April Reading Reviews

 Here are the books I read in April, and a little about what I thought of each one. 

Glass House ****

By Brian Alexander

Genre: Nonfiction/Society

Format:  Kindle

This book tells the true story of Lancaster, Ohio, a small city that was built around the iconic American company Anchor Hocking Glass.  The author shows how the economic fortunes of Lancaster and its population were closely tied to what happened to Anchor Hocking.   Beginning in the 1980s, a series of Reagan economic policies and sales of the company to “corporate raiders” such as Carl Icahn catapulted the company down a financial spiral that led to the eventual bankruptcy of the company and accompanying  pay and benefit cuts and layoffs of the employees who made up the Lancaster community.  Over the years, economic hopelessness and lack of opportunity led many in Lancaster and other places like it, to turn to drugs and crime, in an effort to relieve the pain of day-to-day living, and simply to survive.  This is an interesting, important and  sad book with many personal stories of those who witnessed and lived through the decline of Anchor Hocking Glass and the “all-American City” that was Lancaster, Ohio.   Like J.D. Vance’s books, Hillbilly Elegy, Glass House helps the reader understand the desperation of Americans when opportunity for a decent life disappears and is replaced with chemical counterfeits.  I read his is an excellent, detailed book on my Kindle and I gave it 4 /5  stars on Goodreads.. 

Shepherds for Sale ****

By Megan Basham

Genre:  Nonfiction/Christian/Political/Cultural

Format:  Audio - library app.

In this interesting and well-documented book, Megan Basham reports on how many Evangelical Christian pastors have adopted and are teaching leftist philosophies to their flocks. In many cases,  the retreat from true Biblical teachings to the “philosophies of men” is being pushed and financed by left leaning power brokers, who have a vested interest in destroying traditional Christian values.  I listened to the audio of this book, which I borrowed from the library, and I would highly recommend this book to anyone concerned about the leftist direction many Christian churches are moving. I gave the book 4/5 stars on Goodreads. 

Miracles in the Meadow *****

By Dee Flurer

Genre:  Nonfiction/Biography/Spiritual

Format:  Kindle Unlimited

A beautiful day at Grand Teton National Park almost turns deadly when author Dee Flurer’s husband suffers a “widow-maker” heart attack while photographing bears frolicking in a meadow at the park. This book is the story of that day, how Dee’s husband was ultimately saved, after a series of “miraculous” events.  I loved this book, and closely related to much of what the author went through because my own husband almost died from a brain aneurysm in 2017, and save for some miraculous “coincidences” he would have succumbed. This is a quick read of less than 200 pages.  It is well-written, and the reader comes away truly caring about the Flurer family, and being grateful for the miracles that saved Dee’s husband's life.   I purchased this book for my Kindle and gave it 5/5 stars on Goodreads. 

Cruel Intent *****

By J.A. Jance

Genre:  Fiction/Mystery/Suspense

Format:  Paperback - own

I generally enjoy mystery/suspense books, but I had never read one by the author J.A. Jance.  I found this book at a favorite used bookstore and decided to try it. Although I found out this was #4 in the series, I still liked it.  It was a well-crafted mystery with interestingly developed characters and plot.  While there were adult themes in the book, there was no explicit sex or bad language. However, there were descriptions of violence, but such descriptions did not overwhelm the story.  I liked the book and plan to read more by this author.  I gave the book 5/5 stars on Goodreads. 

When Culture Hates You ****

By Natasha Crain

Genre:  Nonfiction/Christian/Society

Format:  Audiobook - library Hoopla app.

As cultural hostility for Christian values and beliefs intensifies, some Christians are reluctant or don’t know how to respond to defend their Biblical beliefs.  This book looks in depth at issues such as abortion, transgenderism, social justice, sexuality and other issues for which cultural beliefs are contrary to what we as Christians believe as scriptural truth.  In addition, the book tells believers how they can defend and advocate for Christian values in the public square.  I listened to the audiobook, which I found to be very interesting.  I gave the book 4 / 5 stars on Goodreads. 

Cease to Contend *****

By Rodney B. Deiser Ph.D, LMHC

Genre:  Nonfiction/Religious/Political/Social

Format:  Kindle - Cedar Fort -  ARC

This excellent book discusses and gives examples of how cognitive distortions cause conflict and contention with regard to many things in life.  While the focus is on political division and contention, the skills the author discusses to resolve political conflict, can be used in all areas of life.  The author also writes about the roles of both traditional and social media in conflict and division and encourages getting information from multiple sources representing differing viewpoints, and being aware of the biases and political leanings of our usual news sources.  He also discusses the importance of reading good books on all sides of our national political discourse.  This was a very good, well-written and readable book with important practical ideas to decrease division and contention.  I gave the book 5/5 stars on Goodreads.

