5When the Czar breaks his promise to respect the pacificist ideals of the Mennonite community, Katharina and Hoinz make the momentous decision to uproot their family to seek religious and economic freedom. They pack up their eleven children, a few material possessions, and one precious teapot, and leave behind their prosperous farm near the Vistula River, embarking on an adventurous but perilous journey that will take them to a new land - one where they hope to worship God as their conscience directs them. Their journey takes them across the steppes of Prussia, through the bustling ports of Europe, across the Atlantic, to the burgeoning metropolis of New York City, and then on to the vast prairie of a land called Nebraska. Along the way, they encounter unexpected challenges and hardships that test their faith and resolve. Facing each fear, these hardy and courageous immigrants step out in faith to grasp their dream of finding A Place to Call Home. Marion Siebert Jensen was born in 1929, in Hamilton County, Nebraska, where she grew up with nine brothers and sisters. Her ancestors' story closely parallels the one depicted in this book. Mrs. Jensen began a teaching career in a one-room schoolhouse in Iowa in 1947; later, she taught in public school in Colorado. She returned to the one-room schoolhouse concept when she founded Centennial Christian Day School in Fort Morgan, Colorado, in 1976. She is now retired and lives in Broomfield, Colorado, within sight of her beloved Rocky Mountains. She and her husband have two children and three grandchildren. Like Katharina in A Place to Call Home, she has kept her faith and hope in Christ.