trip to the zoo!!

Ethan is having a blast with his Californian cousins this week! He loves watching the "big boys" run around and we're also doing a lot of fun things this week too, like the zoo.

2nd book review - Her Daughter's Dream

My 2nd review for the Tyndale Summer Reading program.

Her Daughter's Dream by Francine Rivers

As I stated before, I really liked this series. I was really looking forward to reading the 2nd book, the conclusion to the series. The story picks up with Marta's granddaughter Carolyn, and Hilde's daughter Carolyn. Hilde was treaded roughly by her mother Marta, for fear that treating Hilde gently would cause her to not venture out and make her own way in the world. The story shows how Marta's actions play out in the lives of her daughter and granddaughter. The relationships between each pair of mother/daughters is strained and Marta then has the opportunity to use her godly influence to repair what she can, and set the stage for resolution even if each woman is not ready to seek forgiveness yet.

I enjoyed the story however, like I previously stated, this book deals with several hard topics, rebellion, drug use, etc. The thing that I enjoyed reading though is how God uses the hard things in our lives to grow us and to show His grace through His redemption. Definitely difficult subject-matter at times but a very well-written story. I enjoyed seeing how the characters from the beginning of the first novel came back into the story.

summer reading program! first book review!

I've joined the Tyndale Summer Reading program! Once you read and post a review of 5 books, you can start earning free books! I decided to start with a couple of books that I have read recently, that I really enjoyed.

Her Mother's Hope by Francine Rivers

First of all I LOVE Francine Rivers. I have read just about each book that she has written since becoming a Christian, and I really enjoyed each one. Most of her novels are very allegorical (I think that's the right word for it) where the story clearly shows a very spiritual issue and causes you to think deeply about that issue. This series departs from that way of writing and is more of a historical fiction, which she explains is based loosely on her family's history.

The story follows Marta, a young girl born in Switzerland. Marta was treated very poorly by her father and eventually leaves home at a young age in search of making a better life for herself. She misses her mother and sister greatly, but realizes that if she ever were to come home her father would make sure that she never left again. Marta has great ambition and her drive to own her own business of a hotel and restaurant lead her around Europe and eventually lands her in America. The story is really interesting and really leaves you hanging and wanting to read the conclusion in the next novel.

As I mentioned I love Rivers work and this is also a wonderfully told story. The series deals with personal conflict between family members as well as some tough issues like abuse and family members who no longer speak to each other. Many of Rivers other novels wrap up very nicely in the end, but this one takes a more "real-life" approach to story telling and hopefully I'm not spoiling it by saying that while I found the story filled with hope, things don't wrap up as neatly in the end for everyone.

Overall, I'd greatly recommend this series to anyone that enjoys Rivers previous works or is just in the mood for a good summer read!

8th anniversary

Steve and I celebrated our 8th wedding anniversary yesterday. We had a fun, casual dinner out accompanied by our little man and enjoyed his fascination and interest in everything that was going on around him. I also took the little guy to his 15 month appointment yesterday, so more stats to come. He's growing up right before our eyes!

too cool

after pics

So I took E to get his first haircut today.

Probably the first of many bad haircuts :) No, it's not terrible and it might be pretty good considering he only sat still for about 3 minutes, and then had about 2 more minutes of squirming until he was signing "all done" and standing up in the chair. He got a sucker at the end which made his day. He learned the sign for "candy" a while back and after he was done with his sucker he signed "candy" really intensely while staring at me for a while, haha.

No after pics of the house yet, Steve power washed the front and one of the sides and will start staining the front soon.

before and after pics

Two sets of before pics... you can guess where both of these are going with after pics soon to come.

Before:

Before:

Ethan and I are heading out this afternoon and I'll post after pics soon :)