tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21612851526460327302024-03-12T17:47:43.652-05:00InGoodeTime...the ramblings of a suburban mom learning to enjoy the simpler things in life.Fondahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01403093361011528658noreply@blogger.comBlogger992125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2161285152646032730.post-25420740992234307322017-12-19T16:20:00.000-06:002017-12-19T16:20:35.895-06:00Best Books of 20172017 is turning out to be a pretty good year for books around here. I have beat my last year's record by 54%. I attribute this to several things: starting a book club, actually reading my Book of the Month and Shelf Subscription books each month and the fact that I did not teach a Bible study this past fall. There is more time for reading when I am not studying in the evenings.<br />
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So what were my favorite books of the year? Here are my top 6 (though it is acutally a list of 7 because I couldn't choose so I made a double feature out of one pick). <br />
<i><b> </b></i> <br />
<h3>
#6</h3>
<i><b>Big Little Lies</b></i><br />
by Liane Moriarty<br />
(Fiction) <i> </i><br />
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So, if #4 on my list is a double feature...this one is a 'twice the bang for your buck' entry. I enjoyed listening to <i>Big Little Lies</i> on Audible. It is such an entertaining story even though it is intense and deals with some hard subject matter. I was swept up in the adventure from the very first minutes. My heart raced when I wasn't sure what was going to happen to the characters...and I cheered like crazy for 'my girls.' Madeline, Celeste and Jane became girlfriends and I was invested in their lives even when they were driving me crazy!<br />
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Then I watched the HBO series which is up for all kinds of awards. The book was better and I still don't understand why they reset the story in California instead of Australia, but I enjoyed the show and found myself even more invested in their lives. Yes, this is chick-lit...but it is chick-lit at it's finest! <br />
<i> </i> <br />
<h3>
#5</h3>
<i><b>The Rules of Magic</b></i><br />
by Alice Hoffman<br />
(Fiction) <i> </i> <br />
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I just finished this November selection from Book of the Month. All of the activity and travel in our lives made it last longer than it normally would have because I was just so tired when I tried to read at night. But read, I must, because I couldn't wait to find out more about the Owens siblings Franny, Jet and Vincent.<br />
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I sobbed as I read some of the final pages, but closed the book with a smile on face. It's that good! <br />
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From Amazon:<br />
<i>For the Owens family, love is a curse that began in 1620, when Maria Owens was charged with witchery for loving the wrong man. </i><br />
<br />
<i>Hundreds
of years later, in New York City at the cusp of the '60s, when the
whole world is about to change, Susanna Owens knows that her three
children are dangerously unique. Difficult Franny, with skin as pale as
milk and blood-red hair; shy and beautiful Jet, who can read other
people's thoughts; and charismatic Vincent, who began looking for
trouble on the day he could walk. </i><br />
<br />
<i>From the start, Susanna sets
down rules for her children. No walking in the moonlight, no red shoes,
no wearing black, no cats, no crows, no candles, no books about magic.
And, most importantly, never, ever fall in love. But when her children
visit their aunt Isabelle in the small Massachusetts town where the
Owens family has been blamed for everything that has ever gone wrong,
they uncover family secrets and begin to understand the truth of who
they are. Back in New York City, each begins a risky journey as they try
to escape the family curse. </i><br />
<br />
<i>The Owens children cannot escape
love even if they try, just as they cannot escape the pains of the human
heart. The two beautiful sisters will grow up to be the revered and
sometimes feared aunts in Practical Magic while Vincent, their beloved brother, will leave an unexpected legacy. Thrilling and exquisite, real and fantastical, The Rules of Magic is a story about the power of love </i><br />
I'm still pondering this story and cannot wait to read <i>Practical Magic (</i>of which this is the prequel) and then to watch the movie. <br />
<h3>
#4</h3>
<i><b>The Ocean at the End of the Lane </b></i>and <i><b>The Graveyard Book</b></i><br />
by Neil Gaiman<br />
(Fiction)<i> </i><br />
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<i> </i>I am giving you a double feature on this one because I really can't choose which was my favorite. Nobody Owens, the boy whose family is murdered and finds himself in a graveyard, taken in by ghosts? Or the unnamed middle aged man who transports us back in time to his relationship with Lettie Hempstock, the girl at the end of the lane who tells him that her pond is an ocean?<br />
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Both were such rich stories with memorable characters that I suspect I will read them again at some point in time. I think they would make great reads when you find yourself in a reading slump. <br />
<h3>
#3</h3>
<i><b>The Kitchen House</b></i><br />
by Kathleen Grissom<br />
(Fiction)<b> </b><br />
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There are times when books just seem to fall into your hands that you were not even looking for. This was one of those books. Stacy chose it for our Book Club at the Barn solely because it had good comfort food that we could share at our next meeting. (We try to eat in theme to the book...not always an easy task.) For a couple of books prior, the food options were sparse as we read about the mail order brides of the Louisiana Purchase, a mystery set in a bakery, and a book of five novellas set in biblical times. Let me just say, "Lots. Of. Bread."<br />
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Then we read <i>The Kitchen House</i> and it's characters snatched me out of my modern day complacency. To read of how people treated one another -- slavery, indentured servitude, even in family and in a marriage -- it was moving and convicting and heartbreaking. "Man's inhumanity towards man." Belle's story stripped me bare. Lavinia's story grieved me. And yet, I closed this book with hope for the world to come.<br />
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Sidenote: Jim and I recently watched Matthew McConaughey in <i>Free State of Jones </i>and I had flashbacks to <i>The Kitchen House</i>. I'm not a huge fan of his, but this one was good.<br />
<b> </b> <br />
<h3>
#2</h3>
<i><b>The Turquoise Table: Finding Community and Connection in Your Own Front Yard</b></i><br />
by Kristin Schell<br />
(Non-Fiction)<br />
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This book still has me thinking of how I might encourage community around the table. I am hoping in 2018 to begin a quarterly gathering similar to <i>If:Table</i> with the women of our church. I have commissioned a large picnic table for our backyard in hopes of gathering our neighbors, family and friends more often. Kristin's book is beautiful to the eyes and she gently encourages us to open our hearts to those the Lord brings into our lives. If you feel even the slightest pull toward hospitality, you need to read this book. It doesn't shame you or tell you how you SHOULD do it. No Pinterest Perfection called for...just love for those already around you.<br />
<h3>
#1</h3>
<b><i>A Gentleman in Moscow</i> </b><br />
Amor Towles<br />
(Fiction)<br />
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I am planning to read Towles' highly regarded <i>Rules of Civility</i> over the Christmas holidays, but honestly, it will take a lot to displace Count Alexander Rostov as one of my all time favorite characters. I never could have dreamed that a novel that spans thirty years and never leaves the confines of a hotel could be so interesting. But the Count captured my imagination and I absolutely adored his outlook on life. Talk about making the most out of a difficult situation. Life does not have to be limited by your surroundings. It is what you make of it.<br />
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If you want a book that sweeps you away to another time and place, this is your book. I have honestly never desired to visit Russia...but after reading this book I took a virtual tour of the Hotel Metropol and dreamed of visiting.<br />
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This one had the most satisfying ending! I absolutely adored it.<br />
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And because it was so hard to cut this list down to 6(ish), here are my honorable mentions for 2017:<br />
<ul>
<li><i><b>Exit West </b></i>by Mohsin Hamid</li>
<li><i><b>Rabbit Cake</b></i> by Annie Hartnett </li>
<li><i><b>Young Jane Young</b></i> by Gabrielle Zevin</li>
<li><i><b>The Mountain Between U</b><b>s</b></i> by Charles Martin (the book...not the movie!) </li>
<li><i><b>Beasts of Extraordinary Circumstance</b></i> by Ruth Emmie Lang (was narrowly knocked off my The Rules of Magic)</li>
</ul>
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<br />Fondahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01403093361011528658noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2161285152646032730.post-69209408123195155322017-11-05T12:50:00.000-06:002017-11-05T12:50:02.770-06:00We're All In!At Bailey's party last weekend, I had asked Jim to run me to the house in the Polaris so that I could grab something for Brianne. Dena had my camera and was going to snap a quick pic of Jim and I, when Weston came running to ride with us. The pictures that followed just illustrate what happens at our house when the side-by-side is started.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Wait one second: One grandchild</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Wait thirty seconds: Five grandchildren</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Wait a whole minute: Every child at the party!</td></tr>
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Don't worry...Jim went really slow so we didn't lose anyone sitting in the back.Fondahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01403093361011528658noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2161285152646032730.post-70747968412085031032017-11-02T14:13:00.000-05:002017-11-02T14:13:11.056-05:00Friended Simulcast With The LadiesWhat? No books are mentioned in this post? You have got to be kidding me!<br />
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Three weekends ago we had a fun simulcast event at the church called "Friended". In it we talked about how to be a friend like Jesus -- to go first, to forgive and to trust in Him for a friendship that will always last.<br />
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Here's a few pics from our fun day!<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Fonda and the young women testing the photo booth. Who knew Selfie sticks were so difficult to use?</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Breakfast</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">You will see these flowers at a few different events this fall...but here is use #1.</td></tr>
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Jim never believes me when I tell him that all of my party decorations come in handy in the future. He thinks I should get rid of them rather than store them. Pshaw!<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Finishing up breakfast before we start the video.</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Assignment #1: Take a photo of your group and post it on Instagram</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Lunch at Magnolia Super Burger. Yes the sign does advertise both Elk and Buffalo burgers!</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Those of us who made it to the end of the event snapped a quick pic in the photo booth.</td></tr>
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We had a great day and sharing our stories with Alyssa and Amanda made it even sweeter. Women mentoring women...sharing hearts, lives and stories...that is what I love about Women's Ministry.Fondahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01403093361011528658noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2161285152646032730.post-24246832103977083902017-10-31T12:41:00.000-05:002017-10-31T12:41:30.570-05:00Tricks and Treats and Everything SweetBri and Josh threw Bailey's second birthday party at the barn on Sunday. It was a costume party so we will not be having a Halloween Party tonight...but I do have pictures of the grands (and girls) to share!
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-udjFjrgY9tU/Wfix-ugfP4I/AAAAAAAAHOw/emERCPq32NkO_mMf5e_naJdnqoTJcJbqwCLcBGAs/s1600/DSC_1139.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1072" height="320" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-udjFjrgY9tU/Wfix-ugfP4I/AAAAAAAAHOw/emERCPq32NkO_mMf5e_naJdnqoTJcJbqwCLcBGAs/s320/DSC_1139.JPG" width="214" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Weston aka Lloyd from Ninjago</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-woD51-W_Xmw/Wfix-RF5qRI/AAAAAAAAHOs/gLM9FoL9HMgRetxZJP5Rf72VUojFtB-QwCLcBGAs/s1600/DSC_1142.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1072" height="320" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-woD51-W_Xmw/Wfix-RF5qRI/AAAAAAAAHOs/gLM9FoL9HMgRetxZJP5Rf72VUojFtB-QwCLcBGAs/s320/DSC_1142.JPG" width="214" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Maddux aka Star Lord from Guardians of the Galaxy</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-WO5XhQSMi8g/Wfix-kYh_nI/AAAAAAAAHO0/ERcaL7vp2MAdNNm5zA762jq4AokiVWFpwCLcBGAs/s1600/DSC_1145.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1072" height="320" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-WO5XhQSMi8g/Wfix-kYh_nI/AAAAAAAAHO0/ERcaL7vp2MAdNNm5zA762jq4AokiVWFpwCLcBGAs/s320/DSC_1145.JPG" width="214" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Davin aka Special Ops Leader</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-t39hjsU8IKQ/Wfix_Im20SI/AAAAAAAAHO4/QvDxHzD1j0YtJopKt4bUK32i2LjUrZmzACLcBGAs/s1600/DSC_1147.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1072" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-t39hjsU8IKQ/Wfix_Im20SI/AAAAAAAAHO4/QvDxHzD1j0YtJopKt4bUK32i2LjUrZmzACLcBGAs/s320/DSC_1147.JPG" width="214" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Brooke (also the birthday girl on Sunday) aka Vampira</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-370X2B6xK4g/Wfix_WzPIGI/AAAAAAAAHO8/788Ka5ILWYsPd_MFLH5wMbp7kZ-SAYFGQCLcBGAs/s1600/DSC_1158.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1072" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-370X2B6xK4g/Wfix_WzPIGI/AAAAAAAAHO8/788Ka5ILWYsPd_MFLH5wMbp7kZ-SAYFGQCLcBGAs/s320/DSC_1158.JPG" width="214" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Ellie aka Sweet Witch (she ditched the hat within two seconds of arrival)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-zm-EETOyuPo/Wfix_ull0zI/AAAAAAAAHPA/fEr1ylnvnrY-k_E1jbRW1IaJ5uSaBBhwwCLcBGAs/s1600/DSC_1160.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1072" height="320" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-zm-EETOyuPo/Wfix_ull0zI/AAAAAAAAHPA/fEr1ylnvnrY-k_E1jbRW1IaJ5uSaBBhwwCLcBGAs/s320/DSC_1160.JPG" width="214" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Delayne aka Butterfly Princess</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-O3sjHKQI1FM/Wfix_y1nhHI/AAAAAAAAHPE/BG9louBfgY8Z_QoGDUkrRfy6r5JJOsenQCLcBGAs/s1600/DSC_1174.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1072" data-original-width="1600" height="214" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-O3sjHKQI1FM/Wfix_y1nhHI/AAAAAAAAHPE/BG9louBfgY8Z_QoGDUkrRfy6r5JJOsenQCLcBGAs/s320/DSC_1174.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Brianne, Kelli and Megan aka Little Red Riding Hood, a Sanderson Sister and Wednesday Addams</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-WFAaZ6naQ8E/WfiyAPDMo-I/AAAAAAAAHPI/cpjrV2afacEHtTj45HGNpEPQDXcmtZB8gCLcBGAs/s1600/DSC_1191.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1072" height="320" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-WFAaZ6naQ8E/WfiyAPDMo-I/AAAAAAAAHPI/cpjrV2afacEHtTj45HGNpEPQDXcmtZB8gCLcBGAs/s320/DSC_1191.JPG" width="214" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Dayton aka Batman</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-yHbJePY58UU/WfiyAdoOkmI/AAAAAAAAHPM/Yow0HqOFiCQGfx6dw65l7SWYoTavFFk_QCLcBGAs/s1600/DSC_1203.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1072" height="320" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-yHbJePY58UU/WfiyAdoOkmI/AAAAAAAAHPM/Yow0HqOFiCQGfx6dw65l7SWYoTavFFk_QCLcBGAs/s320/DSC_1203.JPG" width="214" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Bailey (the birthday girl) aka Anna</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Happy Trick or Treating tonight!<br />
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Hope your bag is filled with all of your favorites!Fondahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01403093361011528658noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2161285152646032730.post-84460486787650722242017-10-30T15:57:00.001-05:002017-10-30T16:17:56.822-05:00Reading In October Has It's Own AtmosphereA little spooky. A little darker than summer's beach reads. Kind of like this picture from our front yard on an early Saturday morning in mid-October.
