The Saturday Six

One.

If you struggle with the need (not a desire, but a need) to never disappoint anyone, well, you're probably going to disappoint yourself, because that's just pretty much impossible. But I get the whole people-pleaser mentality. Have that bug myself! This post is beautifully worded, offering freedom from an impossible goal!

Two.

Gone on a good virtual home tour lately? I hadn't, so I read this post from Between Naps on the Porch. THREE homes on one property. I love the guest cottage the best.

Three.

Ryan!?!!?!?! This one's for you! Remember when we got our Surrender sign, and you said you wished you knew how wood burning art worked? Found a tutorial! It's not written by the lady who made our sign, but I'm guessing the technique is close enough!{And anyone else intrigued by how wood burning works...check it out!}

Four.

A short, but meaningful read about the importance of making memories with your kids. I have great childhood memories and hope Ryan and I provide good memories for our nieces and nephews!

Five.

Any Aldi shoppers out there? This is a cute way to keep track of your quarter! 

Six.

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Last summer, I read Lynette Eason's book Without Warning, which was the second book in a series called Elite Guardians. I'd missed the first book, but easily jumped into book two, and it was a heart-stopper for sure! I read the book in the car as Ryan and I drove home from Kansas from my niece's wedding, and I kept jumping every time he slammed on the brakes!


So when I saw that book three in the series, Moving Target, was releasing this winter, I had to get it. To refresh your memory, these books tell the stories of a group of young women who serve as bodyguards. Each book focuses on a different member of the Elite Guardians, and this time, it was Maddy McKay's turn.

Maddy and the guy she's been dating {he stops just short of willingness to define the relationship further}, Quinn Holcombe, vanish one evening after having dinner together. Their friends discover the news a day later when both of them fail to show up at Quinn's birthday party and they all realize no one has heard from them in a full day.

Though Maddy is a bodyguard and Quinn as a muscle-laden investigator, they've both been abducted by a mysterious {and apparently very strong!} man. They awaken from their drugged stupors and begin a fight to stay alive and figure out who has targeted them, and more importantly, why. They suspect their abduction is related to a string of deaths, and they're determined to not become the next victims, but instead bring justice to those who have already died.

Much like the second book in the series, this one is full of twists, nail-biting moments, surprises, and I would highly recommend not reading it right before you go to bed. {I finally closed it because it was so real, I knew I'd have nightmares if I kept going! But when daylight returned, I cracked it back open and read ferociously until I finished the book!}

Also like the second book, Moving Target had a clear faith base to it, but the storyline wasn't cheesy or watered down. I appreciated the author's ability to weave the two so well. And I learned at the end that the fourth book in the series comes out later this year, so I'm looking forward to that! {One other note: if you've not read the first two books, you won't be confused when you pick this one up. Though I recognized characters from the previous book, the storyline itself stands alone enough that you won't be lost.}

* Revell provided a copy of this book to me at no charge. All opinions are my own. *

The Saturday Six

One.

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I love a good home tour. I love KariAnne's blog. So the two combined = perfection. And also - how much do I love the little sign saying the year the house was built!?!?! YES!!!!!

Two. 

Ummmmm Ryan? You're going to want to watch this video. Emily A. Clark made an outdoor kitchen space using her grill, a side cart, and pavers. Shut. The. Front. Door.

Three.

This was a fun article with some behind-the-scenes facts about life at IKEA. If you like shopping there, you should check this out! 

Four.

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Oh. My. Word. Look at this writer's retreat! I confess I don't have access to a view that would would appropriately suit it, but my word.

Five.

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I have talked about Grace and Lace on the blog before, but I have to mention them again! I first learned about this adorable shop when I worked at WBCL and found them on an Etsy hunt one day. We interviewed them and I remember Melissa, the owner/founder as one of the most delightful women we ever talked to! She went on to be on Shark Tank {saw that too! Loved it!} and has been quite successful with her company. Because I so love her story and her kind spirit, I would just recommend shopping the whole shop. But LOOK AT THESE ADORABLE BABY LEG WARMERS! Oh my word! I had to point them out today because I've never seen anything quite like them and I just can't handle the cuteness. 

Six.

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Last fall, I read the book Murder at the Courthouse by A.H. Gabhart. I adored the book and its cross between a Mayberry-esque setting with delightful characters, and a page-turning murder mystery. I was thrilled that the end of that story promised a book two, so when I saw that Murder Comes by Mail had been released, I had to read it!

