Friday, August 28, 2020

Gargage sales!




A few of years ago the Sunday paper had an article titled "Secrets of Secondhand Shopping" by Carmen Wong Ulrich. With thrifting being the current rage, she had some pointers about finding the best deals.

Well, if you have been thrifting for a while, you know all the pointers. But I had never heard of narts.org  (The National Association of Resale and Thrift Shops) website before. It lists many thrift stores around the country. She also listed shopgoodwill.com and shophousingworks.com . Even the government has a website at govdeals.com (click on "Government Property for Sale"), and  govsales.gov .  In our area we also have a link for Garage Sales

It makes for a happy thriftin' week! You just never know what treasure you might find :-)

Wednesday, August 26, 2020

The last of summer

Fall is peeking around the corner in blog land.  We don't have a change of season here in the Sunshine State, so I am enjoying the last of summer as long as I can.
















 Yes, the fall colors may be finding it's way to my northern friends, but the summer days are still quite content here.


Monday, August 24, 2020

Love's Pure Light

Love's Pure Light: 4 Stories Follow an Heirloom Nativity Set Through Four Generations by [Susanne Dietze, Shannon McNear, Deborah Raney, Janine Rosche]

What a delightful collection of Christmas stories. I loved these heart warming stories that follows an heirloom nativity set through the ages.

Four stories starting in 1899, with a wood carved nativity set being passed down through WWII, then on to the early 1920's and the 1940's  Each story enjoyable in of itself, but I loved how Deborah Raney pulled it all together in the final modern day scene. There was a little bit of a mystery in Benjie and Trevor's story. But oh so charming.

Three of the authors were new to me, but they each wrote wonderful characters and scenes that definitely kept my interest.

If you love Christmas stories, this is definitely one to get. Sweet clean romance.

I received a complimentary ebook copy from the publisher, through NetGalley. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.






Wednesday, August 12, 2020

Becoming Elisabeth Elliot

 Becoming Elisabeth Elliot, Hardcover  -     By: Ellen Vaughn

 A humbling look into the life of Betty Howard Elliot. It follows the letters and journals of Jim and Elisabeth Elliot. From her humble beginnings to their first meeting and the wait of five years til they marry. Amazing people. You may have read and heard the stories, but this one goes deeper. It's their thoughts and deep convictions. Talk about sacrifice. Sacrifice upon sacrifice. They were truly called of God and ANSWERED! With their whole hearts and lives.

While many may scoff at their devotion, we look at their lives and see Jim and Elisabeth's deep desire to put God first. There is just some thing about a person who cares so much about the lost, to take the message of God's redeeming love to savages.

Ellen Vaughn writes about the turmoil and anxiousness of waiting on God's timing. About learning a language so foreign that it takes years to translate. About finding hope and direction after the bruising reality of grief. Ellen translates the words of two flawed mortal people, not to grant them sainthood, but to see them as they really were. Flesh and blood humans, with hopes and dreams, hurts and disappointments, joys and sorrows, isolation and loneliness.

Elisabeth was a prolific writer  She wrote about her time with the Waodani Indians, the very ones who killed her husband. She wrote over 20 books and was a speaker well into her seventies.  When she walked into the jungle with her 3 year old daughter, she didn't know what was ahead. Would the Stone Age people kill her too? She was ready to lay down her life because she believed she should obey the call of God, whatever the price.

A quote from Joni Eareckson Tata~

 Courage is rare. Good character, rarer. Moral purity feels arcane. Suffering should be mitigated at all costs. And if it cannot be avoided, it must be drugged, divorced, escaped from, or prayed away.

But Elisabeth left Joni with these words.

"Suffering is never for nothing."

I received a complimentary ebook copy from the publisher, through NetGalley. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.




Tuesday, August 11, 2020

A Nugget of History

On a trip up north, we visited the restored home of Lt. Col. J. Jones, built back in the 1700's.




Lt. Col. Jones was a personal escort to Martha Washington, our first Presidents First Lady, when she visited Pennsylvania.
This home is located in Morgantown, PA. 
It's always interesting to find historical landmarks whenever we travel.