Gravel Road Musings

Redefining Hope, Beauty, and Faith in the Hardest Places This is a good book. I'm not sure what adjectives to use to describe it. Let me start by saying that I find the back cover synopsis of the book doesn't do it justice. It sounds like it will by Lynne's own journey through cancer, when in reality, while that was a very real part of the story, to me the most talked about story was her own parent's journey through cancer. While it didn't affect the beauty of the book, for me it wasn't quite what I was expecting. But moving on, there 28 chapters in the book. They are fairly short, but I think each chapter contained some nugget of gold that needs to be pondered and considered. I will also say that Lynne and her family have to be more in shape physically than I can ever hope to be. Granted, that's not saying much for this stage of my life where walking is rather limited for me. However, it seems like a lot of the chapters talked about a hiking trip they...

Based on the hit song as recorded by Chris Tomlin Written by Laura Story and Jesse Reeves This is a really cool coloring book. I love how it takes a praise song and puts pictures to it. Each double page spread has a phrase from the song on it. It gives you time to meditate on the phrase and offer your own praise to God while you color the picture. The phrase "All powerful, untameable" is repeated three times, I believe. One picture has lions running in it. Another one has wild horses, (At least I decided they were wild). And the final picture is water running over rocks on a downhill slope. I just think the pictures fit so well with the phrase. Not all of the pictures and phrases go that well, but I think that most of them fit very well. I would love to just grab some pencil crayons and get started with this book, but beings I am just a bit of "do things in order" person, I will resist for now. I was thinking it would make a great gift for someone, but I...

What it Takes to Make Your Marriage Work I like to read a few marriage books a year. I think it's good to do that. Books can give me a fresh look at marriage and inspire me to try harder to be the wife that my husband needs. I often am revived and ready to go the second mile after reading a marriage book. I often say this too, but this was one of the best books on marriage I've read. I thought Kevin had a different look at marriage than a lot of marriage books do. Maybe it's just the stage I'm in now, but I just really enjoyed the book and may have quoted from it to anyone who would listen. There are three aspects to being married, according to Kevin. You should be best friends, not exclusive friends, but best friends. This is the foundation in my mind. You love to be together, to do things together, to have fun together. You are also partners: Partners in raising a family, maybe in running a business, financial partners. There has to be a level of trust here. A...

Finding Yourself in Times of Trouble By Eugene Peterson This is a Bible Study coloring book that goes through the book of Esther. The Bible passages are all there in the Message translation. There is a section of Scripture followed by a few questions and then another section of Scripture. There are only four sessions so each session is quite lengthy and would take a bit of time to do. At the end of each session, there is a section called, "Until we Meet Again" that is for reflection and/or consideration and a prayer. There is also a section at the back for leaders that gives advice and ideas on how to lead the Bible Study and some notes for each session. Throughout the book are various pictures to color. Some are full page with a quote or just picture. Other times, it's just a small leaf or flower in the corner. The pictures do look nice and a lot of fun to color. I am looking forward to doing this Bible study and it will definitely go on my list of Bible Studi...

Defiant Joy in the Depths of Suffering Losing your 8-year-old daughter to cancer is not what any mom ever wants to do, Kate Merrick included. And yet that is what she had to do and this is her journey through that grief. It's not so much about the cancer journey, so if that is what you are expecting, you will be disappointed. But if you are looking for hope in the midst of grief, then this is the book for you. She looks at Biblical women like Sarah, Bathsheba, and Mary and the journeys they walked through and provides insight for today. For example, we often look at the Proverbs 31 woman and grow discouraged and yet it is thought that Bathsheba wrote that. Look at Bathsheba's life, not very perfect, but she made the most of it and was most blessed. One of the things Kate talked about that stomped on my toes was the thing of bitterness. "Just a teeny bit, just enough bitterness that I feel justified about it. Just enough bitterness that it colors my sense of humor a...