Bad Religion ***

By Ross Douthat

Genre:  Nonfiction/Religious/Cultural

Format:  Paperback - own

In this book, New York Times Columnist, Ross Douthat, traces the evolution of the Christian Faith in the world and specifically in the United States.  Douthat is an orthodox Catholic, and in the book, he expresses that pretty much any faith tradition that is not orthodox Catholic gets everything wrong. He argues that American Christianity has “lost its way and threatens to take our society with it.” The book has some interesting parts and many things I agree with, but also comes across as being a very long and dense rant about religions Douthat does not like, or agree with. Douthat gets some things right, but he does not see and acknowledge any positives in religions and denominations other than his own orthodox tradition.  My son had to read this book for a college class (one of several on a list he could choose from) and he passed it along to me.  I read a paperback version, which I own, and gave the book 3 out of 5  stars on Goodreads.   

Via Dolorosa - Christ’s Path to the Cross *****

By Dr. Trina Boice

Genre:  Nonfiction/Christian/History/Travel

Format:  Kindle - Cedar Fort ARC

This impactful book traces the traditional path of Jesus Christ’s final hours, from his trial to the cross.  The author has been to the Holy Land multiple times and she describes what this path, known as Via Dolorosa (which means “way of sorrows" in Latin) is like today, and then also explains that tradition of what happened at each station of the cross.  This excellent book gives much insight into the last hours of Christ’s mortal life, taken from tradition and scriptures in the New Testament.  This is a good book to read during the Easter season.  I gave this book 5/5 stars on Goodreads. 

Until next time,

📚😊Deb💖📚

"The greatest gift

is a passion for reading."

~Elizabeth Hardwick

The Week and Weekend at the End of April

 

Our weather this past week has been typical spring weather here in the Mountain West. We had several days of sunshine and blue skies, followed by clouds and rain all day on Thursday.  

On Thursday, Josh had three job interviews and he got two job offers on the spot!  He was very pleased.  He decided to take the job that seems to have the best future.  The job is entry-level right now, but it is with a good organization that likes to promote from within.  This building, in downtown Salt Lake City is where he will be working. He will have orientation on May 5 & 6 and begin work on May 7.  We are very grateful that he got a job so quickly.

Thursday night, the women's group at church had a special activity.  We started with a service project of collecting and sorting new and like new clothing for children in need. 

We also donated books to the domestic violence shelter in this area.  After the service project, there was time to visit and fellowship and have refreshments.  We then went into our chapel area for a message from a guest speaker involved in women's ministry for our church.  It was a very nice evening. 

Friday was our 14-year-old grandson's birthday, so we took him out for a birthday lunch on Saturday. He chose to go to Chipotle. We all had a nice time together. 

We sure enjoy one-on-one time with each grandchild when they have their birthdays!

Later we went back to their house to spend some time with the rest of the family.  Here are four of our five grandchildren.  Our ten-year-old granddaughter was missing from this picture because she had gone to a friend's house to play. 

Saturday afternoon was warm and beautiful.  I went for a little walk, until my still-healing broken foot started to hurt, so I cut the walk a little short. 

These cute little flowers are growing in my front garden.  I planted them last spring and they didn't do much, but this year they are really taking hold. 

Charly and Josh helped get the vegetable garden ready for planting.  We are planning to get some plants next week and get them in the ground. 

Saturday night was our 17-year-old granddaughter's prom.  She looked so beautiful in her prom dress!  My daughter texted me this gorgeous picture. 

Sunday morning, when we went to church, it was cool, and cloudy and breezy.  Later we had a little rain, but by 2 p.m., the sun was out.  

Sunday afternoon, we went to the home of friends we have known since before we were married.  The husband has been in and out of the hospital over the past week, and isn't doing well.  We took them dinner and stayed to visit for a few minutes. 

For Sunday dinner, we had broccoli and chicken casserole, along with baby spring mix salad and muffins.  

Over the last week, I finished four books, four nonfiction, and one fiction.  The picture shows what books I read and how many stars I gave each one on Goodreads.  I am also planning a book review post hopefully next week.

As the new week gets started, I am reading a memoir about a family fleeing Syria as refugees called A Hope More Powerful Than The Sea, and a book I started before Easter about Jesus' path to the cross called Via Dolorosa. 

