So much to do, so little time to blog...

A glimpse into my crazy life thus far:

In the midst of chaos...

look away to Him!!
Stumbling across this quote this morning, I realized how much in my life there is to be thankful for and the multitude of blessings God has poured out upon me.

What if you woke up this morning and found the only things you had left were the things you thanked God for yesterday?
-- Terry Shock

Why was the floor made?

One upside of having a large living room floor is that I can use it for multiple purposes. While it might also demonstrate my lack of furniture, it is definitely a useful space.

The question is this: would you rather be grading blue book exams or laying out a quilt???

If you were writing verse three for this song, what would you say the floor was made for?

Christian Fiction... the Realistic Kind

As I mentioned before, I have a weakness for Christian fiction. So when I had the chance to review a book for Thomas Nelson publishers, I jumped at the opportunity!! Beth Webb Hart's newest book, Sunrise on the Battery looked a really intriguing read. Like her previous book, it takes place in Charleston, South Carolina in modern times.

The book synopsis seems to promise a novel about a couple who have given everything for a place in high society. The wife, Mary, comes to know God and prays for her husband to come to know him as well. When he does get saved, he becomes an overenthusiastic Christian, threatening their status in society.

I expected the book to be about Mary's struggles with her husband's spiritual awakening and subsequent activity. For those of us who have been Christians for a while, this dilemma is familiar. If not with our family members, we've seen this in friends and acquaintances. What do you do when someone sees overzealous?

In this sense, Hart's book is disappointing. Jackson doesn't convert until page 183 out of 277 pages. The next 95 pages do detail his overzealous activities, and Mary does have a difficult time coming to terms with the vast change in her husband. However, Hart fails to give a Christian perspective on how to confront the situation. One of the main characters fails into sinful thoughts and others are just confused. Everything seems to be miraculously resolved in the last chapter.

Mary and her husband have three children with very different personalities. In the first two-thirds of the book, they add to the nuance of this story. However, after Jackson's conversion, they seem to fall by the wayside.

All in all, I enjoyed this book more than Hart's previous book Love, Charleston. However, it seems more disappointing than inspiring. It seems so realistic that there is no clear take home message from the book. I leave the book just as confused about this issue as before I began.

Something new in the works...

Despite the fact that graduate school is very time-consuming, I've been encouraged (or dare I say instructed?) to continue to find time for myself to do things that are non-stressful and not related to school or church. In the spirit of relaxation, I've lauched a new project!!! I'm really excited about using this fabric creatively & learning new techniques. The major wrench in the plan is that I don't have a sewing machine (yet.) Anyone have one to spare or one I could borrow??

A Memoir

I have to confess that I have a weakness for Christian fiction. Despite the fact that I spend much of my work life reading huge tomes, I also spend my free time reading!!!! Reading is a great way to adventure into another world without having to worry about time travel or anachronisms. In addition, if something bothers you or annoys you, you can instantly leave (without offending anyone.)

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I had the opportunity to read an interesting & very personal memoir of a young Canadian who went to Oxford in England to pursue her graduate studies in English. Little did she know that her quest for academic knowledge would morph into a quest for spiritual experience. Reading Carolyn Weber's Surprised by Oxford was an amazing way to gain insight into the complexities of graduate study and the ways in which God can still have a place in your time, in your heart, and in your living. I was definitely very impressed by the character of TDH and his Christian testimony. Furthermore, Carolyn's details regarding the questionings that led to her ultimate salvation choice were described quite poignantly. Drawing from her own memories and studies, she lays out the process by which God draws her to know Him.

This is definitely a spiritual memoir worth reading!! Many conversion narratives can over-emphasize the supernatural or give a run-of-the-mill telling. Surprised by Oxford grants the reader a personal look into a very real and rather unique experience of a modern woman searching for meaning in the middle of her career. However, I found that the last third of the book did seem to drag a bit. The book itself is 440 pages, and perhaps some of the final part could have been condensed.

I received a free copy of this book to review through Book Sneeze. I would recommend this as a definite book to check out from the library; however, I would hesitate to purchase this book myself.

Changes in my life = changes to this blog

To my faithful readers (I'm not sure there are any),

As I have moved to a new state & gone back to school, I'm expanding the parameters of this blog a bit. I'm still taking violin lessons, so I'll continue to write about those adventures. But I also need an outlet to write about those things in life that have nothing to do with school!!!!

So, I'm adding things like thoughts on crafts, reviews of cool books, observations on teaching, and more!!! Let me know if you want to know about something in particular.