A GREAT SUMMER READ

I recently began participating in the Tyndale House bloggers tour. They send you a book, you read it and write a blog about it. Easy enough? Sometimes yes, sometimes no. Once in a while you get a book you find difficult to finish and write something constructive about. HOWEVER, and I want to strongly stress that word, HURRICANES IN PARADISE is one of my all-time top-ten summer reads!
DENISE HILDRETH shares the tale of four women from different walks of life but with something in common: deep, dark secrets that keep them from being the women they ought to be. In the midst of the book one of the characters is sitting in a little church and the congregation begins to sing the old hymn, Amazing Grace. Up to that point I'd had a hard time warming up to a couple of the characters, but suddenly I realized that God's amazing grace isn't just the saving kind of grace, although I'm very thankful for that grace, but it's also the kind of grace that helps us through the deepest, darkest valleys in our lives. For Riley, Winnie, Laine, and Tamyra it is especially true. HURRICANES IN PARADISE is also a story of friendship, built around a storm in the Atlantic Ocean, certainly, but more importantly a friendship built around the love they all share for the Lord, even though a few of them had forgetten about that love.
Normally I donate any book I read for review to our new church library, we're struggling so to get it off to a good start. HURRICANES IN PARADISE is firmly at home on my keeper shelf, it's a book I'll want to read again and again, anytime I need reminding that God's Grace is all-sufficient for any problem, any trial, any situation.
This book was provided for review by Tyndale House Publishing Company and is available for purchase at Amazon.com as well as your local bookseller.

SHADES OF MORNING

Marnie Wittier has life just where she wants it. Quiet. Peaceful. No drama. A long way away from her past. In the privacy of her home, she fills a box with slips of paper, scribbled with her regrets, sins, and sorrows. But that’s nobody else’s business. Her bookstore/coffee shop patrons, her employees, her friends from church—they all think she’s the very model of compassion and kindness.

Then Marnie’s past creeps into her present when her estranged sister dies and makes Marnie guardian of her fifteen-year-old son—a boy Marnie never knew existed. And when Emmit arrives, she discovers he has Down syndrome—and that she’s woefully unprepared to care for him. What’s worse, she has to deal with Taylor Cole, her sister’s attorney, a man Marnie once loved—and abandoned. As Emmit (and Taylor) work their way into her heart, Marnie begins to heal. But when pieces of her dismal past surface again, she must at last face the scripts of paper in her box, all the regrets and sorrows. Can she do it? Or will she run again?

I was prepared to enjoy SHADES OF MORNING, and I really dislike writing negative things about books, simply because an author works so hard to produce a novel for people to enjoy. However, I can honestly say there were a few parts of SHADES OF MORNING I didn't enjoy at all, from the confusing and disorienting beginning to the disturbing surprise ending. The middle, I DID enjoy! It was a heartwarming story of coming to grips with what is in life and learning that God allows us hurdles to overcome in order to learn to lean more on Him. It's also a story of learning to love who you are, who God made you, and of letting go of the past; a story of healing and miracles.

SHADES OF MORNING is available at Amazon.com and is a worthwhile summer read. This book was provided for review by Waterbrook Multnomah Publishing Group.

101 Reasons.....

Well there could be 101 reasons why I haven't blogged in over a month but the truth is I simply haven't felt like it. Yes, there's been a lot going to in my life taking up my time, but nothing so pressing that I couldn't have taken a few minutes and shared. I guess the real truth is I didn't have anything I felt was interesting enough to say. So, since the last time we visited:

I had my 1-year post op check and am blessed to be cancer-free.

We have a new addition in our life...Kyle. I started keeping him each day mid-way through April. He's 9 weeks old and such a blessing to our lives. We pray we can be an equal blessing to his parents and are humbled by their faith and trust in us to help raise this little one.

We have another new addition to our family....Bud. He's a 1-year-old German Shepard who is a big lap dog. He's a lot of fun to watch play. He's already knocked Paul down to the ground once playing.

We're doing a tomato plant experiment this year. We have one in a topsy-turvy planter and 3 in different types soil/fertilier/containers. I'll let you know as the season progresses which one yields best. Here's some pictures of the different plants and containers.

My azaleas were especially beautiful this year. I don't know if it's because it was so cold for so long, or if it's simply the year for azaleas. Here's a picture I took just as they reached their peak.

Our AWANA year at church was a success. One of my Puggles learned 35 Bible verses this year. This may not sound like much of an accomplishment until you remember she's only two years old. Two of my Cubbies completed an entire book, that's memorizing 24 Bible verses. One is four and the other five.

We'll soon be starting VBS and I'm looking forward to an exciting time for the kids. They're going to be studying God's Word: The Bible and looking at how we got our Bible, the men and women, such as Tyndale, who gave their very lives so we could have the Word of God for our own.

I guess that pretty much catches everyone up as to what I've been doing in my life lately. Time to get ready and go to church. I pray your lives are so very blessed.

FORGET ME NOT by Vicki Hinze

Over the years I've read many books by very talented author Vicki Hinze. She is queen of the nail-biting, edge-of-the seat thrillers. This lady writes a mean mystery story! FORGET ME NOT, however, is the FIRST Christian thriller I've read from her talented pen and it does not disappoint!


