Tag: Book Reviews

Happy Monday, friends! And happy last day of March! It’s hard for me to believe that we’re already one-fourth of the way into 2025…I think my concept of time needs some help. XD

Anyway! Here’s a recap of this month. I always love putting these together and remembering the random wonderful (and wild!) moments that may have slipped my mind. I hope you can enjoy it a bit, too!

God is wise in heart and mighty in strength.

job 9:4a

Things worth remembering…

• random FaceTime messages from my brothers
• tapping season and time in the woods with siblings
• quite literally spilling the tea with a dear friend
• working on poetry things behind the scenes
• the magic of fresh flowers in bringing homeyness to a new space
• culinary adventures, in which chicken cooks faster than anticipated…numerous times
• reading Bonhoeffer while babysitting the boiling sap
• late night ice cream and chats with sisters
• watching the grass begin to green up
• setting a reading goal for myself at last and meeting it
• sharing one of my favorite poems from Clarion Hope in video form
• community.🫶🏼
• spaghetti and a steer chases with sisters
• sitting on the floor with my journal and a guitar

Lord, I would not be a citizen where Jesus was an alien.

Charles Spurgeon

What I’ve been reading…

The Colors of Rain – Abigail Hayven

I read this book last summer, but reread it this month, marking it up with colored pencils to gift to a sister. It was so much fun to read it again, not just to enjoy the story but to savor the beauty of the prose and the nuances of the characters’ personalities. I highly recommend…again!

My Dearest Dietrich – Amanda Barratt

I listened to the audiobook, and shocked myself by giving it five stars. XD (If you’ve been around for a bit, you know I don’t usually enjoy romances.) I appreciated the historical richness of this book and the glimpse of the moral difficulties that were faced by German Christians during WWII, and the courage with which the Bonhoeffers met them. And Dietrich’s intolerance of misunderstanding?? It delighted my soul.

The Cost of Discipleship – Dietrich Bonhoeffer

Yes, the audiobook inspired me. I’m only on the first chapter…it’s so rich!

Little House in the Big Woods – Laura Ingalls Wilder

I’ve started crocheting and listening to audiobooks most evenings, and I’m working through the Little House series. It was such a delight to revisit this book! It’s interesting to listen to it now, being closer to Ma and Pa’s ages, and seeing it with new (or older? Ha!) eyes. It really makes me remember just how much the ordinary moments and rhythms of life mean to young children.

I know whate’er befall me
Jesus doeth all things well.

fanny Crosby

From the journal…

Jesus, I leave regrets in the Hands that work outside of time…

Nothing is too hard for the Lord…if He wants something mended or fulfilled in this moment, He will make it happen. But there has never been a circumstance in my life in which He can only sigh and say, “That’s really too bad.”

Awaken in the hearts of Your people a remembrance of the glory of Who You are. Break us out of the ruts of our self-importance…

Open eyes! Heal breaking hearts. Show us a way out of this brokenness, and show us You in the midst of it.

Is not God enough for thy need, or is His all-sufficiency too narrow for thy wants? Dost thou want another eye beside that of Him who sees every secret thing? Is His heart faint? Is His arm weary? If so, seek another God; but if He be infinite, omnipotent, faithful, true, and all-wise, why gaddest thou abroad so much to seek another confidence?

charles spurgeon

Stay the course!

❤ Laurel

P.S. If you’re newer here, here’s a reminder to sign up for my weekly newsletter! That’s where I share the majority of what I used to share on the blog…plus this week’s newsletter *may* have an announcement…👀 You can join the newsletter gang here! (You get a free short story, too.🤭)

Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

This post contains affiliate links, which means that if you purchase something through one of the links I share in this post, I receive a small commission…at no extra cost to you.:)

Four short and everlasting weeks later…

There are no ordinary people. You have never talked to a mere mortal. Nations, cultures, arts, civilizations – these are mortal, and their life is to ours as the life of a gnat. But it is immortals whom we joke with, work with, marry, snub, and exploit – immortal horrors or everlasting splendors.

c.s. lewis

Things worth remembering…

• fake snake shenanigans
• having an all-sisters outing to a favorite coffee shop
• finding that the instant camera I dug out of a thrift store actually works (!!!)
• skating past bloody ice 👀
• getting a dear friend‘s poetry book in the mail
• getting to use a new skid loader for work
• being pleasantly surprised by a successful attempt at adapting a cheesecake recipe
• finding out that Amazon had significantly marked down Clarion Hope (!!!)
• writing strange typewriter haikus about my siblings
• surviving The Coldest Day
• finding that the combination of gravy, pasta shells, and mozzarella cheese tastes way better than it looks
• a weekend near Duluth with friends…so very good for the soul🫶🏼
• creating the Play-Doh Red Sea crossing
• seeing Lake Superior for the first time
• all of the memories made on the road…and on the side of the road…and in the ditch…
• the world smelling like spring again
• picking up crocheting again
• time in the woods

We are full and we forget God: satisfied with earth, we are content to do without heaven.

Charles Spurgeon

What I’ve been reading…

Three Men in a Boat – Jerome K. Jerome

To be honest, I didn’t read much this month. But I did start reading this book, and the humor is so much fun!

In the Shadow of a Sunbeam – Rachel Rowbottom

I have mixed feelings about this book. I did break them down a bit in my Goodreads review, though, so you can check that out if you’d like.

What We Hide – Colleen Coble, Rick Acker

THE EPILOGUE, PEOPLES!!!

I enjoyed the mystery aspect of this story, but I was really disappointed with how the issue of divorce was handled so flippantly by a Christian couple. The “do I love him, do I not, should I divorce him, should I not,” was littered with Scripture references, and that really saddened me. I know that approach isn’t unrealistic in the least, but I would have appreciated a wiser character being able to bring some clarity to the situation and to the reader. Please and thank you.

(I did get invested in Hez’s story, though, and the epilogue got me, so I may give the sequel a listen when it comes out…)

He satisfies the longing soul,
And fills the hungry soul with goodness.

psalm 107:9

From the journal…

The Fall came because Eve was not satisfied with the abundance God had allowed her. Oh, Jesus, let me not fall into the same trap of believing that my ways are better!

It is a gift to suffer and long deeply on this earth, for in doing so we are given a clearer picture of the brokenness of this world and our sinful nature, and our desire for our Redeemer and Savior is strengthened in a way that those who know little trial can only dream of. Thank You for this opportunity, Lord, to know just how deep Your love for me runs.

Let me expect my daily sustenance from You and You alone so that I may be able to love deeply and truly with no conditions.

What’s the best that could happen?

Many people, I’m sure, but one of my dearest friends in Particular 🙂

Ah, February…the month in which joy and struggle love to coexist.:) What thoughts/memories are you taking away from this past month?

Stay the course!

❤ Laurel

Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

This post contains affiliate links, which means that if you purchase something through one of the links I share in this post, I receive a small commission…at no extra cost to you.:)