Gravel Road Musings

  Almost a year ago, I posted my review of the Bible Recap, the book itself. You can read that  here  if you want to. Now Tara-Leigh Cobble has come out with the study guide and a journal to go with the Bible Recap. There is just something about Bible Study guides and journals that pull me in and so I have both of them beside me right now. I haven't done them, I haven't read the Bible Recap book yet either, but it's on my list of things to do for 2022.  The Study Guide is a fairly thick book and is divided out in a Bible reading plan that matches the Bible Recap reading plan. It is meant to accompany either the book or the podcast though I suppose you could use it as a stand alone perhaps, though I don't think it could feel a bit fragmented. Each section seems to have at least four questions that go along with that day's reading. They seem to be questions that are based off of the reading and not so much thought-provoking questions that make me dig into my own heart...

  Finding God's Good Gifts in Motherhood First off, is that not a beautiful cover? I think the cover drew me into the book and now I would tell every mom I know to go read the book. It was so good. I do know that part of the reason it really resonated with me is that we are doing a Fruits of Spirit Bible Study right now and the good gifts that Laura is talking about are the Fruits of the Spirit, so there was definitely a connection for me.  The first thing that hit me and has really helped me since I read the book was to reframe my to-do list. What if instead of looking at all the things I have to do in a day for my family, I looked at these same things as get-tos. I get to make breakfast for my family. I get to wash their dishes. I get to do the school run. Talk about a game changer. Things you get to do are things that are fun and exciting and you look forward to them. Things you have to do can be faced with drudgery and a bad attitude.  Another thing Laura brought out ...

  real talk on pregnancy loss I'm not quite sure how to start this book review.  Two chapters into the book, this is what I said, "This is the book I wish I would have had nine years ago after my first miscarriage. I'm only two chapters in and, while time has lessened the feelings, I can relate so much." Rachel shares her experiences with miscarriages and also snippets from many others and it all blends together to create this book. There are four sections to the book: loss, lament, love, and legacy. Rachel would hold that there is no wrong way to grieve and I do agree with that as a concept. I think individually, we can get off track at times. I know I did and I went down the route of self-pity, which, I suppose, could be argued that that was not grieving. However, overall, everyone grieves differently and we need to give each other room for those differences and show compassion and seek to understand as best as we can. Where this book started to lose me is in the in...

 Motherhood is Trust I lined them up on the porch steps to capture the classic first day of school picture. Amber beamed with the enthusiasm of a first grader and Logan stood reluctantly beside her unsure of what all this meant. (Trust me, the excitement was definitely more prominent than this less than stellar picture portrays) And I cheerfully snapped the picture and excitedly sent her off to her first day of school. And no, I am not the mom who escorts her child in to her classroom and gets her settled in. That had happened the evening before and quite honestly, my daughter is entirely too independent for that. She will go in by herself, thank you very much. But this first day of school is just one more area that moms are continually having to choose to trust. I have to trust that she is ready, I have to trust that we taught her enough to get by. I have to trust that she will make friends, not be bossy, play nicely with others, eat in a somewhat respectful manner, and a host of ...

  Set in the Appalachian Mountains, Cindy weaves a story together that leaves you turning the pages just wondering what is going to happen next. And she does leave you with a bit of a surprise ending. Generally, in books like this by the end of the first chapter, you know that this is going to have at least some for "and they lived happily ever after", and this book started that way, but it didn't end quite like I expected. Worie Dressar is left an orphan at 17 and over the next couple months, surprise after surprise waits for her. She is stubborn and hard-headed and a little selfish and so her job is to learn to let go and trust God. She has to learn to think a bit before she speaks. This isn't easy, but gradually she learns and makes changes. And, as it turns out, her heart is as big as her momma's was and she takes on her mother's legacy. One thing I can really learn from this book is generosity. I have seen this in other Appalachian stories as well. Worie...

