The Saturday Six

One.

This week, I had the opportunity to talk to Liz Johnson, the author of the Prince Edward Island Dreams series (among other books)! I read the first two books in the series and told you about them after I read them, and the third book, On Love's Gentle Shore is just about to release! (CANNOT WAIT!!!!) Liz is funny, a great storyteller, so down to earth, and she was so much fun to talk to! Take a listen to our conversation here - and then GO READ THE BOOKS!!! :)

Two.

I know some of you are living in a frustrating season where it seems like God keeps telling you no to everything, or maybe it even feels like he's not listening! Jessica wrote a beautiful post on seasons of no. If that's your season right now, find comfort in her words!

Three.

If your kids are bored ALREADY and you aren't sure how to keep them busy, here are 103 ideas to keep them occupied, surely for a moment or two! (Won't lie: wouldn't mind trying a couple of these myself!)

Four.

When Ryan and I went to Kroger this week to grab a couple of things, we saw a whole display of dishes and other kitchen accessories created with a Mason Jar look. (They were ceramic and different colors, but they had that look about them.) I have scoured the internet and sort of found bits and pieces of the line at different stores, but I can't find a website for the company itself. (Mason Craft and More.) Anyone else have better luck? The line is SO CUTE!!! 

Five. 

I stumbled upon this recipe on Carmella Rayone's blog, and it makes me want to try it. Never had nuts in waffles before, but I think it might be delicious. (I can't skip the syrup though.) 

Six.

Source

 

This week I read a brand new book by an author who is new to me, even though this is not her first book. Carey Scott's Uncommon releases July 1, and I took a sneak peek at it this week.

I chose to read this book because the subtitle said it was about "Pursuing a Life of Passion and Purpose," and right now, my life is in that kind of mode. I have so many dreams and I want to pursue them well, with passion and with purpose, and I thought this might be a good starting point.

I found a number of good and helpful reminders inside, underlined a handful of sentences, but overall, the book just didn't grab me the way I thought it might. I want to be quick to say that the author specifically listed a fear (in her role as a speaker) of misguiding people or unintentionally offering bad theology, and I don't want her to think (if she reads this) that I felt misguided or led astray. It wasn't that. My disconnect from the book was more on a personal preference level.

Carey quoted a lot of Scripture throughout the book, and she provided many examples of women in the Bible who lived an uncommon life. Kudos for those choices! I noticed that almost every Scripture quotation, however, came from The Message, The Voice, or another paraphrase, and that just sat a little funny with me. I have several of those Bibles in my office and love looking at them for a different perspective on phrasing, but I try not to rely on them as my main form of study or teaching, since the translation wording isn't (and doesn't claim to be) precise from original languages. Perhaps you love and use them regularly and it wouldn't bother you, but it did leave me a little uneasy.

Secondly, she used quite a bit of slang throughout the book, and while slang words don't offend me (although I do have a zero tolerance policy for swear words in a book), I just find them a bit out of place when writing about the Lord.

The last thing that I just wasn't sure about was when she listed all the Beatitudes from Matthew 5 (from The Message) and replaced the word "blessed" in each one with "uncommon." For my own preferences, it was a little too much altering of Scripture, though I did understand the point she was trying to make.

Overall, I appreciated the reminder to live an uncommon life, but I found myself a little more distracted throughout the book than I hoped to be. I feel really bad that I didn't love it as much as I hoped I would.

** Barbour provided me with a copy of this book at no cost. All opinions are my own. **