Morning Reflections : A Collection of Bible Verses, Prayers, and Inspirational Poetry for Daily Reflection

Morning is a time to embrace renewed opportunity, fresh perspective, and an overall sense of rejuvenation. Morning Reflections is a collection of powerful and inspirational reading that is dedicated to helping you begin each new day in a positive way.

Christian and inspirational author and poet Karen Jean Matsko Hood has woven together poems, prayers, and Biblical verses to fill your soul and spirit with peace and understanding. Just like a hearty morning meal strengthens your physical body, it is equally important to center your emotions and nourish your spirit with the sure footing that can only come from a personal connection with the Creator.

Morning Reflections offers enlightenment and wisdom through blending encouraging prose and Scripture passages. This truly insightful new book of reflections makes for a perfect bedside companion or as a topic of conversation over the coffee table.

This book is a wonderful gift to friends and family for daily morning prayer and appreciation of Christ’s teachings. It is also for those with whom we are given the opportunity to share and experience it.

Karen Jean Matsko Hood has always enjoyed cooking, baking, and experimenting with recipes. At this time Hood is working to complete a series of cookbooks that blends her skills and experience in cooking and entertaining. Hood entertains large groups of people and especially enjoys designing creative menus with holiday, international, ethnic, and regional themes. Hood is publishing a cookbook series entitled the Cookbook Delights Series, in which each cookbook emphasizes a different food ingredient or theme. The first cookbook in the series is Apple Delights Cookbook. Hood is working to complete another series of cookbooks titled Hood and Matsko Family Cookbooks, which includes many recipes handed down from her family heritage and others that have emerged from more current family traditions. She has been invited to speak on talk radio shows on various topics, and favorite recipes from her cookbooks have been prepared on local television programs. Hood was born and raised in Great Falls, Montana. As an undergraduate, she attended the College of St. Benedict in St. Joseph, Minnesota, St. John’s University in Collegeville, Minnesota, and University of Great Falls in Great Falls, Montana. Hood received a B.S. Degree in Natural Science from the College of St. Benedict and minored in both Psychology and Secondary Education. Upon her graduation, Hood and her husband taught science and math on the island of St. Croix in the U.S. Virgin Islands. Hood has completed postgraduate classes at the University of Iowa in Iowa City, Iowa. In May 2001, she completed her Master’s Degree in Pastoral Ministry at Gonzaga University in Spokane, Washington. Hood is working on research projects to complete her Ph.D. in Leadership Studies at Gonzaga University in Spokane, Washington. Hood resides in Greenacres, Washington, along with her husband, sixteen children, and foster children. Her interests include writing, teaching, and volunteering as a court advocate in the juvenile court system for abused and neglected children. Hood is a literary advocate for youth and adults. Her hobbies include cooking, baking, collecting, photography, indoor and outdoor gardening, and the cultivation of unusual flowering plants and orchids. She enjoys raising several specialty breeds of animals including Icelandic horses, bichons frises, cockapoos, Icelandic sheepdogs, a Rottweiler, a Newfoundland, and a few rescue cats. Hood also enjoys bird-watching and finds all aspects of nature precious.