The Saturday Six

One.

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ONE MONTH...actually a little less!!...before we get to see the beginning of the new season of Fixer Upper! It's going to be a great week for the Shaffers. We'll celebrate our third anniversary AND get to see Chip and Jo Jo {on TV} all in the same week. In the meantime...check out this cool post about ways to integrate Joanna's decorating style in your own home.

Two.

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I came across this story this week and had to share it because {first} it's a really good story and {secondly}, Jenn is an outstanding and inspiring woman. We were in college at the same time, but I've gotten to know her better through the beauty that is Facebook. She's the kind of person whose posts always make me think, and this article shows why she's used so greatly, and in such a myriad of ways! Proud of her!

Three.

GOOD GRIEF. Yes, I cried over it. And I'm not even a parent!! This one has been circulating Facebook, so maybe you have seen it. If not, watch it.  

Four.

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Yes, Ryan, I had a crush on Damon Bailey. Of course I did! I was a teenager in the 90's! If you're not from Indiana {or didn't follow IU Basketball in the early 90's} you might not know who he is, but if you are from around here or you love sports, you've heard his name. It's been 25 years now since he graduated from high school, and this article is a great tribute to his career!

Five.

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This week, Natasha did a post about some things she's passionate about, which for her, includes printing pictures, and she mentioned in passing her desire to one day print out her blog in book format. It's not an uncommon thing; I've read about bloggers who printed out their blog each year as a scrapbook of sorts. It's actually a pretty smart thing, if you ask me. If the great wide web crashes, you know, where are your blog posts unless you've printed them out? I did some Pinterest research and found this post by a blogger who had printed hers and shows a bit how the process works. {Also - Blurb is a company I've looked at many times and it does seem they are a good mix of affordable and quality!}
 

Six.

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After the last novel I read...the one that took me a hundred pages to really get into...Vendetta by Lisa Harris was a fabulous about-face in reading and enjoyment. This book is the first in a new series called The Nikki Boyd Files, and I confess I'm hooked and ready for book #2.


We love watching TV crime dramas, and if you love those as well, I'm confident you'll love this book. It's like an episode of {insert your favorite crime drama here} written out in a book - and a bonus? It has a faith story laced through it as well.

Nikki Boyd is a former schoolteacher turned special agent on the Tennessee Missing Persons Task Force. The career change came about a decade earlier when her teenage sister went missing...and she's never been found. Nikki's devotion to solving Sarah's case is what drove her to make a career out of hunting missing persons and bringing their abductors to justice. What starts out as an ordinary day off work rock climbing with a friend quickly turns into an urgent search for a teen gone missing during a birthday celebration weekend.

The story is set in the Great Smoky Mountain National Park area near Gatlinburg, Tennessee, and since we just vacationed there this spring, I could so easily envision the places they talked about in the book - but even if you haven't been there, this book will draw you in with the suspense, the relationships, the twists...all of it.

I read this book in one night flat, and honestly, I knew during the first chapter that I would have to finish it yet that night. No sleep for me until it was done. Lisa's story-telling is captivating, and it's no surprise to me to learn she's won awards for her writing. Her characters are relevant and real...struggling through their own personal heartaches while plowing ahead with what life demands. I also appreciated her ability to accomplish all the truth and suspense of a missing person's case, without any bad language, any overly graphic scenes, and without sexual innuendos. Those things that seem to always make their way into TV are missing from the book, and yet the story misses nothing by their absence. It's still rich and full.

I'm excited to see what Nikki takes on next...I'm excited to see book #2 in this series! * Thanks, Revell, for sending a copy my way in exchange for a review. All opinions are my own! *