Gravel Road Musings

This was a really good story.  Nick was born without arms and legs and has definitely learned to overcome and work with his handicaps.  You can read about that process on Life without Limits. This book is the story of his love relationship with Kanae, how they met, some of the struggles they faced, etc.  I admire Kanae's commitment to love and take care of Nick.  She says she often forgets he doesn't have arms and legs and just loves him so much. I find that kind of sacrifice to be amazing.  Looking on, I am not sure I would be up for the challenge. Sometimes, I can find just the normal day-to-day sacrifices annoying because I'm being selfish and self-centered; this is a whole different level that Kanae deals with cheerfully on a day to day basis. This book records their love story from the time they met, through their dating, early marriage and first child.  It is a very realistic book.  In many ways, the dating and early marriage accounts are gea...

I am excited to again be sharing with you a lovely children's book.  This book comes in hard cover with a dust jacket.  What that means is it won't be going in with my assorted children's books that I have in a basket, but will instead be preserved nicely on a bookshelf with my other books like this.  I can't wait to read it to my little girl.  It's listed to be for ages 4-8, but I'm hoping she will be interested in it much sooner than that.  In other words, I hope she takes after her mom rather than her dad in her love of books!!!  This is a beautifully illustrated book about a bunny who was born in the spring and how he watched the world come alive around him in the fullness of summer, but than saw the leaves fall off the trees and the flowers fade and was quite concerned the earth was dying, but wait!!!  After, the long cold months of winter, spring came again and the earth once more became alive with green leaves and new birth.  The story w...

I'm so excited about this review.  I have loved the Berenstain Bears from little up.  We never had the books growing up, but I remember going with Mom to the Hardware store and making my way to the children's book section where I would read Berenstain Bears until it was time to go. So when I got the chance to review one of their books for free, I couldn't resist.  I know some people don't like the Berenstain Bears because Mama Bear seems to run over Papa Bear, but this book had nothing like that in there. This is a great children's book for ages 4 and up.  I can't put a stop age on it, because I still like them at 32, so....  The story line is Brother and Sister Bear continually bragging and trying to outdo each other.  Gramps comes along and gives them some Biblical advice after he hears them shouting at each other over who can see the best pictures in the clouds. I especially liked this book because of the Christian message carried with it.  I ...

Like a Flower in Bloom by Siri Mitchell One of my goals in this new year was to dig out the gold in the books I read for reviewing purposes and then to blog about the things that stuck out to me and that I can learn from.  If I can't learn anything from the book, is it really worth reading?  Well, this was one book, I'm not sure I would recommend on that basis.  This is the second Siri Mitchell book I have read and I'm not sure it won't be my last. The basic story plot is about a 21-year-old girl who was all into botany and helping her father publish books. She had no concern for social parties, etc. until her uncle declared she needed to be married. His words: "You're a handsome girl, Charlotte. Sturdy, Sound. Snugly put together. It shouldn't be too difficult to put you to the launch."  This is what I pulled out of the book: I thought those few lines were rather funny.  Charlotte had little etiquette though I give her credit for trying to learn...

Mothering From Scratch: Finding the Best Parenting Style for You and Your Family by Melinda Means and Kathy Helgemo This was an interesting book to read at this stage in my life.  Having not yet been given the chance to "practice" mothering on my own children, I'm hopeful some of the ideas lodged into my brain somewhere and will help making mothering easier when my own children are born. Because of the fact that I haven't "practiced" mothering yet, I did find the book a little hard to relate to and yet I thought the authors had some really, really good points.  One of the things that they stressed over and over again was the need for a relationship with God and being in tune with the Holy Spirit.  Making time for quiet time with God is a nonnegotiable to be able to be the mother God has called you to be.  Along with that is being okay with mothering in your own style and not being a people-pleaser to the detriment of your kids.  One thing that stuck ou...

I am so very tickled with how this turned out.  It was terribly easy as well.  Scared me to just stick the blanket in the car seat, line stuff up, and then cut down the middle of the blanket, but it seems to have worked out well.  Just one little note to self--when buying fabric for things like this, you might want to take into consideration the color of the car seat and the number of projects you are doing that pertain to the car seat.  While I have a real eclectic collection of flannel for this baby, I decided after I bought all the material that the two blankets for the car seat really should have some matching colors. So, I have changed my plans and now I have a lovely purple minky fabric to find something to do with.  I just hope I will actually put it to use instead of saving it as I am way too apt to do.   This  is the blog where I got the basic pattern off of.  I didn't follow it exactly because I didn't see the point in trying to do...

