family | A Peace of My Mind

Project Sanctuary

August 19, 2021 by johnnoltner

We all carry wisdom on this journey. I’ve heard some of the most profound stories from people who have said, “Oh, you don’t want to talk to me…I don’t have anything special to say.” We gather little bits of knowledge as we bump along the road of life. In some weird twist of fate, sometimes the rougher the path, the more we learn. And since no two routes are exactly the same, you’ve likely encountered some things that would surprise […]

Categories: Uncategorized • Tags: family, healing, listen first, listening, military, project sanctuary, storytelling, trauma, veterans

Penina Bowman

June 2, 2018 by johnnoltner

Penina Bowman was 17 years old when soldiers showed up at her home in Hungary and told her family they had 20 minutes to pack their bags. They were told they were being sent away to work, but the train brought them to Auschwitz. Penina lost her parents and 42 other relatives to the Holocaust, but she and her three siblings survived. She credits her sisters and her faith for her survival. “Having something to believe in helped us survive. […]

Categories: Podcast • Tags: atlanta, Auschwitz, belief, family, forgiveness, georgia, hate, Holocaust, relationship, strength, survival

Heather Ehle

August 3, 2017 by johnnoltner

Heather Ehle is executive director of Project Sanctuary, a program designed to help military families heal. With no military background herself, Heather saw families struggling to readjust to civilian life after deployments. She now coordinates retreats, centered in Colorado, to reconnect families and give them support to thrive. Heather describes herself as politically agnostic, which she defines as “having been to Washington one too many times.” “I believe that everybody innately knows what they need in order to be happy and […]

Categories: Podcast • Tags: Colorado, counselor, family, granby, heal, hope, listening, veteran

Time to shed a layer

March 5, 2017 by johnnoltner

In the summer of 2008 our family backpacked on an island off the coast of Maine. A small boat dropped us off, motored away, and retrieved us three days later. Our kids, Brenna and Jordan, were 10 and 13. We spent our days picking wild blueberries and wandering the rocky shoreline, imagining we were castaways, with really nice gear from REI. We watched the waves roll in and searched tide pools for signs of life. We weren’t quite alone. There […]

Categories: Uncategorized • Tags: backpack, crab, family, growth, island, maine, marine biology, molting, peace, shed, wilderness

Bud Welch

January 15, 2017 by johnnoltner

Bud Welch lost his only child, Julie Marie, in the Oklahoma City bombing in 1995. She had worked as a translator in the Alfred P. Murrah building for just five months when Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols blew it up in what remains our nation’s largest domestic terror attack. When Bud saw a news clip of McVeigh’s father, he saw a man who was as lost and broken as he was. Eventually he reached out to Bill McVeigh. The two men […]

Categories: Podcast • Tags: death penalty, family, forgiveness, justice, oklahoma, oklahoma city, restoration, victim

I see you

October 14, 2016 by johnnoltner

It is a simple but powerful statement. It acknowledges somebody’s existence…their worth. I see you. How much conflict, social strife, or personal dysfunction is a result of people feeling like they are not seen…not heard? Last week I worked with 5th graders. We started the day with a general assembly to introduce A Peace of My Mind. The exhibit was installed and as the day went on, I walked each classroom through the display to explore the stories and answer […]

Categories: Blog • Tags: adoption, family, lgbtq, peace, stories, youth

	Heidi Currier on Jeff Rennicke
	Project Sanctuary \|… on I was a Marine
	johnnoltner on Logistics
	johnnoltner on Logistics
	johnnoltner on Logistics

A Peace of My Mind

Building community and bridging divides through portraits and personal stories.

Tag: family