Just who IS Susan? The very mysterious lady has lost her memory and has nothing to go on but a name and a necklace. Benjamin Brandt thinks she looks like his deceased wife, but could she be? What is NINA and why are they trying to kill Susan? These are but a few of the questions that fill the mind as you turn the pages of this excellent book.


FORGET ME NOT is offered through Waterbrook Multnomah Publishing where you can visit for more information. It is available online or at your local bookseller. If you are a lover of mysteries, this is one book you won't want to miss.

This book was provided for review by Waterbrook Multnomah.

UPDATE ON THE 365 DAY CHALLENGE

Let me say my house is cleaner, and more organized than I thought possible, and I thought I was already organized!

I have already reached my 365 item decluttering goal, and have cleaned my spice cabinet and pantry of all outdated food. I have cleaned out my jewelry box of all jewelry I no longer wear, cleaned out my clothes closet and the office supply closet in my office/spare bedroom. I cleaned off my bookcases and have donated all appropriate books to our church library PLUS I sold my entire Emilie Loring book collection on ebay (netting a nice $50 profit.) We sold our Chevy Blazer, I cleaned out the buffet in my dining room and got rid of all the extra vases (who needs 10 vases?) 3 dozen votive candles and a dozen taper candles. We donated an extra computer to the gal who cleans house for me, she's returning to school to become a phlebotomist and donated a second extra computer to a local Christian school who was in desperate need of one since theirs bit the dust. Lest you think we are computer poor now, we still have three (2 desktops and a laptop) so no one will have internet withdrawal. We've also decluttered an extra printer, 2 monitors, and a half gross of pencils.

I still need to work on my husband's closet, but this has to be done when he is not home as he doesn't understand why I need to throw out t-shirts with holes in them or socks that no longer stay up. Me, I will never understand why men think it's perfectly all right to wear clothes a rag-picker's son should not wear. I also need to clean out my shoes and my off-season clothing closet. I also need to clean my kitchen cabinets and see which items I can do without. Lastly, I will clean my music cabinet. I probably won't discard any of that...music is something you never know when someone will ask, "do you have the music for ?" and I can say, YES, I do! As a musician who has to prepare 2 preludes and 2 offertories per week I need a wide variety of music. I will organize it better and clean up that area so it is out of sight instead of on a shelf. I'd love to have an antique music cabinet, unfortunately those I've seen are way out of my budget.

How are you doing on your decluttering challenge?

100TH POST CELEBRATION!!

I can not believe this is the 100th post on my blog. I can't say I've always had a lot to say, nor can I say I have a faithful following to my ponderings, but I have enjoyed sitting down and writing; sharing my thoughts and feelings with you all.
One thing about blogging is you share who you are and what you're doing with the world at large. Someone suggested I share 100 new things about myself....I couldn't come up with 100! Instead I have decided to do a simple giveaway in celebration of my 100th pondering. Here's the rules...short, sweet and simple.
1. Leave a comment and you'll receive 1 entry into my drawing. Be sure there's an email address where I can contact you if you win.
2. Post on your blog and link to my blog and let me know in your comment and you'll receive a 2nd entry.
3. Begin following my blog and let me know in your comment and you'll receive a 3rd entry.
4. Entry deadline is Sunday February 28, 2010 at midnight
5. Drawing will be held on Monday March 1st and winner will be notified by email.

By now you're probably wondering...what will I win??? As I've mentioned before, I am not crafty or creative. Sorry. However, you will receive a $100 gift basket of wonderful AVON products.

Ready.....Set.....Go!

HEAR NO EVIL

Okay, the whole title is HEAR NO EVIL: My Story of Innocence, Music, and the Holy Ghost, and Matthew Paul Turner is a HOOT! Well, maybe I think so because I'm a Southern Baptist girl who grew up with the "we don't dance" rule hanging over her head while her feet simply would not be still. I always tried to convince my parents that David danced before the Lord, why couldn't I? Needless to say that argument never held much water. Thankfully they relented for high school dances and I was able to dance at prom.
Similarly, Matthew Paul Turner's roots are implanted in the Independent Fundamental Baptist Church, they're stricter than Southern Baptists! I thoroughly enjoyed the peeks into that realm and into how a teenage boy who thought he was destined to become the Michael Jackson of Christian music rebelled and survived. I also enjoyed the subtle look into the realities of CCM (contemporary Christian music) and how all things are not always as they seem in the hallowed halls of Christianity.
What Mr. Turner is trying to convey, in his funny and often irreverent way, is that Christianity isn't found in the four walls of a religion, but instead inside one's heart and in their personal relationship with God. It's not whether you play the drums in church, sing rock and roll, dance, tap your foot, or clap your hands. It's not in lifting hands in worship, or in putting on your piety along with your best dress or suit before you head out the door for Sunday morning worship. A real relationship with God is personal and intimate. It's not a performance for others.
Highly entertaining, HEAR NO EVIL is a quick read with a sound message. It's a book I hope you won't pass up. Recommend it to your chuch librarian, it's one everyone can enjoy!
This book was provided for review by the Waterbrook Multnomah Publishing Group.
More information about HEAR NO EVIL is available on the Random House website.