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Archives For August 2011

Amish Values for Your Family

Renee Ann Smith —  August 30, 2011 — 9 Comments

UPDATE: A winner of the August Amazon Gift Card Giveaway has been emailed! Congrats, Renee C!

“God’s hand that holds the ocean’s depth can hold my small affairs. His hand, which guides the universe, can carry all my cares.” ~Amish Proverb~

Bonnet books (Quaker, Shaker, Puritan, or Amish) are bestsellers in the Christian fiction world, and many readers are especially fascinated by the Amish. They wonder how the Amish can withstand the call of modern culture with all its conveniences, entertainment options, career opportunities, expensive activities, varied clothing choices, and remain content with plain living.

Are the Amish happier, more fulfilled, and deeply satisfied because of their lifestyle? What’s their secret?

A sweet devotional book, Amish Values for Your Family by Suzanne Woods Fisher, reveals these “secrets” by sharing vignettes from the daily lives of typical Amish families.

As I read the book, I found myself admiring the Amish commitment to family and community. Several stories along these lines touched my heart. I loved reading about 101 year-old Cora, who was able to live in the same house where she and her husband were newlyweds because of the tender care of her grandson’s wife, Mary. In a small way, their story brought to mind Ruth and Naomi.

Mary was not actually related to Cora, but embraced caring for her, spending time with her, singing to her. And Cora’s whole family was with her in the end, surrounding the bed and singing her favorite hymn as she met the Lord in eternity.

My 81-year-old mother lives with me, but I do not care for her alone. Because of the volunteers at Meals-on-Wheels and some young aids from Office of the Aging, I’m able to teach full time at a Christian high school. I’m glad my mom can be with me and live as she chooses. But my mother’s life and mine have been very different, and it’s easy to overlook her opinions and suggestions as an out-of-touch old person’s attempt to stay relevant. This quick two-page story reminded me that Mom and I share the same roots and a common heritage. And that is what can bring us together.

This chapter exhorted me to . . . “Never lose sight of the fact that old age needs so little, but it needs that little so much.”

Also from the book: “The Amish provide a tremendous example of care and commitment to the elderly. Aging parents don’t go to nursing facilities; they are cared for at home. Right to the end. Imagine the sense of security an elderly Amish has, to be loved and values, by their own family, right to the end.”

Suzanne Woods Fisher is a bestselling author of Amish fiction and non-fiction and the host of a weekly radio program called Amish Wisdom, found at this link. Her book The Waiting is a finalist for a 2011 Christy Award. Amish Peace and Amish Proverbs were both finalists for the ECPA Book of the Year (2010, 2011).

Her interest in the Amish began with her grandfather, W.D. Benedict, who was raised Plain. Suzanne has a great admiration for the Plain people and believes they provide wonderful examples to the world.  When Suzanne isn’t writing or bragging to her friends about her first new grandbaby, she is raising puppies for Guide Dogs for the Blind. To Suzanne’s way of thinking, you just can’t take life too seriously when a puppy is tearing through your house with someone’s underwear in its mouth. You can find Suzanne at this link.

***Thanks to the publisher and to Litfuse for providing this book for me to review. You can purchase this book and others by following this link to Suzanne’s Amazon Author’s Page.

In Blog Tour Book Reviews, Blogging for Books, Book Suggestions , ,
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Romance and Drama, Forties Style: Blue Skies Tomorrow (Review and Giveaway)

Renee Ann Smith —  August 25, 2011 — 50 Comments

Love the clothes!

UPDATE: A winner of the August Amazon Gift Card Giveaway has been emailed! Congrats, Renee C!

I should have been born in the 40′s. I love the clothes, the music, the movies. Yes, it was a harrowing period in our history. But a world at war laid bare the issues most important in life, and the times invited people to rise to new challenges. Those who did astounded themselves, and the world, by what they were able to accomplish. They are now called The Greatest Generation.

