Grace Notes

Crepe myrtle, sage and cannas in my back yard. This has been the strangest weekend for me.  I worked last Sunday afternoon and evening getting payroll ready to be processed a day early since this week had  a holiday in it.  So I was able to take off Friday and have a four day weekend.  I have been extremely busy at work lately and it has carried over into getting home late most evenings, so Thursday I didn't really know what to do with myself.   Yesterday was much easier, and today was fun!  Tomorrow starts Vacation Bible School so next week will be busy, too.  I am very thankful I was able to take these four days off!   Because of the rain and thunder storms my son and I opted not to go to any fireworks shows this year.  Or any parades.  I guess when you hit the big 17 you just feel like a kid if you go to a parade.  Well, being a 40 something woman, sometimes I think it's nice to feel like a kid and go to a parade.  However, we just hung around the house after goi

PRAIRIE SONG By:  Mona Hodgson Published by:  Waterbrook Press 2013 Although Prairie Song is the first book in a new series called Hearts Seeking Home, by Mona Hodgson , it picks up where the story left off in the series The Quilted Heart.  Prairie Song follows Anna Goben, her mother and her grandfather as they leave their home in Missouri for the promised land of California.  Anna hopes the trip and the new home will be the catalyst that will change all their lives.  They suffered a terrible trauma during the war (Civil War) in the death of Anna's brother.  Now they have an awefull secret -- her mother is an alcoholic -- and her grandfather has given up on life.  This is a family who is just living from day to day and not experiencing a life of contentment or joy. Anna is right.  The trip brings about change in her family, if not change as she had hoped. And along with friends who leave Missouri with her family, she finds new friends along the trail.  And could she also

One of the many lakes in the park  Shakespeare Theatre, Montgomery, Alabama Several days ago I wrote the following, and just want to share.  If you are ever in the area you might want to check out the Shakespeare Theatre and the Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts , both located on the grounds of the Blount Cultural Park. This is incredible. I am sitting at a picnic table in front of the Shakespeare Theatre in Montgomery, Alabama, in the Blount Cultural Park . I dropped my son off with my brothers in Pike Road this morning. Of course I am not going to drive all of the way back home and then back again when he is finished. It's a little more than 25 miles one way! So I am at Shakespeare, enjoying this beautiful morning. It's a little after 8:30, the birds are singing, there is a soft breeze blowing, and it's not yet hot, which is wonderful. The sun is shining, the geese and ducks are on the pond and on the lawn, and walkers and joggers pass on the

Seven Steps to Knowing, Doing and Experiencing The Will of God for Teens Seven Steps to Knowing, Doing and Experiencing The Will of God for Teens Experiencing God at Home By: Tom Blackaby, Mike Blackaby and Daniel Blackaby Published by: B&H Publishing Group, Nashville, Tennessee, 2013 I was very pleased with this book! It is written by the son and two grandsons of the famous Henry Blackaby who wrote Experiencing God: Knowing and Doing The Will of God . I have never read the elder Mr. Blackaby's book, but I am certainly now entertaining the idea of finding it and reading it. His son and grandsons have made that great of an impression on me. I just about guarantee that if you have a teenager in your life and you give them this book, they will learn much about how to learn about and serve God in their daily life. More than likely they won't be able to put the book down. It is written in such a way that it captures the attention. It shares personal

Experiencing God at Home By Tom and Richard Blackaby Published by B&H Publishing, Nashville, Tennessee 2013 As an adult, what is the most difficult area of your life? Where do you often have to make the hardest decisions, and sometimes experience what are your greatest failures or greatest accomplishments? If you are a parent, it would be in raising your family. And if you are a Christian, it is raising your children to become followers of Christ, to accept Him as their own. That's what this book sets out to accomplish. It applies guidelines from Experiencing God: Knowing and Doing the Will of God. It is the belief of the authors, and my belief as well, that it is harder today to raise Christian, God-fearing children, than it has ever been. If you don't believe it, think about your own youth and compare it with the experiences and temptations our own kids have to deal with today. The Blackaby's use their own families as examples of how to raise God

SAMMY EXPERIENCES GOD By Tom Blackaby and Rick Osborne Illustrated by Isabella Kung Published by: B & H Kids, Nashville, Tennessee, 2013 Normally I don't mention illustrators, because I normally don't read children's books anymore since I have teenagers. However I read this book, and I must say I was highly impressed by the illustrator. The illustrations take up the whole page, edge to edge, of every page of this book. The text is superimposed on top. On top of the illustrations are representations of the main character's sketches. Sammy is a young boy who loves to hear his dad read Bible stories to him. He calls them “God adventures”. While his dad reads, Sammy sketches what he learns. One particular night he asks God if he can be in a God adventure. Over the next few days Sammy desperately tries to re-enact what he has learned in the Bible. Stories about Jacob, King David, Moses, Elijah, Abraham, Paul and Timothy. Each time he is di

 I Am a Church Member: Discovering the Attitude that Makes the Difference By Thom S. Ranier Published by: B & H Publishing Group, Nashville, Tennessee, 2013 This little book is packed. With ideas, attitude and conviction. Seven small chapters focusing what I can do to be a better church member. Each chapter is summed up with a pledge and study questions. The book is less than 100 pages long so it doesn't take long at all to read. However, I would suggest reading and studying one chapter at a time, absorbing what Mr. Ranier is saying, and learn how to apply that to your life before continuing on to the next chapter. This book is as much about what a church member should not be as what one should be. I mentioned that this book is convicting. It is! One of the most convicting chapters for me is chapter 4, I Will Pray for My Church Leaders. Do you know how hard it is to be a Christian leader, especially in this day and age? You think the devil comes after you,