"Simple Things" Party with Tricia Goyer

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The One Year Book of Amish review

"The One Year Book of Amish Peace" by Tricia Goyer is a daily devotional focused on bringing peace to the reader using Amish lifestyle and wisdom.  Each day includes a piece of scripture, a daily devotion with Amish happenings, an Amish proverb, and a short prayer.  I am waiting for the new year to read the book straight through, so I can't tell you how it reads daily, however, I have read random days from the book so that I could give you a taste of how the book reads.  The one that moved me the most was the day that brought quiet to the day.  It spoke of how Amish don't have a lot of excess noise in their life (ironically someone is banging metal on the other side of this wall) and how without the TV, radio, extra talking, they can become more in tune with God and their world.  So I tried this.  It is amazing how much you can take in on the surroundings without the excess chatter from the radio, etc.  I am not sure that the Amish are any more wise or happy than the rest of the world, but it sure is nice to visit their world now and then.  I received this book for free from the author.

Happy Veteran's Day

I think I'll take a minute to say a hoorah to some veteran's that mean a lot to me.  For starters my Uncle Bob, who kicked ass all over Europe in WWI only to serve again in WWII.  He might have been to old to kick ass the second time, but he wasn't too old to show the mess hall who's boss.  Grandpa Mac.  Had one eye.  True story.  The whole "it's real funny till someone looses an eye" has a history.  Grandpa Mac served in WWII with his remaining eye.  He served in the US with his McIntosh brothers handling the ammunition.  Uncle Exie joined before Pearl Harbor.  His wife (pregnant and a teen) followed him around the US hitchhiking to stay with him. He was sent to Europe after D-Day and fought in the Battle of the Bulge.  Wounded twice.  Forward observer.  Uncle Max.  Tail gunner and flew in D-Day.  Blown out of the sky, MIA, wounded.  Then when found and healed, elected to stay in army and haul boxes of equipment all over Africa.  That's how it's done! Grandad served in the medical unit.  Followed Merrill's Marauders all over Burma.  Burma: the National Infantry Museum declared the worst terrain to fight in the world. Uncle (Little) Exie, served in the Navy in the Philippines police action and then again in Afghanistan as a civil serviceman with the army. Grandpa Morgan, Navy during Korea; father-in-law Frank, served in Korea; father--n-law Gary, navy and NASA;   Cousin Deric, Navy; nephew Ronnie served in Iraq (suffered head wound); step son, JP, has just begun his adventure.  So proud of him.  Owe you guys plenty.

a plain disappearance review

"A Plain Disappearance" by Amanda Flower is the third book in the 'An Appleseed Creek Mystery' series.  The series focuses on Chloe, a computer worker, who moves to Amish country to work at the local college.  In this novel she is courting Timothy, an ex-Amish man, and is solving murders in Knox County.  I have not read the previous two novels in the series and found it not necessary to understand this one.  Though, it would have been helpful.  Chloe and Timothy find the body of Katie, a local Amish girl at an abandon barn and begin to help the local police solve the murder. 
This novel reads like a modern day Nancy Drew.  It is full of sleuthing and clues.  It is relatively tame, but entertaining.  I never did figure out who the killer was in this one.  Not till she told me, of course.  Also I really enjoyed the Tee character and like the dynamic between the two young women. I wished she had put more of her in the book.  There were a couple of things I didn't like.  The stereotypical step-mother routine was a little tiring.  Also, the story was told in first person, so I wish the author had gotten into Chloe's head a little bit more as well. I liked this book.  It was nice.  I will read the other books in this series when I get the chance.  I can't recall who I got this book from.  I know it was in exchange for a review.  I believe it was from Handlebar.  The publisher was B&H Publishing.

I won!

Recently I won a book and gifts from the blog, Bookworm Lisa. I won the book "Snow Fence Road" which I haven't read yet because I just got it, and I won a few little goodies which I will review now so I don't forget. I received a bag of sunflower chocolates from The Chocolatier. These are sooooo delectible! Similar to Dove chocolates in flavor. Everyone in the family kept eating them. I also won some perfumed foaming bath from Filigree. Smells like thymes. They smell really good. Lastly, I received some earrings from D Kirup Designs. I checked out their website and couldn't find the exact earrings but they had some similar. The average cost was $30 on earrings, so the fact that they were free was a big whopee! I love free stuff. And I really like these earrings. They also had other jewelry to choose from as well. Check out their website: http://www.dkirkupjewelrydesigns.com/index.html.

october, october

I did the usual in October.  I held a UNICEF party at our church, took the kids to Halloween parties, parades, festivals.  I also watched a lot, a lot, of football in various small towns in Kansas.  I went to fall parades and watched bands.  It was a full and busy month.  I also got some reading done.  I get to read while I wait in parking lots for which ever kid to get done with football practice, volleyball practice, cheerleading, etc.  As you can tell, I wait for  the end of a lot of practices.  I read 11 books.  One was audio, five were paper, and five were digital. 
Lincoln's Battle with God- Stephen Mansfield
Redeeming Love- Francine Rivers
Barefoot Summer- Denise Hunter
Winter Study- Nevada Barr
Sweet Santuary- Kim Vogel Sawyer
Devil's Grin- Annelie Windeberg
Examine Your Faith- Pamela Christian
O! Jackie- Mercedes King
Shadow on the Hill- Diana Staresinic-Deane
Gone- James Patterson
The Sixth Station- Linda Stasi
Favorite of the month would be Redeeming Love and Shadow on the Hill. 

unbreakable review

"Unbreakable" the second book in the Road to Kingdom series by Nancy Mehl is a novel that covers the dilemma of fighting back, or waiting for God.  Kingdom, a Kansas town of primarily Mennonites is being attacked by a group of people who hate Christians.  The attacks go beyond the Mennonite community, but  Mehl focuses on Kingdom, Kansas.   Jonathan is a Mennonite who is in favor of defending the town and trying to protect the people.  Ebbie is an elder who is in favor of praying and letting God protect the town.  The two men lead battles between the sides as the attacks go on.  They also battle it out for the heart of Hope, the main character.  Hope has a deep quiet love for Ebbie, but he doesn't really excite her much.  Jonathan makes her heart go pitter patter and puts the excitement in her.  She sees both sides of the defense issue as well. 
I really liked this book.  The characters, though Mennonite, were not portrayed as too naive or somehow slow.  The writing was good and the characters were well developed.  I have not read book one, and had no trouble following book 2.  I wished that the author had taken a little time at the beginning to lead the readers into what the town was like before the attacks; it seemed to hit the dilemma too fast.  However, if I had read book one, that probably would not have been a problem.  I received this book from the Book Club Network.