When I want to visit the 40′s time period, I know I can count on author Sarah Sundin to take me there. Sarah captures the essence of those years in her three-book series, Wings of Glory. This trilogy follows the lives of the Novak brothers, Jack, Walt, and Ray. The last book, Blue Skies Tomorrow, tells Ray’s story.

Ray has a preacher’s heart. He loves nothing better than to teach, counsel, and comfort the folks God brings his way. When lovely Helen Carlisle crosses his path, he is drawn to her sweet spirit and tender heart. Helen, a war widow struggling to raise a young son, blossoms under Ray’s love and attention. However, their time together is cut short when Ray volunteers to give up his stateside assignment and fly bombing missions.

Both Ray and Helen end up fighting the important battles God brings to their separate journeys. Both, in their own way, find themselves pretending to be people they’re not in an effort to survive. And both surprise themselves as they discover the depths of courage God is able to draw from within them. The drama of each character’s story kept me turning pages until the heartwarming, supremely satisfying conclusion.

I often share how the books I read remind me of movies I’ve enjoyed. Many stories in the inspirational market remind me of old movies. Some would say what Christian books and old movies have in common is that they bypass real life to show a sanitized version of truth.

I disagree. I think these genres do take on tough problems and real life situations. But the writers do it with subtlety, restraint, and grace—as Sarah Sundin does.

Want to see what I mean? Follow this link to purchase Blue Skies Tomorrow for yourself. You’ll find yourself humming Glen Miller tunes, styling your hair with pin curls, and wishing your town had an old-fashioned soda fountain.

Sarah Sundin

You can find Sarah Sundin at this link. She writes a great blog where she shares devotionals and interesting tidbits from World War II history.

***Available August 2011 at your favorite bookseller from Revell, a division of Baker Publishing Group. Thanks to Revell for providing a copy of the book for me to review.

from The Best Years of Our Lives

Sarah’s series brings to mind some of my favorite classics—especially The Best Years of Our Lives, an academy award winner about three servicemen trying to piece their lives together after they return home from World War II. The movie has a tender scene where a wounded veteran (played by real life wounded vet Harold Russell) tries to convince his fiancee that he’s no longer worthy of her because of his injuries. But she won’t have it and sticks until he gives in and marries her!

Giveaway: This post is an August Giveaway Post! I’m giving away a $10 Amazon Gift Card at the end of the month. All you have to do to enter is leave a comment below.

Here’s a fun extra, a recipe from the days of rationing . . .

Butterless, Eggless, Milkless Cake from 1940′s
1 c. Brown sugar, firmly packed
1 1/4 c. Water
1/3 c. Vegetable shortening or lard
2/3 c. Raisins
1/2 teasp. Nutmeg
2 teasp. Cinnamon
1/2 teasp. Powdered cloves
1 teasp. Salt
1 teasp. Baking soda
2 teasp. Water
2 c. Sifted all-purpose flour
1 teasp. Baking powder
Boil brown sugar, 1 1/4 c. Water, shortening, raisins, and spices together for 3 min. Cool. Add salt and baking soda which has been dissolved in 2 teasp. Water. Gradually add the flour and baking powder which have been sifted together, beating smooth after each addition. Bake in a greased and floured 8″X8″X2″ pan in a moderate oven of 325 degrees F. About 50 minutes or until done. Needs no frosting.
—The Good Housekeeping Cook Book, New edition, completely revised 1944 [Farrar & Rinehart:New York] 1944 (p. 698)

In Blog Tour Book Reviews, Blogging for Books, Book Suggestions, Giveaways , ,
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Quote of the day

Renee Ann Smith —  August 21, 2011 — 3 Comments

Age is opportunity no less,
Than youth itself, though in another dress,
And as the evening twilight fades away,
The sky is filled with stars, invisible by day.
~Henry Wadsworth Longfellow~

Lift up your eyes and look to the heavens:
Who created all these?
He who brings out the starry host one by one
And calls forth each of them by name.
Because of his great power and mighty strength,
Not one of them is missing.
~Isaiah 40:26~

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Across the Wide River

Renee Ann Smith —  August 19, 2011 — 8 Comments

At the tender age of eight, Lowry Rankin experiences the horror of slavery firsthand when he witnesses the beating of his best friend  by a stranger who hates abolitionists like Lowry’s father John Rankin. He hadn’t known such cruelty existed in the world and wants only to run far away from it. Soon after that event, his father moves their family to Ripley, Ohio. However, instead of making his escape, Lowry discovers that he has landed right in the middle of the conflict—because his new home is an important stop along the Underground Railroad.

