Gravel Road Musings

What you can do to prevent Alzheimer's and other forms of dementia So I got this book a bit skeptically. It's not my style of reading, even though I am a nurse and it probably should be. Anyone who knows me really well knows I can be the biggest skeptic if there's anything like a cure all or fix it diet or medication or herb or additive or whatever. But hey, it was a free book, so why not try it? I mean everyone knows you can't do anything to prevent Alzheimer's, so let's see what the latest idea is now. And am I glad I did, because I was wrong. I had no idea that there had been this kind of extensive research done on Alzheimer's and what seems to be causing it. There really is not a full understanding of Alzheimer's. Scientists know how the brain looks when it has Alzheimer's, they can see the results of it, they can even start to see the start of it, (happening years, up to 30, before any symptoms show up), but the whole etiology of the disea...

Illustrated by Virginia Allyn A lovely board book with a slightly padded front cover, about 8x8 inches, Night Night Jungle is a rhyming book that talks about telling the jungle animals good night. This would make a great addition to a baby/toddler book collection, though my preschooler also still really likes it. I love rhyming books and I have at least one other book by Amy and just really liked it, which is why I picked this one this time. It didn't disappoint. It starts with the sun going down and the animals getting ready to go to bed. We bid good night to lemurs, jaguars, toucans, chameleons, monkeys, parrots, frogs, and sloths. Each page shows the animal featured on the next page so you have a hint of what is coming. At the end, the moon is rising and God's creatures go to sleep. It talks of how God loves us, both at home and in the jungle, and then ends with "night night God." "It's time for the tadpoles To rest their sleepy heads; They...

100 Devotions to Know God is Holding You Close If you have read and enjoyed Lysa TerKeurst, then you will enjoy these devotionals. One hundred readings to remind you that God is there, not to help you feel good, but to help you handle life realizing that with God you can do anything. When you feel abandoned or rejected, Lysa reminds you that God is there and that you don't need to wallow in your rejection. In fact, you better stop and seriously consider whether the rejection is even real in the first place or whether you are just imagining rejection. Ouch, that can hurt, because none of us wants to believe we are imagining things, but I'm guessing we have all done it. The person who was trying to be kind and give you a break from a chore, but you took it that you just weren't good enough, yeah, those kinds of rejections that weren't meant that way at all. That's what this book is about, seeing God, remembering that He is close, but not getting bogged down in u...

A Hope Harbor Novel This is the first book by Irene Hannon that I have read, so I can't compare her books, but there were some really good pieces in this book. I will say though that I didn't like the mild swearing in this book. That is a negative to me. The setting is Oregon and a lighthouse that is in bad disrepair. Ben, the hero, inherits it when his grandfather dies. Marci has come to call Hope Harbor home and flies into action to save the lighthouse. She is a red head with the instant temper to match. So they butt heads while of course falling in love.  So that part of the story was typical typical typical, but still well done. The part of the book that I really liked and I give Irene high points for adding is the side story of Greg and Rachel. Relatively newly weds when Greg lost his leg from an IED, the couple is struggling to survive. Greg has retreated inside himself and refuses to make any effort to increase his physical mobility, to work on his marriage, or...

This is book two of the Cimarron Creek Trilogy. It has everything you would expect for the genre historical romance: the guy, the girl, the secrets, the narrow escapes, and of course the happily ever after.  But this book has a few key things that, to me, give it a leg up above other books in its genre. One is, it has God in it. God is close to Catherine, the main character. Her mother has died, but has left her a legacy of relying on God. Unfortunately, Catherine also blames the local doctor for her mother's death and resents him greatly for it. She is unwilling to forgive him until God gets a hold of her and she realizes she must let go of her bitterness and forgive. She is able to do that and even take the doctor a treat. I really appreciated this aspect of the book. Another aspect that you don't always find in books like this is the abused boy. His father was a no-good father who only wanted his son for the work he could do and when it didn't go his way would beat...

This is the first in a series called the Golden Gate Secrets.  The setting is 1905 in San Francisco, a city corrupted by a high ranking official who could be bought to do anything. And, of course, there is the hero and heroine trying to stop the corruption.  When Caleb Coulter goes missing, his sister Camri comes from Chicago to try and find him. And then, of course, there's Patrick Murdock, the poor Irishman who lost his business after the corrupt guys basically set him up. Anyway, you already know where this is going on the romance side. So let's talk a little bit about Camri. She was of the persuasion that education was everything and she had no qualms about telling people that, friends, people she didn't really know yet, etc. She was sure education would solve all problems for the poor and anyone else not having the life she did. She was arrogant about it. But through her two good friends, Julia and Kenzie, and also through Patrick and his sister Ophelia, she realiz...

How God Makes All Things Beautiful in Time For the utter irony of it all, this is such an appropriate book for right now. We are supposed to be having spring here in Northern WI and on Saturday morning we got about 8 to 10 inches of fluffy stuff and it has snowed two times since. So the search for spring is real right now. But so is this book. I picked it up, expecting it to be a bit fluffy, about how we deserve beauty and we should strive to always have beautiful things in our life, etc. But that is not what you get when you read this book.  This book is about realizing that God does make all things beautiful in His time, not our time. That means that some beauty will not be seen on this earth, it will only be visible in heaven. We are not made to find full fulfillment here. Christine has the book divided up into seasons: and for a springboard for the chapter, she uses the verses from Ecclesiastes where Solomon says that "For everything there is a season, and a time for e...

A Creative Devotional Experience Art by Carolyn Williams If you are looking for a three-minute read and a pretty picture, check out this book. It's small, about 86 pages, meaning there are about 43 verses, 43 small readings and 43 beautiful pictures to color. Again, reading devotional books cover to cover in one setting doesn't lend itself to real in depth study. But my opinion during the reading is that the verses are excellent choices to read. The small writing underneath might be slightly superficial, but it's hard to get in depth in two paragraphs, and most of the pictures are absolutely beautiful and fairly fine detailed. My recommendation would be to read the verse and the writing and while you are coloring, to pray and ask God to help you put the verse into practice in your life. To use the coloring time as a means of meditating on what God wants from you, as a means to ponder life and what you want from it versus what you feel God is calling you to, and also...