Book Review - and possible prizes :)

Title: Argosy Junction
Author: Chautona Havig
Publisher’s Synopsis: The romance of the Montana Rockies has a pull on Matt Rushby that he's never fully understood. Sheep, mountains, and a family wounded by the spiritual abuses of a cult capture his heart on his first vacation from the metropolis of Rockland. While he learns how destructive the church can be to its own, the Argosys discover a Jesus they forgot.

My Review: Chautona's second book to come out in print, this book was a joy to read. This work of Christian fiction tells the story of the meeting of Matt Rushby - the boy who grew up in the inner city - and Lane Argosy - ranch owner's daughter. Talk about opposites attracting! Both are introduced to a world they've never known.

First, Matt sees life through the eyes of the Argosy's who have been shunned by The Brethren, a church that they had originally been a founding part of. Seeing the way they've been treated, Matt understands Lane's reluctance to have anything to do with the Lord, but he is determined to show her what true faith really is.

Then Lane and her sweet and naive little sister, Patience come to visit Rockland and experience the inner city. "A little child shall lead them" rings true as Patience finds joy in helping the homeless and showing love to a prostitute who visits Matt's church.

Chautona does a great job of showing balance in this story. The point of separation for the Argosy family from the Brethren was over an incident with a young lady wearing jeans and she does a good job of showing how easy it is to slip over the line into legalism. Yet it would be easy to portray all people who wear dresses and long hair as being legalistic, and for a while I was a bit concerned that that could be where the story was going. (At the same time as I was sure it couldn't be, knowing the author!) I loved how Chautona brought into the story a lovely family who outwardly may have looked like the Brethren but inwardly they truly loved the Lord and others and understood the concept of Christian freedom.

This book is part of Chautona's "Rockland Chronicles". I love how each story stands alone, yet she weaves characters from one to another. (You can read one of her ongoing stories called Past Forward here: http://www.fairburytales.com/fairburytales Matt and Lane peek into that story too!)

The Contest: http://paradoxology.wordpress.com/2009/09/28/contest/ Chautona is doing a contest. If my name is chosen from those who have blogged about her book, you will have a chance to win too! Just comment on this post and if my name is chose, one of your names will be chosen also to receive a copy of Argosy Junction.

Happy Birthday to my 3 year old!

3 years ago, yesterday, Emilie Lynnette joined our family in the wee hours of the morning. Truly joy came in the morning, and she is such a joy!


Here is a picture of her "cake". Emi requested chocolate cake with mint frosting. Terran made the cupcakes and the frosting for me and let me decorate it. I made fondant to create the little characters. (Some of them turned out better than others. LOL) Emilie LOVES Winnie the Pooh. She has nicknamed herself Pooh Bear and calls Micha: Owl, Terran: Rabbit, Jeremiah: Tigger, Julihannah: Eyeore, and Elisabeth: Kanga.

The fondant recipe is super easy -
1 cup of mini marshmallows squished down and stuffed as full as possible,
1 T water
microwave for 30 seconds and stir until liquidy (is that a word?)
then stir in (and knead in) powdered sugar until you have a modeling clay consistency.
You can separate it into different bowls and use food coloring (and extra powdered sugar as needed) to achieve different colors.


Here is Emilie with her cake. She loved it! :) (Terran and Jeremi decided that the Eyeore looked more like a leopleuridon. - those who have experienced the insanity of "Charlie the Unicorn" will know what that means. - you can look it up on youtube, but maybe you'd rather not know. ;)



And Emilie in her new birthday dress from Nana. (I promised my mom I'd get a picture and let her see it. Hi, Mom!)

"Behold, children are an heritage of the Lord."

Have a great day!

Trying something new and simple

I've come across this "Simple Woman's Day Book" recently and have enjoyed reading the entries on my friends' blogs. For more information, see http://thesimplewomansdaybook.blogspot.com/





FOR TODAY October 13, 2009


...Outside my window - The sun makes it look like a warmer day than it really is. Snow flurries yesterday!


...I am thinking - about a story I'm writing. I'm stuck.


...I am thankful for - God's incredible blessings - a beautiful home, land, wonderful children and husband, a reliable job for Mike, provision for our needs, and a precious little one that God is knitting within me. :)


...From the learning rooms - found a great website this morning on teaching spelling. I have children who are voracious readers. I thought spelling would come naturally. Um, maybe not.


...From the kitchen - our neighbor filled up our kitchen with apples and my mother in law blessed me with more jars. Just have to get going on making the apple sauce.



...I am wearing - my white blouse and my purple and blue peasant skirt and my warm turquoise wool sweater.



...I am creating - dresses for customers and working on a new song


...I am going - no where. :) Snugged in our warm house while we get over our colds.


...I am reading - Bible reading today: http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=jeremiah%2022:1-23:20;2thessalonians%201:1-12;psalm%2083:1-18;proverbs%2025:11-14&version=NLT and DragonLight by Donita K. Paul


...I am hoping - to see my mom, sister, nieces and nephews later this month!


...I am hearing - my Judy Rogers cd (a wonderful gift from a reader here!), my daughter washing dishes and the little ones playing


...Around the house - Micha and Terran are reading Ivanhoe for their literature class, Jeremi is just coming in from taking out the trash, Lissa is working on spelling, Juli's doing dishes and planning lunch, Abi's playing the computer, and Manda and Emi are playing with Emi's "Little Einsteins" toys.


