Book Review: Eyes of Justice

Eyes of Justice (by Lis Wiehl with April Henry) was a different kind of book for me. I have read mysteries and murder mysteries, but usually they have been more outspokenly Christian. This book had some “Christian” content, but not enough to really satisfy me. I like Christians to be more separated from the world, and not drink alcoholic beverages. That being said, this is a very enjoyable book, in a terrorizing sort of way. It is a book that I raced through to find out “who dun it” and I want to read it again, more leisurely next time.

Cassidy, Allison, and Nicole went to high school together, but didn’t connect until their ten year reunion when they discovered they had something in common. Cassidy covered crime on TV; Allison prosecuted crime for the federal government; and Nicole investigated crime for the FBI. In the following six years, they became closest friends and allies in pursuit of justice. During that time, they made enemies of the folks who were “put away” by their efforts. Until Cassidy was murdered, they hadn’t dealt with the possibility of there being real danger in their lives. Allison and Nicole are desperate to find out who killed their friend, and the authorities don’t want them involved in the investigation. The truth was not at all obvious, and then they discovered their lives were also in danger!

I enjoyed the wording of this book. For example: “When I got in my car to come here it was like getting into a blazing oven. A blazing oven that was on fire. Inside a volcano.” (p. 10) There were places like this that made me chuckle, even while I was ‘scared to death’ about what was happening. The characters were natural and real in their conversations, and I enjoyed knowing them.

I don’t want to spoil this book by giving anything away. If you like “Who dun it?” type books, you will enjoy this book.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher through the BookSneeze®.com book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

Carmen Cruz and Michael Durkee's wedding March 24, 2012

Today two of our favorite people married each other. We have known both of them for many years, and we are delighted that they decided they belonged together. Here are some snapshots from the wedding.
Alan and Betty Durkee, parents of the groom.

Eladio and Sherolyn Cruz, with the bride Carmen.

Three bridesmaids, Emily Albertson, Esther Troyer and Mary Cruz, sisters of the bride

One of the kisses!

Michael and Carmen

With the beautiful cakes

With the attendants, minus one of the groomsmen

The Cruz family

The Durkee family

Emily and Janet with the happy couple. Mike has been one of our "adopted" sons. We are happy to have our 4th adopted son married. We prayed for each of them to find a good wife and they all have!

Emily looking sweet!

I had the privilege of making the bridesmaid dresses. This is when I was laying out the pattern for the matching slips that I made for each girl.

This week when I had finished the dresses! So thankful for the Lord's help! I had to have it, especially with two of the girls far away and unable to try on the dresses. I held my breath until I saw that they fit nicely! :)

We pray for God's blessings on this new Christian home.
I want to say also that I appreciated the modesty of the bride and her attendants. It was a beautiful God-honoring wedding.

Pictures from Emily's birthday

The big surprise for Emily was being given the Block of the Month Quilt for her birthday. She had no idea I had even gotten it bound, because it was a secret project I did while she was spending the afternoon with a friend!

The special guests for Emily's birthday meal were the Strubhars, who live in Cheyenne, Wyoming. We met them at a Christmas party in 2010, and then they had us over on Christmas Day that year. Emily is great friends with Ivanna, so we invited her family to spend part of Emily's birthday with us. Besides eating and visiting, we enjoyed playing instruments and singing together.

Grace, Emily, Ivanna, Faith, and Beth at the girls' table.

Grace and Ivanna with their accordions and Emily with her violin. Faith played her violin, Jason the cello, and Beth and I played pianos. Everybody else sang.

Emily is turning Fourteen!

In honor of Emily, who turns 14 tomorrow (March 17), I am posting some recent pictures of her. This one was taken this week, as she was sitting on our trampoline.

This was taken at her last violin lesson February 29. Emily's violin music is a blessing to our family. God has given her a wonderful gift of feeling and playing music beautifully.

This is Emily in a bridesmaid dress I made that she will be wearing March 24th. There will be more pictures and words about that in after the wedding!

On Wednesday the Mendez cousins came over to bring gifts for Emily. The girls were all out on the trampoline together. We are happy the girls have cousins close enough to see often. Kwani, Hadassah, and Sarah are very special to us.

We are thankful for the way the Lord is helping Emily to grow in Him, and to be a blessing. She is finishing 8th grade, her first year of five where she is the only student in our home school. She has some lonely moments, missing Jason and Beth who are working so much at Ace. Emily loves to play her violin, learn piano, write stories, and chat with her friends at a distance. And I think she is going to be a whiz at Algebra next year, because she is doing great in Algebra 1/2. English is fun for her, since she loves to write! We love you, Emily! Happy birthday!