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<i><b>The Graveyard Book </b></i><b>by Neil Gaiman</b><br />
(Fiction) (Audiobook)<b> </b><br />
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Fun. Fantastical. With just a bit of spooky to keep you glued. This Audible version was read by the author who did a wonderful job. I can hardly wait to pick this one up for my grandchildren when they are ready.<br />
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Side note: This novel is the only one to win both the Newberry Medal and the Carnegie Medal.<br />
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<i>Bod is an unusual boy who inhabits an unusual placeāhe's the only
living resident of a graveyard. Raised from infancy by the ghosts,
werewolves, and other cemetery denizens, Bod has learned the antiquated
customs of his guardians' time as well as their ghostly teachingsāsuch
as the ability to Fade so mere mortals cannot see him.</i><br />
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<i>Can a boy raised by ghosts face the wonders and terrors of the worlds of both the living and the dead?</i><br />
<i> </i> <br />
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<i><b>The Picture of Dorian Gray </b></i><b>by Oscar Wilde</b><br />
(Classic Fiction) (Audiobook)<b> </b><br />
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Slow. Plodding. Had to get it on Audible to move past the first chapter (after several tries). Probably my least favorite Classic, but I certainly understand why it is one. The character progression was drawn out with lots (and lots and lots) of words. But the ending was worth the effort.<br />
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<i>In this celebrated work, his only novel, Wilde forged a devastating
portrait of the effects of evil and debauchery on a young aesthete in
late-19th-century England. Combining elements of the Gothic horror novel
and decadent French fiction, the book centers on a striking premise: As
Dorian Gray sinks into a life of crime and gross sensuality, his body
retains perfect youth and vigor while his recently painted portrait
grows day by day into a hideous record of evil, which he must keep
hidden from the world. For over a century, this mesmerizing tale of
horror and suspense has enjoyed wide popularity. It ranks as one of
Wilde's most important creations and among the classic achievements of
its kind.</i><br />
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<i><b>Heating And Cooling: 52 Micro-Memoirs </b></i><b>by Beth Ann Fennelly</b><br />
(Memoir) (Shelf Subscription: October)<b> </b><br />
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Laugh out loud funny. Moving and poignant. Deeply disturbing in all the right ways. I devoured this little nugget from the Bookshelf Thomasville's Shelf Subscription in just a couple of nights. But it will remain on my nightstand as I slow down to savor as I read through it again.<br />
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Side note: The author of these micro-memoirs is the Poet Laureate of Mississippi and teaches at the University of Mississippi -- just down the road from my sister's new home.<br />
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<i>The 52 micro-memoirs in genre-defying Heating & Cooling
offer bright glimpses into a richly lived life, combining the
compression of poetry with the truth-telling of nonfiction into one
heartfelt, celebratory book. Ranging from childhood recollections to
quirky cultural observations, these micro-memoirs build on one another
to arrive at a portrait of Beth Ann Fennelly as a wife, mother, writer,
and deeply original observer of lifeās challenges and joys. Some pieces
are wistful, some wry, and many reveal the humor buried in our everyday
interactions. Heating & Cooling: 52 Micro-Memoirs shapes a
life from unexpectedly illuminating moments, and awakens us to these
moments as they appear in the margins of our lives.</i><br />
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<b>Beasts of Extraordinary Circumstances: A Novel by Ruth Emmie Lang</b><br />
(Fiction) (Book of the Month: October)<br />
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Magical. Beautiful. Moving. A baby is born. It begins to snow. It is the middle of summer. And that is the most normal part of Weylyn's story. This novel swept me away from the very first page. Not an easy feat for a debut. Releases on November 14. Pick it up!<br />
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Side note: It is already signed to a movie deal. I hope it makes it to production. <br />
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<i>Orphaned, raised by wolves, and the proud owner of a horned pig named
Merlin, Weylyn Grey knew he wasnāt like other people. But when he
single-handedly stopped that tornado on a stormy Christmas day in
Oklahoma, he realized just how different he actually was.</i><br />
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<i>As
amazing as these powers may appear, they tend to manifest themselves at
inopportune times and places, jeopardizing not only his own life, but
the life of Mary, the woman he loves.</i><br />
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<i>Beasts of Extraordinary Circumstance tells
the story of Weylyn Greyās life from the perspectives of the people who
knew him, loved him, and even a few who thought he was just plain
weird. Although he doesnāt stay in any of their lives for long, he
leaves each of them with a story to tell: great storms that evaporate
into thin air; fireflies that make phosphorescent honey; a house filled
with spider webs and the strange man who inhabits it.</i><br />
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<i>There is one
story, however, that Weylyn wishes he could change: his own. But first
he has to muster enough courage to knock on Maryās front door.</i><br />
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<i><b>The Four Tendencies: <span class="a-size-extra-large" id="ebooksProductTitle">The Indispensable Personality Profiles That Reveal How to Make Your Life Better (and Other People's Lives Better, Too) </span></b></i><b><span class="a-size-extra-large" id="ebooksProductTitle">by Gretchen Rubin</span></b></div>
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<span class="a-size-extra-large" id="ebooksProductTitle">(Non-Fiction) (Audiobook)</span></div>
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This was my commute listen while reading <i>Beasts of Extraordinary Circumstances.</i> I listen to Gretchen's "Happiness" podcast with her sister, Liz, and really enjoy it. Her book '<i>The Happiness Project'</i> remains one of my favorite non-fiction reads ever. It was revealing to learn a bit more about my own tendency (Obliger -- all the way!), but I think what I enjoyed most was learning about other tendencies (especially Jim's -- Rebel). It just helps me to make sense of some of our challenges. I am actually thinking of buying a hard copy to highlight and keep around for personal and professional use.<br />
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<i>During her multibook investigation into understanding human nature,
Gretchen Rubin realized that by asking the seemingly dry question "How
do I respond to expectations?" we gain explosive self-knowledge. She
discovered that based on their answer, people fit into Four Tendencies:
Upholders, Questioners, Obligers, and Rebels. Our Tendency shapes every
aspect of our behavior, so using this framework allows us to make better
decisions, meet deadlines, suffer less stress, and engage more
effectively. </i><br />
<i><br /> More than 600,000 people have taken her online quiz,
and managers, doctors, teachers, spouses, and parents already use the
framework to help people make significant, lasting change. </i><br />
<i><br /> The Four Tendencies hold practical answers if you've ever thought...<br /> Ā· People can rely on me, but I can't rely on myself.<br /> Ā· How can I help someone to follow good advice?<br /> Ā· People say I ask too many questions.<br /> Ā· How do I work with someone who refuses to do what I askāor who keeps telling me what to do?</i><br />
<i><br /> With sharp insight, compelling research, and hilarious examples, The Four Tendencies
will help you get happier, healthier, more productive, and more
creative. It's far easier to succeed when you know what works for you.</i><br />
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<span class="a-size-extra-large" id="ebooksProductTitle"><br /></span><b><span class="a-size-extra-large" id="ebooksProductTitle"></span></b><i><b><span class="a-size-extra-large" id="ebooksProductTitle"></span></b></i></div>
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<span class="a-size-extra-large" id="ebooksProductTitle">I had a great recommendation from a friend in Finland for my next Classic. (<i>Green Hills of Africa </i>by Ernest Hemingway) Another for our next Book Club Read from a dear friend who belongs to several herself. (Firefly Lane by Kristin Hannah) How about you? Read anything worth recommending lately?</span></div>
<i> </i>Fondahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01403093361011528658noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2161285152646032730.post-39190573191383074722017-10-09T15:20:00.000-05:002017-10-09T15:20:26.806-05:00A Book And A Movie<b><i>The Mountain Between Us</i></b> by Charles Martin<br />
Fiction<br />
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<i>When a blizzard strands them in Salt Lake City, two strangers agree to charter a plane together, hoping to return home; Ben Payne is a gifted surgeon returning from a conference, and Ashley Knox, a magazine writer, is en route to her wedding. But when unthinkable tragedy strikes, the pair find themselves stranded in Utahās most remote wilderness in the dead of winter, badly injured and miles from civilization. Without food or shelter, and only Benās mountain climbing gear to protect themselves, Ashley and Benās chances for survival look bleak, but their reliance on each other sparks an immediate connection, which soon evolves into something more.<br /><br />Days in the mountains become weeks, as their hope for rescue dwindles. How will they make it out of the wilderness and if they do, how will this experience change them forever? Heart-wrenching and unputdownable, The Mountain Between Us will reaffirm your belief in the power of love to sustain us.</i><br />
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First a confession: I love Charles Martin's writing and have never been disappointed by his work. I have novels I prefer over the rest and his <i>Chasing Fireflies</i> remains on my all time favorite list. It was the first time I had read his work and was totally swept away. Because I know that I will enjoy his novels, I pick them up whenever I find them...and this one has been on my TBR shelf for several years after I plucked it from a clearance shelf at Half Price Books for $3. Hardback! (<i>Thunder and Rain </i>& <i>Where the River Ends </i>are still waiting on that shelf for me.)</div>
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During our last Barn Book Club meeting, we decided that we would like to read something movie related...and wouldn't you know it, the movie version was being released on October 6. We read his <a href="http://ingoodetime.blogspot.com/2017/02/what-i-read-in-february.html">latest novel</a> earlier this year and the consensus was 'liked it', so they were game to read this one and schedule a movie date for Sunday.</div>
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Sharnel and I read the book, Stacy and Anita only saw the movie.</div>
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First the book:</div>
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We loved it! Such a sweeping and enthralling tale. It truly is 'unputdownable' as the book blurb says. The story is full of adventure and of heroism. You find yourself so entranced by their sheer will to survive that you have to know how they overcome each setback...willing them forward with every chapter because you care so deeply for the characters. </div>
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There is a story within the story as Ben takes time each day to record messages to his wife (some of which Ashley overhears). He tells her of what they are facing on the mountain, but he is also recounting for her their own love story and how much he misses her. You know that something has happened between them that stirs his own unwillingness to leave Ashley behind to go for help (even as she urges him to), but it takes time for that unveiling and that is what makes this such a wonderful story.</div>
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For the two of us that read the book, we couldn't give it any higher praises.</div>
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<b>Rating: ā
ā
ā
ā
ā
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Now the movie:</div>
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There is a doctor named Ben. There is a journalist. There is a dog. There is a plane crash. They are stranded on a mountain in the middle of nowhere. That is all.</div>
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The storyline is so different. More politically correct. More feminist friendly. </div>
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Don't get me wrong...the actors do a superb job. But the storyline lacks the spark that the novel thrives upon. </div>
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One of the things that disappointed me so with the movie was that it was so bland...and even though the actors say at one point that they have been on the mountain for three weeks, it seems more like 5 or 6 days. The novel makes you feel the ice, snow and cold and the fear that grabs you each time something goes wrong and you wonder if they will make it out alive. The movie just shows them plodding through heavy snow and finding plenty of shelter and fire as if they only experience a bit of discomfort. There is little suspense.</div>
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For instance, in the novel they become aware that they are being stalked by a mountain lion. This goes on for several days as they realize it is closing in on them and Ben tries to figure out how to take out the cat before it takes them out. Suspenseful, right? In the movie, Ben goes out to climb a peak for a better look, the cat comes to the crash site, attacks the dog and enters the broken hull of the plane looking hungrily at Alex. A moments excitement at best.</div>
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So at dinner we asked Stacy and Anita their thoughts about the movie. They both agreed that is was okay, predictable and that they felt the love scene was a bit out of place. When we shared the plot of the novel with them, they both agreed that the book would have been better.</div>
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It currently has a 45% rating on Rotten Tomatoes.</div>
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We are going to try it again soon with <i>Same Kind of Different As Me</i>. I've been told I will cry in that one too...maybe more so since it is a true story!</div>
<br />Fondahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01403093361011528658noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2161285152646032730.post-1923437647331408802017-10-04T16:55:00.000-05:002017-10-04T16:55:45.235-05:00Flower Girls, Junior Bridesmaids and a Fun Day with My GirlsLast Saturday all of us Goode Girls...all 9 of us...spent the day in wedding prep mode. The goal of the day was to find dresses for the two flower girls, the junior bridesmaid and the mother of the groom.
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Here are a few pictures from our adventure:
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The beautiful Bride-to-be with one of her flower girls at brunch.</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Brooke (Jr. Bridesmaid), Delayne and Ellie (Flower Girls).</td></tr>
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My favorite photo of the day.</div>
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My three beautiful daughters, our soon to be daughter-in-love and </div>
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the four granddaughters enjoying brunch at The Cheesecake Factory</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Not my best photo ever...but I sure love this girl!</td></tr>
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I left home at 8 in the morning. Returned home at 7:30 in the evening. Secured one flower girl dress, with a plan to find another in stock at another bridal shop. Nothing on the Junior Bridesmaid. A possibility for Mother of the Groom. And the Bride-to-be found her Rehearsal Dinner dress.<br />
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We were whooped...but had a great time with lots of laughs, a few tears and only two minor breakdowns (Bailey and Delayne, not the grown-ups).<br />
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It's times like these that I want to remember and cherish. I told the girls that I would like for us to make room in our calendars for these types of days when there are no weddings to prepare for...even if it's once a quarter.<br />
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Wedding day is getting closer! Fondahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01403093361011528658noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2161285152646032730.post-80963051224992172782017-09-29T18:11:00.000-05:002017-10-02T18:11:40.001-05:00What a WeekendSo much fun, it's taken me a week to put in into words!
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My wild weekend started off with these two beautiful ladies. Kelley, Kristina and I began the night with dinner and drinks at Cyclone Anaya's and followed it up with Luke Bryan's "Huntin', Fishin', and Lovin' Every Day" Tour, along with Granger Smith and Brett Eldredge. What a fun night we had!
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I slept in on Saturday morning and only crawled out of bed when Bri called and invited me to join her and Kelli at Meagan's for the Southwest Classic Game -- Arkansas vs Texas A&M. (The guys were golfing.) I can't say many kind things about the game...but these two cuties made up for it.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Minnie Mouse, Babs Bunny and Ariel made an appearance.</td></tr>
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During the game, the girls helped me put all of the finishing touches on the games for our Fellowship at Field Store Women's Progressive Dinner. We had a great turnout (22!) and so much fun. I laughed so much. We are quite the competitive group...especially when it came time for the photo scavenger hunt! There are photos that cannot be seen in public unless someone is there to explain what is happening. <br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">We are missing Nancy in this picture...but the rest of the gang is accounted for.</td></tr>
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Sunday morning I drug my aching body out of bed and then to church. We had a sweet time of worship and fellowship followed by the celebration of our 'Jo' birthdays...Jo, Joe and Joseph. I came home to Jim's delicious brunch and enjoyed the quiet of our house. The kids were all gathering at Meagan's for the Texans game, but I just couldn't. I chose to stay home and enjoy my beautiful flowers instead.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Gerbera daisies that look like fall.</td></tr>
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Instead, I curled up with a good book! I curled up in bed, on the couch, on the loveseat...anywhere I could find a place of quiet and solitude. And I had read the WHOLE THING by the time I went to bed Sunday night!<br />
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<b><i>Young Jane Young: A Novel </i></b>by Gabrielle Zevin<br />
(Fiction)<b></b><i></i><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Un-put-down-able book of the year for me!</td></tr>
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This was my first book from The Bookshelf Thomasville's 'Shelf Subscription, an independent book store in Georgia whose podcast ('From the Front Porch') I listen to faithfully. I did a happy dance when I opened my first package to reveal not only a book I had been wanting to read, but an autographed copy!<br />
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This is the story of a political affair between an older politician and his intern, BUT from the viewpoint of the women caught in the storm. We hear from the mother of the intern, the intern herself, her daughter and the politician's wife. The story jumps back and forth in time (thus the daughter) revealing a little more of how each person played a part in the outcome. I found it to be well written and to bring up the conversation of how the politician moves forward with just an asterisk by his name while the women never truly recover and find themselves as either the butt of the joke or the one that bears all the blame and shame. <br />
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I would love to sit down to discuss this one with someone soon. I thought the author did a great job of neither condoning the affair or excusing either party while still asking the questions about power, fame, responsibility and naivetƩ. <br />
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<i>Aviva Grossman, an ambitious congressional intern in Florida, makes the mistake of having an affair with her boss--and blogging about it. When the affair comes to light, the beloved congressman doesnāt take the fall. But Aviva does, and her life is over before it hardly begins: slut-shamed, she becomes a late-night talk show punch line, anathema to politics.<br /><br /> She sees no way out but to change her name and move to a remote town in Maine. This time, she tries to be smarter about her life and strives to raise her daughter, Ruby, to be strong and confident. But when, at the urging of others, Aviva decides to run for public office herself, that long-ago mistake trails her via the Internet and catches up--an inescapable scarlet A. In the digital age, the past is never, ever, truly past. And itās only a matter of time until Ruby finds out who her mother was and is forced to reconcile that person with the one she knows.<br /><br />Young Jane Young is a smart, funny, and moving novel about what it means to be a woman of any age, and captures not just the mood of our recent highly charged political season, but also the double standards alive and well in every aspect of life for women.</i><br />
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<i>ā
ā
ā
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ā</i>Fondahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01403093361011528658noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2161285152646032730.post-3559834163571837952017-09-16T10:00:00.000-05:002017-09-16T10:00:17.529-05:00September Book ClubAs I mentioned last month, September's Book Club at the Barn read is the sequel to last month's 'The Kitchen House'. And it did not disappoint!
