Gravel Road Musings

  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...

 I don't like to think of myself as a procrastinator, but the truth is coming hard at me that that label fits me a lot more than I like to think.  I'm supposed to be reading something inspirational or doing my devotions by 5:30 AM Monday through Friday, but more often than not I hit the Instagram button about 5:27 and you know what happens then. Maybe that is just a lack of self-control. By 7:00 AM, I'm supposed to be pulling myself out of my comfy chair and getting dressed and ready for the day. But....I can find I need to read another chapter or browse a little more online or or or. And soon, Logan comes upstairs and then I need to talk to him and read him a story and soon it is 7:20 or later. This puts the whole morning back a bit and I am soon running later than I like to be. While this doesn't matter now, it will matter come fall when I have a scholar to get off to school.  And then, the ultimate test came this week when I was sitting at the table supposed to be pl...

 I don't know if you are as sick of seeing book reviews on my blog as I am of writing them. I enjoy reading new books, but I struggle to get the reviews done in a timely fashion and then I struggle to write anything of substance between reviews. But I am working hard to get caught up on my reading this winter, so lots of book reviews it is.  If you are expecting substance today, you will be sadly disappointed. It's not that kind of blog post. It's more of a blog post to say that I can write something other than blog reviews. I was going to write a couple blog posts last month or so I said in my monthly goals, but then I got sidetracked by attempting some writing for a new magazine that is coming out. My friend, Kerra Troyer, is putting together a mothering magazine that is different from a lot of other magazines out there. For one, there is no subscription, no confirmed time line for each new magazine. Kerra is a young mom with four little children and she recognizes that d...

  Creating a Keeping Relationships That Matter A few weeks ago, I was sitting with a group of friends and we were discussing friendships. And then I read this book and feel like it was very helpful. I want to be a good friend, but sometimes I get wrapped up in my own world and friendship gets set aside or becomes very me-focused.  "Any place you craft your image for social acceptance instead of authentic sharing will, at best, result in fans." Why is it so much easier to find a perfect picture and jazzy little comment to put on Facebook or Instagram than to sit down with cups of coffee and look at a real-life person and share what's really on my heart? Which choice will yield the greatest harvest? Yes, the social media picture might garner you 100s of likes, but does anyone know you better than they did yesterday? And does it really matter how many likes you got if, deep in your soul, you are still crying for real connection?  Friendship should point you to God. We were m...

A Couple's Guide to Relaxing, Refreshing, and De-stressing Needing some creative ideas for date night? This book is full of them. You could do one a week and then you have your year's worth of dates planned.   It was fun to read about all the different ideas that we could do on date night. In all honesty, we get pretty lazy and laid back on the few date nights we have and we tend to gravitate towards the same things every time. But this book definitely mixes things up a little, so if you are looking to spice up date night, check this book out.   You could do a micro-declutter and pick an area of your house you want to declutter. Along with that idea there is an idea for how this would fit into a quality time love language.  You can then end the evening with a devotional that talks about God being the God of order. There are questions to discuss to go along with that.  Or if that's not your thing, you can go on an impulse date which involves stepping outside...