  Trusting God Through my Greatest Heartbreak Mattie Jackson Selecman was just 28 years old when her worst nightmare came to pass. Widowed after less than a year of marriage, her world fell apart. In this book, she records her journey over the last 3 years and how she is learning and growing through her grief. Normally, reading a book doesn't really affect me and I can read and go straight to sleep, but I finished this book at bedtime and it took me a bit to fall asleep. I think it was mostly because my mind played the what-ifs game and I needed to commit my family to God. This book is raw, but also hopeful as well.  "We do all we can to not live in the fear of Friday or Saturday, but to hoard, herald and hold captive the joy of Sunday. Why wouldn't we? We long for Sunday just as we long for lemonade." "What I can tell you is that in the middle of my worst nightmare come true, even when I didn't know how to talk to God or trust God, God continued to show me h...

Motherhood is Repetitious I stood at the kitchen sink washing dishes AGAIN!! I paused a moment to holler out the now familiar triple command: "Flush the toilet. Close the lid. Wash your hands". And then I resumed washing the same dishes I had washed the day before and the day before that and the month before that and the year before that. The dishes have grown fewer over the years as more and more have succumbed to the hard tile kitchen floor and been reduced to shards that live on only in memory, but still I washed.  After washing dishes, there were the same counters to wipe AGAIN, the same clothes to fold, the same floor to sweep. There were the same commands to issue, "Come pick up your shoes and put them away." "Go put your socks where they belong" "No, that is not where they belong, go put them where they belong." I have found clothes in odd places because of the lack of desire to put them away right. (A month ago, when I was frantically cle...

  Five Keys to Helping Your Kids Connect Well With Others As I started reading the book, I wasn't immediately drawn in. It felt like a lot of time was taken writing about what they were gonna write about and where to go get more resources. But once they got into the five keys, I found it helpful and good to read about. In all honesty, a lot of the information shared would be things that I already work at every day. Did I need reminding? Yes, yes I did. I am not always the intentional mom I would like to be.  Attachment, resilience, wise decisions, etc comprise the five keys to relational intelligence. At this point, teaching resilience when told no is the biggest hurdle in this household and it's one I have been working on more intentionally since reading this book.  I think my biggest takeaway from this book would be to continue to be intentional with my children and to guard their use of technology. Make sure they know how to hold face-to-fact conversations and have lea...

  Written as a series of letters, Amy Lynn Green crafts an interesting story that has you rapidly turning the pages in a quest to find out what really happens. Enough information is shared in the letters and newspaper articles to get an idea of what is going on, but there is still enough left unsaid that has you reading between the lines and wondering what will happen in the end.  The book focuses on POW camps in the US with a side serving of Japanese internment camps. The letters are mostly between an American spitfire and a Japanese-American civilian who is teaching at a military school. Joanna, the American, is snarky and funny and has no idea about manners and etiquette. She says things like they are, which, as you can imagine, doesn't always endear her to the general public. Peter, the Japanese-American, tries to guide her correctly, but it also obvious he loves her despite her quirks.  "Sometimes showing grace breaks us before it heals us. Forgiveness can feel like ...

I stood at my kitchen sink washing dishes, again, and thought about my poor neglected blog. I've been wanting to write again, but words and timing haven't always aligned and it hasn't happened. But as I stood there washing dishes I thought about the words tumbling around in my head and wondered if I could do a series on motherhood. Each one would be title Motherhood Is followed by a one word descriptor of how I perceive motherhood. So there you have it, the inspiration for the following series.  MOTHERHOOD IS LAUGHTER I wanted to start off with something lighthearted that is motherhood to me. Sometimes being a mom can drag us down, but I think we all need laughter to lighten us up and remind us that these precious little humans we are raising are fun loving beings who need to see the fun in life too. And incidentally, the above picture was taken when I was 38 6/7 days pregnant and let's be honest, crying was the emotion of choice, not laughter. Definitely not laughter I...

  Kim Vogel Sawyer has a talent for writing in a style that I love and always want more of. This book was no different and I read it in a matter of a couple of days. Of course, being on vacation certainly helped me be able to read it faster.  Fanny is an indentured servant on a river boat. Indentured servant is a nice term, basically she was a slave. She finds a chance to flee because she knows that her master is not going to give her her freedom when her time is up. I don't want to give a lot of spoilers, but there is, of course, the happy ending and the suspenseful moments before you reach the happy ending that keep you on the edge of your seat. But there's something I want to focus on and I hope I don't give away any spoilers in doing this. There is a point, towards the very end of the book, when Fanny's freedom is once again endangered and she is not sure she will remain a free person physically. It is at that point that she realizes something very profound. She rea...