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<b><i>Glory Over Everything </i></b>by Kathleeen Grissom<br />
(Fiction)
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<i>The latest New York Times bestseller from the author of the beloved book club favorite The Kitchen House is a heart racing story about a manās treacherous journey through the twists and turns of the Underground Railroad on a mission to save the boy he swore to protect. Glory Over Everything is āgrippingā¦breathless until the endā (Kirkus Reviews).<br /><br />The year is 1830 and Jamie Pyke, a celebrated silversmith and notorious ladiesā man, is keeping a deadly secret. Passing as a wealthy white aristocrat in Philadelphian society, Jamie is now living a life he could never have imagined years before when he was a runaway slave, son of a southern black slave and her master. But Jamieās carefully constructed world is threatened when he discovers that his married socialite lover, Caroline, is pregnant and his beloved servant Pan, to whose father Jamie owes his own freedom, has been captured and sold into slavery in the South. <br /><br />Fleeing the consequences of his deceptions, Jamie embarks on a trip to a North Carolina plantation to save Pan from the life he himself barely escaped as a boy. With the help of a fearless slave, Sukey, who has taken the terrified young boy under her wing, Jamie navigates their way, racing against time and their ruthless pursuers through the Virginia backwoods, the Underground Railroad, and the treacherous Great Dismal Swamp.</i><br />
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How an author can write two page turning novels back to back, using the same the characters, yet make them so different is an art form to be certain.<br />
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When we read <i>The Kitchen House </i>last month, I was swept away into Belle and Lavinia's often brutal and heart wrenching story from its first words. This sequel was more of a slow boil in the action, yet a page turner just the same.<br />
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In <i>Glory Over Everything </i>we are reintroduced to Jamie Pyke, Belle's son, only his name has changed and he is living a white man of social status in Philadelphia. There is a crisis brewing in his life and as that crisis unfolds we are filled in on the backstory of how Jamie, now James Burton, came to be in his current situation. <br />
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In the beginning, I didn't find Jamie to be very likable and I was frustrated by his demeanor. But as the story unfolds, he reveals more about himself and the way the secrets and fear have affected him deeply. <br />
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At the end of the book, there is a transcript of a conversation with the author in which she says, "In <i>Glory Over Everything, </i>I heard Jamie's voice as clearly as I'd heard Lavinia's and Belle's from <i>The Kitchen House</i>. The difference was that both Lavinia and Belle were open to me and very forthcoming; whereas Jamie, a man with a secret, was guarded and kept me at a distance when I first met him. For that reason, I found Jamie both frustrating and intriguing. Fortunately, the other characters, such as Pan, were quite verbal and gave me deeper insight into Jamie, until gradually he became less cautious and was ready to reveal himself."<br />
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That is exactly what it felt like reading Jamie's story...frustrating, yet intriguing...until he felt safe enough to tell his story, secrets and all. <br />
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While I thoroughly enjoyed this book and felt that the story was handled well, there were a few tidy bows at the end that answered questions we were left with after <i>The Kitchen House </i>that I felt were unneeded. Jamie's story, on the other hand, was left with a couple of bows but mostly the unknown and I liked that. He had undergone such a transformation, yet his origin story still had quite the pull on him, so I liked that I didn't know exactly how he would be able to accomplish all that he planned to do. <br />
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I'm looking forward to discussing this with the ladies on Monday night. Due to the hurricane, illnesses and other life issue, we are meeting a week later than originally planned. I wonder if they felt the same as I did.<br />
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<b>Rating: ā
ā
ā
ā</b>Fondahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01403093361011528658noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2161285152646032730.post-14324164051799058462017-09-15T16:15:00.000-05:002017-09-15T20:06:14.251-05:00Escapist ReadingThey say a book has a way of finding you when you need it most. Usually it's a serious piece of work that addresses an issue in your life. For me, at least this time, it was a funny little tale of money and manners and family expectations. <br />
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After two days of watching non-stop news coverage of Hurricane Harvey and feeling more anxious than a person whose home and family were still safe should, I decided to indulge in my favorite pastime and read a book. <br />
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BUT it couldn't be a hard or suspenseful book. I had enough of that in my real life as we watched flood waters rise and kept close tabs on family and friends in our greater Houston area. This was our first major storm where all of our children were not in the same home as us. Each morning began with a 'safety check'...first of our children, then of our employees and close friends...followed by a mandatory check in with my sister to let her know that we were all okay.<br />
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Once the worst of the storm had passed and we knew that our home, office and family were all safe, I was ready to fill my mind with something other than the 24 hours news cycle. It would be nearly a week before we would even be able to watch network television, yet we were all still trapped due to road closures and continued rainfall. Thank goodness I had added this little gem to my July selection at Book of the Month.<br />
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<b><i>The Windfall: A Novel </i></b>by Diksha Basu<br />
(Fiction)<br />
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<i>A heartfelt comedy of manners, Diksha Basu's debut novel unfolds the story of a family discovering what it means to 'make it' in modern India.</i><br />
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<i>For the past thirty years, Mr. and Mrs. Jha's lives have been defined by cramped spaces, cut corners, gossipy neighbors, and the small dramas of stolen yoga pants and stale marriages. They thought they'd settled comfortably into their golden years, pleased with their son's acceptance into an American business school. But then Mr. Jha comes into an enormous and unexpected sum of money, and moves his wife from their housing complex in East Delhi to the super-rich side of town where he becomes eager to fit in as a man of status; skinny ties, hired guards, shoe-polishing machines, and all.</i><br />
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<i>The move sets off a chain of events that rock their neighbors, their marriage, and their son, who is struggling to keep a lid on his romantic dilemmas and slipping grades, and brings unintended consequences, ultimately forcing the Jha family to reckon with what really matters. Hilarious and wise, The Windfall illuminates with warmth and charm the precariousness of social status, the fragility of pride, and above all, the human drive to build and share a home. Even the rich, it turns out, need to belong somewhere. </i><br />
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I needed the laughs...and the truths...that were waiting for me in these pages.<br />
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The Jha's find themselves in the struggle between their former lives as a working class family and their new lives after the family business is sold for twenty million dollars. No matter what they try to do in their old neighborhood, even their oldest friends are often either offended at their new wealth or questioning how honestly it was made. New appliances are seen as a snub to the rest of the neighborhood...and moving away is seen as a betrayal.<br />
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Meanwhile, as the new home is being prepared for their arrival, the new neighbors reveal their own prejudices towards wealth and what exactly constitutes being wealthy enough. Mr. Jha and his neighbor even find themselves trying to one-up each other with tales of how 'worthless' their sons future careers will be (one is an aspiring poet, the other makes short films) because they see it as a sign of pride that they will have to provide for not only themselves but the future generation as well. <br />
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Once the danger had passed us by, this was a fun little escape for a few hours each afternoon. I did laugh out loud a few times, but I also felt a few pangs of recognition in how we all try to fit in and find our places in our communities. Our motives are not always right, and the outcomes can certainly be embarrassing.<br />
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I was reminded of an illustration that I heard a Pastor share once. A group of Pastors were gathered on a panel and the question was asked, 'how big of a house is too big?' After lots of numbers being discussed and passed around the group, one of the participants says, 'Honestly? Anything bigger than my house.' <br />
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As a people, we distrust those who financially have more than we do and we find their displays of wealth vulgar. Yet when we are the ones being judged as vulgar and untrustworthy for what we have worked hard for, we are often hurt and offended. We all need to just show a little grace! <br />
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<b>Rating: ā
ā
ā
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On Wednesday I was able to make it into the office for a few hours to run payroll. It was the first of the month and we knew our employees had rent and mortgages due. By Friday I was able to begin commuting to work daily again, so I started listening to an Audible book that I had downloaded a few weeks back.<br />
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<b>Ready Player One: A Novel </b>by Ernest Cline<br />
(Fiction)<br />
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<i>At once wildly original and stuffed with irresistible nostalgia, READY PLAYER ONE is a spectacularly genre-busting, ambitious, and charming debutāpart quest novel, part love story, and part virtual space opera set in a universe where spell-slinging mages battle giant Japanese robots, entire planets are inspired by Blade Runner, and flying DeLoreans achieve light speed.<br /><br />Itās the year 2044, and the real world is an ugly place. <br /><br />Like most of humanity, Wade Watts escapes his grim surroundings by spending his waking hours jacked into the OASIS, a sprawling virtual utopia that lets you be anything you want to be, a place where you can live and play and fall in love on any of ten thousand planets. <br /><br />And like most of humanity, Wade dreams of being the one to discover the ultimate lottery ticket that lies concealed within this virtual world. For somewhere inside this giant networked playground, OASIS creator James Halliday has hidden a series of fiendish puzzles that will yield massive fortuneāand remarkable powerāto whoever can unlock them. <br /><br />For years, millions have struggled fruitlessly to attain this prize, knowing only that Hallidayās riddles are based in the pop culture he lovedāthat of the late twentieth century. And for years, millions have found in this quest another means of escape, retreating into happy, obsessive study of Hallidayās icons. Like many of his contemporaries, Wade is as comfortable debating the finer points of John Hughesās oeuvre, playing Pac-Man, or reciting Devo lyrics as he is scrounging power to run his OASIS rig.<br /><br />And then Wade stumbles upon the first puzzle.<br /><br />Suddenly the whole world is watching, and thousands of competitors join the huntāamong them certain powerful players who are willing to commit very real murder to beat Wade to this prize. Now the only way for Wade to survive and preserve everything he knows is to win. But to do so, he may have to leave behind his oh-so-perfect virtual existence and face up to lifeāand loveāin the real world heās always been so desperate to escape.<br /><br />A world at stake.<br />A quest for the ultimate prize.</i><b><i>Are you ready?</i></b><br />
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What would you think of an America where everyone escaped into a virtual world because the real one was just too depressing and hard?<br />
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Fuel is expensive and something devastating has happened. People live twenty trailers high in 'the stacks' where Wade grew up with his aunt and several other families in the same small space. She isn't a motherly type to him but only cares for him so that she can get his ration coupons.<br />
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Although this isn't my normal read, I was so swept up in the story that I picked up a paperback copy in Target so that I could continue to read over the weekend. (Can I just say that listening to a dystopian novel that describes the scarcity of a future Oklahoma then walking into a Houston department store during a record breaking weather event with sections of the food aisles empty can be a discomforting experience.)<br />
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The '80's trivia alone kept me going in the beginning. Flashbacks to my own life, the movies, the video games, the situation comedies, even song lyrics...it was very engaging. When the arcade game Joust was being described (but not yet named) I could picture it so perfectly as it was one of Jim's favorites to play at the Hamburg Circle K Food Mart. He dropped quarters in that machine almost every time we walked through the door.<br />
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As I read the story of Wade and his quest to find the 'Easter Egg' hidden in a virtual world while the whole time avoiding the real world that he inhabited, I felt sorry for him and for all the people described in the book. But then, by the middle of the story, I realized that this was somewhat a tale of our world today. People don't interact face to face, we prefer presenting our 'Online Selves' that are all put together with perfect pictures and perfect lives. We have presented ourselves as being our own avatars while ignoring the people and the world right in front of us. All we see is a screen. We prefer keeping in touch with our Internet 'friends' and don't even speak to the people in the next room of our homes. <br />
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And to think that this book was written ten years ago! <br />
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It is being made into a movie by Stephen Spielberg to be released in 2018.<br />
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<b>Rating: ā
ā
ā
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As soon as the roadways opened up and life returned to an irregular normal, we reached out to help where we could. But in the evenings when the news coverage became just too much, it was nice to have a book to escape into for at least a hour or two.<br />
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<br />Fondahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01403093361011528658noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2161285152646032730.post-38942112540539777622017-09-11T14:21:00.001-05:002017-09-11T14:21:36.444-05:00What I Read In AugustDue to Hurricane Harvey, I'm a little late posting this past month's reading log. We are all just trying to catch our breath after spending days on end rushing from the television screen to our windows as we watched flood waters rise all over the Houston area. Over two weeks later we still hear of friends that need help removing items from homes still surrounded by water. It will take awhile for Houston to recover...but recover she will. We are Texas Strong.<br />
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<b><i>The Ocean at the End of the Lane</i></b><i> b</i>y Neil Gaiman<br />
(Fiction)<br />
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<i>Sussex, England: A middle-aged man returns to his childhood home to attend a funeral. He is drawn to the farm at the end of the road, where, when he was seven, he encountered a most remarkable girl, Lettie Hempstock. He hasn't thought of Lettie in decades, and yet sitting by the pond (a pond that she'd claimed was an ocean), the unremembered past comes flooding back. Forty years earlier, a man committed suicide in a stolen car at this farm at the end of the road. Like a fuse on a firework, his death lit a touchpaper and resonated in unimaginable ways. The darkness was unleashed, something scary and thoroughly incomprehensible to a little boy. And Lettie - magical, comforting, wise beyond her years - promised to protect him, no matter what.</i><br />
<i><br /></i> <i>A groundbreaking work from a master, The Ocean at the End of the Lane is told with a rare understanding of all that makes us human, and shows the power of stories to reveal and shelter us from the darkness inside and out. A stirring, terrifying, and elegiac fable as delicate as a butterfly's wing and as menacing as a knife in the dark.</i><br />
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<b></b><i></i><u></u><sub></sub><sup></sup><strike><br /></strike></div>
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I have heard so much buzz about this author and felt for certain he would be someone I enjoyed reading. So in April of 2016 I purchased his novel <i>American Gods</i> on Audible. I finally got around to listening to it in June...and didn't make it far at all before I had to TURN IT OFF! </div>
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It is the only Audible book that I have ever returned for a refund. I just could not do it! Since then, <i>American Gods</i> has been turned into a television mini-series on Starz...and my husband was instantly hooked. It wasn't a <i>Game of Thrones </i>or <i>Westworld </i>for him, but very close. After the second or third episode that Jim watched, I mentioned that I wasn't able to do the audio version of the book and he knew in an instant where I quit. But...he would give me PG rated recaps of each episode and I remember thinking how intriguing the storyline was to me and that I wish I could have made it through. (FYI: He does the same thing for me when it comes to Game of Thrones which I had to give up during the fourth season for its brutality...but I still love the story!) I decided that maybe it just wasn't <u>the right</u> Neil Gaiman for me. Enter this book, on my future daughter-in-love's recommendation.</div>
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This is a beautifully written book. Whimsical, yet dark in places. I was so swept away by this book that it took me only a few days to devour even though we had out of town guests at the time. It's premise comes from a quote in the New Yorker from Maurice Sendak. "<i>I remember my own childhood vividly...I knew terrible things. But I knew I mustn't let adults know I knew. It would scare them."</i> I think this should be required reading for later high school or early college aged. There are only two scenes that would keep me from giving it to a junior high reader. I am eagerly awaiting Deborah's next Neil Gaiman handoff, <i><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Neverwhere-Neil-Gaiman/dp/0380789019">Neverwhere</a></i>. (link to Amazon)<br />
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My Favorite Quote: <br />
<i></i><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>"I'm going to tell you something important. Grown-ups don't look like grown-ups on the inside either. Outside, they're big and thoughtless and they always know what they're doing. Inside, they look just like they always have. Like they did when they were your age. The truth is, there aren't any grown-ups. Not one, in the whole wide world."</i></blockquote>
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<b><i>Discipling Women </i></b>by Lori Joiner</div>
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(Non-fiction/Christian Living)</div>
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<i>A practical guide to helping your women grow. Filled with personal stories, humorous examples and helpful advice, Discipling Women will guide you in how to invest spiritually in other women. Whether you are mentoring a new Christian, reaching out to a neighbor, or in full-time vocational ministry, Discipling Women gives the answers, lift and encouragement you need.</i></div>
