Gravel Road Musings

I'm not really sure what to say about this book, but "Wow"!! I started to read it over the weekend and then D's oldest niece started it as well and read it and she couldn't put it down.  I didn't want to put it down either, but duty did call and so I just now finished the book. The story is written in two different time frames: one by the daughter Hannah seeking to understand her mother Liselotte and the other by Liselotte herself telling what she went through in Germany during WWII. She was the daughter of a prominent officer who would offer the Jews false papers, etc. in exchange for their wealth and then he would turn them in and they would be captured and taken to concentration camps or wherever, but not offered freedom. Liselotte was involved in trying to help the Jews in hiding and apparently her father was following her and turning these same people in.  I don't want to say more because it gives away too much of the story. It's a story of ...

Designed by Jody Langley This is a fun children's activity book talking about Creation and Adam and Eve's fall into sin.  It is geared for younger children--I would guess 3-6 or so maybe.  It would depend on each child to a certain extent.  My 6 month old thought eating it would be an appropriate response to the book, so in that regard she loved it.  I salvaged it from her hands and hope to have her enjoy it even more when she is a couple of years old. I thought the book accurately portrayed the story of Creation while keeping it interesting. There are lots of places to use the stickers which is a hit in my book, plus coloring, counting, dot to dot, a maze, find a word, etc. The book on first glance is very nice.  Glossy front and back along with glossy smooth pages with full colorful illustrations.  There is enough variety to keep a child's attention or so I would think. I would definitely recommend this book to others. The retail price is only $3.99...

By Kent and Amber Brantly with David Thomas This, this is a good book!!  Dr. Kent and Amber have felt a life long call to be missionaries and Kent determined to do it through medicine.  They moved to Liberia and were caught in the nastiest outbreak of Ebola ever.  Even through extreme safety precautions, Kent still managed to catch Ebola and became very sick.  This book is the story of that journey from health to sickness to near death to restored health.  It was a very fascinating and interesting book, well-written and captivating.  I can't imagine being Amber and being thousands of miles away from my husband while he is fighting a life-threatening illness. One section of the book stood out to me when I read it: this thing of saying yes to people.  We cannot say yes to everybody all the time.  We are still finite beings, but if everyone would say yes to one person, then everybody would be taken care.  He stresses how you cannot use the...

This was the second book in a series called "Brides of Seattle", so because I like to read things in order, I quick got the first book from the library and read it.  Actually the quick thing isn't quite true.  I checked our library and saw that they actually had it, so I waited another week or so and then went check it out and ta da--- it was out on load already, so then I had to request the book from a different library.  Long story short, the moral of the whole thing is: don't procrastinate and then assume that nobody in the city in which I live and surrounding villages is going to want that book. Okay back to the book.  The underlying story line is a Bridal school where girls can come to be trained in the ways of housekeeping and then prospective suitors pay to go to receptions put on by these girls and learn to know them and hopefully find a wife.  Odd, I know, but this was back in the 1800's as well.  Abrianna, who is the main character and yet not...

Okay, another marriage book.  Aren't there enough of them out there?  When I was going through Book Look Bloggers website to try and decide what book to pick to review, I know I wasn't terribly excited about this one, but if I'm getting nice free books to review I want them to be books I can hold in my hand and not books I have to have a computer on my lap to be able to read them.  Yes, I'm from the stone age and no I don't have a Kindle and no I don't need one and I'm not even sure I want one.  My husband might like if I would start my collection of books on a Kindle instead of in our house where they have completely overflowed our bookcases and now take up residence on a bathroom vanity we are storing in our storage room.  Okay, I am way off track by now, so back to it; I wanted a hold-in-my-hands book and so I decided to pick this one.  And once again, I think God was directing my choice.  But I'll get to that in a minute. I know some of the com...

From the Creators of Fireproof and Courageous War Room Prayer is a Powerful Weapon A Novelization by Chris Fabry Based on the motion picture by Alex Kendrick and Stephen Kendrick What can I say, the Kendrick brothers and Chris Fabry have done it again.  I have loved every one of Chris' books that I have read and enjoyed every movie I've watched by the Kendrick brothers and this one is no exception. I actually feel that God has had a big hand in directing my review book picks lately.  I have been blessed and challenged by so many of them lately and this one hit me between the eyes.  The focus of the book/movie is prayer.  Clara Williams is an older lady who has a war room, her prayer closet, where she has lists of names of people she is praying for.  She storms heaven's gates and laughs at the Devil at each defeat he experiences.  She senses that Elizabeth Jordan needs something from her and commits her to prayer.  Through Clara, Elizabeth se...