So in my last book review, I said I was on the lookout for some new to me authors that write books with depth. Well, Johnnie is on my list to read more of. This was the third book in a series and I'd like to read the first two sometime. For the most part, this was an easy-to-understand-on-its-own-kind-of-book, but there are some unanswered questions at the end about some of the other highly visible characters that make you want to know their stories. Hope. Redemption. Second Chances. Forgiveness. I think those themes run solidly through this book. While there's not a lot of God in this word in terms of lots of Scripture or church attendance, to me He is there. He is what made it possible for Gabe to survive his years of an unfair prison sentence. God is who changed the lives of several key characters in the book. I don't want to make this post be a spoiler for the story and so I will try to be purposefully vague. And yes, the hero got the heroine in the end and lived ...

Illustrated by Jose Perez Montero Who likes the "Where's Waldo" Books? Well, here's another option for you. Mike loves adventure and loves going back in time, especially to Bible times and looking at some of the most exciting events in history. On every open spread, there's a short Bible story and then eight objects/people to find on every page. And, of course, you also have to find Mike on every page. The stories include Jesus' birth, His first miracle, the Beatitudes, feeding of the five thousand, Triumphal entry, Pentecost, stoning of Stephen, and others. While I didn't try to find all the objects, I'm not very good at stuff like that, I didn't think they were too terribly hard to find. The pages are definitely packed full of people and objects though, so it's not just super easy to spot stuff. I think it looks like a fun book for a little bit older of a child. The genre is listed as juvenile nonfiction/religious/Christian/games and ...

Virtues and Vices of the Old West Book 3 I am on a lookout these days for good fiction authors that I haven't read yet, so I will be attempting to try a lot of books by new to me authors. And then, of course, will be writing reviews on them here on my blog. So Maggie Brendan is one of those new to me authors. The basic characters are a widow and her father and a widower and his three stepchildren that he didn't know he had until his wife died. So there's some trust issues on his part regarding women. And understandably so. But as these books go, trust was gained between the widower and the widow and they were bound to live happily ever after. The book was fine as far as fiction books go. The setting was Montana in 1866, so the genre is historical romance. And really that was all there was. There was a small amount of intrigue caused by some missing goods shipments and subsequent kidnapping, but it was all quickly resolved. One of the more interesting things in the...

This morning I was again working my way through the Act Bible Study, "An Unexplainable Life" by Erica Wiggenhorn. I take several days to go through what is meant to be a one day study, so I've been working on the story of the lame man for a few days now. But this morning, it hit me in a different way, partly because of something she said and partly because of where I'm at right now in life. Peter makes this famous saying that's a fun children's song as well, "Silver and gold have I none, But such as I have give I thee In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth Rise up and walk." Erica posed the question, why did he mention that he didn't have money. In my mind, and these are my own thoughts now, wouldn't that have been rather disheartening for the man. Why bother to stop, to look at me, if you aren't going to help. But Peter knew the bigger story at this point, he knew he had something better than money. How often do I want the ...

You're Stronger Than You Think Well, in keeping with my post earlier today about lists, this was a book that had quite a few lists scattered throughout. Divided into basically 52 bullet point chapter, John talks about looking inward, looking outward and looking upward and the keys found in these three places to not giving up. Some of his bullet points include:  * For every reason there is to lie, there's a better reason to tell the truth * Fear isn't reality * No gift from God is insignificant * Our words create our worlds * Never start your day in neutral * Find yourself by giving yourself to others *There are no shortcuts to anyplace worth going *Rise by lifting others *Stop every day and look at the size of God *The Bible is a Book of directions, not suggestions *God will use you right where you are today There are 52 of these as titles for a two to four page chapter that delves into the idea a little more in depth. And yet, it...

The other night I was thinking how much I love lists. I like reading lists on blogs, I like making lists on paper, and I like having mental lists in my head. I also have a wish list on the sticky notes on my computer, you know, just in case.... the right person would see it or something. So I thought, for fun, I should do a posts about the lists I have or have made in the past and maybe a few random things I'll put in a list at the end. So here goes: my list of lists 1. A to-do list in my daily planner 2. A list of things to do before summer Bible School this summer 3. A list of things I wanted to get done before 24 weeks 4. And a list of things to do after 24 weeks. 5. A list of all the freezer meals that are in the freezer along with breads, etc. 6. A running list in my head of things I want to accomplish 7. As mentioned, my wishlist on the computer 8. Many wish lists on Amazon 9. Goals 10. One time, a long time ago, I made a list of things I wanted to accomplish in m...