Reading, Writing & Pondering

After reading Smitten, I was anxiously awaiting the next one in the series by this group of talented authors. The new book did not disappoint me as it contains not only romance but a good mystery as well. In the first novella in this group of 4, Love Between the Lines, dog tags from Grandma Rose's first love turn up in her attic. The mystery begins, how did those dog tags get there when David Hutchins was killed in action and never returned to Smitten? The mystery intrigues Rose’s three granddaughters—Tess, Clare, and Zoe. However, their mother Anna warns them against any investigating and meddling in Grandma Rose's affairs. Then each of the granddaughters and their mother face some romance and intrigue of their own as they face new seasons in Smitten--and the mystery of Grandma's lost love begins to unravel. Make Me a Match is the 2nd novella followed by Knit One, Love Two and concludes with Love Blooms. I thoroughly enjoyed this book. There were a few twists and...

How old are you? Now how old are you by counting in DAYS? As of the writing of this blog I am 17, 516 days old. That's a sobering thought to me! On the 20,000th day of his life, Robert D. Smith sent an e-mail to a group of people of all ages reminding them to live in the moment. This book is a result of that e-mail. It is intended to be short and read in under an hour. This is a relatively short book that is a quick read. It is designed to take less than an hour. However, much wisdom is packed into a short space so that you can quickly take this information to heart and apply it to your life. I had a paper tablet along with my Kindle and took notes, as Smith suggested, taking time to apply his words to my life. If you could get this book in the hands of a younger adult, it would be especially great, but it is a book that could help most of us live a better life if we choose to take his suggestions to heart. I also think the more time I take to reflect on it and ...

  The Respect Dare from Nina Roesner offers women a book to help them learn how to show respect to their husbands. It is something like the Love Dare from the Fireproof movie except it is all about respect. In Ephesians 5:33, Paul wrote that a man "must love his wife as he loves himself and the wife must respect her husband."This book helps the reader understand what respect is and how to apply to her husband over the course of 40 days. Each day focuses on a different area of life that helps draw respect to the husband: positive words, organized house, sex, difficulties in marriage and more. It covers about every area you can think of. Each chapter offers a Bible verse, a personal story to consider, questions to answer and then the dare--how to apply what you've learned to one day (and hopefully more) in your marriage. I found this book to be challenging and thought provoking. I read the book straight through and reflected on each chapter and the questions provided...

More Than a Bucket List is a gift book from Thomas Nelson that would be great for someone to mark their special birthdays with or for yourself. This book offers a lot of ideas for creating a "bucket list" for your life by thinking about those things you would really like to do. Ideas include the highly adventurous, like surfing he North Shore on Oahu, Hawaii or rafting the Grand Canyon, to quieter activities such as paying for the person in line behind you at a fast food restaurant or tracking down a former teacher to let them know how much they meant to you. There is likely to be ideas in here that will fit most anyone. Along with Bucket List ideas, this book offers general advice on saving money, getting out of debt, creating better relationships and growing closer to God through Scripture. In the back of the book, there is space for making your own bucket list. For the most part I enjoyed many of the ideas and suggestions in this book, although some parts...

Every Day Matters in the life of a Christian. . .With the Every Day Matters Bible, Christian women can get extra helps in putting spiritual practices in place as they read their Bible. This beautifully bound Bible, with its turquoise and pink cover, features over 300 articles focusing on 24 spiritual practices that particularly relate to women such as service, submission, worship, faith and Bible study among others.  I personally love this whole Bible package. The New Living Translation brings the Bible to life for me. I read words that I can readily apply to my life in both the Bible translation and in the helps. Scattered throughout the Bible, the short articles, based on near-by Scripture offer encouragement and direction on the spiritual practices we all need help with. I also appreciated the Question and Answer articles as they helped me to reflect on my Christian walk and take note on how to apply the Bible where I need it. The articles are all written by Christian leaders ...

I picked up Prayers of a Stranger by Davis Bunn and couldn't put it down. . .It has been awhile since I've read a book by Davis Bunn and I forgot how easily it was to get caught up in his stories and want to stay there. In face, my one complaint about this book is that it ended all too quickly when I wanted to keep going with the characters. Amanda and Chris Vance have had a challenging year. They lost their baby through a stillborn birth, they have struggled with jobs, and with family conflict. Yet, it is the struggle with their grief in the loss of their infant that Amanda struggles most with. Their older neighbors, Frank and Emily, face their own struggles. Frank needs a hip transplant and can not go with Emily to the Holy Land as they planned. At the last minute, Emily asks Amanda to join her on the trip. Amanda and Emily visit many of the sights of Israel.  Bunn's descriptions bring the senses alive as you read.  I've never been there but I felt like I coul...

Share The Bounty: Finding God's Grace through the Spirit of Hospitality by Benita Long is a beautifully illustrated cookbook. The photographs themselves are truly enticing. I love my cookbooks to have photos of the recipes so I can see how mine should look. However, Share the Bounty is more than a cookbook--it is inspiration to host a gathering. Scripture, prayers and quotes are scattered among the recipes.  These little snippets offer uplifting thoughts and encouragement as you open your home to others to share meals and the love of Christ. The recipes themselves are encompassed in complete menus. If you have trouble putting a complete meal together, this takes all of the guesswork out of accompaniments.The book also shares ideas for ways to celebrate certain life events such as baptisms as well as holiday gatherings and informal get-togethers. Included in the book are recipes for Fireside Soup, Easy Brunswick Stew, Grilled Chicken and Wild Rice Salad, Aunt Emma's Te...