  This historical fiction opened up a whole new area of history for me that I was very unaware of. I knew of the Indian schools that the white people had established and how awful it was for the Indians, how they were to give up their own culture to embrace the white man's way of life, but what I didn't know was that there was someone who was taken in by their singing and who set about to preserve it for generations to come. Enter Natalie Curtis. She hears one elderly Indian woman singing a song and she is transfixed and given a purpose that she pursues with intensity for the next couple of years. This purpose helps to restore the health and vigor that had been stolen from Natalie at the beginning of her music career. While historical fiction, Jane tried to stay as true to the story as she could. There really is a book called "The Indians' Book" edited by Natalie Curtis and filled with songs, legends, stories and more that tell of numerous Indian tribes at the tur...

  Illustrated by Guy Wolek This is the story of a crab who loves adventure. He will go where ever he can in his quest to see what he can discover. But one day, he is lifted out of the water and taken away and what will happen to him now? I got this book last week in the mail and I have read it aloud at least four times. My four-year-old son loves the story.  I like how Kevin and Layla made the story their story showcasing their biracial family. I thought the illustrations were also well done. But in all honesty, the story doesn't grab me like it grabs my four-year-old son. I feel like there's something missing. Other than the crab being happy there is no real moral to the story, it's just a nice story. And while I have no problems with just a nice story, I like when stories drive home a truth that I hope will stick with my kiddos. However, as it stands now, I have many more readings of this book to undergo until my son tires of it.  I received this book from Bethany House...

  Making prayer the first and best response to motherhood.  This is the second book of Brooke's that I have read and it was every bit as good as the first. It took me a bit to get into it, but that was due in part to it not being a great book to read when you are really tired. But once I had time and energy, the book was super good and just what I needed to kick start me back into working on being an intentional mom.  Brooke attacks some of the common excuses and challenges that she hears from moms that are preventing them from praying. Excuses like I don't know if my prayers really matter or I don't know what to pray and others. I don't have to wait until I have all my ducks in a row to pray and Brooke does a good job of showing you that. I think one of the most powerful things for me in reading this book was the way she prays the Bible. She will take a Bible verse and just pray it back to God as it pertains to a circumstance she is facing. It really makes the Scriptur...

  5 Skills Every Child Needs in a Tech-Driven World A few years ago, Gary and Arlene wrote a book called, "Growing up Social" on how to raise relational kids in a world dominated by screens. You can read my review about that book  here . Now they have written another book, an updated version if you will, because of the increase in screen use over the last few years.  "It's time to treat our kids with more respect and attention than we give our phones. And we must fight for our kids to experience childhood before experiencing devices." This book is an excellent read for any parent that is concerned about what, if any, effect screens will have on their kids. It's sobering and creates a huge responsibility for me as a mom to create a culture in our home that doesn't place so much attention on screens. I use my phone a lot and, since reading this book, I have been trying to be more intentional about when and how I use my phone. I need to be modeling for my c...

  This is the second book I've read by Amanda Cox and it won't be the last, at least as long as she keeps writing books.  This is the story of the Old Depot Grocery store in Tennessee, well really it's the story of the three generations of ladies who worked at the Old Depot Grocery over the years. From Glory Ann who arrived at the store as a broken-hearted young bride to Rosemary who allowed guilt to keep her there through the years to Sarah who is trying to find what she wants in life and is sure it is at this grocery store, Amanda weaves a story of secrets, loss, reconciliation and hope all together into a highly readable story.  "I think that's how God works in our lives a lot of times. He doesn't give us the whole picture. He gives us that one stop. We just have to have the courage to take it and trust that when we do, it will become clear where to put our next foot. "  So often I want to know what the whole story will be and how it will all turn out a...

