To Everything A Season by Lauraine Snelling

Book Description

Beloved Author Lauraine Snelling Returns Again to Her Popular Red River Valley Setting
Trygve Knutson is devoted to his family and his community. With his job on the construction crew, he is helping to build a future for the North Dakota town of Blessing. Though he loves his home, he sometimes dreams of other horizons--especially since meeting Miriam Hastings.

Miriam is in Blessing to get practical training to become an accredited nurse. She's been promised a position in the Chicago women's hospital that will enable her to support her siblings and her ailing mother. Although eager to return to her family, Miriam is surprised to find how much she enjoys the small town of Blessing. And her growing attachment to Trygve soon has her questioning a future she always considered set in stone.

When a family emergency calls Miriam home sooner than planned, will she find a way to return? If not, will it mean losing Trygve--and her chance at love--for good?

My Review

My Review

In the beginning, I wasn’t sure I’d like this book. It was a little hard to follow with the Norwegian accents, like when they’d say Taak and Mor and Far. And I felt I was coming back to a world I’ve never stepped foot in. However, I soon discovered that this is Lauraine Snelling’s third series in Blessing. So, I figured that was why I felt I should know these people. It took me a little while, still not sure I remember who everyone is, but about halfway through the book I really began to enjoy it.

The town of Blessing is small but ever growing faster. They almost can’t keep up with the people coming in. Buildings need to be made to board people and the hospital and deaf school are thriving. However, there’s news spreading around about a gang of thieves robbing banks in the towns closest to Blessing. No believe would believe anyone would rob Blessing Bank, but sure enough, they tried.

Without giving too much away, I just have to say, what Astrid and her family did for a boy, Manny, really made me smile and feel good. The display of faith and love they showed was wonderful. And even the town once the gossip was shot down, which was near immediate.

I really liked the display of faith in Blessing all the way around. Everyone prays and looks out for one another like a community should. And genuinely seems to care what happens to their neighbors. Of course, like in any community you are going to have your naysayer who doesn’t believe in doing things differently or doing something new. But yet, the people of Blessing still love the people at fault. Just as it should be.

From the description, this story appears to be solely about Trygve and Mirriam, but I was surprised to find out that you don’t even hear from Miriam’s side of the story until over halfway through the book. It’s mostly about Astrid, Ingeborg (whom I just love!) and a few others in Blessing. But I enjoyed it.

I can’t wait to see what happens with them in the next book to see how Miriam fairs with her feelings for Trygve. Too see how Manny is getting along, as well as Elizabeth.

Blessing is a beautiful little town that I would like to visit again. 

I received this book for free from the publisher’s in exchange for this honest and unbiased review as part of Bethany House Review program.

Bible NLT, Compact edition, Large Print Review

My Review

I was very happy with this Bible! I wanted to get my sister a bible for her birthday. I redeemed it using my points on Tyndale Rewards and couldn't be happier with it!

It's compact, easy for carrying around everywhere.  Gold-lined pages. And the imitation leather felt amazing with its TuTone, Brown and Tan. It's a beautiful little bible.

I was first surprised when it said Large-print and it turned out to be about the same size as my regular print bible. But then, I realized that compact bibles are MICRO print. So, calling it Large print is accurate under this category of bibles. It's very readable. I really liked the middle column references. It has Jesus's words in red, which was a major factor in picking this bible.

I loved this bible for my sister because she would have a harder time carrying around a full size bible and I wanted something easy for her to tote everywhere (I'm going to get one for myself now!) I had it engraved with her name for $7 and gave it to her just this weekend for her birthday.

SHE LOVED IT!

When she saw her name on it, she was tickled pink!

I absolutely recommend this compact bible for anyone. Whether it's for a friend, family member, or just for convenience, its a great bible!

I give it a 5 out of 5 stars!

Always Looking Out!

I've been reading "the Lookout" bible devotion from YouVersions "Bible app". I really enjoy it. It's
my first entire Bible in One-Year reading program. It gives me about 5 chapters a day to read from 4 different books in the Bible. It starts out with Matthew, Acts, Psalms, and Genesis. And each day you read anywhere from 5 verses to 3 chapters in each book.