I happily revisited the tiny burg of Hidden Springs and quickly reacquainted myself with the characters I had come to love in book one. I discovered Deputy Michael Keane was still living alone in his log cabin by the lake, but all hope was not lost that one day, he might just have a relationship with spunky Alexandria {Alex} who filled so many pages of the first book. And as the book opened, Deputy Keane was praying that the rickety and sputtering church bus full of nib-nose ladies on their way to a play in the city would keep sputtering until he safely arrived with the lot of them.

The trip is interrupted when Deputy Keane spots a jumper on the bridge and stops to intervene. He succeeds in saving the man's life, but the man quickly tells Michael that he should have just let him jump. Michael shrugs it off and tries to push away all the "local hero" attention that follows, {newspaper headlines, TV reporters hunting him down, stacks of phone messages congratulating him} but no one expects the string of brutal murders that follow and all somehow seem tied to this mysterious jumper - and Michael. Mysterious letters begin arriving in Hidden Springs, declaring Michael is the reason these women are dead, and each new day brings dread that more bodies and letters will be discovered.

When big city shrinks and cops start showing up in Hidden Springs, poking around and poking fun, Michael's frustration escalates. He realizes he is the common bond in these murders, and he has no way of knowing who from his life will be the next target.

As in the first book, the small town element is absolutely delightful. Predictable habits, quirky neighbors, nosy know-it-alls, and all you would imagine from a tiny bumpkin burg. But also as in the first book, the crime element is not hokey. It's {again} not make-you-jump-while-you-read scary, but it does keep you captivated and makes you try to solve the puzzle in your head.

I just love this little series and my biggest letdown in book two is that nosey Willadean Dearmon from book one did not make an appearance. She was one of my favorites! But despite her absence, I loved this book and am excited to know there is a book three on the way!

Thanks, Revell, for sending this book my way in exchange for an honest review!

Becoming Home

It's been forever since I wrote a thoughtful kind of post. Life has been so {beautifully} full lately that each day's post is a mad dash to keep you up to date on what's happening in our world {not to mention to serve as a reminder to me later when I finally have time to scrapbook this wild journey and have forgotten key things I want to preserve}.

But I feel the need to catch my breath, so today isn't a recap. It's just my heart.

When I moved into my first home, the one we just left last month, I was a college graduate with a new job, a white twin daybed, a hodge-podge of things inherited from the homes of my grandparents, a kitten, and a roommate.

Life was brand new for me in every way and each day was an exercise in figuring out who I was and how I fit in and how in the world I would survive this Financial Aid thing. And life found a rhythm. I figured out the job, the kitten went to live on a farm after not liking the roommate's cat, the roommate went to live on her own after we failed to find harmony, and I was left with the white twin daybed and the hodge-podge of things inherited, while adding to it a hodge-podge of what began to represent my life.

And despite a couple of huge home-purges in the last few years {one before getting married and one last summer after quitting my job}, this move still felt like an exercise in honing our possessions and figuring out what we need learning to live concisely and simply.

People ask us almost every day if we're all settled in and the answer is no. I would feel comfortable now saying we are largely settled in, but we are not fully settled. Rooms are mostly assembled. Less than ten boxes remain packed. The piles of to-be-sorted are not as bad as I imagined they might be, and I am tickled to the brightest shade of pink at all my newly assembled {AND LABELED!!!} storage boxes that make life lovely

This week, we started the permanent settling of hanging our pictures on the walls. We piled the bed high with art and pictures and sayings and then created little collages on the floor to be transferred to each wall. It was a slow process - and those of you with husbands who have the same love affair with levels and measuring tapes that mine does will understand what I mean by that.

With each step we've taken, this house has become more of our home. The kitchen was the first room I assembled, so I could work to create healthy meals for us - meals that could be eaten on real plates at an actual table. And then I organized the closet so we weren't pulling wrinkled clothes from suitcases and wondering what happened to the bag of socks.

Room by room, we've slowly made a home, continuing to organize and purge as we go. This house is as different in layout from our old home as I think we could have gotten, so nothing naturally went in the same space. Everything required a new home with new vision. And we've loved that. We have loved figuring out how this place suits us. We've combined the old and familiar of our things with the new and exciting of the space. We've combined my things with his and purchased a few more that could just be called ours.

It's becoming home. It's felt like home since the first day, when we wandered inside and stared at the blankest of home canvases. But with each box unpacked and each item given a place, it's become a true home.

We're back at it again tonight - with the level and the tape measure and a new armful of art that needs a wall. It's lovely, comforting {although occasionally maddening} work. And I can't wait to introduce you to the finished product!

The Saturday Six

One.