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I am a little over halfway through a year long commitment to a discipleship group. As part of that group, I committed to praying about the possibility of launching a group in 2018. While I love our group and I see the great advantage of studying and doing life in a group of four, I am not totally sold on the curriculum we are using. So, I am looking at alternatives as I learn all that I can about small groups and discipleship. I had ordered a women's curriculum from CRU earlier this summer and, on a whim, added this to my cart. It was a quick read. About a third of the book goes into the why and how of discipleship. The remaining chapters addresses certain issues that may arise in a discipleship relationship and gives some guidance on how to look to Scripture for answers, as well as when to seek professional help.<br />
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My favorite quote:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>"Do you want to partner with 100 people who are 10 percent committed or 10 people who are 100 percent committed?"</i></blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>I am not sure where I first read this question, but it is burned onto the hard drive of my mind. I want to disciple people who are 100 percent committed to growing and helping fulfill the Great Commission. I would rather disciple a few people who are completely committed than hundreds who are only half-hearted. I do, though, want to make the distinction that they don't have to be 100 percent perfect - just 100 percent willing.</i> </blockquote>
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Love that thought!<br />
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Rating: ā
ā
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<b><i>Rabbit Cake </i></b>by Annie Hartnett<br />
(Fiction), (Audible)<br />
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<i>Elvis Babbitt has a head for the facts: she knows science proves yellow is the happiest color, she knows a healthy male giraffe weighs about 3,000 pounds, and she knows that the naked mole rat is the longest living rodent. She knows she should plan to grieve her mother, who has recently drowned while sleepwalking, for exactly eighteen months. But there are things Elvis doesnāt yet knowālike how to keep her sister Lizzie from poisoning herself while sleep-eating or why her father has started wearing her mother's silk bathrobe around the house. Elvis investigates the strange circumstances of her mother's death and finds comfort, if not answers, in the people (and animals) of Freedom, Alabama. As hilarious a storyteller as she is heartbreakingly honest, Elvis is a truly original voice in this exploration of grief, family, and the endurance of humor after loss.</i><br />
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This book was highly praised by the staff at The Bookshelf in Thomasville, GA during their From the Front Porch podcast on Summer Reading Recommendations. I downloaded the audible version and 'ate it up' in less than a week. </div>
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The first line of the book:<br />
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<i>āOn my tenth birthday, six months before she sleepwalked into the river, Mom burned the rabbit cake.ā</i> <br />
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Such a witty, yet heartbreaking, look at a family trying to pick up the pieces after personal loss. From the guilt that we somehow didn't do enough, the withdrawal from those we need the most (and that need us), the search for meaning to an unexplained death, the laughter of family life with all of its ups and downs...this book does a great job of looking at how, even when we share the same DNA, we grieve so differently. </div>
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I just want to warn you that you might now be able to get out of the car when you arrive home because you do not want to leave Freedom, Alabama just yet. Or you might find yourself carrying the trash to the curb for your husband because you want to pop in the ear buds and listen to 'just one more chapter.'</div>
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You've been warned!</div>
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There were a few times while listening that the audio had some dead space...that might have been due to my phone or a faulty download. But it was just enough of an annoyance to cause me to knock it down to a 4 1/2. </div>
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<br />Fondahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01403093361011528658noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2161285152646032730.post-64448438986416809152017-08-23T15:31:00.002-05:002017-08-23T15:31:48.196-05:00August Book Club<b><i>The Kitchen House: A Novel</i></b> by Kathleen Grissom
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(Fiction)
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<i>Kathleen Grissom, New York Times bestselling author of the highly anticipated Glory Over Everything, established herself as a remarkable new talent with The Kitchen House, now a contemporary classic. In this gripping novel, a dark secret threatens to expose the best and worst in everyone tied to the estate at a thriving plantation in Virginia in the decades before the Civil War.<br /><br />Orphaned during her passage from Ireland, young, white Lavinia arrives on the steps of the kitchen house and is placed, as an indentured servant, under the care of Belle, the masterās illegitimate slave daughter. Lavinia learns to cook, clean, and serve food, while guided by the quiet strength and love of her new family.<br /><br />In time, Lavinia is accepted into the world of the big house, caring for the masterās opium-addicted wife and befriending his dangerous yet protective son. She attempts to straddle the worlds of the kitchen and big house, but her skin color will forever set her apart from Belle and the other slaves.<br /><br />Through the unique eyes of Lavinia and Belle, Grissomās debut novel unfolds in a heartbreaking and ultimately hopeful story of class, race, dignity, deep-buried secrets, and familial bonds.</i><br />
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Can a book be both beautiful and terrible at the same time?<br />
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I think this one comes close.<br />
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I was so swept up in the story that I couldn't keep myself from turning the pages. I think that the alternating points of view between Lavinia and Belle gives such a rich and honest look into life at Tall Oaks. You see Lavinia's childlike understanding of the world around her and you get to see how she matures into womanhood. Yet, with Belle's viewpoint, we get to see the real dangers that lurk around every corner and to feel the hopelessness that comes from being caught in the middle of secrets a child cannot understand. <br />
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While I honestly was swept away in the story, it was nonetheless difficult to read in more than one place. The brutality of humans toward one another is hard to digest. At least for me. I couldn't stop...but at the same time, I didn't want to read of any more heartbreak or cruelty. <br />
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After writing this brief synopsis of my thoughts and before our book club meeting on Monday, I listened to a podcast where the author was the guest. She shared a quote that so beautifully sums up this book and my thoughts on it.<br />
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"<i>Man's inhumanity towards man</i>." And I might add, towards women.<br />
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To this point our book club has limited ourselves to titles of Christian Fiction. I was a bit worried how our ladies might respond to this story; which while disturbing, is not graphic. I think it walked that thin line very well as everyone loved this story so much that they voted to read the sequel, <i>Glory Over Everything</i>, for our next meeting. They just couldn't leave this story behind yet.<br />
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There was only one real complaint against the seemingly one dimensional, cookie cutter portrayals of slaves...but as I've thought that through a bit more, we get a one dimensional view of most everyone except the two narrators. <br />
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The story begins with a heart-thumping run through the woods that ends at a tall oak tree with a body hanging from it...and it never really lets up from there. It is the story of secrets that tear at the fabric of a family, some natural born and some chosen...and how words unspoken can create just as much havoc as those spoken in haste or anger. You will cheer the characters on...and you will want to smack them upside the head. Sometimes both while reading the same paragraph. At one point I even thought about throwing my book across the room, but I didn't want to have to walk over to pick it up and find my page again. <br />
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We enjoyed a wonderful Southern potluck dinner of roasted pork, turnip greens, beans, cornbread and peach cobbler with Blue Bell Homemade Vanilla ice cream. It was all so delicious that I can hardly wait until next month's meeting.<br />
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<br />Fondahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01403093361011528658noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2161285152646032730.post-20229309449166773692017-08-15T15:59:00.000-05:002017-08-15T15:59:26.620-05:00July Book Club<b><i>A Lineage of Grace: Five Stories of Unlikely Women Who Changed Eternity</i></b><br />
by Francine Rivers<br />
(Fiction)<br />
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<i>In this compilation of the five books in the best-selling Lineage of Grace series by Francine Rivers, we meet the five women whom God choseāTamar, Rahab, Ruth, Bathsheba, and Mary. Each was faced with extraordinaryāeven scandalousāchallenges. Each took great personal risk to fulfill her calling. Each was destined to play a key role in the lineage of Jesus Christ, the Savior of the World.</i><br />
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Wow, this book was a doozy! At 560 pages this one took AWHILE to read. In all honesty, I wasn't able to post just after book club because I hadn't finished. I was down to the last third of Bathsheba's story and still needed to read Mary's.<br />
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This book is a compilation of novellas originally published as <i>Unveiled </i>(Tamar), <i>Unashamed </i>(Rahab), <i>Unshaken </i>(Ruth), <i>Unspoken </i>(Bathsheba) and <i>Unafraid </i>(Mary). I wish I had started this earlier and taken the time to go through each of the Bible studies at the end of each story. I have mixed feelings about these types of stories because you have to be very careful in the future not to take the speculation of the author that fills in the lines of these women's lives and mistake it for the Scriptural account. Yet on the other hand, to see their stories in the context of their time and surroundings does make them less one dimensional and you begin to see how you relate to their story. <br />
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My favorite was the story of Tamar. I had never considered how Judah's part in Joseph's being sold into slavery might affect how he would react and relate to his family. <br />
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The parts of this that did not ring true for me:<br />
<ul>
<li>the supposition that each of these characters were already seeking God before their lives came into the Scriptural account. I could see it for Mary, but not so much for Tamar or Rahab.</li>
<li>Bathsheba's unquenchable love for David from childhood was a bit too romantic for my taste. It seemed to give her an excuse for her part in the adultery. But the trouble it caused here in the palace after becoming his wife almost made up for it. </li>
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We had a pretty lively discussion and I was in the minority for my lack of passion about it. We found ourselves often asking, 'was that true or part of the story?' a lot. </div>
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This one didn't have much food to keep our dinner in theme...but we enjoyed more bread and wine!</div>
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I think the other ladies would give this one a 4 1/2 or 5 stars. But mine would have to be a ā
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ā tops. </div>
Fondahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01403093361011528658noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2161285152646032730.post-39021034297851636062017-08-01T15:23:00.001-05:002017-08-01T15:23:29.354-05:00What I Read in July<b><i>Eight Hundred Grapes </i></b>by Laura Dave<br />
(Fiction)<br />
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<i>There are secrets you share, and secrets you hideā¦.<br /><br />Growing up on her familyās Sonoma vineyard, Georgia Ford learned some important secrets. The secret number of grapes it takes to make a bottle of wine: eight hundred. The secret ingredient in her motherās lasagna: chocolate. The secret behind ending a fight: hold hands.<br /><br />But just a week before her wedding, thirty-year-old Georgia discovers her beloved fiancĆ© has been keeping a secret so explosive, it will change their lives forever.<br /><br />Georgia does what sheās always done: she returns to the family vineyard, expecting the comfort of her long-married parents, and her brothers, and everything familiar. But it turns out her fiancĆ© is not the only one whoās been keeping secretsā¦.</i><br />
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This was my cruise read...and it was perfectly delicious. <br />
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Fun. Short. Interesting. <br />
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Of course you have to expect those things when the book opens with a girl on a long road trip to her hometown bar...in her wedding dress...covered with junk food stains. <br />
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I am looking forward to reading Laura's new book <i>Hello Sunshine.</i><br />
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Rating: ā
ā
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<b><i>Simply Tuesday: Small Moment Living in a Fast-Moving World </i></b>by Emily P. Freeman<br />
(Non-Fiction/Christian Living)<br />
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<i>Our obsession with bigger and faster is spinning us out of control. We move through the week breathless and bustling, just trying to keep up while longing to slow down. </i><br />
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<i><br />But real life happens in the small moments, the kind we find on Tuesday, the most ordinary day of the week. Tuesday carries moments we want to hold onto--as well as ones we'd rather leave behind. It holds secrets we can't see in a hurry--secrets not just for our schedules but for our souls. It offers us a simple bench on which to sit, observe, and share our stories.<br /><br />For those being pulled under by the strong current of expectation, comparison, and hurry, relief is found more in our small moments than in our fast movements. In Simply Tuesday, Emily P. Freeman helps readers<br /><br />Ā· stop dreading small beginnings and embrace today's work<br />Ā· find contentment in the now--even when the now is frustrating or discouraging<br />Ā· replace competition with compassion<br />Ā· learn to breathe in a breathless world<br /><br />Jesus lived small moments well, slow moments fully, and all moments free. He lives with us still, on all our ordinary days, creating and redeeming the world both in us and through us, one small moment at a time. It's time to take back Tuesday, to release our obsession with building a life, and believe in the life Christ is building in us--every day.</i></div>
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I finally finished this one!<br />
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I love reading Emily's blogposts at <i>Chatting at the Sky</i>. Her voice is one of rest and quiet and deep places that make me think.<br />
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Though I started this book last October and loved it, I was also teaching a Bible study and never finished the last third of the book. As it turns out, I needed the last two sections of the book now, not last October. Jim and I have been trying to slow down. And though our schedule was unbelievably busy this spring/early summer due to various functions that we attended, we purposefully tried to keep some weekends empty and to spend more time doing the things that actually refresh us during the week. <br />
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After I finished Marie Goff's book last month, I was tempted to move on to another Christian Living title waiting on my bookshelf. I am so glad that I chose to finish reading this one first. Part 4 was especially soothing to my busy soul. The chapter on "Prayer & Questions: Making Friends with the Fog" -- hit the bull's-eye for where my heart has felt caught lately. "Desire & Disappointment: Why Clarity is Overrated" hit the nail on the head that I was not looking for clarity in order to know where the Lord wanted to move me next but because I wanted to feel IN CONTROL of where we are going. "Endings & Beginnings: Casting a Hopeful Vision for the Future" reminded me that the end can be as beautiful as the beginning.<br />
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Rating: ā
ā
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(It may have been a 4 star if I hadn't waited so long before I finished it.)<br />
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<b><i>Adorned: Living Out the Beauty of the Gospel Together </i></b>by Nancy Demoss Wolgemuth<br />
(Non-Fiction/Christian Living)<br />
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<b></b><i></i><br /></div>
<i>Woman to woman. Older to younger. Day to day. Life to life. This is Godās beautiful plan.</i><br />
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<i>The Titus 2 model of older women living out the gospel alongside younger women is vital for us all to thrive. It is mutually strengthening, glorifies God, and makes His truth believable to our world.</i><br />
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<i>Imagine older women investing themselves in the lives of younger women, blessing whole families and churches. Imagine young wives, moms, and singles gaining wisdom and encouragement from women whoāve been there and have found Godās ways to be true and good. Imagine all womenāfrom older women to young girlsāliving out His transforming gospel together, growing the entire body of Christ to be more beautiful.</i><br />
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<i>This is Christian community as God designed it. Read this book and take your relationships to new depths, that your life might find its fullest meaning as you adorn the gospel of Christ.</i><br />
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Since I was on a roll with finishing up <i>Simply Tuesday</i>, I refused to start a new book until I finished this one too. I had read/listened to this all the way to Part 4...and somehow let the ending slip away. </div>
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This book is speaking as a sacred echo into my life right now. The Lord has placed the many facets of discipleship and mentoring on my heart through various books and life circumstances since the middle of last year when I read both <i>Audacious </i>and <i>Giddy Up, Eunice</i> about Women's ministry and our relationships with the various women in our lives.</div>
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I'm praying through what this will look like in my life in the future. I've taught Bible studies (off and on) for nearly two decades...but in the past year those dynamics have been changing to more of a small group prototype, and I have been loving it. </div>
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If the Lord should bring me to mind, please pray that I would hear His voice and respond in immediate obedience. I so want to be a faithful daughter, sister and mother...to my flesh and blood family and to my spiritual family.</div>
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(FYI: It's a little tough to get through the doctrine in the first part of this book, BUT it is essential to understanding the later parts that are both hands on and highly controversial in the world we live in. This title will remain in my library for refreshers.)</div>
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Rating: ā
ā
ā
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I also read a book for Book Club at the Barn this past month...but I have a separate post coming for that one.<br />
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Hope you have enjoyed some good books this summer...and maybe even finished up some that have been calling your name from that 'unfinished' shelf. Fondahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01403093361011528658noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2161285152646032730.post-6888710437203542472017-07-24T16:15:00.000-05:002017-07-24T16:15:02.760-05:00Christmas In July: Goode Family Style<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Lots and lots of July birthdays...and we have four more birthdays in the first half of August.</div>
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We had a great combo birthday party at Kelli and Matt's week before last. Each person chose their own dessert.</div>