So, last week I finished Ruth and turned the page into 1 Samuel. That's Samuel, King Saul, and King David's stories. As I've been reading, I've found an amazing read from start to finish. The last judge and the first king of Israel. How David came into Saul's life and what bond he shared with King Saul's son, Jonathan. And how David then came to be King without killing Saul. 

Here comes the funny, yet really cool part.

I like to play a game called Trivia Crack. Maybe you've heard of it??? Maybe not! History so far has not been my best subject on this fun-filled play. Surprisingly, Arts and Sports has been (if you knew me at all you'd never believe it. Sports is not my forte by any stretch of the imagination. But I guess my imagination is pretty stretched now. LOL.) So, one day late last week I got the question of all questions!

I couldn't believe it! I had just read that chapter not even 24 hours ago. How crazy is that!? But then I thought, you know, maybe not so crazy
I've come to the firm conclusion that God wanted to make sure I was paying attention to my bible studying this week! God's always looking out for me and he just wanted to let me know he was paying attention, too.

Movin' On Up!

I've been thinking about this for over a year now, but was so uncertain about it.

Should I post my blog to somewhere else other than Blogger?

Of course, the first thing I look into is Word Press. It was my favorite out of the others I looked into. Having used Blogger for nearly 2 years though, I've grown accustom to how everything works around here. It's really great for beginners, but I've been feeling it's time to move on up from Novice to Intermediate.
When I went to create a blog template on WP it was vastly different and I just wasn't ready to handle anything new.

But now, I'm ready!

I'll still be using Blogger as my primary, but I'm hoping to reach more through WP. It has a cleaner, fresher, look and I feel like God is preparing me for something new this year. I don't know fully yet, but this is just another step in that direction.

I've imported this blog to Word Press, so everything you have seen here you can now find on my WP blog as well.

I hope you all will come visit and follow me on: MissTadoodles.wordpress.com

Have a wonderful day and God bless!

The Dandelion Field by Kathryn Springer

Book Description

This handsome firefighter makes a living coming to the rescue, but Gin doesn't need a man to fight her battles.

After Raine’s dad walked out, Ginevieve Lightly  never lived in one place too long, a rambling lifestyle that defined her daughter’s youth. When their car dies in Banister Falls, Wisconsin, Gin promises Raine they can stay until she finishes her senior year of high school. Gin will do anything to make sure her daughter has a bright future . . . a future that’s compromised when Raine reveals she’s pregnant.  

Dan Moretti has only ever called Banister Falls home. After losing his best friend in a tragic accident, Dan devoted himself to responding to fires, rescuing the helpless, and guiding Cody Bennett, his best friend's son, through life. With Cody being the epitome of the good kid, it was an easy job. Until he says four little words: “The baby is mine.”

Knowing gossip of Raine's pregnancy will erupt sooner or later in the small town, Gin's reflex is to grab the suitcase and escape to a new city, a new life. But with each passing day, Gin's feet stay rooted in Banister Falls, and she falls a little more for this local firefighter who shows her not all men abandon women at the first sign of smoke. 

As Gin and Dan do the best they can to guide the two teenagers through their early entry into adulthood, they discover together that romance can bloom in the rockiest of situations. And God can turn the pieces of a broken past into a beautiful new beginning.

My Review

I truly loved this book! The length of chapters were perfect; just short, and long, enough to keep me reading until the end!

Stories in small towns have always interested me, but the town of Banister Falls wasn't what drew me in. It was the people! A beautiful story of falling in love and learning to trust again.

Genevieve has had her heart-broken and her trust shattered. She can't stand to stay in one place. If she did, people would get to know her and that meant opportunities for someone to hurt her again. Always keeping a suitcase filled in the closet ready for a quick escape.

For her daughter, Raine, that made things hard on her. Raine felt alone, until she met Cody. Immediately catching her eye, it wasn't until her teacher paired together for a class project that she got to know him. But that wasn't the only person she became interested in. Reading Cody's answers on a questionnaire, she becomes interested in knowing God. After searching, she finds Jesus and hands her life over to him. Both Cody and Raine's relationship with the Lord bring them close.

Though this book is mostly about Dan and Genevieve, I really liked how she involved Raine and Cody's point of view's throughout the whole book.

