Garden Spells

"Garden Spells" by Sarah Addison Allen

I have been enjoying this author so much.  Her writing is magical and fun.  She writes about deep issues but in a light hearted way.  She intertwines funny, mystical, and serious very well.  The Waverleys are a curious family who have a magical garden with an apple tree whose fruit is said to be prophetic.  Claire Waverley has magical dishes she serves when she caters.  Claire likes her life just the way it is, she likes her routine.  Evanelle, her cousin, has gifts for people before they even know that they need them.  All of the sudden Claire's wandering sister, Sydney, returns with her young daughter.  Claire's life is turned upside down.  Claire begins to deal with the hurts of the past as Sydney opens up to her life after leaving home.  Can these sisters find common ground?  "Sydney was family.  Claire had learned the hard way that you weren't supposed to take them for granted."  It's so easy to take family for granted.  They will always be there, their family, right?  Of anyone, family should be who we apprecatie the most.  "This woman had been abandoned too many times to let anyone in again."  It's a sad state when someone has been so hurt that they can't bear to have anyone else enter in.  Foster kids tend to be like this.  They act tough, like they don't need anyone because they are tired of loving and being left.  "You are who you are, whether you like it or not, so why not like it?"  We can change some things about ourselves that we don't like but accepting ourselves is a good step to loving ourselves.  "When you tell a secret to someone, embarrassing or not, it forms a connection.  The person means something to you simply by virture of what he knows."  So be careful who you share your secrets with. "When you're happy for yourself, it fills you.  When you're happy for someone else, it pours over."  That's the truth.

The Girl Who Chased the Moon

"The Girl Who Chased the Moon" by Sarah Addison Allen

Enchanting would be the word I would use to describe this book, also magical.  A teenage girl comes back to her mother's hometown to live with a grandfather she never knew in a town that isn't readily accepting.  Emily comes to find answers to a life her mother never told her about.  Julia bakes cakes that everyone in town loves but no one knows the reason that she cant stop making them.  Julia is calling out to a love that was lost, hoping her cakes will bring that love back.  It's a quirky little town where mystical things happen.  "We get to choose what defines us."  Events happen in our lives that we have no say over but we do get to say what will define us.  "Let them live their lives without our baggage."  I found this profound.  So many times we put our stuff on others instead of letting them live the lives they were meant to.  Family traditions, family curses, our worries and fears, not all of it is bad, but we need to let our children blaze the trail that was meant with them and it is so much easier when they aren't carrying extra baggage.  I enjoyed this free spirited book.  It was light with some good messages and just fun to read.

Things I've Learned from Dying

"Things I've Learned from Dying" by David R. Dow

The author says this is really a book about life.  You learn a lot about how to live life in the face of death.  David is a death row laywer.  In this book he talks about a case he is working on.  While he is working on this case, trying to save an inmates life, his father in law is dying of cancer.  He learns many lessons from his father in law and from the inmate, many of these lessons are about letting go and just being there.  I liked this book and am intruiged to read his previous book.  "I can either spend the rest of my life trying to exted my life, or I can spend the rest of my life living my life."  Sometimes life is extended only to endure more suffering.  Sometimes life is just worth living the rest you have to the fullest.  "No matter how much you change who you are, you cain't change what you done."  Even if we aren't the same person anymore, we still have to pay for our mistakes.  "Sometimes one's imagination sees what it wants to see."  "One thing I've learned is that in the face of tragedy you are powerless to prevent, there's no greater empathy than quiet."  Sometimes all we have to offer someone is our quiet, there are no words to make it better but sitting with someone in their pain is powerful.  "All you can change is yourself and your own small corner of this earth.  That, and you can help other people change theirs."  And change is a powerful thing, it's also contagious.  "The reason it's easier to be bad than good is that being good takes awareness and effort.  You can't just sit there.  But all you have to do to be bad is coast."  I think this is a genius statement and so very true.  Being bad is easy, it comes naturally.  Being good takes effort and a lot of people don't want to take that effort.  "Time does not heal all wounds.  Some pain becomes part of who you are."