The beginning of this post is being written at the one year mark when everything seemed as relatively normal as it could be.  We were still battling the unknowns of a special needs child, but life was evening out a little emotionally at least momentarily while we waited for the next appointment.  A year ago, we had spent a good portion of the day at D's work Christmas party.  It had been a good day. It's so weird, you go to bed and everything seems normal; you wake up and your world falls apart.  Some days it would just be better to stay in bed!! One year later and I feel like my time needs to be split between celebrating Nicole's short life and treasuring the life growing inside and doing everything I can to protect it. Happy Birthday Nicole Brooke Glick!!!!!!  I don't know how they celebrate birthdays in heaven, but I can only imagine that it's pretty amazing.  I hope they have a party with cupcakes and party hats and singing and dancing and a speci...

by Chris Fabry based on the motion picture screenplay by Richard L. Ramsey This book generated some very mixed emotions in me.  The book was written to be a modern adaptation of Solomon's life based on Ecclesiastes and Song of Solomon and to provide wisdom for committed love, true beauty and satisfaction in relationships.  I have to be honest though, it took me awhile to get into the book.  I like Chris Fabry as an author; his style is a little different from the norm and can capture my attention, so I was really looking forward to reading this book.  I have to admit though that for the first half, I read it more because I needed to.  It felt so predictable.  Singer meets small-town girl, they fall in love, get married, he goes off to make his fame and fortune, she stays home to raise the family. He comes home every now and then because he needs his wife and she is not interested in being needed only for her body. He falls into lust with his co-lead sing...

It's January 5 today.  Remember how a few short days ago, I wrote about January being the start of a new year and a clean slate or whatever other stuff I wrote about it.  Well, I just want you to know that I've changed my mind. I DON'T LIKE JANUARYS ANYMORE!!!!! I know that's a strong statement, but January is starting to feel like a foreboding month to me.  Two years ago, we were trying to pick up the pieces after a miscarriage that left me more heartbroken than I ever expected. One year ago tomorrow, our world was turned upside down by the potential prospect of a Down Syndrome baby and then only 8 days later to give birth to our precious baby girl, Nicole Brooke who went straight to heaven. So what about this year?  Well, we just got home after spending a weekend in the hospital trying to stop preterm labor for the little miss that isn't scheduled to make her debut until March.  Now, I suppose because they were able to get the labor stopped and I am ba...

Well, now doesn't that look like the typical romance book, Christian romance of course.  And you would be correct in drawing that conclusion, but I do really like this series of books.  It's the fourth in a series about the Christiansen family and this book deals a lot with love and forgiveness and overcoming past mistakes and being able to move forward.  I'm really not going to give a lot of the story line behind the book except to say that Casper is the middle child with the need to save the world.  He wants to find the lost treasure, he wants to heal the hurting lady, he wants to prove himself to his family that he isn't just a failure.  So he first runs away to dig for pirate's treasure, but then comes back home and tries to forget the woman he fell in love with who happens to have a past that kicks him in the gut.  Interested yet? But here's what I really want to focus in on-- some advice that John, Casper's father gave to him.  Listen to a fe...

It always feels a little awkward to start writing the date for the new year.  It seems to take a big to get used to it and yet as I said yesterday, a new year feels so well NEW!!!  A fresh page, a brand-new start, dreams and goals all open and exciting. So, what about resolutions, schmezolutions?  Do you do them?  Or do you laugh at people who do and make bets about how long it will be before they break them?  If you do make resolutions, are you a staunch, write-it-down-post-it-on-the-fridge sort of person or is it just kind of a general idea that you would like to pursue in the new year. Me?  I think I've done a little of each.  Never posted them on the fridge though.  That would be going to far for me-- maybe in my daily planner. To be honest, I didn't think a lot about resolutions until I wrote yesterday's post and realized it's that time of year.  One resolution that I think would be good for everyone will be posted in my next blog ...