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Matt: Carrot Cake</div>
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Bri: Chocolate Pie</div>
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Davin: Chocolate Cupcake with Chocolate Icing</div>
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Deborah: Banana Pudding</div>
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Derrick: Striped Delight</div>
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I decided to just have a bite of all theirs!</div>
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Jim teased the other day that we should just have one big party for EVERYONE in July (since half of us are already celebrating in the six weeks from July 1 - August 13.) Then wait for Christmas to celebrate again. </div>
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Sounds good to me!</div>
<br />Fondahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01403093361011528658noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2161285152646032730.post-61495542967110641872017-06-30T13:19:00.001-05:002017-06-30T13:19:52.963-05:00What I Read In June<b><i>Truly, Madly, Guilty </i>by Liane Moriarty</b><br />
(Fiction) <br />
<b><br /></b>
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<i>In <b>Truly Madly Guilty</b>, Liane Moriarty turns her unique, razor-sharp eye towards three seemingly happy families.</i><br />
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<i>Sam and Clementine have a wonderful, albeit, busy life: they have two little girls, Sam has just started a new dream job, and Clementine, a cellist, is busy preparing for the audition of a lifetime. If thereās anything they can count on, itās each other.</i><br />
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<i>Clementine and Erika are each otherās oldest friends. A single look between them can convey an entire conversation. But theirs is a complicated relationship, so when Erika mentions a last minute invitation to a barbecue with her neighbors, Tiffany and Vid, Clementine and Sam donāt hesitate. Having Tiffany and Vidās larger than life personalities there will be a welcome respite.</i><br />
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<i>Two months later, it wonāt stop raining, and Clementine and Sam canāt stop asking themselves the question: What if we hadnāt gone?</i><br />
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<i>In <b>Truly Madly Guilty</b>, Liane Moriarty takes on the foundations of our lives: marriage, sex, parenthood, and friendship. She shows how guilt can expose the fault lines in the most seemingly strong relationships, how what we donāt say can be more powerful than what we do, and how sometimes it is the most innocent of moments that can do the greatest harm.</i><br />
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Y'all will never guess where I picked up this jewel.</div>
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<b>The Library!</b> That's right. For the first time in over 20 years I have a library card!</div>
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We've been in Waller County for ten years this August and I found the Waller library earlier this year. Last week I had to pick up something from the post office, make a run by the pharmacy and the bank so I stopped in and got myself a library card! I haven't checked out a library book since we lived on Corona Lane and were right by one of the Houston libraries. Even then, we only used it a few times each summer. </div>
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The lady who was filling in for the librarian had to show me how to use this new fancy check out system as I only remember the stamped and signed cards that were in the back of the books once upon a long time ago! </div>
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Like other books by Liane Moriarty, it takes me from a few days to a week to think them through. I can't tell you how I feel about it until I've had some time to ponder. This one deals with how guilt affects every part of our lives, whether it stems from something we have done (or not done) or even when we only perceive ourselves to be guilty in something that really had nothing to do with us. <br />
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In this story guilt affects friendships, marriages, family dynamics, neighborhoods and even the perception of oneself. It also deals with how guilt reveals itself in so many different forms...from the subtle to the outrageous. I kept waiting for some big reveal, and though it never came, the twists and turns as the story was fully told kept me riveted to the very end. <br />
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My favorite part of the novel was the subplot regarding a minor character who came to be the one whose story best illustrated my takeaway from the book. Don't let guilt take away your life. Or as a Pinterest quote so eloquently says:<br />
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<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<h3>
When thinking about life remember this: no amount of guilt can solve the past and no amount of anxiety can change the future.</h3>
</blockquote>
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<b>Rating:</b> 3.5/5<br />
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<b><i>The Turquoise Table: Finding Community and Connection in Your Own Front Yard </i>by Kristin Schell</b><br />
(Non-Fiction)<br />
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<i>Are you consumed with a busy life but unsure how to slow down? Do you desire connection within your community and think, āAbsolutely, but I donāt have time for thatā or āI canāt create thatā? </i><br />
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<i>What if there was another way through it all, a way to find those moments of peace and to create a time for honest, comfortable connection? What if meeting neighbors and connecting with friends was as simple as showing up and being available?</i><br />
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<i>Desperate for a way to slow down and connect, Kristin Schell put an ordinary picnic table in her front yard, painted it turquoise, and began inviting friends and neighbors to join her. Life changed in her community and it can change in yours, too. Alongside personal and heartwarming stories, Kristin gives you:</i><br />
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<ul>
<li><i>Stress-free ideas for kick-starting your own Turquoise Table</i></li>
<li><i>Simple recipes to take outside and share with others</i></li>
<li><i>Stories from people using Turquoise Tables in their neighborhoods</i></li>
<li><i>Encouragement to overcome barriers that keep you from connecting</i></li>
<li><i>New ways to view hospitality</i></li>
</ul>
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<i>Today, Turquoise Tables are inviting individuals to connect with each other in nearly all fifty states and seven countries. Ordinary people like you wanting to make a difference right where they live.</i><br />
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<i>Community and friendship are waiting just outside your front door.</i><br />
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<b></b><i></i><u></u><sub></sub><sup></sup><strike><br /></strike></div>
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I first heard of this book on the podcast <b>The Happy Hour with Jamie Ivey</b>. It was their first book of the summer book club. (Yes, I listen to a lot of podcasts! I have an hour plus drive every morning and evening. That's a lot of time to listen to the radio.)</div>
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Jim and I moved to our new neighborhood in November of 2014. Though it is less than two miles from our last home, it is located on a private road and is pretty secluded. We have spent the last two years trying to get to know some of our neighbors. Everyone lives on acreage and most behind a gate. So, even though we have met nice people, it is not easy to connect with each other. There are about 20 families on Strathmore Road. He and I keep talking about hosting some sort of get together at the barn and inviting the neighborhood...but talking is as far as we have ever gotten.</div>
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That was my motivation for reading this book. Kristin writes from a faith perspective, but it is not so overwhelming that a person from a different belief system couldn't pick up good ideas from this book. It is a beautiful book (if you normally read on a device, splurge a little and pick up the real thing) and it was a short read. (I think it took me two evenings.) <br />
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I too am a person of faith trying to connect with my neighbors and to be a light in the place that God has planted me. I mostly appreciated her encouragement to just do it. Just put yourself out there. Don't try to plan big Pinterest-perfect events. Just invite your neighbor over for a cup of coffee and serve store bought cookies if that is what you have. Again I heard the call to hospitality, not entertaining. She has made it easier by putting the Turquoise Table in her front yard so that she doesn't even have to worry with cleaning the house before guests arrive.</div>
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While some of what has worked for her would not work for me because our neighborhoods and our seasons of life are so different, I was encouraged to seek the Lord's face on how He would use me in this place and at this time.<br />
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This was a perfectly timed read for me.<br />
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<b>Rating:</b> 4/5</div>
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<b>The Dry: A Novel </b>by Jane Harper<br />
(Fiction)<br />
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<i>A small town hides big secrets in The Dry, an atmospheric, page-turning debut mystery by award-winning author Jane Harper.</i></div>
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<i>After getting a note demanding his presence, Federal Agent Aaron Falk arrives in his hometown for the first time in decades to attend the funeral of his best friend, Luke. Twenty years ago when Falk was accused of murder, Luke was his alibi. Falk and his father fled under a cloud of suspicion, saved from prosecution only because of Lukeās steadfast claim that the boys had been together at the time of the crime. But now more than one person knows they didnāt tell the truth back then, and Luke is dead.</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>Amid the worst drought in a century, Falk and the local detective question what really happened to Luke. As Falk reluctantly investigates to see if thereās more to Lukeās death than there seems to be, long-buried mysteries resurface, as do the lies that have haunted them. And Falk will find that small towns have always hidden big secrets.</i><br />
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This was the first book in the Modern Mrs. Darcy Summer Book Club. And it had me from the very first paragraph!<br />
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<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>It wasn't as though the farm hadn't seen death before, and the blowflies didn't discriminate. To them there was little difference between a carcass and a corpse.</i></blockquote>
The setting is the Australian outback during a record drought. And though their summer actually coincides with our winter (like South Africa), it made for a riveting summer read. It brought back memories of our own drought in 2011, when we all prayed for rain and swore we would not complain about rainy EVER AGAIN. <br />
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The small farming community of Kiewarra is suffering under the oppressive heat. If the rains don't come soon, there will be nothing left of their herds or their crops. From the pressure of this powder keg, three shots ring out and a family is found dead. But was it really the murder/suicide that the whole town suspects...or is there something more sinister than El Nino in this sleepy little place?<br />
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If you like crime drama without all the graphic images, you will enjoy <i>The Dry</i>. There are two intersecting story lines being sorted out:<br />
<ul>
<li>The mysterious death of 17 year old Ellie Deacon 20 years earlier that was never proven to be a murder, as most townsfolk suspect, or a teenage suicide. </li>
<li>The apparent murder/suicide of Luke Hadler, his wife and son that doesn't quite fit with either Falk or the local sheriff.</li>
</ul>
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This really is a page turner with a satisfying conclusion that I think you will enjoy.</div>
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<b>Rating: </b>4/5<br />
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<b><i>Love Lives Here: Finding What You Need In A World Telling You What You Want </i></b>by Maria Goff<br />
(Non-Fiction/Christian Living)<br />
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<i>This is a book about discovering what we really need.</i></div>
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<i>There are a lot of second-best options, but we werenāt made to live a second-best life. Finding what we actually need is different than what we are often offered. There are many books full of opinions, steps and programs. This isnāt one of them. This is about craving the things that matter. Things that donāt just work, but last.</i></div>
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<i>In a life that may seem to be all fun and games with an endless supply of balloons, author Maria Goff shows how this life is also lived with intentionality, passionate purpose, and a little planningāall of which make a life rich in legacy. But she had to figure out the help she needed first in order to live the beautiful life God wanted for her and wants for us.</i></div>
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<i>Love Lives Here is a collection of stories that include the ways Maria and her husband, Bob, navigated family their way, without clear instructions or a road map. Itās about what they learned to make their lives meaningful and whimsical and how they created a space for their family to grow together while they reached outward.</i></div>
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<br />
This is going to be hard for me. So, please bear with me.<br />
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First the positive. I listened to a podcast that featured an interview with Maria Goff and I enjoyed it so much that I stopped THAT DAY and picked up a copy of this book. I have yellow highlighter ALL throughout. So many of the quotes got me to thinking or were recorded in my journal to revisit later. I think Maria has a viewpoint that many of us can learn from and I love her casual style that is not filled with condemnation for those of us who have had to find our own footing in marriage and parenting. <br />
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BUT...<br />
I felt like this needed a bit more editing. The reason I say this is, if I had not listened to that interview and gotten to know some of Maria's story through that podcast, I would not have finished this book. I was frustrated that the first chapter jumps right into a story without really telling you the significance. Thankfully I had background from the interview to know why it was important to her and what had happened to get her family to that point. There were great nuggets of wisdom in EVERY chapter, but they didn't quite come full circle. And then there was the introduction that talked about what Paul had to say to James about looking in a mirror. Ummm? I think the book of James was written by James and had nothing to do with Paul. I know that sounds really petty, and I don't mean for it to be, but it just makes me wonder how much attention was paid to the details when a Christian Living book begins that way. <br />
<br />
For these reasons, even though I had several 'aha' moments, I have to give this one:<br />
<b>Rating: </b>2/5<b></b></div>
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<b><i>Who Thought This Was A Good Idea? And Other Questions You Should Have Answers to When You Work in the White House</i></b> by Alyssa Mastomonaco</div>
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<b><i>If your funny older sister were the former deputy chief of staff to President Barack Obama, her behind-the-scenes political memoir would look something like this...</i></b><i>Alyssa Mastromonaco worked for Barack Obama for almost a decade, and long before his run for president. From the then-senator's early days in Congress to his years in the Oval Office, she made Hope and Change happen through blood, sweat, tears, and lots of briefing binders.<br /><br />But for every historic occasion-meeting the queen at Buckingham Palace, bursting in on secret climate talks, or nailing a campaign speech in a hailstorm-there were dozens of less-than-perfect moments when it was up to Alyssa to save the day. Like the time she learned the hard way that there aren't nearly enough bathrooms at the Vatican.<br /><br />Full of hilarious, never-before-told stories, WHO THOUGHT THIS WAS A GOOD IDEA? is an intimate portrait of a president, a book about how to get stuff done, and the story of how one woman challenged, again and again, what a "White House official" is supposed to look like. Here Alyssa shares the strategies that made her successful in politics and beyond, including the importance of confidence, the value of not being a jerk, and why ultimately everything comes down to hard work (and always carrying a spare tampon).<br /><br />Told in a smart, original voice and topped off with a couple of really good cat stories, WHO THOUGHT THIS WAS A GOOD IDEA? is a promising debut from a savvy political star.</i></div>
<div>
<br />
I listened to this on Audible. <br />
<br />
I laughed out loud, more than once.<br />
<br />
I realized once again that working in the political sphere and the White House in particular is a difficult, difficult task for anyone.<br />
<br />
I also think I will be buying hard copies of this for several young women who have recently graduated college.<br />
<br />
I enjoyed listening to the Audible, which was recorded by the author. But there were times when I thought she was a bit monotone.<br />
<br />
<b>Rating: </b>3.5/5<b></b></div>
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Fondahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01403093361011528658noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2161285152646032730.post-35734453195605371592017-06-07T13:12:00.002-05:002017-06-07T13:12:47.201-05:00Week One of Summer Was a Success<br />
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We made it!</div>
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Jim and I actually managed to spend the first week of our summer at the Creek House! </div>
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We met Meagan's and Bri's families down there for Memorial Day weekend. Kelli and her kids came on Sunday to celebrate Dayton's 3rd birthday. Everyone left on Monday, but Jim and I stayed until the following Monday, when we had to head back to Waller in order to prep for a trip to Branson to celebrate my mom's 70th birthday. </div>
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We made the 2 hour commute in to the office two days last week. It was a great time to catch up with one another. He drove in the mornings and I drove us back in the evenings. </div>
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We spent a wonderful, quiet week together for our 36th anniversary. We found some great summer recipes that really hit the spot when you're on the water. And we drove over to Matagorda to eat out one night when neither of us wanted to cook.</div>
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The Internet and cell phone service down there is 'spotty' at it's best and non-existent for the most part. This means few texts, fewer phone calls and the probability of checking your email is pretty much 'nil' unless you drive down to the Dollar General. </div>
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We got lots of rest. Slept like logs. Did a little fishing and crabbing from the dock. Watched a few movies. Fought a few (thousand) mosquitoes. Took the boat out for a ride on the creek. And I read two novels. (Woo Hoo!) </div>
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So far, so good! I am looking forward to a great summer and hoping that we are able to spend the rest of June's weekends down on Caney Creek (once we return from Branson, that is). Even when the storms rolled in on Sunday, it was still beautiful!</div>
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I love my happy place!<br />
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I hope you are looking forward to something that renews your spirit this summer too!Fondahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01403093361011528658noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2161285152646032730.post-78503454174868766392017-06-01T15:20:00.001-05:002017-06-01T15:20:45.371-05:00What I Read in May<b><i>A Rule Against Murder </i>by Louise Penny</b><br />