Mom's Night Out - from Janet

(Click on the picture to enlarge.)

In September 1990, we started our homeschooling journey. We are finishing our 22nd year of homeschooling! We started out homeschooling Randy in Kindergarten. This year, we have only one student again: Emily in 8th grade. I never had all six of our children in school at the same time. By the time Emily started school, Randy had already graduated. But we did have several years with five students in our Country Acres Christian Academy.

From the start of our homeschooling adventure, we joined Home Educators Fellowship in Greeley. The support group meeting is called Moms' Night Out. I have attended MNO pretty faithfully, rarely missing a monthly meeting. It has been a big part of my social life and my sanity, some school years! For the past six or more years, I have been the treasurer for the group, which is not a huge job now, since we quit charging a membership fee.

After 22 years, I go for different reasons than the ones I had long ago. Now I go to be the "older" mother who encourages the new ones starting out. I want to be a blessing, to pass on the wisdom I gained from the older ones who were there for me. The ladies I meet with and have met with through the years are real friends; they prayed for me this past year when I went through cancer. We have shared prayers, requests, books, tips, encouragement, tears, and songs through the years. I'm glad I have four more years of teaching Emily, and I look forward to more Moms' Night Out blessings!

Beth made the cartoon above, in honor of the connections and fun I look forward to in MNO! (NoCO stands for Northern Colorado.) The rest is written by Janet.

"Want some nickels, Your Majesty?" - from Beth

Sometimes working in customer service can be a lot of fun. I have two stories from last week that I'll share here... the post title is a combination of the two.

I believe it was Thursday, that I had wrung up some things for a particular older gentleman. It was probably when he showed me his ID (for credit card use) that I said to him, "Thank you, sir." He, with a straight face said, "You don't need to call me 'sir'..." (now I was presuming he was going to finish his sentence with "...I work for a living," like others sometimes say, but he continued,) "...'Your Majesty' will be just fine." I smiled/laughed, and said, "Ok... Thank you, Your Majesty!" He smiled and his eye twinkled as he walked away. It's been too long; I've told the story a few times, and I just can't remember, but I believe he also said, "Now you remember that for next time!"

On Saturday I was busy checking out one customer and had one in line, waiting. Another, a lady, came through the door, and I glanced up to ask, "What can we help you find today?" The tall senior citizen stated matter-of-factly, "I need a box of nickels." At least, that's what I thought she said. Sometimes when people answer that greeting-question, they say, "a million dollars," and then you have to dash their hopes and say that they won't find it here. I decided to finish with that one customer and then ask the lady for an explanation... since she was standing there waiting for me anyway! Finished, I said, "I'm not sure I understand what you mean. You want a box of nickels?" I didn't let my face show my true feeling of incredulity. She, helpfully, leaned down under the counter (where our candy is) and pulled up a roll of these.

Of course, once I knew she wanted Necco candy rolls, and wasn't simply teasing me about money, I was thrilled to help her out (by having someone go get her "a box of Neccos").

- Beth

A New Cello for Jason?

Jason has been renting a cello for three years now. He is at the point of deciding whether to buy it, or use his "rental credit" toward buying a new one. The fellow at the music store allowed us to bring this cello home for him to try out and see if he wants to buy it or his rental cello. So far, he is loving this new one. He has loved the rental one too. We enjoy hearing him play either one.

Blue Moon Promise By Colleen Coble: Book Review

Lovely twenty-two year old Lucy agrees to marry (by proxy) a man she has never met in order to provide for and protect her young brother and sister. Her life seems to be in danger and she does not know why. The man she marries resents his father for choosing a wife for him without his permission or input. Because both of them are Christians and they fear for the father’s heart condition, they work to make a home together. It is a sweet story of how people can choose to honor marriage and learn to love each other, even if they are very different or don’t know each other at the start.

The themes of the story show the importance of not trying to control everything in everyone’s lives, and trusting God and those He puts in authority and protective roles in one’s life. Another theme was to accept oneself and not try to be like someone else to gain approval. I appreciated the value of these themes, as they are much needed in my life and many others’ lives.

