The Saturday Six

One.

Listen here!

A few weeks ago, on the Saturday Six, I reviewed my friend Jody Hedlund's latest book, called With You Always. This week, I had the privilege of talking with her about her life, her writing, and this latest book (which is the first in a series). Jody is my real-life friend for over a quarter of a century now (how is this possible!?!?) and it was a treat to interview her. For those of you who missed a Spill the Beans episode this week, here's a podcast for your weekend!
Two.

This sermon illustration is a powerful one. I didn't see it in person, but I heard about it (via Facebook). Our friend Dave, who preached the sermon, recapped it here.

Three.

 This sums up exactly how I felt when I left my job at WBCL. This call of obedience to walk away from something that had my heart...for the ONE Who had my heart. Wise words from Sarah Koontz.

Four.

If you're an Indiana person, and you haven't seen this map, you might want to check it out. It shows when/how much of the solar eclipse we're supposed to see on August 21. Of course, it's Indiana, so who knows how much the sun will even choose to appear on that day! So fickle, our weather.  

Five.

Wise, warm words from my friend Marissa Shrock. If you're single, read this. 

Six.

Source

This week, I ventured into a genre I don't read often: Amish fiction. And I read an author I've never read before: Wanda Brunstetter. Wanda is a legend in Amish fiction, having authored dozens and dozens of books. (How I've not read any of her work before now is a mystery to me!)

I hesitated to read the book, because the few times I've tried to read Amish fiction in the past, I haven't been able to really immerse myself in the stories. (This is so strange, because I live in Amish country, so the lifestyle is very familiar to me.) But the plot intrigued me, so I picked it up.

The Blessing is the second book in a series called "Amish Cooking Class." In this book, a young Amish woman named Heidi Troyer and her husband, Lyle, are in the process of adopting a little baby, after discovering they're likely unable to have a child of their own. Prior to starting the adoption proceedings, Heidi had taught a small cooking class in her home. It went so well, she decides to try it again, and a diverse group of people sign up to learn more about Amish cooking. A troubled teenager, a new caterer, a food critic, a hunter, a lonely wife, and a mailman come together every other Saturday morning to learn about food and possibly forge new friendships.

I didn't feel like I'd missed out because I hadn't read the first book, since most of the characters were new in this one. But the layout of the book caused me to struggle for a bit. Each chapter covered the happenings of not just Heidi and her husband, but also each of the students in the class. I felt like just when I got into one piece of the story, I switched to a new part.

This tactic seemed to work both for and against me, because on one hand, it kept me very intrigued and reading along so I could learn the next piece for each person. On the other hand, it was sometimes hard to remember which character's story I was in.

Some parts of the story were hard for me to wrap my mind around, like an Amish couple adopting outside their own faith community and also the idea of Amish pursuing foster care. Obviously both things must happen, because I know this author knows her Amish background, but it just seemed a bit hard to get my mind around it. Some facets of the class members' stories also seemed a bit perplexing in a real-world scenario, but the story was enjoyable, nonetheless.

The recipes taught in the cooking class are included in the back of the book, so if you enjoy Amish cooking, you'll get a bonus if you pick up this one!

* Barbour provided a complimentary copy of this book; all opinions are my own! *