Dan Marietta always loved Evie (Cody's mom) but he let her go when his buddy Max (Cody's dad) began pursuing her. After Max died in a fire while on duty, everyone thought Dan and Evie would get married, but Evie always kept him at arm's length. Dan is the handsome firefighter, but a gentlemen in every way! It made me wish he was real and interested in me! *wiggles eyebrows* Though you wouldn't know it, Dan has his own little suitcase, which I love that he unloaded that secret with Gin. It helped bring down more of the barrier she had surrounding her heart. And it just made Dan that much more real. 

The book was well written, I only wish their had been more! All in all, I would definitely recommend this book to you all.

I give it a 4.5 out of 5 stars. 

I received this book for free from the publisher’s in exchange for this honest and unbiased review as part of BookLookBloggers Review program.

How to Love Your Depressed Friend

As I was reading this article, I decided it was something I needed to share. I wish I had read it sooner so I could've shown some of the people in my life. Both, for my sake and theirs.  http://www.tosavealife.com/love-depressed-friend/

There have been times where I tried to comfort a friend who was depressed. I knew my attempts to "solve" their problem only made it worse. But I didn't know what to do; I felt helpless, too.

But, I too have been on the receiving end of that rope. I've had friends try to solve my problems when I was depressed when all I really needed was for them to listen and maybe just embrace me with comforting arms.

There have been many times when I wished they'd asked more than the simple "How are you?" and then accept the "I'm fine" like I'm actually fine, and then continued on about themselves.

Sometimes all it takes is an encouraging few words to expel someones sadness. Sometimes words alone aren't enough. Just being there for them, not ignoring or excluding them, and not leaving them to be alone is what they need.

One of the ones I wish I had known about sooner, and what might have saved my friendship was

• It's Okay to Go Away

I've always been the kind of person to never leave a friend behind or alone because I hate being alone. And people always tend to leave me because they found something better. I always want to treat people better than how I've been treated. But, sometimes, it's okay to take a break. I've slowly been learning that the last year. When two friends are depressed then you need to take a break from one another. Otherwise, it's just like trying to help a person drowning when in fact you can't swim yourself. You end up just dragging each other under. 

Taking a break doesn't mean its over. It just means we all have problems and not one person (except JESUS) can help you with those problems. Just knowing you will always have that friend be there when you get back is what you need. 

Next time you see a friend depressed or just sad, be there. Don't worry about fixing the problem or try to figure out what's causing it. Just wrap your arms around them and say "I'm here, I'm not going anywhere". 

And if you need a friend, maybe send them the link I shared in this blog. Sometimes, our friends are just as lost as we are and need some help on how to help. 

God bless and give someone a hug today! 

And if you're not close enough to hug them right now, send them one through prayer!

Valentines? Not a Problem!

Hahaha! This just made my day and completely inspired this post! Listen, listen!

Valentine's Day problems. ❤️

A video posted by Snoopy And The Peanuts Gang (@snoopygrams) on Feb 9, 2015 at 9:14am PST

Like Peppermint Patty, everyone asks the same question every day. Maybe even twice a day.

"Have you been given a lot of Valentines [Love] in your time?"

My answer, too, would be,

"No. I've never received a single Valentine." 

That is, if we were talking specifically, and only, about Valentines Day. But not today. Valentines Day is a great day to express our affections to the people we love. Sure, some say it's just a card industry day, but only if you make it that way.

However, there of many of us who don't believe that anyone cares about us or even loves us. Then, we go digging around others lives and comparing their love life to ours. Trying to find ways on how to get our own valentines, and love.

Peppermint Patty said it perfectly though!

"I should talk to someone who is used to getting [giving] Valentines!"

And, there is only One who does it perfectly every day: Jesus Christ!

Think about it, He is the giver and creator of Love. And, if you think about it, receives a lot of love too! {Psalm 18:1} Whom better to learn from then the master! The only reason love even exists and we know it to be real is because He loved us first! {1 John 4:19}

Turn to him for guidance in your life, and love. Take direction from Him and don't wait for others to love you before you love others. And take in confident reassurance, that you have the ultimate Valentine in your life, forever! He wants you to be His forever Valentine. {John 15:9}

From the ever poetic words of Veggie Tales:

"God made you special and he Loves you very much!"

God bless and have a wonderful day!