The Saturday Six

One.
Last week I challenged you to clean out a drawer, but I submit to you that where there's one messy drawer, there's bound to be a second. {Hint: maybe in another room?} Pretty sure our drawers are crazy because we tend to hoard in them. This week's challenge: Head to the hoarding drawer and CLEAN THAT THING OUT.

Two.

I'm pretty sure my mom is convinced I'm turning into a hippie. It's not true. But I have been {for a mix of financial and health reasons, neither of which I'm fanatical about} starting to make some of my own things at home, rather than buying them. This week's adventure? Face wash. I ran out of the face wash I was using, and I decided that even though I didn't even buy close to top of the line cleanser, there had to be a cheaper way. So I made my own! {More to come on this.}


Three.

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Looking for something fun to do this spring? Check out this list of ideas. Have a feeling a few of these will be taking place in Shafferland!!!

Four.

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Probably most of you who read here, especially after I've talked about this so many times, have already read this news, but the courageous Kara Tippetts passed away last Sunday. My heart has been so heavy for her family this week, but I'm so thankful Kara's legacy touched my life through her blog. What a beautiful inspiration!

Five.

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Oh. My. YES. Order in bulk???

Six.

For those of you who like to read, I'm wrapping up today's Saturday Six with a book review. I just finished reading Marie Monville's book called One Light Still Shines. It's not a new book...it was actually published in 2013, but I just learned of it a few weeks ago when Lynne interviewed Marie. Chances are, you're familiar with a piece of Marie's story already. Her first husband, Charlie, was the man who ambushed an Amish schoolhouse in Pennsylvania back in 2006, shooting ten girls, killing five of them before killing himself. You've seen the story from the media's side...read about it in the tabloids...but there is so much more to it than what they told. Marie's book isn't the documentary of the crime. It's an intricately woven love story...between Charlie and Marie...between the Lord and Marie...and between God's kinsman-redeemer, Dan Monville, and Marie.

In this beautifully written book, Marie cracks open the window to her heart and faith and shares unashamedly the wrestling of horror, heartbreak, confusion, ache, hope, and worship that permeated her life after she received the news of what Charlie did. She tells of their love, their life, their losses, and why she was as baffled as the rest of the nation when she learned of the shooting. And she hides nothing of her faith, which is in no way a flippant faith, but a deep, raw relationship with the Lord.

A good book not only tells a story, but calls the reader to action, and Marie did this masterfully. I was compelled to deepen my own intimacy with the Lord as I read. The end of the book tells her love story with her now-husband, Dan Monville, and in it, I was reminded of my own love story with Ryan and affirmed in the uniquely beautiful ways God writes and weaves such tales.

I highly recommend this book. I'm often skeptical of books spawned by high profile news stories, but Marie's book is, as the cover promises, about her life beyond the shadow of being the shooter's wife. It's about her heart, her faith, her God and HIS redemption and restoration. {And I cried. It's a good book if it drives me to legitimate tears.}