Checking in and a Quick book Review

Well, I feel like I kind of left everyone hanging over here. Sorry about that! My brain has been very full... getting ready to bring a little one into our home! What a big job, and most couples have a bit more time to prepare. Mark and I are so very grateful for God's provisions in the last few weeks! So many blessings! And now we are eagerly waiting for baby's arrival!

So, yes, with everything going on, my blog has taken the back burner. (including Finished Object Friday... sorry about that!) Not sure I'll be really back on track for a while, but I'm sure you understand. I will be posting an adoption update, hopefully rather soon! :)

I do have a couple of books waiting for me to review them, and I want to get caught up on that before things get really busy... :)

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When picking books for review, I usually stick with authors that I know, just because I want to be sure that I will enjoy the book that I am reading as well as making sure I actually get it read! :) I am glad that I branched out in reading "The Governess of Highland Hall." I really enjoyed reading this book! I love the setting - an English manor about the turn of the century and the characters were all well done. Julia has recently returned to England after serving with her family as a missionary to India. She does all she can to serve the family at the manor including helping save the estate from financial ruin. Her efforts are not in vain and she wins over the heart of the widowed master of the estate, Sir William Ramsey.

I thought that the author did a wonderful job with the setting. I also liked that all the characters were believable (I don't like it when fictional children are portrayed as little adults) and each character was dynamic - they all changed and grew as the story progressed. I thought it would take me a while to get through this book, but frankly I had a hard time putting it down!

Thanks to Blogging for Books for this review copy. My opinions are my own.
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One more quick review: "Messiah: Origin" is an illustrated telling of the first part of Jesus's life. It starts with the first chapter of John in the Prologue and continues telling the story of Jesus's first years on earth until his baptism and the beginning of His ministry.

I saw this book in a store a while back and was interested to take a closer look. I was very pleased. I like the fact that there are so many ways now that get the Bible story out there... this book is more of a graphic novel than a regular Bible story book and as such would appeal to a bit older children - preteen and on up to teens. I do recommend it to an older age group and would also recommend for a parent to look it over first. There was one illustration that I have a bit of a concern about - a slight modesty issue and probably not a problem for most people. I just feel the need to mention it to be a totally honest review. In all, it is a different way to present the story of Christ's coming to earth and I enjoyed reading it.

Thanks to Booksneeze for the review copy. My opinions are my own.

31 Days of Settling: A place to live

Our main living area is getting quite the work out! In this one small space, we have had to combine three spaces from our other home: the living room, family room and office! So far it seems to be working rather well! Cozy, but it works!

Here's the overview:

Yes! The bar area looks a lot better! (And the vintage baskets and suitcase serve an important function: storage!) 

You've already seen the mantle, but here is another picture of my "cozy spot!" 

(That tall lamp is just temporary... A little redundant. It will probably just go to storage.) 

Oh, and since you already caught a glimpse of it, here is the little bookshelf in the mini hallway: 

And that's it for today! Just a couple more rooms to share tomorrow!!! 

31 Days of Settling: An (almost) finished bedroom

Tonight was our home study update!! Whew! We tried our best to have our place looking spiffy, buuuut.... I was actually vacuuming when she arrived (hey, she was a few minutes early!!) ;) so we did our home study update with the vacuum cleaner on center stage in the living room! We have a super sweet social worker, and she didn't mind a bit, fortunately! :)

With all the work getting ready for the update, I figured this room was the best it's ever looked, so I grabbed some quick pictures! 

We live this room! As I think I've said before, this is the biggest master bedroom we've ever had! We are really enjoying the space! (And glad there is room for a baby in there too!) here's the overall view:

(Somehow in bedroom pics, the bed always looks huge!! It's really just a queen!) 

How do you like my new (well, new to me) rocker in the corner? I love it!!

I actually bought it at a thrift store the Friday just before we found out that we had been selected by a birth mother! The arms are worn super smooth with use. :)

This is Mark's corner:

(And yes, I DO have a "thing" for unique chairs...) ;) 

And here's the "almost" part of this room: 

The armoir is decorated, but the bookshelf ends up being a catch all... Gotta work on that! I also have a few more things that I may hang in my corner, but I'm not set on it. I might just wait and see. 

And that is our room tour! I'll try to share the rest of our little place in the next couple of days. It is, after all, almost the end of the 31 days! :) 

Days of Settling: Day 24

I'm not sure that putting the date in the title is still the best idea... Cause I don't always get the pictures up here the day that I work on an area... Oh well... :)

Soo... Tuesday, I got some things hung up in our bedroom! It's feeling a bit more homey in there!

I also did some work in our other bedroom! (I eventually need to get a dresser in there for the baby! Right now all the clean clothes are hanging out in a laundry basket.) I made a path!!! Want to see???

Before: 

After:

Hooray for paths!!!! ;) 

Actually what helped the most is putting our shelves in the closet: 

Now all those random things laying everywhere in that room have a home!! It helps to be able to organize a bit! We should be getting a lot more done this weekend... We have a home study update next week!!! 

Book Review: The Beauty of Broken

The tag line to this book says "There is no such thing as a perfect family." So very true. We live in a broken fallen world, so many families are broken in one way or another. This book chronicles the family life of Elisa Morgan, former CEO of MOPS International for several years. In each chapter, Elisa shares a bit more of her story and how she tried to fix the brokenness in her family, but how God has taken that brokenness and made something beautiful from it.

I don't know even where to start telling you about all the things I have marked to remember in this book. One of the things that stood out to me the most is that Elisa is an adoptive parent. One thing she said really hit home to me: "I heard God's gentle prodding, Elisa by the time you receive your child, he or she will already have experienced the greatest wound of his or her life." This may be hard for some to understand if they don't understand adoption. Adoption comes out of brokenness.

But what I love the most is the hope she gives for brokenness and broken families: "God loves you and your family, and He will re-form you and your family through brokenness." She points out how God will use the broken - how so much in Scripture was broken to be used: Gideon's pitchers, a broken roof for healing the cripple lowered by his friends, broken loaves to feed 5,000, and a broken body pierced for our sins. I'm so glad that the broken can be redeemed and used!


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Thank you to BookSneeze for the review copy. My opinions are my own.