This article is written by the worship arts pastor at our church, and while she and I have very different career paths, I was convicted by her reminder to be open to paths orchestrated by God, rather than paths orchestrated by my own logic. Her words remind me of the importance of learning to serve in my own ways and learning to lead the generation behind me to serve in ways that play to their own strengths. Good thoughts to ponder in here.

Two.

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Ack!! How adorable are these labels for organizing?????

Three.

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In case I haven't gotten your house-hunting wheels turning enough yet this week, check out this super cute cottage plan!!!

Four.

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Tomorrow is Valentine's Day, and if you STILL don't have plans and need something fun to do, this is a good idea. It's what we did last year! Fondue at home! This is a recipe for cheese fondue for two - it's similar to what I made, and doesn't leave you with a ton of leftovers.

Five.

My friend Kristin wrote this post, and while I am not a sci-fi kind of girl, I can't tell you how much I needed these words. {What I'm saying is even if sci-fi mystifies you like it does me, read this post. It won't confuse you.} Broken...but fixable. I love it.  

Six.

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I'm not sure I've ever before believed I could have an identical life twin, but I am now convinced I do, and her name is Stephanie Rische. Her book, I Was Blind (Dating), But Now I See was my read for this week and I am excited to tell you why I loved it.

I hesitate to say this just this way, because if Stephanie happens upon my blog and looks around, she might wildly disagree with these words, but her writing reminded me of my own writing. She's a lover of story, she's a lover of finding God in the moments of every day, and that's what you'll find in her book. So if you like what you read here, the serious and the deep and the funny, you'll like her book. It's got the same kind of feel.

If you're single, {HELLO, my single friends!!} this book is especially for you. Stephanie chronicles her own life journey through a series of blind dates and why they didn't work out, but how and why she learned pivotal life lessons as a result of each failed date. If you need and want to know you are not alone in all the feelings you have about being single when you long to be married, she'll make you giggle while reminding you that you are indeed not alone.

If you're NOT single, this book still has something for you. As you know, Ryan and I are praying and waiting for the sale of our home, and I'm finding many parallels between our current stage of waiting and the lessons that descend upon the life of a girl waiting for a husband. And if you're waiting for anything else - a job, a baby, your restored health - I can promise there are lessons and truths in these pages that you need to hear.

I sat with my jaw dropped as I read, floored at how many things Stephanie and I had in common. Not just the fact that we were both single into our thirties before getting married, but crazy little details, too. We've both had strong God-planted life themes of placing literal stones of remembrance in our lives to mark the work of God. We've both been visited {and subsequently utterly freaked out by} unmarked vehicles claiming to be vacuum sales people. We both resisted online dating for the same reasons. We both purchased our first home while single and mourned doing such a grown-up thing alone. We both found blind-dating to be dreadful and hopeful at the same time. We both spent Tuesdays in deep prayer. I've never before felt like I was reading my own story as I did in this book.

The book is an easy read with short chapters that tell captivating snippets of story, and not every story is about singleness. Many are just about life and the lessons she learned while weaving her way through the singleness and prayers for later. This is one I'll be keeping on my shelf and referring to and recommending often. Congratulations, Stephanie, on a wonderful, thoughtful, enjoyable, thought-provoking read! 

* Thanks, Tyndale, for publishing this book and for sending a copy my way in exchange for an honest review. *  

 

The Shafferland Shuffle

* Last Sunday we worked in the cafe at church, but we needed to make sure we'd heard the sermon so we could take notes to lead our small group this week, so we stayed for the latest service to catch the sermon. I learned that being in church when I'm used to eating lunch means I have to eat a snack during church. Oopsie!! We had a lovely, relaxing Sunday that ended with breakfast for dinner - a decision made when we had Starbucks in hand and needed a meal to accompany that treat!

* Monday brought some snow and slickery roads right at the morning commute time - I was reminded again of how thankful I am to not be making such a long drive in those sorts of conditions! It was a busy day, though, including the start of the second round of our clean eating adventure {even though we didn't really take much of a break over Christmas after the first round}. Still, Monday's workout about killed both of us.

* So our dishwasher broke on Tuesday. It was fifteen years old and had lived a good long life and washed a LOT of dishes for us, so I suppose it had every right to call it quits. But dishes are my LEAST favorite household chore. {I'll do toilets any day over dishes.} So Ryan and I had a date night at the store to pick out a new dishwasher and then Ryan became my hero by installing the thing. {I think he had so much fun wearing his new head lamp that a little thing like dishwasher installation was actually a treat!}

* I started to worry about myself on Wednesday when I voluntarily watched not one, but TWO webinars. I HATED webinars in all my previous jobs. They were long and tedious and pulled me away from important work and always made me sleepy. But something about making the watching of them my ONLY work and being able to get up and move around during them made them quite bearable and informative! That evening, we hosted our first small group - our first time to do such a thing together as a couple. We have much to improve in the way of doing it gracefully, but we so appreciated the opportunity to lead together!

