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Russian Christian Publishing, Inc.
 
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Grandmothers Prayer
1873 Masterpiece by Defregger
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Unframed and unmatted pictures with German prayer in the border. Shipped in a mailing tube, $200 plus $10 shipping and handling.
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The image part of the picture measures 17.25 x 13.75 inches. We have the German table grace printed in the border. Pictures can be ordered in a variety of frames, the larger double-matted with the prayer for $450 or the smaller (some matted and some unmatted) without the prayer starting at $350. Some in both sizes are commercial frames and some are custom made. Frames may vary. We have a number on hand ready to be shipped; others need to be special-ordered.
Shipping on framed pictures is $50 each.
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Background to "Grandmother's Prayer"
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Franz von Defregger's "Grandmother's Prayer" resonated with the passion with which the reformers of the 18th & 19th centuries held their faith. Europe, at that time, was not a safe place for people who dared to pray in non-prescribed ways. The fact that my frugal great-grandfather included this copper-etched lithograph, signed in 1873, among the few prized possessions which he and his young family brought on the S. S. Switzerland to America in 1879 seeking religious freedom, speaks eloquently about his values.
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Our children are now the fifth generation to cherish this symbol of the "faith of our fathers." How we pray that faith in the One True Living God becomes their most priceless treasure also! Because they have already been speculating which one of them will receive this picture some day, my husband Paul and I decided to make some reprints on a lithograph press for them. We printed extra copies to share.
We are a homeschooling farming family in Western Kansas. My husband is the inventor of the Stalwart Emergency Handpump, also featured on this website hosted by some of our friends. And that is part of our story and part of the mystery and reconstruction of the history of "Grandmother's Prayer."
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Defregger (1825-1921) was an Austrian artist who masterfully and realistically depicted many country scenes. Perhaps he knew of families in which the parents were at a secret meeting, planning an adventure which would sever them from the life they knew and from people they held dear. And maybe, just maybe, this grandma is too old to make the trip. So as she gently folds the little boy's hands, there is a wistfulness in her voice, betraying her longing to know if he will grow up to serve the One True Living God in the new country.
So far, the children sense no danger, no forboding of separation. For now, they are warm, well fed, clean and safe with Grandmother. They look at her with gratitude and love and perhaps with wonder at her intensity. They ponder the emotion in her trembling words: "Komm herr Jesu, sei Du unser Gast; und segne alles was Du uns bescheret hast. Amen" (My parents' English rendition was "Come, Lord Jesus, our guest to be, and bless this food, bestowed by Thee. Amen.")
At least maybe it reminded my great grandfather of some of these things. I plan to ask him someday.
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Vernell Klassen Miller
Exalt Him Studio
36865 NE "O" Road
Hanston, KS 67849
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Russian Christian Publishing, Inc.
P. O. Box 1
Partridge, KS 67566 US
Email: bibles@russianpublishing.com
(620) 665-6765
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