Gravel Road Musings

So one of my goals for this year is to help sew on 36 to 48 quilt tops. Mom and I have a pretty good system down. We cut at her house, I take them home and sew as much as I can, she comes and irons while I sew. We get them all into blocks or strips, then she takes them home, sews the top together and adds the border. And then yesterday, in the middle of lots of ironing, my iron done did quite working.  It was sad in two ways. It was sad because we were on a roll, the littles were in bed and we were gonna get stuff done. It's sad in another way because it's a little extreme when an iron quitting can so completely disrupt one's day. But it was all good. We loaded up, I went with Mom back home, we sewed and ironed and then, (happy dance) D and I went on a date yet too.  Now that's turning lemons into lemonade, for me at least. Mom was left with the too-tired-to-be-good 3 year old.   Enroute to NJ, I believe. She spent about 20.5 hours in this seat on the way ou...

And the truth that sets them free. Originally published in 2001, Lies Women Believe has sold over one million copies. Nancy came back, edited, revised, and added a new chapter to make this version bigger and better.  Seriously, if you are struggling with feeling like life isn't what you want, that God isn't good, that you can't do it all, etc. etc. then this is the book for you. Nancy seeks to uncover 45 lies that women believe and she exposes the truth to each of these lies that will set you free. While I can't relate necessarily to all of them, there were many that I could. Arranged in chapters: God, themselves, sin, priorities, sexuality, marriage, children, emotions, and circumstances, the lies are subheadings under these chapters. At the end of every chapter is a synopsis with the lie and the truth along with numerous Scripture verses to back it all up. An excellent book. There is also a study guide that goes along with this book and I am hoping to get that a...

A 60-Day Journey into a Deeply Meaningful Life Ann has a way with words, I don't think anyone will deny that. I will confess that sometimes the almost poetic way she uses words can leave me a little confused as to what she is saying. Sixty days, sixty devotionals and the theme is brokenness leads to abundance. And she's right. What she says makes sense. Did you sense a pause at the end of the last paragraph? There was, I think. Reading 60 devotionals back to back in less than a week is not the way to really soak in the content. Instead, it starts to feel a bit redundant. You need love and to really love you need to be broken. You can't have walls around your heart if you want to love. To care about other people, you need to love, and to love you must be willing to be broken.  It's broken people that know how to care, it's broken people that can swim deep in God's grace. What she said was so true. I feel like I need to go back and reread these devotionals ...

The Sugar Baron's Daughters Book 1 Set on the Island of Nevis at a time when the island was used for producing sugar, Keturah and her two sisters are trying to revive their late father's plantation and make it profitable again.  They have left England and are willing to work hard in the fields themselves to try to make it work. Keturah carries some deep hurts from her marriage. Her late husband was a cruel man who abused her however he saw fit. This has left her determined to avoid marriage again to any many, including her childhood friend (You all know where this is going right?)  Keturah also had written off God because of this. Now, after being on the island, she recommits herself to God, to trusting Him, and letting Him into her life. The other plantation owners are determined to run her into the ground. They don't like her way of operating, her way of kindness with the slaves, and for sure not her way of hiring a former slave as an overseer. It is a fascinating...

This is not the typical book I review, simply because I try to avoid having to write reviews on these subjects, but I think this is a very pertinent book with some thoughts we would do well to listen to. There are some practical things here both relating to sexuality as well as relating to life in general. Mo is a former All-American goalkeeper for the Louisiana State University soccer team. She was also very sexually promiscuous while boldly proclaiming her commitment to virginity. Exposed to pornography at 8 years old by finding pictures in her dad's truck, she became addicted. This led over into her relationships with boys where she would go as far as she could while still being able to hold on to her virgin title. This would be one conversation the church could do better at. She was told it was good to remain a virgin until she got married, but neither the church nor her parents gave the deeper reason: purity. She saw it as a thing to accomplish, not a heart matter or a com...