Against this abolitionist era backdrop, Lowry’s entire coming of age story plays out–his boyhood struggles with shyness, bullies, and first love, his increasing awareness of the far-reaching evils of slavery, his stubborn refusal to follow in his father’s footsteps, and his realization that God has been preparing him for a special ministry all along.

Across the Wide River by Stephanie Reed is geared toward young readers and is written simply enough to appeal to a wide age range. The book immerses you in the time period as it leads you from one of Lowry’s adventures to another. The author creates an absorbing picture of how a faith-filled family would deal with the dangers, successes, and responsibilities of working at an abolitionist hot spot.

This book has a great historical tie-in because it’s based on the life of a real family. John Rankin was an active conductor on the Underground Railroad and his writings have been noted as having influenced abolitionists William Lloyd Garrison, Henry Ward Beecher, and Harriet Beecher Stowe (author of Uncle Tom’s Cabin). From 1825 to 1865, John Rankin and his wife Jean, along with their Brown County neighbors, aided more than 2,000 slaves escaping to freedom, sometimes having as many as 12 escapees hidden in the Rankin home at one time.

Rankin Home, Ohio

Rankin’s house became a beacon that attracted slaves escaping across the Ohio River. At night a lantern would be raised to the top of a 30′ tall flag pole in his front yard. This was a signal to the runaway slaves that it was safe to cross and that there would be people waiting to help them. Follow this link to read about touring the Rankin House.

I believe God puts each one of us in a certain place and time period in order to carry out His work. I appreciate how the Rankin family embraced their purpose and saved so many lives. Thanks to author Stephanie Reed for sharing their story.

I’d put this book high on the list of recommended reading for young people. It would also make a great addition to a homeschooling curriculum!

Follow this link to purchase a copy of Across the Wide River. And you can read more about the Rankin family with the sequel, The Light Across the River.

You can find the author, Stephanie Reed, at this link. She has a colorful, easy-to-use website.

Rankin Family Portrait

***Thanks to the folks at Kregel for providing a copy of the book for me to review!

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The Colonel’s Lady (book review, free download, and giveaway)

Renee Ann Smith —  August 16, 2011 — 53 Comments

You know that lucky woman who gets to sneak away with a book while everyone else in the world is consumed with busyness? Maybe she relaxes in the tub or on the beach or on a deck overlooking a beautiful view. For a little while, she is removed from her own time and place and caught up in a world of dashing heroes, innocent maidens, romance, danger, intrigue . . .

Well, if that woman ever gets to be you, the experience will not be complete unless you have a Laura Frantz book in your hands!

When I began to write this review of Laura’s latest book, The Colonel’s Lady, the phrase that kept coming back to my mind was swept away.

With the first longing look between beautiful Roxana Rowan and dazzling Colonel Cassius McLinn, this novel immersed me in the period and feel of Fort Endeavor in the Kentucke Territory of 1779.

Our heroine, Roxie, is a lady of genteel birth, who travels to the fort with a ragtag group of fallen women, yet retains her innocence. She experiences the harsh realities of life and death as American soldiers wage war against both British and Indian warriors, yet retains her optimism. While others around her fall prey to the lax morals of the frontier culture, she retains her purity. And though she sometimes runs ahead of God and questions His ways, she retains her faith.