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<i>"What happened here last night isn't allowed," said Madame Dubois.</i><br />
<i></i><i>It was such an extraordinary thing to say it stopped the ravenous Inspector Beauvoir from taking another bite of his roast beef on baguette.</i><br />
<i></i><i>"You have a rule against murder?" he asked.</i><br />
<i></i><i>"I do. When my husband and I bought the Bellechasse we made a pact....Everything that stepped foot on this land would be safe."</i><br />
<i></i><br />
<i></i><i>It is the height of summer, and Armand and Reine-Marie Gamache are celebrating their wedding anniversary at Manoir Bellechasse, an isolated, luxurious inn not far from the village of Three Pines. But they're not alone. The Finney familyārich, cultured, and respectableāhas also arrived for a celebration of their own.</i><br />
<i><br />The beautiful Manoir Bellechasse might be surrounded by nature, but there is something unnatural looming. As the heat rises and the humidity closes in, some surprising guests turn up at the family reunion, and a terrible summer storm leaves behind a dead body. It is up to Chief Inspector Gamache to unearth secrets long buried and hatreds hidden behind polite smiles. The chase takes him to Three Pines, into the dark corners of his own life, and finally to a harrowing climax.</i><br />
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I don't know why, but the books from this series make great 'mind clearing' reads for me. They are thought provoking but fun; engaging but not obsessively so; and they help me to step back from the big feelings I have after books like <i>Lincoln In The Bardo</i>.</div>
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In the fourth installment of the Chief Inspector Gamache series we find him on holiday with his wife at a beautiful summer house away from civilization. This sounds like the perfect summer getaway to me. While vacationing they share the estate with a wealthy extended family who have some secrets which are about to be exposed...and murder ensues.</div>
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I have heard that this is the book where the series takes a turn toward less bizarre yet more personal murders...and this one did not disappoint. I love the characters. I love the settings. And I love that the murders are not grotesquely described or committed in an extremely heinous fashion. I enjoy a mystery novel, but am a sensitive reader so Louise Penny fills the bill on every level for me. I have tried James Patterson's <i>Women's Murder Club</i> and Janet Evanovich's <i>Stephanie Plum</i> series...and while the stories were fascinating and the writing was superb, there were scenes in each of those that disturbed me for days and I can still feel the 'sick in the pit of my stomach' when I think about them even though its been years since I read the books.</div>
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Next time I'm in the bookstore I will pick up the next installment of the series to have one hand when the mood strikes!</div>
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<b><i>Entertaining With Betty </i>by Betty Crocker</b></div>
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<i>Rediscover classic recipes and entertaining advice from the 1950s with Betty Crocker!<br /><br /> The year was 1959. People watched Leave It to Beaver on TV and listened to Elvis on the radio. And when they entertained, they turned to this indispensable guide from Betty Crocker, which you may remember from your momās or grandmaās kitchen. Now you too can rediscover Betty Crockerās secrets for great parties. Whether throwing an afternoon tea, a midnight dinner, or a pot-luck supper, Betty Crocker has you covered. This authentic reproduction of the classic 1959 book (Betty Crockerās Guide to Easy Entertaining) gives you a nostalgic snapshot of an earlier era--and a mother lode of party tips, etiquette advice, and recipes that have stood the test of time. Inside youāll find: </i><br />
<ul>
<li><i>Great ideas for a wide range of get-togethers, from dinners and buffets to barbecues, brunches, and potlucks</i></li>
<li><i>89 time-tested recipes, 208 charming illustrations, and 11 nostalgic color photographs</i></li>
<li><i>Tried-and-true party favorites like Vichyssoise, Parmesan Oven-Fried Chicken, Herb Batter Bread, and Brownie Peppermint Pie</i></li>
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I had to go Walmart to get my battery changed out late one day after work. While I was waiting, I ran through to pick up a few miscellaneous items that I couldn't find at the grocery store and I ran across this little gem.</div>
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I rushed to the waiting room to crack it open and was pleasantly surprised as soon as I read the first paragraph. Yes, it is a nostalgic look back at entertaining in 1959...but it's etiquette and ideas are timeless in many ways. I love her definition of hospitality: being disposed to entertain with generous kindness. And in this time of Facebook envy, Instagram comparison and Pinterest fails, this quote is needed now as much as ever before: āHospitality isnāt a contest, itās sharing the best you have without apology.ā <br />
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This is my nighttime 'quick read' so it is still on my nightstand. I'm about halfway through. The recipes are not very tempting...but the look into entertaining has kept me quite interested and helped me to see why I feel so at home when certain people entertain. Evidently our parents passed down some of the rules of entertaining without exactly telling us what the rules were or why they existed. </div>
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<b><i>The Baker's Wife </i>by Erin Healy</b><br />
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<b><i>Before Audrey was the baker's wife, she was the pastor's wife.</i></b><br />
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<i>Then a scandalous lie cost her husband a pastoral career. Now the two work side-by-side running a bakery, serving coffee, and baking fresh bread. But the hurt still pulls at Audrey.</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>Driving early one morning to the bakery, Audrey's car strikes somethingāor someoneāat a fog-shrouded intersection. She finds a motor scooter belonging to a local teacher. Blood is everywhere, but there's no trace of a body.</i><br />
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<i>Both the scooter and the blood belong to detective Jack Mansfield's wife, and he's certain that Audrey is behind Julie's disappearance.</i><br />
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<i>But the case dead-ends and the detective spirals into madness. When he takes her family and some patrons hostage at the bakery, Audrey is left with a soul-damaged ex-con and a cynical teen to solve the mystery. And she'll never manage that unless she taps into something she would rather leave behindāher excruciating ability to feel other's pain.</i><br />
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What can I say about this book? <br />
<ol>
<li>I liked it a lot better than last month's book club read.</li>
<li>I figured out most of the mystery pretty early on...but still felt invested in the characters, especially Audrey and Julie.</li>
<li>I wanted to throttle Jack for misusing the Word of God and his self-righteousness. </li>
<li>That probably means that I have a bit of self-righteousness in myself...'cause 'if you spot it, you got it!'</li>
<li>I realize that many people struggle as I do with the difference between God's forgiveness and the consequences of sin.</li>
<li>I can hardly wait for June 5th to discuss the juicy subjects with my group.</li>
<li>I know that I will have all kinds of thoughts about the book after hearing their takes on it.</li>
<li>I now want to bake some bread! That just sounds good to me during this rainy weather.</li>
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The morning after I finished the book I read this quote in a devotional:</div>
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<i>One of the greatest forms of blindness is to be unaware of our own faults and weaknesses. But one of the greatest forms of power is moral power based on a life of integrity.</i> </div>
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There was great blindness and great power in <i>The Baker's Wife</i> and it was interesting to see how both worked together to set the stage for this book. It is not always the ones who have had it bad that are weak...nor is it always the ones that society sees as upright that live with true integrity.<br />
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<b><i><a href="http://ingoodetime.blogspot.com/2017/02/an-unexpected-gift.html">Adorned: Living Out the Beauty of the Gospel Together </a></i><a href="http://ingoodetime.blogspot.com/2017/02/an-unexpected-gift.html">by Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth</a></b><br />
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<i>Known for her wisdom, warmth, and knowledge of Scripture, Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth has encouraged millions through her books, radio programs, and conferences. Now sheās back with a legacy work on Titus 2 and its powerful vision for women:</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<b><i>Woman to woman. Older to younger. Day to day. Life to life.<br />This is Godās beautiful plan.</i></b><br />
<b><i><br /></i></b>
<i>The Titus 2 model of older women living out the gospel alongside younger women is vital for us all to thrive. It is mutually strengthening, glorifies God, and makes His truth believable to our world.</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>Imagine older women investing themselves in the lives of younger women, blessing whole families and churches. Imagine young wives, moms, and singles gaining wisdom and encouragement from women whoāve been there and have found Godās ways to be true and good. Imagine all womenāfrom older women to young girlsāliving out His transforming gospel together, growing the entire body of Christ to be more beautiful.</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>This is Christian community as God designed it. Read this book and take your relationships to new depths, that your life might find its fullest meaning as you adorn the gospel of Christ.</i><br />
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I'm slowly working my way through this one on Audible and in book form. Lots to think about. I just finished the chapter on slander...and 'OUCH!'</div>
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<b><i>Exit West: A Novel</i> by Mohsin Hamid</b><br />
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<i>In a country teetering on the brink of civil war, two young people meetāsensual, fiercely independent Nadia and gentle, restrained Saeed. They embark on a furtive love affair, and are soon cloistered in a premature intimacy by the unrest roiling their city. When it explodes, turning familiar streets into a patchwork of checkpoints and bomb blasts, they begin to hear whispers about doorsādoors that can whisk people far away, if perilously and for a price. As the violence escalates, Nadia and Saeed decide that they no longer have a choice. Leaving their homeland and their old lives behind, they find a door and step through. . . .<br /><br />Exit West follows these remarkable characters as they emerge into an alien and uncertain future, struggling to hold on to each other, to their past, to the very sense of who they are. Profoundly intimate and powerfully inventive, it tells an unforgettable story of love, loyalty, and courage that is both completely of our time and for all time.</i><br />
<i></i></div>
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<b></b><u></u><sub></sub><sup></sup><strike></strike><br />
This book! Oh my goodness, this book!<br />
<br />
It is one of my Book of the Month selections. I took it with me to Caney Creek this past weekend and finished it in two days. I don't think it would have taken me that long if it had not been a family holiday. It is a short read...about 230 pages long.<br />
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This is a love story. But it is also a story about being a migrant...a refugee. Why people leave their homes. How their new 'home' receives them. How they change as a result of the relocation. <br />
<br />
I cannot stop thinking about the story of Saeed and Nadia. But neither can I stop thinking about the vignettes of other migrants or of the beautifully written prose in this book. I found myself reading an especially meaningful paragraph multiple times and then just putting the book in my lap as I pondered it in my mind. <br />
<br />
If you choose to read this thought-provoking, strongly narrated novel...have book darts or post-its on hand because there are so many passages that you will want to savor. I am going to have to read it again because not only did I not pack anything, I didn't even have a pen with me at the time. <br />
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And if you read it, please let me know because I really, really, REALLY need someone to discuss this book with. It is just that good!</div>
Fondahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01403093361011528658noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2161285152646032730.post-59484901477423667212017-05-25T14:35:00.001-05:002017-05-25T14:35:34.538-05:00Designing Summer<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
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Our Little Miss Watermelon Baby</div>
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Bailey Rae</div>
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Today is the last day of instruction for most of the public schools here in the Greater Houston area of Texas. That means, despite the calendar's evidence to the contrary, summer begins TOMORROW!<br />
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Yesterday I logged on to my Facebook to see Bri's picture from Sargent. Is it not the perfect representation of summer here on the Gulf Coast? <br />
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<li><div style="text-align: left;">
Beach? CHECK!</div>
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Swim suit? CHECK!</div>
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Pony tail? CHECK!</div>
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Watermelon? CHECK!</div>
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This has me thinking about how I want to spend my summer this year. Jim and I no longer have kids in school, so it is easy to just let summer pass like any other time of year. Work, home, work, home...maybe a weekend trip here or there. No big vacation plans. No real change to the schedules or routines.</div>
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BUT THIS SUMMER....</div>
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I want to do something a little different. </div>
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Make some plans. </div>
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Change up our routine to enjoy the longer days.</div>
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I'm trying to convince my husband to make more use of our new place on Caney Creek this summer. We are trying to keep our June weekends empty of outside commitments so that we can spend them in Sargent...fishing off the dock...reading on the porch swing...taking the boat to dinner...making homemade ice cream...maybe, I'll even get a bicycle to cruise around on. </div>
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I also want to make time for family and friends, and for making new friends. I'm thinking over so many ideas for connection and fellowship...inviting people to lunch...having the older grands down for a Cousins Camp...maybe even having an old-fashioned fish fry one weekend.</div>
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I think this quote from Darell Hammond sums up my hopes of summer:</div>
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<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<b><i>Aaah, summer - that long anticipated stretch of lazy, lingering days, free of responsibility and rife with possibility. It's a time to hunt for insects, master handstands, practice swimming strokes, conquer trees, explore nooks and crannies, and make new friends.</i></b></blockquote>
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How about you?</div>
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Any special plans for your summer?</div>
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Any ideas on how I might have the summer of my dreams?</div>
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Fondahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01403093361011528658noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2161285152646032730.post-49728488179258432612017-05-11T14:05:00.000-05:002017-05-11T14:05:53.482-05:00Experiencing God 20 Year LaterThis past spring, I facilitated a group of three ladies through the Experiencing God workbook. It was a wonderful experience that I wouldn't trade for the world. These three ladies and I, two of whom had studied with me multiple times before, built a relationship that was unlike any I have been honored to be a part of in past organized Bible studies. There were some very REAL conversations had around that table!<br />
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We were even inspired to create our own t-shirts to represent this new found vulnerability: <br />
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To say this was a sweet time of fellowship just doesn't seem to do justice to the experience. I believe it could best be described as 'Koinonia' - fellowship, intimate partnership, or as the workbook describes it "...the most complete expression of a love relationship with God. When you live in this kind of love relationship with God, you will have the same quality of loving fellowship with other believers." <br />
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I had been a part of this same study over twenty years (and three churches) ago. As we came to the close of this study I realized how many truths from back then are still part of my faith today (though I couldn't have told you where they came from until I completed the study again).<br />
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So here are a few of the truths that struck a chord with me this go around and that I want to hold on to:<br />
<ol>
<li><b>Ask probing questions to discover God's activity around you. (pg. 84)</b></li>
<li><b>God made us mutually interdependent, that is why we need the church body. (pg.128)</b></li>
<li>I want my heart's cry to be like David Livingstone: <b>Lord, send me anywhere, only go with me. Lay any burden on me, only sustain me. Sever any tie but the tie that binds me to Thyself. (pg. 166)</b></li>
<li><b>Spiritual adultery -- "following a method instead of depending on God." (pg. 173)</b></li>
<li><b>In God's kingdom, <i><u>how</u></i> you do something is as important as <i><u>what</u> </i>you do. (pg. 216)</b></li>
<li><b>A sign of health in the body of Christ is how quickly one person hurts and someone else feels the pain. (pg. 223)</b></li>
<li><b>Regularly ask your spouse spiritual questions. (pg. 255) </b></li>
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<li><b>What has God been showing you in your quiet time lately?</b></li>
<li><b>Has God placed a particular burden on your heart as you have prayed? etc.</b></li>
</ul>
</ol>
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Looking back, there was a tremendous amount of growth in my faith the last time I worked through this material. My challenge this time is to remember that it is God that brings the growth and to be willing to wait patiently for that next growth spurt. I didn't recognize it during the last one...and I might not realize it happening even now. I need to trust that He is more concerned that I have an intimate love relationship with Him than with what I do for Him as a result of this study.<br />
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Have you ever retaken a Bible study?<br />
What was your experience like?<br />
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I would love to hear!</div>
<b></b><br />
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Fondahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01403093361011528658noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2161285152646032730.post-72350878514404303782017-05-04T16:57:00.000-05:002017-05-04T16:57:43.602-05:00What I Read In AprilThis first book of April, I listened to it on Audible. I have heard it spoken very highly of several times, and those recommendations seem to always mention to listen to the cast of 166 narrators instead of reading the book. Many people said they had given up on the written version but, upon hearing from others, gave the audio version a try and loved it.<br />
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<b>Lincoln in the Bardo: A Novel </b>by George Saunders<br />
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<i>The long-awaited first novel from the author of Tenth of December: a moving and original father-son story featuring none other than Abraham Lincoln, as well as an unforgettable cast of supporting characters, living and dead, historical and invented. </i><br />
