A Searching Heart - Janette Oke - Book Review

4 stars
I enjoyed this book, but it took me a bit to get into it.

It's a simple, wholesome story and I really enjoyed it. One could say that the references to faith were too simplistic, but this isn't a theological tome it's simply an enjoyable (and encouraging) story. Even though the pace is slow it kept me engaged.

It has some sweet romance and some heartbreak.

I liked the characters and I'll have to read the next in the series to find out what happened to Jenny!

SNOW! So excited

I get inordinately excited about snow.

So, as soon as the snow began to fall, the girls and I decided to go for a walk.

Here is our photo 'safari':

Good morning!

Boots has had a busy morning!

Through the Lord’s mercies we are not consumed,

Because His compassions fail not.

They are new every morning;

Great is Your faithfulness.

Lamentations 3:22-23

Wonder - RJ Palacio - Book Review

4 stars

I didn't enjoy this book at first. I didn't like the style of writing. I found the characters annoying and somehow distant. I actually felt the deepest character was Via. I realise it *ought* to be Auggie, but it was Via that touched my heart the most, for some reason.

However, by about halfway in, I was totally invested in the story.

The final few chapters and the ending are very moving, but maybe a little rushed, in the sense that everything was pretty much nicely tied up in a lovely neat bow, all the issues 'resolved', and then it ended.

I sound a bit negative, but I think that is because my husband and daughter had raved about how it was the best book they'd ever read that maybe I expected too much and so I am basically wondering why I didn't find it quite as wonderful.

It is a good story and very heart warming, and I am glad it had a happy ending; and I'm glad I read it.

It was a happy Tuesday

Yesterday one of my best friends from childhood was over visiting.  She moved to New Zealand quite a few years ago and it was just lovely to catch up with her.

She's staying at her mum's which is over in the next village, and it's quite a pleasant walk from our house.  Because it was such a lovely morning we decided to walk over and meet her half-way.

It was such a beautiful, crisp day.

Happy Homemaker Monday [7th January 2019]

Visit more HHM posts at Diary of a Stay at Home Mom

The Weather:

It is so mild at the moment - it's 8°C.  It was  very foggy this morning, now it's just soggy. Drizzle, drizzle and more drizzle.

Right now I am:

Watching football (soccer) with Hubs - Wolves vs Liverpool (Liverpool is Hubs' team)

Thinking:

About some jobs I need to do before I make tea (evening meal), about some homeschool stuff I need to sort out for the girls.

On my reading pile:

I've just finished Tom Wright's 'Simply Good News', my next two books will be Wonder by RJ Palacio and A Searching Heart by Janette Oke.

On my tv:

We've just finished Salvation on Netflix, which finished on a bit of a cliffhanger and they haven't picked up Season 3 - so I may never find out!!  The girls and I have just started watching Desperate Housewives from the beginning - they loved it!

Favourite Blog post this week:

I've been blogging for some time, from around 2005, and had a blog before this one.  So it's been fun revisiting old blogs.  Quite a few of my favourite haunts have stopped blogging now, but two of my faves have carried on.

Sandra - who runs this Happy Homemaker Monday link-up. I loved her recent post: Makes Me Feel Like I'm in Idaho (because her posts are always so beautiful and uplifting and because I have snow envy - I so want it to snow!!)

and Rebecca over at Emerube - her posts are always so much fun - WI Bucket List #39

On the menu for this week:

Monday - Mackerel, chips (fries) and mixed vegetables (trying to eat more oily fish due to low vitamin D)
Tuesday - Tuna and salami pasta
Wednesday - Southern fried chicken
Thursday - Shopping day - not planned next week's yet (my meal plans run Thurs to Wedss)

On my to do list:

Laundry -  reds wash next, I've washed all my blankets today
Homeschooling - planning work for the girls
Cleaning - bedroom, hall, stairs, bathroom and kitchen floors

Looking around the house:

Living room looks so bare since the Christmas decorations came down.  But it is clean.  I bottomed it yesterday.  Rest of the house needs some TLC.

From the camera:

Mmmm, bread!

On my prayer list:

For my hubby's hand, arm and shoulder - he has pain and numbness in his hand and has a hospital appointment this week for it.
My mum's migraines.
For my girls - various things.

Devotional:

"With God...the first and most important point was not to understand him but to trust him. The idea that you might begin by looking this God up and down, giving him a cool appraisal, and then, if you understood him and approved of him, you might respond to him, is to deny that he is God at all. If he is God, our primary role is not to analyse him but to worship him; it is not for *us* to figure *him* out but to let *him* figure *us* out. Yes, I know: this sounds like a leap into the unknown. But the alternative is a sure route to idolatry, making a god in our own image." - Tom Wright, Simply Good News.

Prayer Starter:

Father, help me to honour your name, to love you and to love people.  Protect me and my family and bless our home. Amen.

Simply Good News - Tom Wright - Book Review

4 stars

Simply Good News is a great book. Tom Wright has a very clear and easy way of explaining his viewpoint.

I ummed and ahhed about whether to give the book 4 stars or 5 stars. My only complaint would be is that it doesn't go deep enough, but then these books of Wright are specifically aimed at a more accessible format. Rule of thumb, if he is 'Tom Wright' the book is less academic/theological than books written under the name NT Wright.

Anyway, I've gone for 4 stars because it just didn't seem enough, I felt a little dissatisfied - like only getting the starter and not the main course.

My favourite chapter though was the last chapter, where he demonstrates by working backwards through the Lord's Prayer, how we have got our understanding of the Good News backwards. That really made me think and I would like to ponder that further.

Fave quote: 'With God...the first and most important point was not to understand him but to trust him. The idea that you might begin by looking this God up and down, giving him a cool appraisal, and then, if you understood him and approved of him, you might respond to him, is to deny that he is God at all. If he is God, our primary role is not to analyse him but to worship him; it is not for us to figure him out but to let him figure us out. Yes, I know: this sounds like a leap into the unknown. But the alternative is a sure route to idolatry, making a god in our own image.'