Elias and John Ridge signed the removal treaty without the consent or signature of Chief John Ross, the official authority for the Cherokee Nation, his honor in the tribe went from bad to worse. He resigned as editor of the Phoenix but continued to write editorials against John Ross and his supporters, who were determined to stay no matter the consequences. Elias’ education and understanding of white laws and culture made him a good leader. But when he tried to assure his people the removal would give them peace, he made enemies.

After his wife Harriet died from childbirth complications, he took his children and moved to Indian Territory before the Removal Act’s deadline. He avoided the Trail of Tears and other removal marches. Another strike against him. He settled among the Old Settlers (those who had come to Oklahoma as early as 1818 to maintain their Indian culture.)  They had already established a government and weren’t keen on all the new arrivals. Once the other Cherokee were forced to move in 1836, they were angry with Boudinot, blaming him for the terrible conditions of their journey. By 1838 a small group of John Ross supporters assassinated Boudinot along with his cousin John Ridge and uncle Major Ridge because of their involvement in signing the treaty.

The name and passion continue

But my husband’s ancestor’s name continued through Elias Cornelius Boudinot, one of the noted spokespersons for bringing more people to Indian Territory and naming it Oklahoma as his father always dream. Elias C. had spent most of his childhood raised by his mother’s family after his father was murdered. At 18, he returned west. He became a lawyer in Arkansas and lived near the Cherokee people. (Oklahoma is right across the border from Arkansas.) His first case was getting his uncle Stand Watie acquitted of murder charges. His uncle had killed the man who murdered his father and his father’s cousins. Stand Wati had survived. Years later there was a confrontation, and the murderer was now dead. Later, Stand Watie served as the Confederate General over the Cherokee units.

Elias C. Boudinot had his father’s passion for the Cherokee but had different political views. He was pro-slavery and, like most of the Cherokee nation, he joined the Confederacy, serving as captain in his uncle Stand’s unit. He also served as a Representative for the Cherokee in the Confederate Congress. He, along with other prominent Cherokee, saw the CSA as the only government willing to allow Indian Territory to become a state run by Native Americans.

Like his father, Elias C. made decisions that angered his tribesmen. He encouraged the railroad to be built through Indian Territory, insisted they allow their land to be parceled and encouraged white settlement. He promoted the Boomer movement. (Whites illegally settling on Indian land). He succeeded along with like-minded men to encourage Congress to open Oklahoma Territory to homesteaders. Some Oklahomans consider him a great man while others consider him a villain. He never married, so the passion to do seem right for the nation, that had started with Elias Boudinot the founding father, continued through Elias Boidinot the Cherokee, seemed to end with  the  passing of Elias C. Boudinot the politician, lawyer and businessman.

Have you heard of any of these men?

 

Cindy Ervin Huff, is a multi-published award-winning author in Historical and Contemporary Romance.  She’s a 2018 Selah Finalist. Cindy has a passion to encourage other writers on their journey. When she isn’t writing, she feeds her addiction to reading and enjoys her retirement with her husband of 50 plus years, Charles. Visit her at www.cindyervinhuff.com.