love to paint

Periodically, I get requests from self-published authors to review their books.  I consider and then every once in a while I agree to review the book(s) they've written.  This post is about two such books... This month I am reading through two books.  The first is a prayer journal of sorts. Dragonflies, Ketchup and Late-Night Phone Calls .  Daphne Tarango has written an introduction and a series of 31 prayers.  After each prayer is a place to write what you are thankful for in the morning, noon, and night.  I wasn't sure what to expect with this journal.  I had read the introduction online, which I enjoyed!  The prayers are simple ones and simply expressed.  I have to admit that I don't have time to write down at morning, noon, or night.  Instead, when I sit down each day before the day has begun, I think through the previous day and find things I can be thankful for.  It has been a good exercise for me.  Yes, I could simp...

The past few weeks have been strange ones for me.  We own two homes.  We're closing on one next week and have listed the one we live in.  We're the kind of folks that continually work on our homes.  I have had this list with our new home--my goal for the past twelve months has been to write down one thing a month.  When we moved in here two years ago, we thought we would stay put for a very long time.  We also bought a house which had a million and one things to do on it that the inspector completely missed.  After we bought it, my stomach stayed in knots for probably six months or more.  I grieved.  I struggled.  I worked hard to fix everything I could and still manage to homeschool, love my family well, and take care of the day to day needs of my home.  My husband worked hard, too.  He did the big projects that I couldn't do.  We fixed it together. Several of my friends have asked me how I'm doing as I ponder moving. ...