  First off, isn't that a pretty cover? It feels quiet and contemplative and in many ways it is descriptive of this story. As a little girl, Susie often wondered about the children of Vietnam during the Vietnam War and then as an adult, when researching the Vietnam War for another book, she came across the Babylift Operation where children were taken out of Vietnam. Out of that research comes this fictional story of Minh, or Mindy as she was called.  I would call it a quiet story, a story of life told in three different viewpoints with each viewpoint representing a different time frame.  Linda, the mother, tells the story in the 1970's when Mindy joined the family. She shares the struggle with acceptance that took place by some in the family and the initial adjustment. Sonny, Mindy's older sister, tells the story in the 80's and shows the differences between the two sisters in her quest to belong and be accepted. Bruce, the father, tells the story in the 2000's afte...

  This is the third book I have read by Valerie with her fourth sitting in my night stand. I will read any book she writes. I love her way of writing, the stories she pulls together from the south.  This book is set in Louisiana, deep in the bayou. Travel is mostly by boat and as I read the descriptions of going from one channel to the next, I was lost in the reading of it, and am sure I would have been hopelessly lost had I needed to travel that way. Alligators are prevalent with a legend about an all-white alligator for whom a bounty has been set.  Into this setting comes Ellie Fields. She's from a small town in Alabama and she is searching for home, a place to belong. She comes to teach school, falls in love, and lives the rest of her days there. And while that's a theme in the book, it doesn't feel as overarching as it can in some books. There is also the alligator bounty, there is an outgoing, gregarious man who becomes a dear friend of Ellie's, there is foul play ...

  Divided into five categories, the daily question conversation card set provides 100 questions designed to start conversations around the family table or anywhere you need some good conversation. I love this type of thing and think it would be a great thing to use when having friends over for coffee or even with your children to see what answers they come up with. This summer, Dave and I are spending hours together in the kitchen and I think it would be fun to use these questions to generate discussions that go beyond our normal conversations. The five categories are friends and family, travel, faith, just for fun, and then and now.  Let me give you some sample questions:  "Would you rather have ten close friends or one best friend? Why?" "If your house had a magic door that opened anywhere, where would you want it to lead?" "What helps you replace your fear with faith?" "You are organizing a big art museum heist. Who from your life do you pick for y...

  Set in the Appalachian Mountains during the Great Depression, Ann takes us on another journey exploring what life could have been like for those living in the mountains, this time as a packhorse librarian. Times are hard during the Great Depression and Tansy's father has left home looking for work and has not been heard from. Tansy loves books and takes the job as a librarian so she can help support her family. In spite of the inclement weather she sometimes has to go out in, she loves her job.  There are a lot of varied characters in the book and you have to love each one of them. Perdita is persnickety and cranky on the surface, but opens her heart to Coralee who desperately needs her help. I would love to describe more of the characters, but I feel like I give away too much of the story to do that. I loved the community feel in this book, the way people looked out for each other, the way they opened their home and shared what little they had to help the next person. I thi...

  This book was in the genre of historical romance and it certainly lived up to that title. I liked the premise of the book--a wealthy girl accused of stealing and ending up in a reformatory which helped to revolutionize her life. Rachel did some research on reformatories of that era and found that they were kind of a prelude to juvenile detention facilities. Then there was the quiet, socially inept dentist who was transformed. Rachel wanted to paint a dentist in a good light since she felt that so many dentists were given more of a negative connotation.  The writing was well done and the story line interesting. I thought Rachel did a good job of showing forgiveness and reconciliation, including the importance of being able to forgive one's self for their wrong actions. After spending five years in a reformatory with women from all walks of life, Hazel has a much deeper heart for "fallen women" as they were called in that day.  Over all, the story flowed almost too smooth...

  A 6-week guided journey to un-hurrying your heart Let me say first off, this is not the book "Growing Slow", this is the study guide that goes with the book. Let me also say, I haven't read the book and did not realize there was a book to go along with this study guide until I opened the study guide to look at and write this review.  I haven't done the study guide because I was in the middle of a different study book when it arrived, but I was intrigued with what I saw. Reading the book is not a requirement for this study guide, but it does provide a framework and some key concepts that help you apply the lessons learned. For my personality, I will probably try to read the book along with the study guide when I do it, but I was happy to see that I won't have to in case I can't get a hold of the book through the library or Net Galley.  Each week's study has six sessions: key Bible verse, My land (where Jennifer shares her struggles with Iowa), Your land H...

