Gravel Road Musings

The bathroom floor was hard and a bit cold, but it was refuge from the caring eyes all around.  I sank down and opened my book, my daughter's scrapbook.  I opened it with the purpose in my mind of reading everything I had written and allowing the tears to come.  I fulfilled my purpose.  I have no idea how long I sat in there.  I know I got a little uncomfortable--the motel bathroom floor wasn't very big and it definitely was hard.  I looked through Nicole's book and I cried, not gentle tears that slowly trickled down, but gut-wrenching sobs.  Not loud wails because I didn't want everyone to know, though I think they suspected and they cared.  But it was better than crying in Marshall's and having a complete stranger ask me if I was okay. It's not that friends didn't care--they did and they loved me in spite of my sadness this weekend and for that I will always be grateful.  But when I need a good gut-wrenching cry, I don't like people watch...

This book was given to me by Bethany House for the express purpose of reading it and writing a review about it. This book gets a thumbs up from me.  It was an edge of the seat gripping story.  Obviously because Edgar was the one writing the book from a first-hand experience, you knew he survived, but what he went through and still survived is nothing short of a miracle. He was aboard the USS Indianapolis when it was torpedoed by a Japanese submarine during World War 11.  Within minutes the ship had sunk and the 1000+ people aboard the ship had either already died or were left to survive in the ocean.  This whole catastrophe was especially sad because it seemed somewhat preventable.  Higher intelligence realized that the waters they were sailing through was enemy territory, but because they didn't want the Japanese to realize they had broken their code, they refused to have a destroyer ship accompany the USS Indianapolis. They also didn't have a plan in pla...

This book was given me by Bethany House Publishers for the purpose of reading and writing a review about it. Lost and Found by Sarah Jakes This book is the story of Sarah Jakes daughter of Bishop T. D Jakes.  She got in with the wrong group, had her first baby at 14 and then wound up marrying a man she was determined to love and also sure that he would give up his womanizing ways and be devoted to her even though he had showed no signs of faithfulness.  She is 25 years old at the time of the writing--divorced with 2 children and she tells the story of her journey. I don't normally quote from books in my reviews, but for this book, I just want to pick out some of the quotes that stuck with me when I was reading the book.  I don't really like when they put quotes in bigger letters on the same page that it is written on because I feel like I am reading stuff twice, but it is nice for later on. "Time, like life, isn't about how much we have; it's about what we ...

The fake flowers lay on the ground, their petals definitely dirty and shabbier, but still there.  Still giving a little life to the otherwise brown and muddy ground.  Obviously they do not make good deer food as the deer pellets laying all around would indicate they may have been sampled. The tiny little mound indicates that life has moved elsewhere. There is only a shell in the cold, muddy ground, the real life, the real beauty is up above singing with the angels.  Maybe in some way this is like a seed.  For a seed to produce a beautiful flower of lovely fragrance, it must lay in the cold, harsh earth. Nicole's life is so much better than it would have been had she lived.  She is now living the life she was made for--eternity with Jesus.  No heartaches, no longing for something more, no grappling with the questions of life. I have to keep this in perspective--it helps a little, I think. From the words of a song I have really come to love: "Waiting h...

This book was given me by Bethany House Publishers for the express purpose of reviewing it and stating my opinion on it. Love Comes Calling by Siri Mitchell I was really excited to read this book as Siri is one of my friends' favorite authors.  I'm not sure if I got all the apostrophes where they are supposed to go, but anyway. I will be honest, I was a little disappointed.  Siri painted Ellis as a girl with ADHD back in the 1920's when nobody understood how the brain worked in a case like that.  Ellis definitely couldn't stay on task, but it almost made her out to be a dimwit--alway being reproved and corrected and always disappointing everyone, except of course Griffin, who she was trying to avoid because he actually liked her for who she was. I do realize that this might have been exactly how a well-to-do person back in the 1920's would have been treated--the oldest daughter had been a disappointment to Ellis' mother and now Ellis was unable to stay o...

This book was given to me by Bethany House Publishers for the exclusive reason to read and write a review about. A Sensible Arrangement by Tracie Peterson This is your typical relaxing fiction.  I have always been intrigued by mail-order bride stories.  Of course, in the fiction books, the couple always falls in love, but I wonder how many couples ended up splitting.  It would seem to me without a solid foundation of God and trust, it would be hard to make a marriage work if personalities varied too widely. Anyway, this book was a very interesting read.  It took Marty from Texas, the land she hated, to Colorado. It took her from working cattle, cooking, and taking care of herself into a life of opulence, maids and fancy tea parties with prim and proper and completely surface level rich women.  It took her to a man who couldn't wait to get back to Texas and ranching and the life she wanted nothing to do with. So, to prevent the return to Texas from happen...

Visitor From Heaven Lyrics              by Twila Paris A visitor from heaven If only for a while A gift of love to be returned We think of you and smile A visitor from Heaven Accompanied by grace Reminding of a better love And of a better place With aching hearts and empty arms We send you with a name It hurts so much to let you go But we're so glad you came We're so glad you came A visitor from Heaven If only for a day We thank Him for the time He gave And now its time to say We trust you to the Fathers love And to His tender care Held in the everlasting arms And we're so glad you're there We're so glad you're there With breaking hearts and open hands We send you with a name It hurts so much to let you go But we're so glad you came We're so glad you came My sister had sent me the link to this song right after Nicole died and now my sis-in-law borrowed it from the library.  I have listened to it twice so far in the...