Grandboyzz

I just have to share a picture or two of our two grandsons for some of you to see. They bring our family tremendous joy.

Dixie

Eternal Iron

My maternal grandfather was a blacksmith. When his last child (my Aunt Lois) was growing up, he built a sturdy iron swingset for her. Aunt Lois was ten when I was born so I have always considered her my big sister and her swingset.... my swingset. I spent many hours playing on "our" iron swingset. In the summer, my grandmother would hang her freshly washed laundry on the clothesline while I played on the swingset. Other times Grandma would make a little picnic for us and she would let me take my sandwich to the top of the swingset and eat my lunch. (I had such a neat grandma!)

Grandma and Grandpa are in Heaven now and Aunt Lois lives next door to us. Last summer she decided to resurrect the beloved swingset and set it up in her backyard. We all cheered when it was finally up. Waves of nostalgia swept over me, but yesterday I experienced an emotion much deeper than a sentimental journey.

My husband and I were babysitting our nine-month-old grandson Tristan. I took him to swing on the swingset. I wasn't prepared for the emotion I felt as we plopped down in the swing. In my mind's eye, I saw my grandmother swinging with me on the sturdy swingset and in the circle of life I was now swinging on the same swingset with my grandchild. A lump formed in my throat when I realized I was singing the same songs to my grandson that my grandmother sang to me.

I thought about my grandfather the blacksmith and how when he built something - he built it to last..... And at that moment, I realized my grandmother and grandfather were instrumental in putting iron in my soul - eternal iron. They gave me a sample - a living example of God's love.

I'm no blacksmith, but when I gaze into the eyes of our two little grandsons - Tristan and Easton - I pray that they would see the "SON" in my eyes and the JESUS in me would help form "eternal iron" in their little souls.

Faithful

I'm back! It's been awhile since I blogged, but what can I say? The last two years have been a blur. Let's see..... In the last twenty-four months we have had all four of our children get married, our son gave his daddy a kidney, and now we have two darling grandbabies.

Through it all, we have seen God's faithfulness. I can't help but think of two years ago, when the specialists at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, informed us just how sick my husband Paul really was with End Stage Renal Failure. Then, the process of finding a match - and to discover the MVD (Most Valuable Donor) would be our only son John Drake. In the midst of it all, our two daughters were engaged and planning to married the same summer as the kidney transplant. ;-)

I remember the tug-of-war in my soul. The "What ifs" plagued me. Then, in the midst of my own fiery furnance I read the reply of the three Hebrew children when they were thrown into a fiery furnace.

If it be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of thine hand, O king. But if not, be it known unto thee, O king, that we will not serve thy gods, nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up. Daniel 3:17-18

These verses helped settle something in my heart. Our God whom we served was able to deliver our family from this trial, but even if He didn't, we were still going to love and serve Him.

On June 12, it will be two years since Paul's surgery. Jesus has been with us every step of the way.

John married Natasha Stamman (Yes, I have my very own daughter-in-law.) this past April 23. (That's them in the picture above.) Paul was John's best man. Words are inadequate to describe the emotions I felt. Paul said it best when he spoke at the wedding reception, "John, you are really my "best" man. Than you for the gift of life."

Paul heads back up to Rochester for a kidney biopsy this month. We realize more than ever before that life is precious and you are only as healthy as your next checkup.
But we know, as the old hymn so eloquently puts it:

Many things about tomorrow. I don't seem to understand.
But I know who holds tomorrow and I know who holds my hand.

But we are thanking the Lord every day for the gift of life. We will celebrate Paul's second anniversary with thanksgiving and we will declare, "EVEN IN THE VALLEY GOD IS GOOD.... EVEN IN THE VALLEY HE IS FAITHFUL AND TRUE. HE CARRIES HIS CHILDREN THROUGH LIKE HE SAID HE WOULD - YES, EVEN IN THE VALLEY GOD IS GOOD!"

I don't regret a mile,
Dixie

Mr. & Mrs. John Drake Phillips

Make photo slide shows at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Easton Paul Nolt

Our second grandson Easton Paul Nolt has arrived.
8 pounds 6 ounces
22 inches
March 27th at 1:03 a.m.