Entertaining the ones you love the whole year through Wow!! It's beautiful. And big. Gorgeous pictures. Yummy looking food. These are all descriptions that could be used to describe this book. A nice big hardcover book, I would guess about a 9x10 size, with nice thick pages full of beautiful photographs, decorating ideas, and yummy looking recipes, it's a cook's delight. I love to look at books like this. They make me want to throw a party and celebrate something, do some cooking, make something extravagant. There are some delicious sounding recipes in here, like cherry hand pies, blackberry cobbler with homemade vanilla ice cream, key lime coconut bars, ham and swiss croissants with poppy-seed mustard, and so on and so on. Yum, yum, yum. There are tips for breakfast in bed, hostess gifts, wrapping any gift, and doing a smores bar. There are decorating, styling tips for a mother's day brunch, bridal showers, wine tasting, tailgating, even a milkshake party, and so ...

A Story of Friendship Illustrated by Justin Skeesuck and Matt Waresak This is a beautiful hardcover children's book, with a dust jacket, that tells the story of the friendship between two boys, one in a wheelchair with no ability to use his arms and legs and the other boy who would carry him, feed him and push him where he needed to go. The illustrations are nicely done, watercolor with ink, is the style I believe. It's an amazing story of friendship that I think kids of this age need to hear and emulate. It required something from both boys, John had to be willing to be helped and Marcus had to be willing to help. Both boys learned something from the other one. What makes this story better is the truth behind it. Patrick and Justin are those friends. Even though, as young children there were no disabilities, today, as men,  Justin has lost the use of his extremities and Patrick is there to support and encourage him, including pushing him 500 miles on his wheelchair ac...

It's been two weeks now, since my mother-in-law passed away. In some ways, it feels hardly that long and in other ways, it feels like a lifetime. It's hard to believe life was normal only three weeks ago. We were planning a Valentine's supper and just enjoying life. Yesterday, in church, our pastor talked about this Psalm: Bless the Lord, Oh My Soul.  How do you bless in the midst of bereavement? How do you see gratitude when all around it feels like grief? Is it easy? No, but it is vitally important. Have I attained? Not even close. But I think what our Sunday School teacher said yesterday also applies to this: when you get into a negative spiral, things go south in a hurry. Everything starts looking bad, everyone is out to get you, and nobody can do anything right. But if you start looking for the positive, the same thing can happen in a positive way. Things can start to spiral upwards and you start seeing good in the midst of pain and sadness. And that is what I wa...

At last, the long awaited conclusion to the If I Run series. The one bad thing about reading new books is you can't read a whole series back to back. You actually have to wait for the next book in the series to be written, printed, and released. Oh the problems we have in this great land!! You can read my reviews on the first two books  here and  here  . As I've said before, this style of writing is not normally my style at all. I don't generally like the first person style of writing. I like to be able to get a broader view of what's going on then just through the mind of the main character. Not only is this book first person, it hops back and forth between three people, all written in first person. And it's excellent writing. Not only that, but the subject of writing isn't really my thing either. I'm not a big mystery fan and for sure not murder mystery. The series has Casey Cox being framed for murder and running and Dylan Roberts hired to find her...

It was a normal Monday. I love Mondays, if I haven't mentioned that before. I don't really remember what I was doing. I know I did a few loads of laundry and just some of the normal household duties. I remember also that Dave came home earlier than he does sometimes. We were having a nice evening at home, psyching Amber up for her birthday the next day and her party on the weekend. Then came the call that no one ever wants to get: Mom and Dad Glick were in an accident. We don't know much, but they were both taken to the hospital and the police said it didn't look good for Mom. Richard's and Allen were on their way. Then came the waiting. I realize that D and I process things so differently. I want to talk and talk and talk and D goes quiet. I'm trying to learn to be okay with this. I kept working and putting things away and getting the kids ready for bed.  Then came the final call: Mom is gone. She has passed into eternity. She is with Jesus. Amber had the p...

This was the first book I read by Sarah and I hope it won't be the last. I really enjoyed her writing.  I like to post my reviews within a day of finishing the book so it is fresh in my memory, but due to an emergency trip, I'm about 12 days late and so I hope I can pull this together in a way that makes sense and expresses the good content of this book. Yes, it's the normal boy meets girl or maybe girl meets boy, but there is some good truths in here along with some interesting history.  The story is centered around D-Day and all the preparation that went into it. Dorothy was one of the people who took pictures people sent in and helped piece together a layout of the Normandy beaches to help plan the best strategic mission. Wyatt was in the Navy and helped plan the mission and execute it as well. Of course, they are fiction, but it was interesting to read some of the strategy involved. One of Wyatt's most common phrases was, "It's the right thing to do....