Weekend Gratitude:

• Spending time with our daughter and her family and taking our grandson to lunch for his birthday. 
• Taking dinner to and visiting with our friends.
• Getting our garden ready for planting. 
• Enjoying some warm and sunny spring weather and a little spring rain.

If I could please ask for the prayers of my blogging friends and readers - things have become very stressful again at work, to the point that I am seriously thinking of transferring to a different school or retiring a year before I had planned to.  I am asking for prayers that I will know what to do, and for help in making the very big and impactful retirement decision.  Thank you so much! 🙏

Until next time,

😊Deb💖

"...for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee. So that we may boldly say, 

The Lord is my helper, and I will not fear what man shall do unto me."

~Hebrews 13:5-6

Holy Week and Easter in My World

This has been a very busy week, and I haven't been in Blogland much. Here's what has been going on. 

Monday after school,  I had an appointment with the orthopedic practice that has been treating my broken foot. The broken bone continues to heal, and while it is still not completely 100%, it is healing normally and I was cleared to quit wearing the walking book and walk around with regular shoes once again.  I was very glad about that! 

Tuesday evening, our women's group at church had an exercise night.  One of the women just got certified to teach arthritis-specific exercises, so she led the class and taught the rest of us some great moves!   There were not a lot of women who came, but it was still a fun night. 

I had to return to my dentist this week to get a small cavity filled.  It literally took about 15 minutes.  I am glad to have that done. 

I took Thursday and Friday off as personal days and Charly and went to a wonderful conference.  Known as the Firm Foundation Expo, this conference was held on the campus of a local community college and had lots of classes on many topics like religion, apologetics, Bible prophecy, American and Bible history, science, herbal and homeopathic medicine, marriage, music, and positive living.  Charly and I attended all three days (Thursday, Friday, and Saturday) and we loved it! Both Charly and I came home with some new books we looking forward to reading. We learned so much and are excited to attend the next conference six months from now.  

We had a nice weekend weather-wise.  Although it rained on Thursday and was rather cloudy and cool the entire weekend, there blossoms everywhere.  The campus where we attended the conference had many of these flowering cherry trees all over  and they were beautiful.  

My tulips are out in bloom in my front garden. 

Easter Morning, Sunday, Charly and I attended church and loved the special Easter service celebrating the resurrection of Jesus Christ.  Josh went to church in the young adult congregation. 

After church, a woman from church brought me this cute chocolate bunny. 

In the later afternoon, Josh and I drove out to our favorite walking path in the West side of the valley. 

The tulips along the walking path were vibrantly stunning.  

When we came home, we had dinner - lasagna, salad and vegetables.  It was all very good. 

After dinner we decided to play Uzzle.  

We got Uzzle to play on Christmas Eve.  It's a fun game.  We haven't played it since Christmas, so we enjoyed a little friendly family competition.  Who won?  Well, yours truly of course!  

Weekend Gratitude:

• Attending the Firm Foundation Conference.
• Enjoying beautiful spring weather. 
• Seeing the stunning spring flowers everywhere. 
• Worshipping with other believers on Easter Sunday. 
• Walking without pain and without the "walking boot" on my foot.
• Being with my husband and son and enjoying Easter. 
• Walking with Josh on Easter afternoon and playing Uzzle with Josh and Charly.

That's all for now.  Thanks for stopping by. 

Happy Resurrection Day!

He lives!

Until next time,

😊Deb💖

The Weekend that Josh Graduated from College

 

Last Thursday, we left about mid-morning and drove to Rexburg, Idaho, where Josh was set to graduate from BYU Idaho.  It's only about a three-hour drive and we couldn't check in to the motel where we were staying until 3 p.m., so we had an early lunch in Brigham City, Utah, then we stopped in Pocatello, Idaho so Charly could go to a couple of game stores he had been wanting to visit.   Even with the leisurely drive, we got to Rexburg exactly at 3 p.m., and checked in the Motel 6, where we have stayed on most of our trips to see Josh.  Motel 6 is not high-end, but the rooms are clean, the staff (mostly college kids) are super helpful and friendly,  and the price is right.  This is the room we stayed in.  I realized this will probably be the last time we stay at Motel 6 in Rexburg, for a long time, if ever again.

Once we were checked in to the motel, we picked up Josh at his apartment and headed out to dinner at an all-you-can-eat pizza place in the town called Pizza Pie Café.  This has been one of Josh's favorite places to eat in Rexburg, and we enjoyed eating there one last time. 

