"Stories to Nourish the Heart" is a compilation of the reflections that Elisabeth Seidel wrote for her blog during the period following the spring of 2018 until the end of 2021. They are insights from her life, a life of faith and service to others, to those she has embraced as her extended family, her "tribe." This family is not limited to her hometown (and in fact she counts several places as her hometown), to her native country, to her husband's native country, to the country of her children's birth, or to her adopted country of America; Elisabeth's heart embraces people the world over as God's children, children of our one Heavenly Parent. Here she shares life experiences that have nourished her heart.

Elisabeth Seidel grew up in Savoie in the French Alps. After high school she decided to travel and spent the next few years living, working, and studying in Greece, England, France, and Italy. She then became a missionary with the Unification Church, traveling to the United States where she was introduced to and married her beloved husband, Dietrich, whose parents were from Germany and Austria. Committed to their marriage, and to overcoming and resolving the resentments on the part of their families and former enemy nations, they spent many years researching and giving seminars on "Marriage and Family Enrichment." Her publications include "Stories of My Life" (2019) and "Beloveds, Forever Together" with Dietrich F. Seidel (2017). Her website: www.dietrichfseidel.com.
Jennifer Tanabe earned both her Bachelors and Doctoral degrees in Psychology from the University of Edinburgh. She moved to the United States as a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Minnesota's Institute of Child Development. She currently works as a freelance educational consultant, editor, and writer of both fiction and non-fiction. Her publications include "The Ideal Family To Be or Not To Be: A biography of David S.C. Kim" (2010), "Contemplating Unification Thought" (2013), "The Crucial Challenge for International Aid" with Mirek Karasek (2014), "Eternal Life in the Spirit World" with Dietrich Seidel (2017), "The Quest to Pass on our Religious Tradition to the Next Generation" with Rollain Nsemi Muanda (2019), and "The Cosmic Art of Yuichi Tanabe" (2020). She has published a book of short stories, "The Catalpa Tree Fairy and Other Stories" (2016), and continues to work on her first novel. Her website: www.jenniferptanabe.com.