Roxana’s world is populated by colorful characters. Among my favorites were Bella, the outspoken washerwoman who takes it upon herself to become Roxie’s ladies’ maid, mentor, and unofficial life coach, and Abby, the tiny sprite of a girl who steals the hearts of everyone in the camp without uttering a word.

This story played in my mind like a lovely old movie. (from Drums Along the Mohawk)

And as for Roxana’s love interest, Colonel McLinn is an old-fashioned, hard-riding, tender with children, outspoken to the point of rudeness, angst-ridden enough to know he needs the love of a good woman, brave and upright hero.

There are just too many great scenes to mention—Roxie charming the Indian warriors, Cass and Roxie’s first dance, Cass and the Indian princess, a romantic cribbage game, and much, much more.

Sounds like your cup of tea? Then follow this link to purchase this sweeping saga for yourself. As soon as it arrives, clear your calendar, fix that cup of tea, and make yourself comfortable (see above for location suggestions).  You’re about to embark on a wonderful trip!

Meet the author: Only a special writer could find it within themselves to consistently create such sweet heroines. Laura Frantz is one of the kindest authors I’ve “met” on the internet. Follow this link to her website and get to know her better. You’ll see where her incredible stories come from.

Laura’s first book, The Frontiersman’s Daughter, is a free download for Kindle right now. It’s a lovely story with a brave, beautiful heroine and a hero who reminds me of Neil MacNeill from Christy.  You can download it here.

Giveaway: This post is the first August Giveaway Post! I’m giving away a $10 Amazon Gift Card at the end of the month. All you have to do to enter is leave a comment on this post. There will be other designated giveaway posts in the coming days to increase your chances of winning. How fun is that?!

***The Colonel’s Lady is available August 2011 at your favorite bookseller from Revell, a division of Baker Publishing Group. Thanks to the good folks at Revell for providing a copy of this beautiful book for me to review!

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Digitalis is good for my heart

Renee Ann Smith —  August 13, 2011 — 16 Comments

Former Marine Colton “Cowboy” Neeley, codename Digitalis, can’t figure out why the woman he loves is lying to him. What he does know is that Piper’s secrets can’t possibly be worse than his own—-a belief which keeps him from deepening their relationship. Too bad his daughter Mickey wants Piper to be her new mother, and Colton’s father is convinced that Piper is “The One” God picked out for his son.

If Colton’s life would just slow down for a day or so, he might be able to figure it all out. Instead, he finds himself hopping from special ops mission to special ops mission until God brings the enemy right to his ranch’s back door.

The "real life" guys from Black Hawk Down

This unputdownable page-turner has just about the right amount of everything: action, romance, humor, and espionage. And I loved the stunning climax in Israel. I did grow a bit frustrated with Colton’s secretive love interest Piper, but after she dried her tears and tried trusting Colton, I decided she might be worthy of him.

As for me, I discovered that Digitalis is good for my heart. In other words, Colton Neeley is my new favorite hero. Of course, I haven’t read the other books in this series yet!

John Wayne in The Green Berets

I’m writing about Digitalis today as part of the Christian Fiction Book Club. Digitalis is the second book in author Ronie Kendig’s Discarded Heroes Series. Having grown up enjoying John Wayne movies with my dad, I think I was predisposed to love this kind of story.  I’m a flag-waving supporter of the military, those brave men and women who willingly put their lives on the line to keep the rest of us safe. I’m so thankful for their many sacrifices! I love books and movies that show them for the heroes they really are.

The hero in this book has to overcome much even just to find happiness in his personal life.

from We Were Soldiers

But with God’s help he does. His theme verse becomes ~Isaiah 26:3~ “You will keep in perfect peace him whose mind is steadfast, because he trusts in you.”

Or hear it from The Message: “People with their minds set on You, You keep completely whole, steady on their feet, because they keep at it and don’t quit.”

About the author: Ronie Kendig is an Army brat, married to a military veteran, homeschooler, and active member of ACFW. She has a great website with a special page called Ground Support, which highlights organizations that support the military and how you can help. Follow this link to her website.

