Gravel Road Musings

A lovely, heartwarming story. Set in Alabama during World War II, Little Mama's house becomes a boarding house where a group of strangers meets and live and become best of friends. Was this house really built by a river pirate? And what became of them? And is there a treasure to be found? Questions you will have to read the book to find out what the answers are. Dolly and Si are genuine, down-to-earth people that seem to exemplify the phrase, "Southern Hospitality." They open their homes to the down and out young couple from Illinois, the older professor couple from Chicago, an old war vet and a young war vet who is fighting demons still. It's a story of friendship and love and loss. Yes, there's a bit of romance, of course, but to me, the story is so much bigger than that. It's about a young couple learning to find each other again, it's about an older couple fully settling on what's really important, it's about generosity. It's so hard ...

Someday I'm gonna be good at life. Someday I am going to update this blog with recent pictures which mean that... Someday I am going to upload my camera pics to my computer in a timely fashion. Someday I am going to catch up on all my reading and read a whole bunch of books for fun. Truthfully I'm trying that this year and I'm enjoying it, but I still have the pressure of needing to get books read to write a review about them. Someday I will laugh at myself and how easily disturbed I got over the smallest little details that didn't matter anyway. Someday I will enjoy having my children not take naps. Or will I? Someday I will be caught up on all my hobbies and I will be at a loss for what to do. Okay, I'm already laughing at that big fat lie. Someday I will love being disturbed in the middle of a project or a chapter or nothing and will gladly go run an errand for someone. Someday I will make supper without se...

How Imperfect Parens can Raise Resilient, Loving, and Wise-Hearted Kids "When we begin to accept that clumsy is the best we get - like giraffes on ice - we can begin to offer what our children really need from us: heartfelt relationship." Doesn't that turn the typical parenting book on its head? This is not a what-to-do parenting book. First, this book addresses the parents and how they need to live from their heart if they ever expect their kids to be able to do the same. Do I project my bad childhood or good childhood on to my children and try to live vicariously through them? Do I push my agenda for my children on to them even though it is not anything that they would like to do or pursue? Do I let my issues get in the way of a real relationship with my children? Are my children able to come to be about anything knowing I'm not gonna fly off the handle or totally abuse what they say? This book was challenging. One of the things that stuck out to me was the ...

What Friendship with a Syrian Refugee Taught me about Loving My Neighbor "The book I thought I might write embarrasses me now. "Instead, I wrote a book in which, at first glance, nothing happens. At least not on the outside. I feel like I should have a disclaimer on the cover: 'No one was harmed in the creation of this book.' But something was harmed. Something happened." These two paragraphs describe it quite well for me. When I started reading the book I was like, wait what? I thought this was going to be about Mohammad's journey from fleeing his home to landing in the US, but instead, Shawn is writing a fair amount about himself and his life? Huh? But the writing was so good and it pulled me in and I kept on reading. And then I went and reread the title and was like, oh yeah, this is supposed to be about friendship and not bombs and close calls. The story starts with Shawn's initial decision to write a book about a Syrian refugee and it follow...

Cultivating Lasting Friendship in a Lonely World Are you looking for close-knit friendships, for that bosom friend that Anne of Green Gables longed for and found in Diana? Are you just hoping it will drop in your lap with no effort on your part? Well, you are in for a real surprise, but this book will help you learn to cultivate the qualities of friendship in your own life so you can be that friend that you want someone to be in your own life. It will also help you to reach out and take the initiative to make friends. In full disclosure, I started to read this book with a bit of bias. I struggle to fully connect with Sally--she seems so idealistic and so perfect in her motherhood that in my struggling, bumbling attempt at motherhood, I feel pretty imperfect and unqualified. But I thought adding in her daughters, this might be a good book. And I was right. I did appreciate this book. There were a lot of good thoughts and good ideas that I would like to incorporate into my own life...

As a lot of you know, I like goals and lists and checking things off. This year, I was trying to have a weekly check-in with my journal so I could set tabs on how I was doing. I was also setting some smaller, monthly goals in my planner. Well, let me tell you how this week went, it didn't. At all. I did some laundry, kept the kids alive. I won't even say I kept them happy, this morning was probably the worst morning yet, it was chaotic around here and by 10:30 I seriously regretted not taking up my mom's offer to come and get the kiddos for the day. My week has consisted of ibuprofen, some sinus medication, salt water gargles, honey water, echinacea, anything that I thought could possibly help. If you see splatters on your windows in your houses, it was just me hacking out a lung again. I know, that might have been too much information. I read light fluffy books and wrote book reviews and kept thinking I should blog and thought what do I have to say? Plus I should ...

This is the second in the Sunrise at Normandy series and there's one more coming. The first book, The Sea Before Us, features Wyatt Paxton, this book features Adler Paxton, and the last book will feature their youngest brother, Clay. The stories are set during World War II, basically climaxing on D-Day, though there's more to the story afterward as well. Adler is an Air Force Pilot who has a lot of learning to do and a lot of mistakes to be forgiven for. But after going his own way nearly cost him the life of his good friend, he had a wrestling match with God and, in effect, they both won. Adler was willing to start doing things God's way, willing to be the wingman, willing to be second, but it didn't come easy for him. And some unexpected news from home drove him solidly to his knees once more. Violet wants to be a missionary, but when it comes right down to it, she too realizes her reason for being a missionary was not a good reason. I love the one thought that ...