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<i>February 1862. The Civil War is less than one year old. The fighting has begun in earnest, and the nation has begun to realize it is in for a long, bloody struggle. Meanwhile, President Lincoln's beloved eleven-year-old son, Willie, lies upstairs in the White House, gravely ill. In a matter of days, despite predictions of a recovery, Willie dies and is laid to rest in a Georgetown cemetery. "My poor boy, he was too good for this earth," the president says at the time. "God has called him home." Newspapers report that a grief-stricken Lincoln returns, alone, to the crypt several times to hold his boy's body. </i><br />
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<i>From that seed of historical truth, George Saunders spins an unforgettable story of familial love and loss that breaks free of its realistic, historical framework into a supernatural realm both hilarious and terrifying. Willie Lincoln finds himself in a strange purgatory where ghosts mingle, gripe, commiserate, quarrel, and enact bizarre acts of penance. Within this transitional state-called, in the Tibetan tradition, the bardo-a monumental struggle erupts over young Willie's soul. </i><br />
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<i>Lincoln in the Bardo is an astonishing feat of imagination and a bold step forward from one of the most important and influential writers of his generation. Formally daring, generous in spirit, deeply concerned with matters of the heart, it is a testament to fiction's ability to speak honestly and powerfully to the things that really matter to us. Saunders has invented a thrilling new form that deploys a kaleidoscopic, theatrical panorama of voices to ask a timeless, profound question: How do we live and love when we know that everything we love must end? </i><br />
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<i>The 166-person full cast features award-winning actors and musicians, as well as a number of Saunders' family, friends, and members of his publishing team</i><b></b><u></u><sub></sub><sup></sup><strike></strike><br />
<i><br /></i>
What a book! 166 people speaking...some in snippets, some in annotated quotes, and some with such passion that the action seemed to leap out of my stereo and I could visualize their every move. (I got so excited when I heard the familiar southern drawl of Robin Miles.)<br />
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There were parts of this book that were HARD to listen to because of language (the vulgar Barons) or content (Miss Trainor) or subject matter (President Lincoln's desire to hold his dead son again). I admit to sometimes fast forwarding 10 to 15 seconds, especially through the Barons.<br />
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Having said that, this was sad and haunting and moving and worth every minute of those seven and a half hours. There was hardly a subject that wasn't at least touched upon...and the story of the young mulatto girl was harrowing, yet realistic in every way.<br />
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This isn't a feel good beach read by any stretch of the imagination. But I think it is a good and thought provoking read. It will go on my favorites list for sure.<i><br /></i>
<b>(7 1/2 hours)</b><br />
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<b>The Pelican Bride: A Novel </b>by Beth White<br />
<b>Gulf Coast Chronicles: Book 1</b><br />
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<i>It is 1704 when Genevieve Gaillain and her sister board a French ship headed for the Louisiana colony as mail-order brides. Both have promised to marry one of the rough-and-tumble Canadian men in this New World in order to escape religious persecution in the Old World. Genevieve knows life won't be easy, but at least here she can establish a home and family without fear of beheading. But when she falls in love with Tristan Lanier, an expatriate cartographer whose courageous stand for fair treatment of native peoples has made him decidedly unpopular in the young colony, Genevieve realizes that even in this land of liberty one is not guaranteed peace. And a secret she harbors could mean the undoing of the colony itself.<br /><br />Gulf Coast native Beth White brings vividly to life the hot, sultry south in this luscious, layered story of the lengths we must go to in order to be true to ourselves, our faith, and our deepest loves.</i><br />
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One of our book club members attended a conference back in early March where Beth White spoke. She was so impressed that she suggested this for our April read. I tore through it in just a couple of days while on vacation in Playa del Carmen, Mexico.<br />
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I have heard members of other book clubs say that some of the best discussions come from books that were either 'meh' or where someone really disliked it and others really liked it. That would be this book! One of our members read it early and didn't care for it (too romantic was the complaint). Another member read it and felt 'meh' (enjoyed learning some of the historical background but felt like some of the characters needed more development). The other two loved it...naming it their favorite book so far.<br />
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Y'all our discussion usually wraps up by 8:30...9:00 at the latest. When I was locking up the Barn to go to the house it was after 10:00! We discussed characters, who we believed did what, why we felt some plot threads were dropped with no satisfaction, who we loved and who we hated. We talked about who we believed delivered the pastries, what it would be like to make such monumental change in your life from living in France to being one of the first females in the Louisiana Purchase and how we never realized the history of the Mobile, Alabama area or how both are Indian names.<br />
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At the end of the night, the person who described the book as 'too romantic' commented on how she missed so many of the plot threads until we were discussing them and that maybe the book was better than she originally thought.<br />
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Books really are better with friends!Fondahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01403093361011528658noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2161285152646032730.post-18273171320590096142017-04-04T11:31:00.001-05:002017-04-04T11:31:36.750-05:00What I Read In MarchMarch turned out to be a great month for books! I was getting a bit burned out on podcasts, so I decided to pick back up my Audible listens during my commute. <br />
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(NOTE: The book descriptions and photos below are taken from Amazon.)<br />
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I began with the one that was on many 'Best Of 2016' lists and that I was quite interested in listening to:<br />
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<b><i>Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis </i></b>by J. D. Vance</div>
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<i>From a former marine and Yale Law School graduate, a powerful account of growing up in a poor Rust Belt town that offers a broader, probing look at the struggles of Americaās white working class.</i><br />
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<i>Hillbilly Elegy is a passionate and personal analysis of a culture in crisisāthat of white working-class Americans. The decline of this group, a demographic of our country that has been slowly disintegrating over forty years, has been reported on with growing frequency and alarm, but has never before been written about as searingly from the inside. J. D. Vance tells the true story of what a social, regional, and class decline feels like when you were born with it hung around your neck.</i><br />
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<i>The Vance family story begins hopefully in postwar America. J. D.ās grandparents were ādirt poor and in love,ā and moved north from Kentuckyās Appalachia region to Ohio in the hopes of escaping the dreadful poverty around them. They raised a middle-class family, and eventually their grandchild (the author) would graduate from Yale Law School, a conventional marker of their success in achieving generational upward mobility.</i><br />
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<i>But as the family saga of Hillbilly Elegy plays out, we learn that this is only the short, superficial version. Vanceās grandparents, aunt, uncle, sister, and, most of all, his mother, struggled profoundly with the demands of their new middle-class life, and were never able to fully escape the legacy of abuse, alcoholism, poverty, and trauma so characteristic of their part of America. Vance piercingly shows how he himself still carries around the demons of their chaotic family history.</i><br />
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<i> A deeply moving memoir with its share of humor and vividly colorful figures, Hillbilly Elegy is the story of how upward mobility really feels. And it is an urgent and troubling meditation on the loss of the American dream for a large segment of this country.</i></div>
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I want to be very clear in saying that though ALL of this family's story is NOT my family's story...there were things that hit very, very close to home for me as I listened. I was absolutely transfixed from the moment that the author called his grandparents, Mammaw and Pappaw. Though he thinks it is not said outside of Appalachian families -- that is what we called both sets of my grandparents until we started school and learned the slightly more proper Grandma and Grandpa. The more I listened the more I wondered if perhaps I wasn't more like them than different. While it's true that I was born and raised in Arkansas, we were from the Delta and timber lands of the southeast and did not consider ourselves hillbillies. (Rednecks, yes. but Jim's family came from the Arkansas hills -- not mine. ;-) I shed more than a few tears as I listened to this over the course of a few days. I recognized members of my family of origin and thought processes that I carry around still to this day. I finally realized how some of my personality traits were born as coping mechanisms in childhood and the effect they have on my relationships still today. <br />
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During last year's election this book was touted as one that you should read if you wanted to understand better why so many people from this demographic voted Republican. I didn't find that answer, nor did I find any way that someone could come to that conclusion from this book...but I found it very thought provoking, sometimes hard to listen to, and very revealing of some of my own thought processes. I did, however, see how listening to this story contradicts part of the 'white privilege' stereotype by revealing how poverty affects several generations no matter the hue of the skin. Maybe, just maybe I am too close to the subject matter to see it more objectively.<br />
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(7 hours)<br />
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My second Audible listen has been waiting for quite awhile. I downloaded it so that I could listen before the HBO limited series aired, but then got caught up in other things -- totally forgetting about it until the episodes were stacking up on my DVR.<br />
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<b><i>Big Little Lies </i></b>by Liane Moriarty</div>
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<i>Sometimes itās the little lies that turn out to be the most lethal...</i><i> A murderā¦a tragic accidentā¦or just parents behaving badly? </i><br />
<i> Whatās indisputable is that someone is dead. But who did what? </i><i>Big Little Lies </i>follows three women, each at a crossroads:<br />
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<i>Madeline is a force to be reckoned with. Sheās funny and biting, passionate, she remembers everything and forgives no one. Her ex-husband and his yogi new wife have moved into her beloved beachside community, and their daughter is in the same kindergarten class as Madelineās youngest (how is this possible?). And to top it all off, Madelineās teenage daughter seems to be choosing Madelineās ex-husband over her. (How. Is. This. Possible?).<br /><br />Celeste is the kind of beautiful woman who makes the world stop and stare. While she may seem a bit flustered at times, who wouldnāt be, with those rambunctious twin boys? Now that the boys are starting school, Celeste and her husband look set to become the king and queen of the school parent body. But royalty often comes at a price, and Celeste is grappling with how much more she is willing to pay.<br /><br />New to town, single mom Jane is so young that another mother mistakes her for the nanny. Jane is sad beyond her years and harbors secret doubts about her son. But why? While Madeline and Celeste soon take Jane under their wing, none of them realizes how the arrival of Jane and her inscrutable little boy will affect them all.<br /><br />Big Little Lies is a brilliant take on ex-husbands and second wives, mothers and daughters, schoolyard scandal, and the dangerous little lies we tell ourselves just to survive.</i></div>
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I loved, loved, loved listening to this one! We know from the beginning that someone has died at a school fundraising event...we just don't know who is dead or who is responsible. The story unfolds from the day of Kindergarten orientation to the time of the murder. Interspersed throughout the events leading up to the murder are snippets of the police interviews with the witnesses from that fateful fundraiser. Seeing the varying viewpoints of eyewitnesses (whether arrived at innocently or because of resentments or prejudices) blew me away. <br />
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The story begins when a child accuses another classmate of choking her while the teacher is not looking. The accused child is quickly labeled a 'Bully' yet...several of the outraged parents (from both sides) could be guilty of bullying in their own grownup, finessed ways. Then their are the lies, who is telling them and why. There are big ones and little ones and little ones that become huge ones. <br />
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The friendships in this book are worth the time it took to listen. Madeline has just turned 40 and her last child is starting school while her first born is entering her teenaged angst years. Madeline is spunky and a mini-tornado of activity. (I just loved when she said something about looking tired all of the time and then looking in the mirror one day to realize that this is just the way she looks now.) If you have daughters you may recognize the shift that comes in your life when you realize that you are losing your youthful appearance just as your daughter is coming into her own. It's tough! Her best friend is Celeste, beautiful, rich, perfect, with the most romantic husband in the whole town. Everyone stops and stares at Celeste -- men and women alike. But Celeste is often distracted and dreamy, never recognizing how others perceive her. Then we meet Jane, a much younger single mom, new to town, struggling to make ends meet and quite skittish. Jane seems to always be haunted by something from her past that keeps her on edge and creates deep concern for her son, Ziggy. When Madeline takes Jane under her wing, you just know that something is about to happen that will take poor Jane out of her comfort zone.<br />
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I spent most of the book wondering who was dead. Was it Jane? Was it Madeline? Was it Celeste? Was it Renata, the overbearing mother with the super successful career? Or was it one of their men?<br />
It had me changing my mind with each passing hour and kept me guessing right up until the end.<br />
<br />
I thought Caroline Lee, the narrator, did an impressive job on this one. Okay, so I was a bit in awe of her Australian accent...but she made every character (and there are lots of them) come alive for me. This is one of those rare audiobooks that make you want to take the long way home and then sit in the driveway until the chapter is completed.<br />
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I started watching the series just before I finished the book but I'm a little 'meh' with the changes. I know that some things have to be shortened or rearranged. I am three episodes in and I'm missing Pirriwee Public. The change from a beach town in Australia to Monterrey, CA just loses some of the flavor of it for me. The acting is superb! And though I envisioned some of the characters a bit differently (like I just knew that Nicole Kidman would be Madeline, not Reese Witherspoon), the actresses do an especially good job of conveying the personalities of their characters. We will see if I make it all the way through the series or not.<br />
<br />
(16 hours -- I listened to the majority of the book on 1.5 speed so that I could finish it in a week.)<br />
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I picked up this next title because I had heard through several podcasts that it reads a little like short stories but with the common thread of a certain character. One reason that drew me is that I am eleven weeks into a thirteen week Bible study and I don't have a lot of time for reading at night. I wanted something to help me relax, but that was not so involved that if I were away from it for a few days that I might lose some of the story. This really hit the spot.<br />
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<b><i>Kitchens of the Great Midwest: A Novel </i></b>by J. Ryan Stradal<br />
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<i>Kitchens of the Great Midwest is a novel about a young woman with a once-in-a-generation palate who becomes the iconic chef behind the countryās most coveted dinner reservation. It was selected as a best book of the year by Amazon, BookPage, LibraryReads, and NPR.<br /> <br /> When Lars Thorvaldās wife, Cynthia, falls in love with wineāand a dashing sommelierāheās left to raise their baby, Eva, on his own. Heās determined to pass on his love of food to his daughterāstarting with purĆ©ed pork shoulder. As Eva grows, she finds her solace and salvation in the flavors of her native Minnesota. From Scandinavian lutefisk to hydroponic chocolate habaneros, each ingredient represents one part of Evaās journey as she becomes the star chef behind a legendary and secretive pop-up supper club, culminating in an opulent and emotional feast thatās a testament to her spirit and resilience.<br /> <br /> Each chapter in J. Ryan Stradalās startlingly original debut tells the story of a single dish and character, at once capturing the zeitgeist of the Midwest, the rise of foodie culture, and delving into the ways food creates community and a sense of identity. By turns quirky, hilarious, and vividly sensory, Kitchens of the Great Midwest is an unexpected mother-daughter story about the bittersweet nature of lifeāits missed opportunities and its joyful surprises. It marks the entry of a brilliant new talent.</i><br />
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I finished this one sitting on the deck at the creek. The chapters were told from different points of view of people whose lives had intersected with Eva. Some were life changing for her, some were life changing for them. Some were relationships that lasted for years and some were chance encounters that seemed totally unmemorable until the end. It appeared that the author was going to tie up the story in a neat little bow...but, thankfully, he didn't. It left us wondering about some of the characters we met through Eva...and about Eva herself. Which is a much more realistic conclusion to the middle of a story about someone's life.<br />
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(320 pages)<br />
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I finished up March by listening to: <br />
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<i><b>The Language of Flowers </b></i>by Vanessa Diffenbaugh<br />
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<i>A mesmerizing, moving, and elegantly written debut novel, The Language of Flowers beautifully weaves past and present, creating a vivid portrait of an unforgettable woman whose gift for flowers helps her change the lives of others even as she struggles to overcome her own troubled past. </i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>The Victorian language of flowers was used to convey romantic expressions: honeysuckle for devotion, asters for patience, and red roses for love. But for Victoria Jones, it's been more useful in communicating grief, mistrust, and solitude. After a childhood spent in the foster-care system, she is unable to get close to anybody, and her only connection to the world is through flowers and their meanings. </i><br />
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<i>Now 18 and emancipated from the system, Victoria has nowhere to go and sleeps in a public park, where she plants a small garden of her own. Soon a local florist discovers her talents, and Victoria realizes she has a gift for helping others through the flowers she chooses for them. But a mysterious vendor at the flower market has her questioning what's been missing in her life, and when she's forced to confront a painful secret from her past, she must decide whether it's worth risking everything for a second chance at happiness.</i><br />
