Friday, April 23, 2010

Adam's Story: A Novel by Jack Weyland

You have to be a fan of Jack Weyland and you need to read Charly and Sam first to really get this book. They are all a series. Charly was made into a movie in 2002

Ever wonder what happened after happily ever after? Adam is the son of Charly and he is grown up...it starts when he is on his mission for the LDS church and then comes home and tries to find out who he is and what he wants to do with his future. Of course it is also a sappy love story. I love these when they are written by LDS writers and easy to relate too. It was a short good read. A nice distraction on my rainy day.

Whole Book, Healing Book

Wednesday, April 21, 2010

Wayne Thiebaud The Dessert Artist

Thieboud is pronounced TEE-BO. He lives in Sacromento CA and is 90 years old. He still paints and plays Tennis!





Yummy!





Saturday, April 17, 2010

Left to Tell: Discovering God Amidst the Rwandan Holocaust by Immaculee Ilibagiza

This was an incredible true story about surviving the worst thing ever, genocide. I don't think I will forget this story for a long time. A young woman named Immaculee Ilibagiza tells about how she survived the 1994 idyllic killing spree that lasted three months and claimed the lives of nearly a million in her country of Rwanda.

For over 3 months, she and seven other women huddled quietly together in a tiny bathroom while hundreds of killers with machetes looked for them. They were being hunted and their families were slaughtered by their neighbors and friends but they couldn't do anything but hide or else they would meet the same fate. Usually the women were raped and other evil things and when you die by a machete usually it is torture by getting your limbs chopped off and bleeding to death. It is so sad and so overwhelming I don't know how anyone could do such horrible things unless they were possessed with a bad spirit. Nazi Germany stories are bad and this story is bad.

The best part about this story is that during the time she had to go through unspeakable frighting things she was able to discover the power of prayer. She was able to be brave and prepare herself for the future. She came to know God and His great love for herself and everyone. She discovered the meaning of true unconditional love—a love so strong she was able seek out and forgive her family’s killers later in life. She was also able to help others by her example.

I was so impressed with her story. She lived through the darkest and worst things ever yet was able to not blame God but praise His name. She lost so much but gained such a unique perspective on this life and the after life by the experience. I don't know if I could do what she did and I never want to have too but I hope that I learned something from her story she was left to tell. I cried so hard reading it and I don't understand how it was allowed to happen in world we live in. I would have been graduating from Highschool going to college and then on my mission while this was all happening in Africa in her small country of Rwanda. I never heard about it. Why was it kept so secret and ignored by the world? It should have never been allowed to happen. Just like the holocaust in Germany. So sad.

Healing Book

Tuesday, April 13, 2010

To Kill A Mockingbird

This is a wonderful and unforgettable classic story of a little Southern town in Alabama during the 1960's. There was still so many problems with peoples behavior when it comes to equality. Black or white, rich or poor, educated or uneducated, you name it and there was problems.
The story was told by a little white girl. Her voice it so innocent yet wise as she learns about kindness and cruelty, love and hatred, and how unjust human beings can bee to each other. Where does dignity come in and the unity in the human race? The little girl grows up and learns to walk in others shoes before judging.
I love this story. I saw the movie a while back and it was pretty good too. I will look for it at the library today and view it again. This is a book you can read again and again and still get so much from.

Healing and Whole Book

Sunday, April 11, 2010

Strawberry juice runs in my blood!

Today I received a flat of Strawberries for an outrageously low price. They were the biggest, reddest, Californian fresh strawberries sold by Bountiful Baskets!

So after everyone ate as many as they could for breakfast, I started making Jam.

First the freezer jam then the canned stuff. I don't know which one I like better. I like having both. My oldest son helped me make it and thinks he is entitled to eat most of it.


The next day after eating as many more strawberries as we could and having them on french toast we decided that we should make a pie. So we made two! One for the neighbors to thank them for helping me replace the section that flew off the barn this last storm and one for our family.



This strawberry pie making business brought back so many childhood memories. During strawberry season in CA my mothers fingers were always stained red.
It is from the secret ingredient in the strawberry glaze for the pies.

We would make so many pies to earn money for Scout Camp and Jamborees and whatever else the Scouts needed money for. I think we must have made over 500 pies. I didn't make them myself but it sometimes felt like it. Mountains of KFC boxes to fold, stacks of pie shells, huge vats of bubbling red glaze and of course so many flats of strawberries to wash, sort and pluck. It was pie heaven or slave labor, you decide. All done because my mother loved all her Boy Scouts and wanted them all to succeed. I liked it best because my brother would be gone for so long and not around to tease us.

These pies were special because ward members and community members bought them for 3 times the price it was to make them. I think they sold for $8.50. Now days that is nothing. They also didn't last, you either ate them fast or they would get so soggy and the strawberries would turn to rotten mush you had to chuck the whole thing. Never wait till the next day to eat. So all the pies had to be delivered immediately. My mom was really in business.

Looking back it is all like a dream. Did we really spend all that time and effort making strawberry pies? Someone pinch me quick!

Friday, April 09, 2010

The Shortstop by Zane Grey

Baseball fan? This is the book for you! Written in 1909 Zane Grey the author takes you back to the beginnings of baseball. A young boy age 17 had to quit school to earn money for his family. He worked in a factory but was getting no where so he quit and goes on a journey to follow his dreams of becoming a professional baseball player.
He catches a train and has some hard breaks but eventually finds a manager that believes in him despite his appearance. He learns the ropes of playing on a minor-league team. Wins the hearts of the town and falls in love.
The book uses a lot of the old baseball jargon and sometimes I have no idea what they are talking about but you kind of get swept up in the excitement of the game so it doesn't matter. I wish baseball today was a little like baseball back then. Now it seems to be so easy because everything has been done. Back then it was all new, the curve ball the home runs, the umpire calling a game or kicking someone out...exciting.

classic
Whole Book