Lost Lake

"Lost Lake" by Sarah Addison Allen

This was a really great book, really great.  I now want to read all the books this author has written.  Kate spent the summer at Lost Lake when she was 12.  It was the last best summer she had.  Now she is grown up, coming out of the fog of losing her husband.  She has a daughter to raise and her mother in law has taken over in her fog of grief.  On a whim Kate decides to give her daughter one last best summer at Lost Lake.  Will it still be there?  Will her great aunt still be running the place?  Eby, her great aunt, has decided to sell Lost Lake.  She is old and so are the cabins.  People come to say their goodbyes, but can Lost Lake be saved before it's too late?  "Children always know when their mothers are crazy-they just never admit it, not out loud, to anyone."  Children know more than we give them credit for.  "She wanted to say that waking up is the most important part of grieving, that so many women in their family failed to do it, and she was proud of Kate for fighting her way back."  Coming back from, or out of grief really is the hardest thing.  It takes being willing to live again and after you've lost someone you love so much living is the hardest thing to do, it takes the most courage.  "If we measured life in the things that almost happened, we wouldn't get anywhere."  We can't live in the almost.  "No amount of love and no amount of money would change people who didn't want to change." Amen to that.  Prayer and God is what changes things.  "When your cup is empty, you do not mourn what is gone.  Because if you do, you will miss the opportunity to fill it again."   A good book filled with laughable moments and moments that will make you think.  A funny book with depth.

Everybody's Got Something

"Everybody's Got Something" by Robin Roberts

This was such an inspirational story.  Robin is a very upbeat, positive thinker.  We can all learn a lesson from her about how to face challenges in our lives.  Robin was diagnosed with breast cancer and then a few years later was diagnosed with a rare blood disorder that she needed a bone marrow transplant for.  She is an anchor on Good Morning America and a very well known TV personality.  She faced these health battles publicly and many rallied for her.  She credits her family, friends, and faith for bringing her through.  "Make your mess your message."  I really like that, it means whatever you are going through use it to be your message.  Use your trial for good.  Robin really exempified this by talking about bone marrow donors and showing peopel what it is like to go through cancer and survive.  What is the point of going through hard things if you can't use it for good?  That is how good God is, He always turns the bad for our good.  "When you are down and you don't know how to pick yourself up, start where you are."  It just takes one step, and the first is always the hardest.  "Why is my something any worse or more significant than anyone elses?  It's not.  It's just not."  We all have hard things and mine isn't any worse than someones elses.  We need to have compassion for all that are going through something, it's all hard.  "Why not be the one to start the kind of family you've always wanted to be part of?"  Robin has an amazing support system in her family.  She had strong bonds with her two older sister and brother.  Not all of us come from great families but we can all be the ones to start what we desire a family to be.  Dare to begin the cycle of building that loving family.  Look to others who have those bonds for guidance.  "Focus on the fight, not the fright."  It is so easy when we are going through a trial to focus on the bad and how scared we are but that will not get us anywhere except more scared and frustrated.  Focus on the good, what you can do and the scary will become less.  "Life provides losses and heartbreak for all of us-but the greatest tragedy is to have the experience and miss the meaning."  Every trial has a lesson, don't miss it or you may get to redo the trial.  "What a gift it is to have friends who really know you.  What a gift you give someone when you listen with your whole head and your whole heart."  It really is a priceless gift.  Be that gift to others.  "I've often said when fear knocks, let faith answer the door.  Sometimes when fear knocks, faith shows itself through a friend who stands by the door, squeezes your hand and answers it with you."

Hands Free Mama

"Hands Free Mama" by Rachel Macy Stafford

This book has some amazing truths and tools to help us mamas to be less distracted and remember and focus on what really matters.  The author found herself missing out on her life with her two children because she was distracted by technology and over commitment.  She decided that she was tired of living this way.  Rachel started to write about her journey on a blog and many readers felt the same and the book was born.  The book offers helpful tools and insightful questions to help the reader on the journey of being hands free.  In this day there are so many things that require our time we loose sight of who and what really matters.  "The answers were not easy-because grasping what really matters means going to the tender places in one's soul."  We have to take a hard look at ourselves and there we will find healing.  "Because I'm in it for the long haul, which means investing time, focus, energy, and love into the man I'm crazy about."  We can't expect our relationships to thrive and flourish if we don't invest in them.  It takes investing if we want it to last.  It's not easy but it is worth it.  "Today my child stands before me wanting, needing, and hoping to be chosen."  You can't get back today.  No phone call, text, email or app is worth it.  What you choose today will make a difference in shaping your children.  "For it is in the everyday moments, doing routine activities, that we create the past."  What we do today, what we choose, will be our children's past.  "The only thing that really matters is this: I am a loving mother to my children, and I am raising them to be kind and loving people.  And that is enough.  In fact, it's everything."  "Isn't it when we open the doors to our messy souls that the joy, laughter, and love can find its way in?  Isn't it when we show each other our scars that we love each other more?"  Being vulnerable isn't easy but it is when we can truly feel heard and close to a person.  I find the most connection with people who are real and who have gone through similar things.  It is so important to be our true selves, I believe it helps others be their true selves.  "Waiting for the perfect time and perfect conditions means waiting to live."  I don't want to wait to live, there isn't that much time.  Perfect isn't going to happen in this lifetime so we might as well begin.  "You are a good mom.  So you aren't perfect.  You make mistakes and even some poor choices.  Some days your patience is too thin...some days you allow negative thoughts to silence thoughts of gratitude...some days you aren't the mom you want to be.  But hear this, and remember it: When your children need defending, you defend.  When your children need comfort, you comfort.  When your children hurt, you hurt too.  So stop berating yourself.  Stop questioning yourself.  Stop shaming yourself.  And for God's sake, stop critizing yourself.  Stop wondering if you are enough.  Because you are."  I think every mom needs to paste this where it can remind them daily, you are enough.  We all make mistakes but we are good moms, we love our kids.  I found this book to be encouraging, insightful, and helpful.  It is a recommended read for all of us struggling to find balance in our lives.

