What I'm Reading - April 8, 2019

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This weekly reading list meme is hosted at Book Date. Join in to see what others are reading and maybe get some ideas of what to read next! Although the Book Date link-up happens weekly, I've had trouble keeping up with a weekly schedule, so I've decided to try for every other week! Here's the latest from my reading list.

I finished reading . . . 

The White City: True Colors: Historical Stories of American Crime by Grace Hitchcock - Winnifred Wylde goes undercover to investigate a man suspected of kidnapping. She and her bodyguard and partner, detective Jude Thorpe, are fictional characters, but the crime itself is based on a true story from the time of the Chicago World's Fair. (Read my full review HERE)




Downsizing The Family Home: What to Save, What to Let Go by Marni Jameson - I found this after a long hiatus, and read it all the way through. Although I have no intention of moving any time soon, our home would benefit from a good downsizing of stuff, so this was a bit of a motivator. (Read my full review HERE.)




The Blue Castle by L.M. Montgomery - Valancy Stirling has felt unloved by most everyone, and stifled by her family for most of her life. When she reaches her twenty-ninth birthday, she decides to take some chances and try living life on her terms. Her quest for fulfillment and happiness takes some interesting and humorous twists. (Read my full review HERE.)




The Golden Bride (Daughters of the Mayflower) by Kimberley Woodhouse - I finished this one on the weekend, so will post a review this week. It's about Olivia Brighton, a young widow who goes to live with her brother in San Francisco during the gold rush.

I'm currently reading . . .

A Dangerous Collaboration (A Veronica Speedwell Mystery) by Deanna Raybourn - I was very excited when my long awaited pre-order of the latest Veronica Speedwell mystery arrived and started reading right away - but haven't been able to sit down and binge-read it the way I'd like.




Shadow among Sheaves by Naomi Stephens - Just got started on this review book, a story set in England and based on the Biblical story of Ruth. A British widow returns to England with her widowed Indian daughter-in-law.




Next on the stack... 

The Governess of Penwythe Hall (The Cornwall Novels) by Sarah E. Ladd
An Artless Demise (A Lady Darby Mystery) by Anna Lee Huber
 Secrets in the Mist (A Gothic Myths Novel) by Anna Lee Huber

Fervent: A Woman's Battle Plan to Serious, Specific and Strategic Prayer by Priscilla Shirer
American Princess: A Novel of First Daughter Alice Roosevelt by Stephanie Marie Thornton (ARC)

  


        

On my blogs recently . . . 

Here on Just A Second:

Scripture and a Snapshot - White
Recent Reads - The Blue Castle
Share Four Somethings - March 2019
Scripture and a Snapshot - An Example
Wordless Wednesday - Home Improvements
Monthly Bookshelf Review - March 2019
Recent Reads - Downsizing the Family Home
Scripture and a Snapshot - Do Good To All People
Recent Reads - The White City
Wordless Wednesday - Colorful Skies

And on my homeschool blog, Homeschool Coffee Break:

Homeschool Highlights - The Week in (Short) Review
Fixing Grammar with IEW
Virtual Refrigerator - Space Race
Do You Attend Homeschool Conventions?
Homeschool Highlights - The Week We Made Progress
Virtual Refrigerator - McCarthyism Poster
How Do You Handle Subjects Your Kids Dislike or Struggle With?
Homeschool Highlights - The Week Spring Arrived
Virtual Refrigerator - March 20, 2019
A Drive Thru History of the Early Church
Choosing a Bible Verse to Guide Your Homeschool

What are you reading?

©2008-2019 Just A Second. All rights reserved. All text, photographs, artwork, and other content may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form without the written consent of the author. http://justasecondblog.blogspot.com/ 

 We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites.

Scripture and a Snapshot - White

Have mercy on me, O God,

according to your unfailing love;

blot out my transgressions.

Wash away all my iniquity

and cleanse me from my sin.

Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean

wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.

Let me hear joy and gladness;

let the bones you have crushed rejoice.

Hide your face from my sins

and blot out all my iniquity.

Create in me a pure heart, O God,

and renew a steadfast spirit within me.

Do not cast me from your presence

or take your Holy Spirit from me.

Restore to me the joy of your salvation

and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me.

My sacrifice, O God, is a broken spirit;

a broken and contrite heart

you, God, will not despise.