Friday morning, we got to campus about two hours before the main graduation event.  I worried about finding a good parking spot, but I need not have worried.  We actually parked in a lot right in front of this building, the "I Center" where graduation was held.  The I Center is a beautiful and huge event center that is usually used for special speakers and religious services.  It was almost completely full for the main graduation which included all of the spring semester graduates. 

Here are the graduates filing in for the ceremony.  There were a total of 2,542 graduates.

The graduation was beautiful. There were two amazing musical numbers and several inspirational speakers.  I loved that the speakers emphasized that the graduates need to go forward in faith and make an impact on the world in many positive ways as disciples and followers of Jesus Christ. 

I admit that I am probably prejudiced, but I thought Josh looked very handsome all dressed up for graduation.   Most of the graduates were dressed up in their "Sunday best" under their graduation robes.  They all looked great.

Later, there was a convocation for each of the colleges within the university, where the individual student's names were called and they were given their diploma covers.  The convocation for Josh's college - Language and Letters - was held in a large chapel in the building where religion and theology classes are taught. 

Here is Josh receiving his diploma cover.  The actual diploma will be mailed to each student. 

Here is Josh being congratulated by multiple professors in his department.   Overall Josh (and we as parents) have been very impressed with the faculty at BYU Idaho.  They truly seem to care about the students and adhere to Biblical Christian teachings. 

Here's Josh just after he got his diploma cover and was congratulated by the professors and dean of the college. After the convocation we took lots of pictures, because graduating from college is a big deal. Here are some of the many pictures, the proud mother of the graduate took.

Josh has a history degree from the College of Language and Letters at BYU Idaho. 

I love that the mission of BYU Idaho is to "Develop Disciples of Jesus Christ." There is a Christian emphasis on everything done at the school, right down to starting each class with prayer. 

Josh is now part of the legacy of BYU Idaho.

We wanted to take more outside pictures, but as you can see from this picture, it was a really windy day. 

Josh wanted to go to Outback Steakhouse to eat after graduation.  Here we are enjoying a celebratory meal. 

After the meal, we went back to campus for some outside pictures because the wind had died down a bit.  Here is Josh by one of the signs at the entrance to the campus.  You can see that he had changed out of his shirt and tie, but still looked great.  

We are very proud of Josh and all his hard work.  Now all four of our children are college graduates!  

Saturday morning, the day after graduation, we packed both Josh's and our cars, and headed back to Utah. 

Josh said goodbye to the apartment where he lived for the past almost three years while he attended BYU Idaho.  His apartment was on the middle floor, on the right side of the doorway.  By and large, he enjoyed living there and had some very good roommates. 

On the way back to Utah, Josh and Charly drove in Josh's car and I was alone (with lots of Josh's stuff) in our car.  The drive went very well. Traffic was relatively light all the way home and there were no problems.  I listened to and finished this excellent audiobook, Shepherds for Sale by Megan Basham.  I would recommend this book to anyone concerned about non-Biblical ideas and philosophies seeping (and sometimes flooding) into the church. We were home by about 3:30 p.m..  We had two cars to unpack and lots of laundry to do (Josh had been saving his up until he could use mom's washing machine).   We were up later than usual, then, I had a hard time sleeping with all of the thoughts and memories of the past few days swimming around in my brain until the wee hours of Sunday morning. 

We were up and off to church on Sunday morning as usual.  Josh is now attending church at a different location which has a congregation of young adults just his age.  After church, I was tired from not sleeping well, so I took a nap, which was very helpful.  

Later, I fixed ham, potatoes Au Gratin, salad, green beans, and corn for dinner.  We all enjoyed eating Sunday dinner together.  It's been a while since we have done this. 

Weekend Gratitude:

• Josh graduating from college!
• Traveling safely to and from Idaho.
• Getting Josh settled in here at home.
• Josh having an online job interview Friday after graduation and having several good job leads.
• Enjoying lovely, sunny, warm spring weather here in Utah this weekend.

Coming up this week:

Monday - Back to school - Spring Break is over. 

Monday - Follow-up appointment for my broken foot.

Tuesday - Dental appointment for Charly.

Tuesday - Women's activity at church.

Wednesday - Doctor's appointment for Charly.

Wednesday - Dental appointment for me.

Thursday - Saturday - Apologetics and theology conference.

Praying for:

• A dear friend who is back in the hospital in ICU.
• Another friend who is succumbing to the ravages of dementia. 
• Josh as he searches for a job. 
• Our nation.

That's all for this weekend's post.  Thanks for stopping by. Enjoy the week ahead, and have a blessed Holy Week!

Until next time,

😊🕆Deb🕆💖