Blog Archives

End of year reflections

1/3/2015

This past year has been a difficult one for me.

I was talking with my sweetheart the other day, saying how I have just NOT been in the Christmas spirit this year and how I just want to pack everything away.   So today I did just that.   I packed away the tree and all the trimmings, even took down my village.   I want my house back again.

Normally I don't feel like this till mid-January and then i slowly take things down and savour the memories of the year just past.   So I'm going to take a moment and see if I can recall some of the good moments of this past year..

So first up would be my family.   My family on both sides.    These folks are a blessing to me.   A mom in law who loves her Lord and her family fiercely   Such a blessing to me.    A birth family that cares for each other, we aren't the most 'let's do stuff together group" but we love each other and gather frequently together to celebrate each other and life.   Family is GOOD.

Then there is my own family. One wife, one hubby, one son.
They have walked with me through gall bladder surgery, sore limbs, broken thumbs, sore teeth, bumps and bruises and the whole physical knockouts I've been doing to myself throughout the year. Good people these two males in my life.

What other good things... I could list the good books I've read, the games I've played, the critters that I raise, the joy of a garden... these are all good things.

I could tell you about a friend who touched my heart...bringing me back a mug on a trip away that was totally unexpected. :)

Of a boy who is a friend to my boy and how his whole family welcomes him in. :) And of another friend who is becoming like extended family, how sometimes families mesh and that's a blessing sorely needed.

I could talk of field trips, of homeschool groups, of interests shared. Good things that you know?

I could spend time talking about the hard things.. like a father living in a nursing home in constant pain. Losing his battle with Parkinson's and infirmity from hip replacements gone sorely wrong. How it is so hard to watch that whole process...wanting desperately for it to end and at the same time wanting to be spared that.   Seeing my mom and her continued love for the man she married.... and wanting to be that kind of woman as well. One who holds a love firm.   but you know we learn from these things.

Just as i have learned much about my hubby and my boy and how they help and hold when life hurts.

How I am thankful to my church, to people on the crew, for the ease of facebook in letting others know of needs.

God has blessed me.   And it blows me away. And I am so aware of how much I need him and how very unworthy I am.

I am so very very glad that when he looks at me, he sees his son.
And I am continually challenged to look beyond me.
I must you know. I can't dwell on the hard things or the hard times.
I have to look at God.
I have to see him.

My dad loves the Lord.. he will go home to him. And that's a comfort.
My hubby loves the Lord....and through that love he loves me. And that is good.
My son.. he learns..and how I pray that he will grow to love the Lord fiercely.. like his dad does, without the hemming and hawing his momma can do.
My mom in law.. a fierce warrior for the Lord. In her calm, gentle loving way she holds that standard high.
and my family....God is good. He draws us all to him and that is good.

I am blessed.

And how about you?   How has God blessed you this year?

Review: A Most Inconvenient Marriage

1/1/2015

I have to admit that this was a fun book to review. A love story with unexpected twists and turns, a mystery to solve and watching people learn and grow into maturity with better grace.

Set in the time just after the civil war.. Confederates and Unions soldiers.The main protagonists are Abigail a Union Nurse and Jeremiah Calhoun a confederate soldier.   We have conflict between the two sides, confusion over a marriage, anger and lack of forgiveness, Love and sadness, murder and resolution.

And what can I say... Love happens.   :)
I won't tell you with whom and by whom as who likes spoilers? But love happens even where not expected.   T'is a good thing that.

Regina Jennings has carefully crafted believable characters.   Weaving in the hurt of the war, the pain of recovery, the joy in renewal and the hope of rebuilding of a nation.   Abigail is such a believable character, a lady with a brain on her shoulders who has suffered unfair losses who is so determined to make a new start. A start as what she believes is as a widow, on a farm, in the Ozark mountains.      She is put into a bit of a spot when the real man shows up.. not the man she married though with the same name. What to do?   Work hard and continue to forge a life in order to recoup investments made... even if a hard I know what I want and how to get it man struggles with the concept.

This is the first book in the Ozark Mountain Romance Books, and quite frankly if they are all as well crafted as this book was, I would love to read them as well.

Product information:
Written by Regina Jennings
Reviewed For Nuts about Books
Published by Bethany House