The Scent of Cherry Blossoms by Cindy Woodsmall

The Scent of Cherry Blossoms by Cindy Woodsmall is about a young Mennonite woman (Annie) and a young Amish man (Aden) and their families. To the outsider looking in the Amish and Mennonite communities may look virtually the same, and they often make very good neighbors. However, some lines are drawn deep and are not meant to be crossed. Annie and Aden begin to discover just how hard it can be to navigate the dangerous waters between their faiths when they start to fall in love. Will their faith, love and families be able to weather the storm brought on by this forbidden love?

All I can say is that Cindy Woodsmall has done it again! She takes you into the lives of the Plain people and lets you see God from their perspective. The Scent of Cherry Blossoms is well written and will keep your interest until the very end. I also love that she brings in a couple of her characters from The Christmas Singing novella to make small appearances in the community. It makes life in Apple Ridge more real since Aden and Roman made an appearance in that book as well.

I highly recommend the Scent of Cherry Blossoms to all of Cindy Woodsmall's fans and to anyone else who is intrigued by the Amish and Mennonite faiths and communities. It is a wonderful addition to her other books, and a great short read (just under 200 pages). I am glad to add this book to my collection and I look forward to reading it again sometime.

Read Chapter One

I received this book free of charge from Waterbrook Multnomah Publishing for review purposes.

The Girl's Still Got It by Liz Curtis Higgs

I recently finished reading The Girl's Still Got It! by Liz Curtis Higgs. Let me tell you…if you are looking for a new perspective on the book of Ruth then you HAVE TO read this book! So many of the things that I have read about Ruth have been from a man's point of view that it is really refreshing to hear things from the viewpoint of a woman and not just any woman but a woman that knows how to tell a great story! I also recommend this book to those who have always wanted to take a deeper Biblical look into Ruth but can't stomach, understand or stay awake long enough to read a Bible commentary. Higgs brings Ruth to life in the way that only a storyteller can truly do while weaving in all the hours she has done so you end up with a deep and meaty study and hardly even recognize it!

Liz Curtis Higgs takes us down the road from Moab to Bethlehem and beyond one verse (and sometimes one phrase) at a time. Along the way she explains the Hebrew words used to tell the story. She also does her best to clue us into the cultural and political climate. Then at the end of each chapter she adds a "real life Ruth" story. These are short snippets of today's women who are living out their own Ruth stories.

I have to say that I really loved and enjoyed this book! That's saying something because I often struggle to get through non-fiction literature, but I WANTED to read more and more of this book. I initially picked up this book because I have read many of Higgs works of fiction, and I particularly love her two books that are based loosely around the stories of Ruth and Naomi (Here Burns My Candle and Mine is the Night). If you are a fan of her fiction then I highly recommend you read The Girl's Still Got It!

However, there was one major thing that I DIDN'T like about this book…the intro! In fact, I almost wrote the whole book off while I was reading the introduction chapter. It just came off as over the top, ridiculously airheaded giggling high school cheerleader. I know she's excited and she is trying to get her readers excited but it just didn't work for me. It didn't excite me to read the rest of the book and if I wasn't reviewing it I probably would have closed it and never picked it up again. SO definitely read the book but skip the introduction or at least keep in mind that the rest of the book is much better if you insist on reading the silly introduction.

Anyway, I will say it again, this book was an eye-opening read! Very insightful and jam packed full of facts. It will make you think and you might even see Ruth in a way that you never have before!

I received this book at no cost from Waterbrook Multnomah Publishing for review purposes.

Life's Little Catastrophes

It's crazy how the littlest things can throw us for a major loop! For the past two months I have really, really been looking forward to going to my Grandma's house for the 4th of July. I haven't seen Grandma since she came up to surprise me for my birthday in December. Plus my Mom, Dad and sisters are going to be there too. So Jimmy and I have been saving money for gas and making our travel plans. Then on the way to and from church camp this week our minivan started smelling like gasoline. Let me tell you that there is nothing that will make you feel more ghetto than five teenagers telling you that your van smells like gas. I thought that it might be a cracked fuel line and we had someone look at our car. However, he didn't see any leaks and wasn't sure what was causing the problem. So I am back at work today and Jimmy texts me and tells me that another friend thinks that it's probably our fuel intake manifold thats leaking and it could cost us as much as $1,200 to fix it. I almost had a melt down!

#1 That's a lot of money that we don't have and #2 it's bound to mess up all of our plans! What a frustration!

Still there was no justification for the way that I reacted to this situation. Instead of going to God I decided to cry and let my frustrations and possible disappointments overwhelm me. First of all, if I had allowed God to help me handle this situation I would probably have realized right away that it may not cost us $1,200 to fix the van. I might also have had the foresight to realize that there is still a chance that we will be able to continue with our original 4th of July plans before I spent all my emotions crying it out.

Does it mean that since I have had these realizations that everything is definitely going to work out all nice and rosy--No--but it doesn't have to be something that I let defeat me. Instead I need to trust that God has plans that are bigger than mine (Prov. 16:9) and that He knows what He is doing (Jer. 29:11). Also He promises to give me the strength to handle it through Him (Phil. 4:13). I just need to trust Him (Prov. 3:5-6).

So if you could please pray that God will work this situation to His glory and His purpose and resolve our transportation issues quickly (since this is the only vehicle Jimmy can drive) I would greatly appreciate it!

Grace and Peace,

Christiana

COMING SOON The Girl's Still Got It Review!

In a week or so I will be publishing my review of "The Girl's Still Got It" by Liz Curtis Higgs but until then enjoy the Righteous Ruth Rap performed by Higgs at a recent speaking event.