  I like Crystal Paine and I follow her on Instagram, but when I saw she wrote a parenting book, I will admit I raised my eyebrows a bit. Her kids are still in their early teens, what does she know about parenting? But then I read the book and I was hooked from the first chapter on.  The first couple chapters are so much deeper than parenting. They hit on the core of who we are as humans and on how we will live based on our beliefs. If I could describe in two words the premise of the book, I would say, "Live Loved".  Before we can be love-centered parents, we must first believe that we are loved, that God loves us and it is out of that love that we can love others.  "You can't give what you don't have. You can't love your kids well if you don't believe you are fully loved yourself." "Love-centered parenting is about wholeheartedly loving our kids because we know how much we are wholeheartedly loved by God."  Love-centered parenting isn'...

  Mother's Day.  Two simple words that I am sure invoke images of something for everyone of you. There are things that we expect on Mother's Day. We expect flowers or some form of gift. We expect all our chores to be done. We expect the Internet to explode with mother and children pictures, all dressed nicely and all smiling happily. That's the happy expectations of Mother's Day. But for others, Mother's Day is no different from any other day-nobody notices the sacrifices they make every day. Nobody acknowledges their sleepless night and long days. Nobody seemingly cares about them as a mom. And then there are still others for whom Mother's Day invokes sadness. On this day, they are once again reminded that their arms are empty or their children have walked away from their love or there is some other reminder of pain on that day. Mother's Day has meant numerous things to me through the years. Eight years ago, Mother's Day was more of a hidden grief known...

  Miriam, Moses and Aaron's sister. How much more than that do we really know about her? There are few references here and there: she led the singing after crossing the Red Sea, she was made a leper for a couple weeks for complaining about Moses, and not much more info than that is given. Jill takes this information and ad libs a story about Miriam, gives her a husband, children, and a life. Interspersed throughout are glimpses into Moses' life and also Zipporah's. Most is based on fiction and what Jill supposed to have happened.  I'm not a huge fan of Biblical fiction, but Jill does tell a good story and so I keep reading her books. I'm not sure what I'll do when the next book comes out though. While I enjoyed the story of Miriam, it took me awhile to get through it. That is no fault of the author's, it is simply not quite my genre of choice. I do like one thing Jill said in the "Note to the Reader" at the end of the book. "The thing this sto...

  istockphoto.com I walked into the kitchen this morning, feeling good about the fact that I had gotten up when my alarm rang the first time. I was going to have an extra amount of time to sit and enjoy the peace and quiet, which tells you I have been hitting the snooze button way too many times lately.  The first thing I noticed was this brown puddle on the floor. What in the world? Did Dave dump his coffee? But he wouldn't just walk away and leave the mess if he did. No, his coffee mug was still in the drainer. So what happened? Ahh, there I see it, the coffee pot is sitting there by itself away from the coffee maker. Hmm, it did a very bad job of catching the coffee this morning and our coffee maker is smart enough to tell me it won't run if I didn't empty the grounds out of the basket, but it's not smart enough to figure out the coffee pot isn't where it belongs? That's a problem and it created a very big problem this morning.  So instead of sitting in my ch...

  A Mother's Search for Grace I saw this book on NetGalley and was immediately intrigued. Why? Because I recognized the author's name. Right away, I went to Shari's blog to see if it was the Shari I am acquainted with. Sure enough. That was all the impetus I needed to pick the book up right away and start reading. The message of the book and the style of writing kept me spellbound through the entire book. My only regret is that it is not published yet so I cannot hold a paper copy in my hands, flipping back and forth, and drinking in the words.  For me, reading a digital copy, it is harder to go back and forth and fully take in the language and the emotion of the words in front of me. So I eagerly await the arrival of the paper copy in July.  Life has dealt me some blows and I have dealt with depression in a small scale. Reading Shari's words opened up depression for me in a much bigger, more real way. Listening to her fight against the darkness and then finally take th...