Problems with the book: Passage of time was not kept track of very well. When Lucy had lived in Texas for two months, having come there in February, it should not have been June! Also, instead of there being four weeks between two consecutive full moons, there are at least six weeks! Weather wasn’t consistent either. There were six inches of snow on the ground, but an hour later, the children are noticing the red dirt on their shoes as they walk outside “across the scrubby yard.” Once when it was raining fiercely, the children are told to go play outside with no mention of the rain. On page 196, the word “not” was left out of a sentence, causing it to say the opposite of what was intended.

I read the book twice to be sure if these problems were really there. I think it needed a lot more editing to make it a concise, tightly cohesive book.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher through the BookSneeze®.com book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

Snow

We got snow last week. Around here, we got about 8 inches. The Denver area got a lot more snow than we did. When we got to Federal Heights Sunday afternoon for the children's service, we found that the good folk who use the church for morning service had cleared the parking area; but to be legal with the city, we needed to pitch in and clear the sidewalks. We had six shovels, so we made pretty quick work of the remaining pathways. We are thankful for the snow, as it is good moisture for the winter wheat crops around here, and ensures a good water supply for summertime.


Rowen, Jason, Emily, Tonya, Steve, and Stacy worked hard and fast to move the snow off the sidewalks!


Click on this picture to enlarge and see Stacy and Emily working. The church is a deep corner property, so it is a lot of sidewalk we are responsible to clear.

Another Albertson working at ACE Hardware, Johnstown

It has been our family's delight to have three of our children work at the Ace Hardware downtown. Jeffrey worked there for two years before leaving for God's Bible School last August. Jason started working there last March. Knowing Jeffrey was leaving in August, the boss wanted an Albertson trained to take his place. :) Jason is the lawn and garden manager.

In December, Beth started praying about a job. She babysits on Mondays and other times as needed, but realizes Lincoln is no longer a 13 month old, like he was when she started babysitting. He will be five this month, and will start Kindergarten this summer! She was serious about seeking God's will for this time of her life! One day, Rowen was in Ace, and the boss asked, "Would Beth be interested in a part-time job?" We prayed about it, and felt this was an answer to Beth's prayers. She started training December 26. She works as a cashier and is trying to learn everything she can about where things are in the store, to be a helpful Ace person! Her schedule at this time is working every Thursday, Friday, and Saturday; she still has time for Lincoln on Mondays and her writing for God's Girls' Newsletters, and continues to be a helpful person at home. God has helped her learn a lot already and given her joy and contentment in a new setting!

Not Yo' Mama's Banana Pudding

Not Yo' Mama's Banana Pudding (Recipe courtesy Paula Deen)

We were served this banana pudding at a church meal and given this recipe.  We've made it only a couple of times, but it is really yummy.

Ingredients
1 box [Nilla Waffers]
6-8 bananas, sliced
2 cups milk
1 (5 oz) box instant French vanilla pudding
1 (8 oz) package cream cheese, softened
1 (14 oz) can sweetened condensed milk
1 (12 oz) container frozen whipped topping, thawed, or equal amount sweetened whipped cream.

Directions
Line the bottom of a 9x13x2 inch with most of the cookies and layer bananas on top. 
In a bowl, combine the milk and pudding mix and blend well using a handheld electric mixer.  Using another bowl, combine the cream cheese and condensed milk together and mix until smooth.  Fold the whipped topping into the cream cheese mixture.  Add the cream cheese mixture to the pudding mixture and stir until well blended. Pour the mixture over the cookies and bananas and cover with the remaining cookies.  Refrigerate until ready to serve.

Rapunzel, Rapunzel, How Does Your Hair Grow?

My hair as I used to wear it. May 22, 2011

Its former length, at the same time.

Friday, June 3, 2011 we cut off the braid for Locks of Love, before my first chemo treatment.


It was this length for two weeks around my first treatment.

After my hair started falling out, we shaved my head on June 18th. This picture was taken Sunday, the next day.

In July, my head had painful sores on it.

Completely bald, late July.

Sunburned forehead from the holes of the straw hat I was wearing. Little prickle hairs.

September 22nd--last chemo chocolate cake celebration!

September 26th, still a baldy! Eyebrows and eye lashes pretty much gone at the end of treatments.

My hair started coming in very fine and gray. October 10th

October 10th, with Beth's freshly washed hair in comparison!

Thanksgiving week hairdo...


Side-by-side hair-growth comparison: November 12th, December 10th, January 11th, and January 24th. Also shows my eyebrows and eye lashes coming back in.

I am hoping the brown will "overpower" the gray sometime, but I'll be happy with whatever I get back!