~Psalm 51:1-2, 7-12, 17~

It's a snow picture, I know. Spring is here, and we want to be finished with snow for awhile. But look at how white it is. And think about this - all the dirt and shame of our sin can be washed away, and we can be whiter than that freshly fallen snow.

Sometimes I need to be reminded of what a big deal it is that Christ had mercy on me, cleaned me up, and gave me his presence. I need my steadfast spirit renewed, and the joy restored. 

O God, forgive me for all the times I take the gift of salvation for granted, and all the times I look back to the dirt of sin like it has something to offer me. Remind me of the joy of salvation and help me delight in the presence of your Holy Spirit.

<div style='width:100%;text-align:center;'> <span style='margin:5px;padding:5px;border-radius: 5px;border:1px solid lightgrey;display:inline-block;'><a rel=_nofollow href='https://justasecondblog.blogspot.com/search/label/Scripture%20and%20a%20Snapshot'> <img style='border: 1px solid gray;width:330px;height:330px;' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBkEsmWJLn1f3VqhfaylcSn7IABJxDE4XrGPLFjO1V9xTM3ozVgjnerdCaVUqCwcRPIiwfqTfFqk4du0DK8acoLtyo-qFBOeBIKDwilTJVyIcRXpdYZC2QcFtMnVXKNk4Q1SLHMCX7SPU/s320/scripture+snapshot.jpg'><p style='align: center;'> </p> </a></span>

Thank you for joining Scripture & A Snapshot. Leave a link to your own post sharing a Scripture and a Snapshot. Take time to visit some of the other links and bless each other with comments.

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

I also link up at Selah, hosted by A Spirit of Simplicity.

This post is also linked at 40 Days of Seeking Him, hosted by Day by Day in Our World.

©2008-2019 Just A Second. All rights reserved. All text, photographs, artwork, and other content may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form without the written consent of the author. http://justasecondblog.blogspot.com/ 

 We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites.

Recent Reads - The Blue Castle

This post contains affiliate links. 

The Blue Castle by L.M. Montgomery - This story opens on the day prior to Valancy Stirling's twenty-ninth birthday, and the opening paragraph says that if it hadn't rained that day her life would been entirely different. You see, Valancy has lived a monotonous, dreary life up until then. Always overshadowed by others and completely controlled by her overbearing extended family, who care nothing for her feelings or interests or dreams. Valancy has accepted that she will remain unloved and unmarried and that she'll have to live out the rest of her days the same way. But because of the rain, a family picnic is canceled, and Valancy decides to go secretly to consult a doctor about the chest pains she's been having.

When the doctor's letter arrives, the news is not good. He tells Valancy she has a heart condition that cannot be effectively treated and that she will likely not last the year. As a result, Valancy makes another decision - she is going to take some chances and do exactly as she pleases during her final days, and refuse to be bossed by her family. She starts off by saying what she really thinks during a family dinner, and later scandalizes the clan by spending a great deal of time talking with Roaring Abel, the town drunk, when he is doing repairs to her mother's house. But she's not finished raising eyebrows! Abel's daughter Cissy, about Valancy's age, is dying of consumption and because of Abel's reputation and Cissy's past, none of the respectable women in town will come keep house and nurse her, so Valancy volunteers. She moves in with Roaring Abel and Cissy, and also strikes up a close friendship with another town outcast, Barney Snaith, and falls in love with him.

After Cissy's death, Valancy tells Barney the secret of her heart condition and proposes to him, asking him to marry her so that she can live out her last few days in happiness without returning to her family. She doesn't expect him to love her, and this is by far the boldest thing she has ever done. Barney agrees to the plan and they marry and move out to his cabin on the lake. And Valancy finds great happiness and satisfaction - until a very near accident causes her to question the doctor's diagnosis. She realizes that her health was never really at risk, and that means she has trapped Barney. But Barney has secrets of his own which she starts to discover at that point, and maybe things will work out for her happiness after all!

I can't imagine why I'd never read - or even heard of - this book before! I've read Montgomery's Anne of Green Gables series, of course, but was unfamiliar with this one. It is a delightful story, full of fascinating characters, humour, small town drama, and some interesting plot twists. It's easy to sympathize with the lonely and downtrodden Valancy, and feel indignant at the little injustices she's subjected to; and it's entertaining to see her thrive and develop as she follows her own course in life.  