Mommy and baby Easton are doing fine.

Singing the Songbird's Praises

About the book:
The year is 1945. The war is over and 21-year-old Betty Lake has been invited to Europe to sing in a USO tour for American soldiers who now occupy Hitlers Germany. The first nights performance is a hit. Betty becomes enthralled with the applause, the former Nazi-held mansion theyre housed in and the attention of Frank Witt, the US Army Signal Corp Photographer. Yet the next night this songbird is ready to fly the coop when Bettys dear friend, Kat, turns up missing. Betty soon realizes Franks photographs could be the key to finding Kat. Betty and Frank team up against post-war Nazi influences and the two lovebirds hearts may find the answers...in each other. But will they have a chance for their romance to sing? The truth will be revealed under a German moon.

About the author:
Tricia Goyer is an awardwinning author of twelve novels, more than 300 articles and six nonfiction books. In researching for her WWII novels, Tricia has interviewed over one hundred veterans and service women involved in support efforts. She has also traveled to Germany, the Czech Republic, and Austria for research. She lives with her husband and three children in Kalispell, Montana.

My review:
My husband's father was a POW in WWII. As I read Tricia Goyer's Songbird Under a German Moon, I hoped my dear father-in-law would have someone like the main character of the book (Betty Lake) to lift his spirits during those difficult days.

Ms Goyer is a gifted writer and has a refreshing writing style. You actually get the feeling you are there and know her characters personally. If you know someone, who loves WWII stories, you must get them this book. They will love it!

I highly recommend this book. You will enjoy it immensely!



Thanks to LitFuse Publicity and the publisher for providing me with a copy of this book to review.

Liz Curtis Higgs Kept Me Burning My Candle

Here Burns My Candle
by Liz Curtis Higgs

About the Author

It’s been 4 years since Liz Curtis Higgs’s last novel, and she’s made good use of that time studying Scottish history and the Scriptures. And now she offers a retelling of the beloved Old Testament story of Ruth and Naomi set in 18th Century Scotland. Visit the Lowlands in Here Burns My Candle.

About the Book

A mother who cannot face her future.
A daughter who cannot escape her past.
Lady Elisabeth Kerr is a keeper of secrets. A Highlander by birth and a Lowlander by marriage, she honors the auld ways, even as doubts and fears stir deep within her.
Her husband, Lord Donald, has secrets of his own, well hidden from the household, yet whispered among the town gossips.
His mother, the dowager Lady Marjory, hides gold beneath her floor and guilt inside her heart. Though her two abiding passions are maintaining her place in society and coddling her grown sons, Marjory’s many regrets, buried in Greyfriars Churchyard, continue to plague her.
One by one the Kerr family secrets begin to surface, even as bonny Prince Charlie and his rebel army ride into Edinburgh in September 1745, intent on capturing the crown.
A timeless story of love and betrayal, loss and redemption, flickering against the vivid backdrop of eighteenth-century Scotland, Here Burns My Candle illumines the dark side of human nature, even as hope, the brightest of tapers, lights the way home.

My Review

If you need sleep, don't pick up Liz Curtis Higgs newest book Here Burns My Candle. You won't be able to put the book down once you start reading the riveting story of Lady Elisabeth Kerr, a Highlander by birth and a Lowlander by marriage. I was burning my candle into the wee hours of the morning because every page gripped me. The book is ADDICTIVE! I may need a support group because I find myself sipping tea with my pinky finger extended and dreaming about the characters in Here Burns My Candle.

The book is not all fluff. There is substance and sustenance as the plot thickens. Hope rises with the dawn when eternal lessons are learned.

If you want a good read and a 'stay-cation,'(vacation at home) pick up a copy of Higgs' Here Burns My Candle. You'll be glad you did. And who knows, Lady Elisabeth Kerr might just add a little culture to your life.

I highly recommend this well-crafted book. Bravo, Liz Curtis Higgs! Thanks for penning a story with depth and excellence.


Here you can see different options where you can purchase the book online:

http://waterbrookmultnomah.com/catalog

This was book was provided for review by WaterBrook Multnomah.