Yep, another book review... Now that our house is sold (less upkeep - especially keeping it "show ready") and we are put in our temporary location, I have a bit more time to read and catch up. (I don't even have a whole house to care for! Just doing my share in cooking and cleaning here at my parent's home.) :) Most of my reading has been minimal and usually just fun and relaxing with all the craziness that is life right now... :) Sooo... you get another reveiw!
Growing up I read a lot of mysteries. Inhaled them, really! I also listened to a lot of stories - including some Sherlock Holmes (I can't remember if they were old time radio, audio drama or just an audio book - I think I got them at our local library.) Anyway. I cultivated a love for Sherlock Holmes - his deductions and humor. In Sherlock Holmes and the Needle's Eye, Holmes has acquired an invention created by Moriarty that allows him to travel back in time. Holmes, usually accompanied by Dr. Watson, travels back into Bible times and with each trip finds a question to be answered about the story.
This book was so neat in that it combined the iconic "Holmes" with researching the mysteries of Scripture. Each chapter was dedicated to a different "mystery" in Scripture. Some of them were familiar to me (the question along with the solution.) Then some of them completely blew me away - I had never made that connection! Several times I found myself laughing out loud. Definitely a fun and thought provoking read!
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Thanks to Booksneeze for the review copy. My opinions are my own.
Yes, I have thought several times that the title of this books is quite appropriate for this season of our lives! It does feel as though we are living in a whirlwind, but we are hanging in there!! We closed on our home and are living temporarily with my parents until our apartment is ready for us in just a few more weeks. :) We are so happy for answered prayer in selling our house. It does seem very strange not to be living there, but we do sense God's leadership and working through the process. Below is a picture collage I made up that chronicles our move.
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Note: Per Bethany House Book Reviewer guidelines, the book review can be found in it's own post here.
Mollie Knox has inherited her family's watch crafting business. She has a
brain for business and for managing the company. Life turns chaotic
when the Chicago fire destroys her home and her business. The 57th
Illinois Watch Company isn't just a family business, it also provides
jobs to many veterans who served with her father in the Civil War. Zack
Kazmarek is an attorney for the main purchaser of her watches but has
fallen in love with the beautiful business woman. Mollie has to figure
out if it is all business with him or if he really has her best interest
at heart.
Not very often do I go out on a "limb" and try a new author. I tend to review books I know I
will enjoy! I am very glad to have tried this author!!! I will be
reading more of her books! (And am always excited to find an author who
puts so much research and time into historical fiction as well as being a
page-turning read!)
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Thank you to Bethany House for providing this copy for review. My opinions are my own.
I should have posted this sooner... but y'all would probably get worried about me if I actually posted on time!! heehee!
Nope. I haven't been very crafty recently... too busy doing this:
Whew!!!
Thankfully, we've had lots of help!
Impossible to get a non-blurry picture of this... she was moving tooo fast!
(Yes, this little "Love" is walking!!! Those sisters sure walk early... my sister and I were cautious. We waited until we were well past a year before we ventured forth on two feet!!) ;)
Speaking of sisters....
(I'm probably SO dead after this one....) But might as well have some fun while we are working!!
We had a wonderful crew last Saturday and got a big bunch packed away!!!
(and with more help coming tomorrow, we hope to pretty much finish up!!)
So a big thank you to all who have helped and are going to help!! :)
And yes, we did sell our house! I would say "finally" but I know that there are others who have their homes listed a much longer time. It has been an eventful summer - one I hope we don't have to repeat for a long time. On July 3rd, Angie and I were in a fender bender:
Fortunately, we weren't hurt much at all (just a tad stiff...) but it did total our car. (Paid off... cold air... ran good - we weren't ready to let that one go!) But we got a new ride! (New to us, anyway...) And are really thrilled with it!
Anyway... with all the mess/paperwork/phone calls that come with a wreck, within a week of that we had a contract on our house!! wow!
So where to now? We don't have a house lined up yet. We need a little time to save a bit. So we will be in an apartment for a few months. Not the optimal way to move (especially since we will be staying with my parents for a little while until our apartment is ready for us to move in.) BUT we are rolling with it. The good thing about being in an apartment is it will (hopefully!) give Mark the chance to finish up his Master's work without the worry of a house or yard. "All things work together," right? ;)
Sooo... maybe some of you have had a chance to do some crafting! I hope everyone hasn't had the roller coaster of a summer that we've had over here! :) I'm going to put Mr. Linky up, so enjoy sharing! :)
Our church recently finished up our vacation Bible school. I headed things up this year, and I think somehow it was one of the biggest jobs ever!! Whew! I did the lessons mostly myself - the main reason being that I had already thought out what I wanted to say and it was easier to just teach it rather than pass all that info along! ;) (Ok, that sounds really strange when I type it, but I'm just so grateful to God for His leading in what to teach!)
This was one of the most technological VBS's we've ever done. Not only did I use Power Point for each day - including slides for songs and the lessons as well as fun space facts, but we also collaborated a LOT on Pinterest!! I love the group board feature for group projects!! If your church ever does a space theme, you may want to check out our board! We used ideas here for crafts, decor and snacks!!So.... I wanted to share just a few pictures to show you how some of our "Pinterest-y" things turned out!
I'll start with the cute food!! Saturday was our big picnic! I made these cute cupcakes for dessert.... Nothing like a cute little bear on the moon!!
I also used photoshop to design our invitations, name tags, snack
labels, digital frames for pictures, award certificate.... you name it!!
I'm glad that the template for all of that was something I got done
early on! I was able to just reuse the template and size it for whatever
I needed.
Probably the things I worked hardest on were our moon rocks!! (And a BIG thank you to my Sister-in-law, Mary, for helping! It had been ages since I did any paper mache!)
And here's what the rest of the sanctuary looked like when we got finished!!!
See all those planets!!! (And you can't miss the sun!)
A dear friend crafted each of them for us!!! Thank you, Miss "M," for all your hard work!!!! And she did every single one of them - yes! Even dear little Pluto!! (I'm not ready to exclude him from my list of planets!!)
Although we are all glad to have VBS over for another year, we all did have a blast!!!! The kids had fun and hopefully learned something too!!! (I know I learned a LOT!! I think the teacher usually ends up learning more than the students!) We are already starting to plan next year's VBS!! ;)
How about you? Have you had time to do anything "crafty" this summer? It seems that the year is just flying by!