This is a book published before I was born, for the 2019 Modern Mrs Darcy Reading Challenge.

©2008-2019 Just A Second. All rights reserved. All text, photographs, artwork, and other content may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form without the written consent of the author. http://justasecondblog.blogspot.com/ 

 We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites.

Share Four Somethings - March 2019

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Something Loved, Something Said, Something Learned, and Something Read has been left until the last minute for March. Very much like so many other things that I do! One day perhaps my "Something Learned" will be a life hack that will help me plan ahead better!

Something Loved

Among the many things I loved this month:

hockey games and other fun times with family and friends

teaching at our homeschool co-op, especially when we can use movies to help us understand writing concepts

and finishing (or nearly, anyway) a redecorating project in our dining room.

Something Said

I'll let you make your own decisions. Unless I don't like them, then I'll tell you what to do. ~our choir director

Music is the mediator between the spiritual and the sensual life. ~Ludwig van Beethoven

Something Learned

My daughter often finds interesting YouTube videos she shares with me. I thought this one was so neat. I do prefer the sound of some keys over others, and even for certain songs, but why would that be so if the relationships between the notes are the same? This video explores the idea that keys have different characteristics. Is D minor the saddest of all keys? I learned some details about music history and key vocabulary. 

Something Read

I completed two books in March, and I'm currently working on four others. You can see more about my reading in my Monthly Bookshelf Review for March 2019.

The White City: True Colors: Historical Stories of American Crime by Grace Hitchcock
Downsizing The Family Home: What to Save, What to Let Go by Marni Jameson

  

This post is linked at Share Four Somethings hosted by HeatherGerwing.com

©2008-2019 Just A Second. All rights reserved. All text, photographs, artwork, and other content may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form without the written consent of the author. http://justasecondblog.blogspot.com/ 

 We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites.

Scripture and a Snapshot - An Example

Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another's feet. I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you. Very truly I tell you, no servant is greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them.

~John 13:14-17~

I don't like feet. Chubby little baby feet are adorable, of course, and I know I kissed the toes of my newborns. But once we start walking, our feet become rather yucky. I don't want to touch anybody else's feet, and I don't want anybody touching my feet. So I'll be very honest - the few times the church has done an actual foot washing service, like where congregants physically wash each other's feet - I wasn't there. Nope. 

But this instruction from Jesus isn't specifically about the action of taking a washcloth to another person's feet. Jesus Christ, the King of Kings, did the work of a lowly servant. He willingly did a disgusting and degrading job in order to show love to his followers. And then reminded us that since we are certainly not greater than he is, we had better follow his example and serve others. Never thinking of ourselves as "too good" to do certain jobs, or expecting to always be served as if we are so great. Have a humble servant heart that serves others and is okay with the least glamorous position in the group. 

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Thank you for joining Scripture & A Snapshot. Leave a link to your own post sharing a Scripture and a Snapshot. Take time to visit some of the other links and bless each other with comments.

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

I also link up at Selah, hosted by A Spirit of Simplicity.

This post is also linked at 40 Days of Seeking Him, hosted by Day by Day in Our World.

©2008-2019 Just A Second. All rights reserved. All text, photographs, artwork, and other content may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form without the written consent of the author. http://justasecondblog.blogspot.com/ 

 We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites.

Wordless Wednesday - Home Improvements

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About a month ago, we decided it was time to update our kitchen and dining room. Mostly a paint job, but it was a big paint job. We stripped all the wallpaper and then painted, and we're doing a little redecorating and reorganizing. It's finally almost done. Still needs new molding and new pulls on all the cupboards and drawers, and we will be replacing the hood vent. There are other things on the wishlist, but that's for down the road.

just before the pictures went up on the walls.
This is a pretty accurate photo of the color, while
the other photos show it a bit lighter.

Another project that was started months ago was replacing the porch floor. The old flooring had been torn up and the new Trex decking purchased and sitting here waiting. This past Saturday our son finally had the time, no other plans, and decent weather, so he got started putting that new floor down. I'm hoping that this will get finished quickly now that he's got a start on it!

This post is linked at Wordless Wednesday, hosted by Life on Chickadee Lane.

©2008-2019 Just A Second. All rights reserved. All text, photographs, artwork, and other content may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form without the written consent of the author. http://justasecondblog.blogspot.com/ 

 We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites.