New Year Ramblings

Starting this new year out for me has been tricky. My husband is an audio engineer and works on a cruise ship. This is great, but it means he's gone 6 months at a time. That isn't good. He has been home for a month and during this time I haven't really touched my blog. Now with him leaving this week, I am in the struggle of getting back into it. I find myself not motivated. I'm sure I'm not the only one:) I'm hoping my goals will push me to get back at it!

I want my goals this year to be specific.

• I want to continue growing my blog, sharing wonderful books and products, and giving a glimpse into our homeschool life.
• I would love to grow my social media pages to more interaction and a sense of community.
• My husband is working on getting his photography business growing so he can come off the ship and be at home more. I want to work on promoting his business while continuing with mine.

I'm hopeful that time will allow all this to work. I pray that everyone's year is one of great plans and things to come.

Above and Beyond by Sandra Brown

Kyla's husband Richard was killed in a terrorist attack while overseas. As Kyla is trying to catch a breath and move on with her young son, she finds herself drawn to a man she doesn't realize she knows.

Trevor was a soldier alongside Richard. By a stroke of coincidence, Richard ends up dying in the bunk where Trevor normally would have been. To aid his recovery, Trevor finds himself reading, and re-reading the love letters to Richard from Kyla. When he finds himself in love with her, he devises a plan to meet her.

While they are getting to know each other, Trevor is holding back a huge secret that could ruin everything. There is something Kyla doesn't yet know and Trevor hopes will never know.

Through a series of events, we follow them through struggles, love,  trust issues and finally the truth. Can they survive what secrets lie in the past or will it keep them from a lasting love?


MY THOUGHTS:

This story will keep you engaged from beginning to end. It is full of creative plot lines which pull you into the story. There is great depth to the story which allows us to visualize realistic people and situations. When reading this book I found myself with many different emotions from disliking Trevor for keeping the secret, to wanting Kyla to forgive him, to laughing alongside the actions of a toddler.
You will not be disappointed with Above and Beyond. Again Sandra Brown has brought us a hit!
I have lost count of how many times I have read this book over the years. Certain books just fit in a way that brings you back time and again. This is that book!
You can find the book for yourself here at www.amazon.com

Disclosure: I did not receive any compensation for this review. I had the book in my personal collection. My reviews are always honest and my opinions are my own.

Song Share time : It Is Well - Todd Fields & Horatio Spafford

Something different today! We sang this song a couple weeks ago at church and it is the song that comes to mind whenever I am going through a struggles. I just thought I'd share it with you all.
The words to this song were written by Horatio Spafford. He was a man who had suffered numerous losses in his life. He knew what it was to suffer. After already losing a son to scarlet fever, he wrote this song immediately after learning his daughters were all lost in a boat accident in 1873. Knowing they were saved for a reason, Horatio and his wife, Anna, went on to do ministering all over the world.
This video is courtesy of youtube. There is another one which shows more detail about his life, but I wanted to share this one with lyrics. The basis is that no matter what we are going through, God is with us always. It's easy to think that during the "good" times, but the true test comes when we are in the midst of a storm.

Hope you enjoy!

Joni and Ken : An Untold Love Story

                                                               

I was excited when I saw that I could review this book. I read her original book "Joni" when I was a kid, and saw the movie when it was in theaters. I was amazed at how she could trust God throughout her recovery from the accident, and the realization of how life changing this accident was. She was completely real and it was encouraging to me and many others.

In Joni and Ken: An Untold Love Story, we get an authentic look at their courtship and 30 year marriage. We see throughout the book that life isn't all easy or even enjoyable. Living with a quadriplegic person is hard even when you are in a committed relationship with them. We live through their struggles and accomplishments alongside them as we follow not only the present life, but the past 30 years. We find the reasons that this marriage works regardless of circumstances they face daily.

Although the majority of the book is from Joni's perspective, we learn alot about Ken also. We learn how open he is about his personal struggles he faced when realizing life with Joni is much more difficult than he imagined. He found he did allow some "fame feelings" to intrude in his feelings with how life would be. It's easy to glaze over some of the more difficult issues in a relationship when you can focus on the positive aspects, and when those aspects are known world wide, it's harder to ignore.

We follow the couple as they serve Christ through their travels, and ministries. Ken begins to feel he has taken a backseat in the relationship as Joni's personal and professional life takes over their day to day life.

Through the years, the marriage begins to feel more like  parallel living instead of the closeness that should accompany a marriage. They begin to feel overburdened, and Ken especially begins to find his patience stretched to the limits.

When Joni is diagnosed with cancer, and Ken finds himself delving into a deeper relationship with Christ, we find a new devotion and commitment to the marriage. They find themselves feeling closer than ever to Christ and each other. They make the marriage a priority daily. The little things Ken found himself overwhelmed with, now become more about serving and love.

I loved this book. It was a great story of true love, and how you can overcome any struggle with Christ in your life. It was obviously more directed to their personal struggle of quadriplegia, but I found the book a great help in ways that could encourage any marriage. I highly recommend everyone read this book!


Disclosure: I received an ebook copy of the book from book sneeze.com in exchange for my honest review. No other compensation was given. My opinions are my own and may differ from others.