Gravel Road Musings

Dear daughter, Today you are three. How can that be? Just a short, short time ago we were waiting and wondering when you would come and what you would look like and now here we are three years later. And we are so blessed to have you in our lives. You are three, now what? I feel like there is so much to teach you, so many life lessons to impart and I feel pressure, how can I get it all done and get it done right? How can I instill in you that God loves you supremely and He is the One I want you to love with all your heart? And deep inside, I know the answer. The answer is to love God myself. How can I expect you to learn to know and experience God if you do not see me, your mom, seeking to know and experience God on a daily basis? This is what presses down on me. I have only one life, just a few short years, to do it and I want so badly to be a good mom. I want so badly to do it right. I want to have that relationship with you that brings you back to me year after year after year...

Hannah's Story This is book four in Daughters of the Promised Land series.  This is the story of Hannah, Samuel's mother. Obviously, it is a work of fiction as we really don't have many details about Hannah's life, but I thought Jill did a nice job bringing to life Hannah's character and the circumstances that might have surrounded her life. We do know she was barren and Elkanah's other wife made life difficult for her.  Jill portrays her as a woman of kindness despite the insults Peninnah threw her way. She shows Hannah as a sad, but loving wife to Elkanah. Jill also portrays the desperate times Israel was in with wicked priests. Obviously, she had to use her imagination once again, but I think what she portrayed very likely could have been the real story as well. I am not always a huge fan of Biblical fiction, but I think Jill did a good job of telling the story and making it interesting and not too far-fetched. The only thing I did find a bit stretc...

The Freeing Truth about What Your Kids Really Need My children don't need a five star hotel with five course meals, immaculate housecleaning skills and a set of rules they must abide by. My children don't even need me to act like I need Jesus while trying to do it on my own. What my children need is for me to need Jesus and to live like I'm serving Him every moment, every day. Too many of us live the me-gospel that Brooke talks about where we are concerned about what we need and we use the gospel to meet our needs, to get what we want, and to close the gap on our emotional and physical shortcomings.  That's not the true gospel. We need Jesus, each and every day. We need to recognize that what we want might not be what God knows we need and yet God is still good. We need to want what God wants and live out of that rather than focusing on what we want and how it's not working for us. This book challenged me so much to spend more time reading God's Word and...

I'm reading a book right now. I know big surprise there!!  But it's a book I really didn't want to read. So why am I? I mean really, I have hundreds of books at my disposal, I can pick and choose the books I read for reviews, plus all the book I own that I have never read, so why would I pick up a book I didn't want to read and read it?  Well, I think God knew I needed it. And I think God knew I was going to need it right now. I'm a mom: when I was 20, that title sounded nice maybe? A dream title for a day in the future. When I was 29, that title sounded a little less dreamy and yet more realistic. But I'd been around the block enough, was working in a job where I saw lots of moms and so the title seemed to represent weariness, fatigue, depression, snotty-nosed children, too many children in too few years. It seemed like the title brought on dowdiness, an extra layer of fat around the middle, shiny hair filled with white flakes, and a few extra bags under the ...

Little Critter: a fan, indifferent, or a hater?  I can't say I'm usually a big fan of Little Critter. He's naughty, makes huge messes, and just overall full of himself. I will grant that they are rather funny books. But enter the Little Blessings Collection. Little Critter remains Little Critter, full of himself, selfish, unforgiving, etc. But he now is doused with a lesson in reality and Biblical truth. He learns that always needing to go first does not make him that great of a friend. He learns that forgiveness needs to go both directions. He learns that he can get into a heap of hot water when he doesn't tell the truth or even when he just leaves out certain important details. And he also learns to be grateful for what he has in life. So if you are on the edge with Little Critter like I was, this may be the book collection for you. Critter is still Critter, like I said, but he now learns a good lesson in each story and it makes him a better person. There are fo...

and other confessions about relationships, reality tv, and how we see ourselves So if you like Melanie Shankle you will probably enjoy reading this book. I really like Melanie's books and her funny way of writing. Lincee has a good way of writing as well. However, I didn't find a lot of meat in her writing. It is obvious that Lincee struggles a lot with self-image and self-worth and understandably so. Ditched by her husband for another woman, it would be hard to move forward. And I think Lincee learned to do that by relying on God and trusting His view of her. And that is expressed in a few chapters. Her writing style is very funny. She is all into TV shows, the Bachelor, Chris Harrison, and Disney. She worked at Disney for awhile as well. In fact, Lincee makes her living writing recaps of popular TV shows. It started with her recap of the Bachelor in its first season. She sent out an email to a few friends who forwarded it to their friends and so on. But to listen an...

Wow!! Wow!! Wow!!  Talk about a beautiful big thick hardcover book, this is the one. I was so pleased when I opened the box to see this book. However, we all know it takes more than a beautiful cover to make a good book and Francine has delivered again. She writes phenomenal fiction, fiction that can dig deep in your soul and cause you to look around and see how you are living life. This book causes me to look around and give thanks for a good home, for a solid foundation. It also can stir my heart to feel for those around me who did not have that same privilege. It makes me aware of how much my good upbringing has helped to solidify who I am today and how much easier it was to get to where I am today. This is a book of  hope. No matter your upbringing, whether your mom was a prostitute, selling her body to buy food and drugs that helped her forget and your dad was unknown or whether your dad had an anger problem that ultimately caused the death of your parents at age ...