Almost Heaven

"Almost Heaven" by Chris Fabry

Great author, great book.  This book took me a little to get into and I didn't think at first is was going to be as great as his other two but towards the middle I changed my mind.  The way this book was written with first person story telling and also a view from an angel was unique and entertaining.  It seemed to me a little confusing at first but once I figured out the characters it began to flow.  Billy is a bit odd but has an amazing heart for his God.  He is destined for great things but bad always seems to get in the way.  He is a genius when it comes to fixing things and plays the mandolin like nobody else.  Malachi is an angel that is watching over Billy and has his work cut out for him.  But despite the trials Billy never wavers from his faith and because of that God will use him to touch the hearts of many.  "God has seemed massively indifferent to my devotion, if he has even heard my cries."  Oh boy, have I felt like this at times.  Crying out to God over and over and wondering why He isn't doing anything.  "Sometimes, when you know the right thing to do, you simply have to do it, even though it breaks your heart."  I've had to do this numorous times in my life, it's never easy.  "...the struggle of our lives was not a sign that we were failing or losing.  The struggle was a sign that there was still life.  If you stopped struggling, that's when you needed to be worried.  The fight meant God was helping you keep going one more day even if you did't think you could make it."  I read this book when there was a struggle in my life and this spoke to me.  I tell you I know that God gave me this book at just the time I needed it, it wasn't just happenstance.  God is there in the struggle, He hasn't left you.  "For the human followers, it is in losing that they finally discover.  It is in failing that they see.  It is in the abandonment of the trail they believed would lead them to lasting joy that they set out on a new path.  It is much narrower and overgrown, but in the journey through this wilderness of the soul, they discover more about themselves and Him than if every prayer of their wayward hearts had been answered in the affirmative."  Such good words.  We have to let go of the path we thought our lives would take, stop fighting against the struggles and hold on to the One who will deepen our faith and make us more like Him and bring us into glory.  "Some of you may be shaking this morning...from a lack of knowing God loves you and has some kind of plan in the middle of what you call a life.  It can get cloudy and misty at times, so thick you aren't able to see much of the field he has planted you in.  and if that's where you are, I'm here to tell you that you're in a good place.  It probably doesn't feel that way.  But God has you right where you need to be.  Because it's not where you're strong that he will use you; it's where you're weak."  I needed this when I read it and it speaks profoundly to me.  When we are in the midst of a trial it often feels like we have been abandoned by God.  It has helped me to remember and speak truths about who my God is.  He is good and He is love so even in my trials He is good and He is love.  I am strongest when I am weak because that is when He can work the most in me.  "But then there are people like me, who think they are doing exactly what God wants them to do, and they plow through everything that is thrown at them and in the end they're nowhere closer to God than when they started."  It's so hard to keep the path, to keep plowing through the muck and mire but don't give up, God's got a plan even when it is so hard.  "Music has a way of filling in the missing places. It is a gift from God above, who didn't have to provide it, but he did anyway and I half think he decided life just wouldn't be as good without it."  I agree, music lifts my soul and can bring me encouragement and peace.  "When trouble comes, where does help come from?  It comes from The Lord who made heaven and earch.  He is the one who keeps me.  he's the one who won't let my foot slip.  He doesn't nod off during the troubles of my life.  If he really does care, he already knew this was going to happen and had prepared an angel to protect us."  I found such peace in this, such truth.  God already knows all that is going to happen to me and he will protect me, I need not be afraid.  "Success, sometimes, is just loving somebody with a love that doesn't come back the way you want it."  This book spoke to me so profoundly when I was going through a hard trial.  It changed my perspectives on the trials in my life.  There was no mistake I was supossed to read this book at this time in my life.  If you are going through something hard I recommend reading this book.  Hopefully it will bring the encouragement you need to keep walking that path that God has for you no matter the hardship.  God loves you and hasn't forsaken you.