...I am wondering about - our country's future. Maranatha! Come, Lord Jesus!


...One of my favorite things - afternoon naps :)



...A few plans for the rest of the week: apple sauce! lots of apple sauce. :)


From my photos...

I'm so thankful for the relationships between my oldest and youngest children!

Finished!

I've been talking for a long time about how I was working on publishing a version of Savannah's scrapbook and about the cd project to go with it. Well, it's finally finished :) I worked out all the pages in a digi-scrap format and got it printed through Lulu.com - then added little bits of special touches - rhinestone stickers, 3-d elements, mini books - one that even has a buckle to open it.

Then I conned my sister, Cheri into helping me with my cd project.

And it all came together today - (It only took 7 months hehe) and I finished the website :) Let me know what you think. :)
http://www.savannah-rose.com

God bless you!
- Heidi

A Neat Blog I Started Reading Today

I ran across a link to a really neat blog today. It is the journey of a family who buys and old Amish farm and lives without electricity etc.
http://eclecticculturefarm.blogspot.com
I imagined when we were looking to buy this house that our life would look a little bit like this. Of course, God had a slightly different plan in mind. :)
Anyway - just wanted to share a blog that I'm sure you'll enjoy!

Summer Fun

A few weeks ago, we had one of those really hot August days that have been so rare this summer - the kind of day that makes the kids wish we had a pool - the kind of day that makes you actually consider really crazy things like going to a water park. :) Fortunately, we have creative people around here who can come up with better ideas!

Mike pulled out a large tarp and the boys set it up on a small hill with some rocks to hold it in place. Micha didn't want to go down the makeshift water slide so he was conned into holding the hose.

Going down the slide is fun, ending up in the mud at the bottom is a little more concerning!

I don't know what Lissa said to earn the extra spray. Wow, that well water's cold!

Manda says, "Whee!"

Terran comes *flying* down the hill!

Maybe that was a little TOO fast!

"My turn! my turn!" Emilie needs a push.

What a fun way to spend a hot summer day!

Catching Up

Dear Friends,


What a strange and cool summer it's been here in Wisconsin. It's hard to believe it's already pretty much over! Life has been busy here at the Kaether homestead, and it's been quite a while since I've written here. So, I thought I'd write a catch up post before going on with the last two dragons.





So what all have we been doing?





Picking cherries and canning cherry pie filling.





Picking raspberries and black raspberries and making jam.





Canning up a bushel of peaches.





Shredding and freezing zucchini.





Picking blackberries and making more jam.





Picking apples and planning to make applesauce.





Watching the corn and the peppers and the pumpkins which are just about to be ready.





Figuring out when and how to harvest the pears and the hickory nuts and black walnuts.





Eating the tomatoes about as fast as they come in. :)





I feel like this is all free (or nearly free) food that God has provided for us and I'd better take advantage of it while it's here. Kind of like when God gave the Israelites manna and they had to make sure they got out there and picked it up at the time God gave it to them.








The other day, I made for the very first time, my own tzaziki sauce. I didn't plant cucumbers this year, but a friend gave me a few from her garden. We love gyros, so I tried an experiment. I browned ground beef and seasoned it with greek seasoning, then served it with homemade tzaziki sauce, fresh tomatoes from our garden, and flour tortillas (in place of pitas). I have to admit they weren't as good as the real thing, but they weren't bad at all, and the tzaziki sauce itself was so yummy!





My sister, Cheri came down from Minnesota for a weekend and we recorded a couple of songs for our new cd - now finished! entitled "Through God's Eyes ~ Songs of Comfort and Praise for the Valley".





I've also been working hard on the published version of Savannah's Story, which I decided to call, "Right Where I Belong". I just got my proof copy from Lulu.com today and it is finally mistake-free and ready to offer for sale! I am excited to see how God can use Savannah's story to bless others.





I am still not pregnant. I never expected that six months later, I'd still be waiting. But I am learning to trust (again) that God really does know what He's doing and His timing is perfect. Sometimes the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak. And I want so badly for God to heal my heart in the way *I* think would be most healing - a new baby. But, as I was proof reading my book this afternoon, I read again what I said about the light and the shadow in my pictures.
"In my life there are times of darkness - wintery times. And like taking a photograph with a flash, I've tried to force my own ideas of light into the situation. Although they may seem to help a little, they lack the power to transform my life into something truly beautiful. It's just a flat copy of what could be." And I realized, that's just what I'm doing when I want to kick my heels and scream like a two year old - "It's not fair!" I'm trying to force God into my concept of what's best for me. Lord, give me the eyes of faith to see Your picture that You're painting in my life - a picture where the shadows are perhaps the most beautiful part!

I'm working on building up an inventory of dresses for Daddy's Little Princess for the Christmas season. I'm going to have some big changes coming for DLP in the new year (you can read more about it here: http://www.daddys-little-princess.com/dlporganics.html ) and so I'm hoping to make the Christmas season a little simpler this year so that I can concentrate on making the new website and getting everything ready to go. I just got my new labels - even they are made of organic cotton! - and I'm so pleased with how beautifully they turned out. (Thank you, Lisa at clothinglabels4u.com!)



I've been missing my big boys a lot as they've been working for my brother-in-law for the summer, baby sitting his children, and gone a whole week at a time. Micha comes home tomorrow - just in time to celebrate Juli's 10th birthday! Wow, does time fly!

And most of all we've been - watching the weeds and the children grow faster than you can imagine!!



God bless you all
- Heidi