Such a Welcome Gift

Meadowlark Songs is the capstone of Joy Neal Kidney’s stories about her family in Iowa. Her first four books detailed the history of this family based on her grandmother’s letters and Kidney’s painstaking research. In this present book, she traces her motherline back seven generations, and in poetic language, reveals the strength, faith, and perseverance of women who faced life with grit and determination. The words and connections are powerful, such as when she relates her own eighth grade graduation:

“I was handed a diploma by Dr. Chapler,
who delivered me fourteen years earlier,
who had patched up two of the Barrow gang
after the 1933 shootout in Dexfield Park.”

I was once again amazed at the resilience of these Iowa folk, and Kidney’s ability to communicate not just the facts, but the feel of lives well-lived despite the hardships faced by each generation. Thank God for her efforts in recording the life of this one family whose hard work and character represent what truly makes America great.