***This is the link to Ronie’s Amazon Author Page. You might want to pick up one of her exciting stories for your Kindle right now! (I was fortunate enough to grab Digitalis during a sale. Now I’m waiting for a break in my schedule to start on Wolfsbane!)

Today’s hostess for the Christian Fiction Book Club is Julie at My Own Little Corner of the World. You might want to hop over there to read her moving testimony concerning her mom and her review of this book.

Giveaway Coming Soon! My August giveaway begins with my review of The Colonel’s Lady in just a few days. Don’t forget to come back and check it out!

In Blogging for Books, Book Suggestions, Christian Fiction Book Club , , ,
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Quote of the day

Renee Ann Smith —  August 11, 2011 — 6 Comments

“When we are down to almost nothing, God is up to something bigger than we can ever imagine.” ~Linda Hollies~

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This too (or CTB lesson #4)

Renee Ann Smith —  August 8, 2011 — 8 Comments

Betsie, Willem, Nollie, Corrie

From the time she was a little girl, Corrie ten Boom’s godly parents and loving, happy family influenced the woman she would become. The lessons she learned from them have touched my heart and helped me grow, and I’d like to share them with you.

Corrie at the hiding place

Not familiar with Corrie’s story? Born in Holland in 1892, she was 48 when the Nazi’s invaded in 1940. Corrie, her older sister, and elderly father risked their lives to take in Jewish refugees and hide them in a tiny room at the top of their house. In the following excerpt from The Hiding Place, by John Sherrill, Corrie shares how God prepared her for what was to come, from the very first day of the war.

In Corrie’s words . . . How long we clung together, listening, I do not know. The bombing seemed mostly to be coming from the direction of the airport. The glowing sky lit the room with a strange brilliance. The chairs, the mahogany bookcase, the old upright piano, all pulsed with an eerie light . . . It was war.

Betsie and I knelt down by the piano bench. For what seemed hours we prayed for our country, for the dead and injured tonight, for the Queen. And then, incredibly, Betsie began to pray for the Germans, up there in the planes, caught in the fist of the giant evil loose in Germany. I looked at my sister kneeling beside me in the light of burning Holland.

“Oh Lord,” I whispered, “listen to Betsie, not me, because I cannot pray for those men at all.” . . . And it was then that I had the dream. It couldn’t have been a real dream because I was not asleep. But a scene was suddenly and unreasonably in my mind. I saw the Grote Markt, half a block away, as clearly as though I were standing there, saw the town hall and St. Bavo’s and the fish mart with its stair-stepped facade.

The Grote Markt circa 1940

Then as I watched, a kind of odd, old farm wagon-old fashioned and out of place in the middle of a city-came lumbering across the square pulled by four enormous black horses. To my surprise I saw that I myself was sitting in the wagon. And Father too! And Betsie! There were many others, some strangers, some friends.

All together we were slowly being drawn across the square behind those horses. We couldn’t get off the wagon, that was the terrible thing. It was taking us away—far away, I felt—but we didn’t want to go . . .

“Betsie!” I cried, jumping up, pressing my hands to my eyes. “Betsie, I’ve had such an awful dream!” I felt her arm around my shoulder.

“We’ll go down to the kitchen where the light won’t show, and we’ll make a pot of coffee.” The booming of the bombs was less frequent and farther away as Betsie put on the water. Closer by was the wail of fire alarms and the beep of the hose trucks.

Over coffee, standing at the stove, I told Betsie what I had seen. “Am I imagining things because I’m frightened? But it wasn’t like that! It was real. Oh Betsie, was it a kind of vision?”

“I don’t know,” she said softly. “But if God has shown us bad times ahead, it’s enough for me that He knows about them. That’s why He sometimes shows us things, you know—to tell us that this too is in His hands.”

The Ten Boom House

Read my previous posts about Corrie or purchase a copy of her book for yourself:

In Devotional Thoughts, Faithful people of the past, Inspirational Lives, Lessons from Corrie ten Boom ,
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