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This one has been on my radar for awhile...but when a friend told me over dinner that she was reading it for one of her book clubs and that it really had her thinking, I downloaded it as soon as I possibly could possibly get to it!<br />
<br />
It's still stewing in my head. We have two nieces who came into our family through the foster care system. With them in mind, it hurt my heart to read parts of Victoria's story and for the most part I just wanted to sweep her up into my arms and tell her that everything was going to be alright. But I have to admit that at the end I wanted to crawl through the Bluetooth system on my vehicle and strangle her. I texted with my friend about the things happening near the end of the book and, though she agreed with me and had similar feelings to mine, she shared that her book club kept insisting to her that Victoria really didn't know any better. I'm not sure I agree with that...and so, it keeps on stewing around in my head.<br />
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I enjoyed the listen. Learned a lot about the language of flowers and about the compassion needed to help someone who has been so deeply hurt by abandonment. I pray that our nieces never suffer the severe insecurity and distrust of even those that love them so dearly that Victoria did. Though I was frustrated most of the last hour and a half of the book, I felt the ending was much like the ending of <i>Kitchens of the Great Midwest </i>-- realistic and not tied up in TOO neat of a bow, though, nevertheless, there is a bow. <br />
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(11 hours)<br />
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I finally finished the Dietrich Bonhoffer book <i>Life Together </i>and started this one in preparation for the next New Members Orientation at church:<br />
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<b><i>Church Membership: How the World Knows Who Represents Jesus </i></b>by Jonathan Leeman<br />
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<strong><i>Why should you join a church?</i></strong><br />
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<i>Becoming a member of a church is an important, and often neglected, part of the Christian life. Yet the trend these days is one of shunning the practice of organized religion and showing a distaste or fear of commitment, especially of institutions.</i><br />
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<i>Jonathan Leeman addresses these issues with a straightforward explanation of what church membership is and why itās important. Giving the local church its proper due, Leeman has built a compelling case for committing to the local body.</i><br />
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Still reading!<br />
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Do you have any good books to recommend for April? After all, there are ONLY 50 books in my <a href="https://www.pinterest.com/fdgoode/what-should-i-read-next/">'What Should I Read Next' </a>recommendation board on Pinterest to choose from! LOL!Fondahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01403093361011528658noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2161285152646032730.post-18372579393279166252017-02-28T16:43:00.000-06:002017-03-01T16:44:39.216-06:00What I Read In FebruaryNot as much as I read in January to be sure!<br />
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February was a slow reading month for me for several reasons:<br />
<ol>
<li>We are halfway through our current Bible study, Experiencing God. That takes some evening reading time away from me to complete the daily homework and prepare for class. But y'all, I am loving it! Though it wasn't planned this way, I am leading three beautiful ladies through the weekly discussion and it has been so RICH! Last time I went through this material I sensed the Lord calling me into Women's ministry so I am eager to see where He is leading now.</li>
<li>Meagan and Derrick are still staying with us. Their house should be finished today and they plan to move this weekend. In the meantime, we spend much more time gathered around the dinner table talking in the evenings and giving 'goodnight' hugs and kisses. It has been a sweet time for Jim and I...and it has given us the opportunity to really get to know our little people on another level. We will miss them when they are gone.</li>
</ol>
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So, what have I read this month besides my Experiencing God: Units 1-7?</div>
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I finished <i>Lillian Boxfish Takes a Walk </i>on February 2. I updated January's page with my final thoughts on that one. Lillian was not a woman to easily fit in anyone's mold, not even her own.<br />
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It took me a few days but I finally picked my next book from my TBR shelf.<br />
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<i>A Gentleman In Moscow: A Novel </i>by Amor Towles<br />
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Imagine living in a luxury hotel. Makes you smile, right? I can just imagine living in the Warwick on 54th and 6th in New York City in the 1920's. The Warwick is my all-time favorite hotel because of it's history and the architecture is timeless. <br />
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Now imagine being told that you will can never leave said luxury hotel or you will face a firing squad. All of the sudden the beauty and grandeur can seem small and insignificant as compared with the rest of the world. This is the world where we meet Count Alexander Rostov, just as he is receiving his sentence and finding that he is further being moved from his grand suites at the hotel to the abandoned servants quarters of long ago.<br />
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From Amazon:<br />
<i><b>Chosen as a best book of the year by NPR, The Washington Post, The Chicago Tribune, The San Francisco Chronicle, and The Philadelphia Inquirer<br /><br />āThe same gorgeous, layered richness that marked Towlesā debut, Rules of Civility, shapes [A Gentleman in Moscow]ā āEntertainment Weekly<br /><br />āāThe Grand Budapest Hotelā and āEloiseā meets all the Bond villains.ā āTheSkimm<br /><br />āIrresistible. . .[an] elegant period piece. . .as lavishly filigreed as a Faberge egg.ā<br /> āO, the Oprah Magazine<br /><br />He canāt leave his hotel. You wonāt want to.<br /> <br /> From the New York Times bestselling author of Rules of Civilityāa transporting novel about a man who is ordered to spend the rest of his life inside a luxury hotel<br /><br />In 1922, Count Alexander Rostov is deemed an unrepentant aristocrat by a Bolshevik tribunal, and is sentenced to house arrest in the Metropol, a grand hotel across the street from the Kremlin. Rostov, an indomitable man of erudition and wit, has never worked a day in his life, and must now live in an attic room while some of the most tumultuous decades in Russian history are unfolding outside the hotelās doors. Unexpectedly, his reduced circumstances provide him entry into a much larger world of emotional discovery.<br /><br /> Brimming with humor, a glittering cast of characters, and one beautifully rendered scene after another, this singular novel casts a spell as it relates the countās endeavor to gain a deeper understanding of what it means to be a man of purpose.<br /><br />āAnd the intrigue! ā¦ [A Gentleman in Moscow] is laced with sparkling threads (they will tie up) and tokens (they will matter): special keys, secret compartments, gold coins, vials of coveted liquid, old-fashioned pistols, duels and scars, hidden assignations (discreet and smoky), stolen passports, a ruby necklace, mysterious letters on elegant hotel stationeryā¦ a luscious stage set, backdrop for a downright Casablanca-like drama.ā āThe San Francisco Chronicle</b></i><br />
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I had to put this one to the side about halfway through in order to read our next Book Club pick:<br />
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<b><i></i></b><u></u><sub></sub><sup></sup><strike><br /></strike>
<b><i>Romantic Times Book Reviews - āAnother stellar novel from Martin. His fabulous gift for characterization is evident on each page. Layers of the story are peeled back to show the spiritual truth underneath the gripping plot. This is a reimagining of the prodigal son story from the Bible, and the reader's faith can't help but be enriched and encouraged after completing the book. Cooper is an intricate character with an amazing story to tell, and the supporting cast is just as important to provide additional depth and understanding. This novel should be on everyone's must-purchase list.ā</i></b><br />
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<b><i>āNo matter where you go, no matter whether you succeed or fail, stand or fall, no gone is too far gone. You can always come home.ā</i></b><br />
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<b><i>At the age of eighteen, musician and songwriter Cooper OāConnor took everything his father held dear and drove 1,200 miles from home to Nashville, his life riding on a six-string guitar and the bold wager that he had talent. But his wager soon proved foolish.</i></b><br />
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<b><i>Five years after losing everything, he falls in love with Daley Cross, an angelic voice in need of a song. But just as he realizes his love for Daley, Cooper faces a tragedy that threatens his life as well as his career. With nowhere else to go, he returns home to the remote Colorado mountains, searching for answers about his father and his faith.</i></b><br />
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<b><i>When Daley shows up on his street corner twenty years later, he wonders if itās too late to tell her the truth about his pastāand if he is ready to face it himself.</i></b><br />
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<b><i>A radical retelling of the prodigal son story, Long Way Gone </i></b><b><i>takes us from tent revivals to the Ryman Auditorium to the tender relationship between a broken man and the father who never stopped calling him home.</i></b><br />
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<b></b><i></i><u></u><sub></sub><sup></sup><strike><br /></strike></div>
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Charles Martin wrote one of my all-time favorite books, <i>Chasing Fireflies</i>. When I saw that he had a new novel coming out, I suggested it for our February Book Club. It is a modern retelling of the prodigal son with a twist. It is beautifully told by starting with 'the present', flashing back to the history and how Cooper and Daley ended up here, then picks up their stories again. Very well done. Beautiful prose that transports you vividly right into the story. This one had so many layers that I felt I could relate to all of the characters in some way or another. </div>
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My two favorite quotes from this one:</div>
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<blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri";">I used to think the same thing. Thought that by keeping it
to myself, I was protecting you.</span><span style="margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: "calibri";"> </span></span><span style="font-family: "calibri";">Truth
is āā He shook his head and spat again.</span><span style="margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: "calibri";">
</span></span><span style="font-family: "calibri";">āThe truth is the only thing that doesnāt hurt.</span><span style="margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: "calibri";"> </span></span><span style="font-family: "calibri";">The
truth is a giant hand.</span><span style="margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: "calibri";"> </span></span><span style="font-family: "calibri";">It both cuts us
free and holds us tight.</span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "calibri";"><br /></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 107%; margin: 0px;"></span></span></div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: "calibri";">Said more simply: I wanted what I wanted, when I
wanted it, the way I wanted it, because I wanted it.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>Period. </span></blockquote>
</blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span style="font-family: inherit;">That last one really resonated with me because I know that I have thought that many, many times in my life.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "calibri";"></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri";">We had a great discussion and even better visit. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri";">I think this weekend I'll get back to my Gentleman in Moscow. I'll update here when I finish!</span></div>
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What have you been reading lately? Anything I just NEED to add to my TBR?</div>
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</span><br />Fondahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01403093361011528658noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2161285152646032730.post-14448282381595886912017-02-15T16:37:00.000-06:002017-02-15T16:37:16.893-06:00Totally Random MusingsIt's been over a week since I logged on to share. We've been fighting illnesses again. I was down last week, finally feeling a little better by Sunday evening. But then Jim started feeling bad on Sunday afternoon. He's still home with a low grade fever and just overall tired feeling. If you think of him in the next few days, please say a little prayer for his healing. He has been running on fumes for months and I think it has all just caught up with him.<br />
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I was wondering what to post today, even whether to post today, and then I remembered a 'note' I started on my phone last week of just random quotes and things that piqued my interest. I thought I would share some of those here in this space.<br />
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We were talking around the dinner table last weekend about shopping at Big Box Stores and which were our favorites. We were specifically talking about our preferences for Lowe's or Home Depot. Jim and I both prefer Lowe's. Derrick and Josh both looked at us baffled and said they preferred Home Depot. On Monday I saw an online article titled <a href="https://www.earnest.com/blog/shopping-at-ikea/">"When Do You Outgrow IKEA?"</a> On a whim, I clicked over to read it. One reason is that Jim and I just replaced our Ikea bedroom (purchased in 2007) with a 'real bed' from Rooms To Go. In that article they reported the peak customer age for several Big Box Stores including Home Depot (age 48) and Lowe's (age 54). Now we know why they prefer the one we stay out of if at all possible! It was an interesting read, and I found that Jim and I should have bought our bedroom suit from Ashley Furniture (age 54) instead of Rooms to Go (age 47). Wait, I'm not 54 yet so we are still good! [By the way, we were way past the IKEA age of 24 when we purchased our last bedroom set -- but I attribute it to the fact that we were also buying three other beds for the kids rooms.]<br />
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Kelli, Matt, Bri, Josh and their families came over last Friday to celebrate the February birthdays. This birthday boy turned 8 the next day.<br />
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Maddux enjoying the last bite of his mostly melted by then ice cream cake! Silly boy!</div>
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Kelli brought Meagan a delicious 'no added sugar' strawberry cheesecake. Yum. <br />
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I heard an interesting little 'blurb' on the Happier podcast (#103) last week that perked up my ears and made me think. Mostly because I am highly susceptible to this in my own life. They were answering a question from a listener who wanted to know how to avoid the pang she feels when she is around babies or pregnant women while she is battling fertility issues. One of them referred to the <b><i>'compare and despair cycle.'</i></b> This struck a chord with me as I realized that so often my comparing myself to others really does lead me to despair. Yes, I sometimes compare to feel better about myself (not proud of that admission, just keeping it real) but 85% of the time it is a comparison that I am going to lose. There are always people who are better at things than I am. I especially struggle with women who are thinner than I am, who are better educated, who are better at keeping a home/decorating/making meals than I am, or who never seem to struggle with keeping balance in their lives like I do. Compare & despair are certainly a cycle with me. Now that it's been named, I need the Lord to do some healing in this area. <br />
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I was catching up on podcasts last week and came across this quote from Revive Our Hearts dated January 25. Karen Loritts shared this while talking about forgiveness among girlfriends. <b><i>"Forgiveness takes one, reconciliation takes two."</i></b> I often have people ask me how they can forgive and let others back into their lives after some real hurts. This was such a succinct way of remembering that there is a difference between forgiveness and reconciliation. We are commanded to forgive. Believe me, I've struggled with this often in my life but the truth is that Jesus commands it (Luke 17, Mark 11 and others). And yes, 'as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone.' (Romans 12:18) But sometimes it doesn't just depend on us. We can forgive, but the reconciliation doesn't always come.<br />
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In light of a New Members Class that I'm involved in, I saw a short poem on Pinterest that led me to investigate whether or not it is true that a group of alligators is called a congregation. It was! I find it kind of funny in light of that class which we will repeat once a quarter. I may use this for our opening session in April as an icebreaker. <b><i>"A congregation of alligators - a congregation refers to a group of alligators, where the smaller alligators are compliant to the biggest, most dominant alligator." </i></b>That just makes me smile a little bit.<br />
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And finally, just a sweet reminder from another Revive Our Hearts podcast:<br />
<b><i>We, as women, need heart connections. </i></b><br />
I need you. I enjoy hearing from you. I am thankful for your friendships.<br />
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Thanks for listening to my ramblings today!Fondahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01403093361011528658noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2161285152646032730.post-39958889403023518962017-02-07T15:49:00.002-06:002017-02-07T15:49:57.135-06:00An Unexpected GiftI had a surprise when I walked into my office this morning. A white nondescript plastic mailer addressed to me. I wasn't expecting anything from Amazon or Barnes and Noble, so I had no idea what it might be. Imagine my surprise to open it and find this. <br />
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A gift copy of Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth's new book, <b><i>Adorned: Living Out the Beauty of the Gospel Together</i></b>. <br />
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From the book jacket:<br />
<i>The Titus 2 model of older women living out the gospel and training younger women to do the same is vital. It's how we all thrive, how we are adorned, and how we adorn the gospel...together. </i><br />
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<i>Imagine older women investing themselves in the lives of younger women, blessing whole families and churches. Imagine younger women widening their circle to include women who've walked further down the road. Imagine women of all ages and seasons being transformed by the gospel, displaying its beauty, and making it believable to those around them. </i></div>
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<i>This rich study of the instructions to women in Titus 2 provides a roadmap to help you experience the kind of community and influence God designed you to have in the church and the world. </i></div>
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This is my heart's cry...the passion that the Lord has stirred in me for years and is even now stirring anew as He lays younger and younger women on my heart. As the back cover says so beautifully:<br />
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Woman To Woman.</div>
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Older And Younger.</div>
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Side By Side.</div>
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Life On Life.</div>
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This is God's good and beautiful plan.</div>
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I can hardly wait to start reading!</div>
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Fondahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01403093361011528658noreply@blogger.com0