* Thursday, I met up for lunch with a friend and just for funsies, went with her to look at a house for sale. I always enjoy seeing houses - and this one was so charming. I was glad to get to peek inside with her! And then I came home to something NOT so charming: our mess of an office that has been utterly buried for over a month. Ryan and I moved our Starbucks date FROM Starbucks to home so we could organize while we sipped on lattes. A long night, to be sure, but we got it done!

* Friday...ohhhhhhhh Friday. Ryan had to be gone overnight for a planning meeting for an event he's helping with, and this was only our second time to be separated since we got married. I abhor separation and spent my day writing him cards and notes to hide in his luggage. We took a selfie together before he left/before my meltdown began. I organized an entire evening of scrapbooking and watching all the sappy TV shows Ryan doesn't like to watch. I made it through the long night of no sleep, but I still am NOT a fan of being apart.

* Yesterday Ryan came home!!! I spent the morning cranking out more scrapbook pages, and by the time I got that and several chores done, he was home! I was so excited to see him!! Although the sun made a brief appearance that morning, it really was a rainy, yucky day for the most part, so we got coffee and went shopping for fun {window shopping is one of our favorite things} and then grocery shopping with all the beat-the-snow-storm shoppers. So happy to have Ryan back!!!

New Glasses

You remember when I went to the eye doctor, right? {As if you could forget.} He declared my vision perfect {which I highly suspected was the case} and told me no glasses needed.

And he's right - except when it comes to matters of attitude. And then my vision tends to be not-better-than-20/20-like-it-is-in-real-life.

So here's my story/confession/recommendation for today. Got a minute?

If you've been around the blog for any length of time, you know that for the last four or five years, this little house of mine {and now ours} has gone on and off the market a handful of times. It started when I got my job in Fort Wayne in 2011, and my plan was to leave this town entirely and start over with a new life up there. So on the market it went. And stayed. And didn't sell.

Then I started dating this guy named Ryan...and we decided to get married, and we decided we couldn't handle merging lives and selling a house all at once, so we took it off the market. And then after putting some work into it, we put it back on. And it didn't sell again, so we took it back off...and so the story goes. On and off, on and off.

Most recently, we had hoped to sell it and move closer to Ryan's work to knock out his commute as well {we really didn't mean to sign up to be life-long commuters}. But it seemed like the lack of interest in our home was even more pronounced than ever before, even though the price was also lower than ever before, and the amount of work put into the house was more than ever. With that, we decided God must be purposefully blocking the sale of the house, which wasn't something we hated, necessarily. We had prayed many times for God to protect the house from selling if we aren't supposed to move. You can't ask that and then be mad when He does it, right?

But despite all that, I've been cranky about this house. I wanted to move. I wanted a new start somewhere else in a place that had always and only been uniquely ours as Shaffers. I had a huge list of things I wanted in a new house, which essentially made me side with all the people who had walked through our house and declared it cute...but not for them.

I began to suspect that even if God DID have a plan to sell this house eventually, He would not do so until I got my attitude whipped into shape, so I even went so far as to ask for prayer in our Sunday School class...prayer for a changed vision toward this house...this house that truly is warm, lovely, and full of beautiful memories.

I needed house glasses.

Last week, as I sat curled up reading a novel, I suddenly {which means it was a God-prompt} remembered a book sitting on my office shelf...one I've had for probably a year and never read. The Nesting Place by Myquillyn Smith. {She blogs as The Nester if this sounds vaguely familiar to you but you can't quite pinpoint why.}

Lynne interviewed Myquillyn about this book when it came out, and we happened to have an extra copy at the station, so Lynne offered it to me, knowing how much I love home decor and such. I gratefully accepted the book, but ever had time to read it. Until that day last week.

I put down the novel, retrieved the book and read it in 24 hours flat. And with each page I turned, I realized for me, this book was an eye exam and pair of house-glasses all in one paper appointment. I gulped at sentences like "Do you believe it's possible to love where you are, right now, today?" and "I trust that even though this might not be the exact home I'd choose, God chose it for me, and it is home."

And then...the surge of hope. "Giving up is the first step to creating the home you love," she said. "What if you already have everything you need to have the home you always wanted?"

I began to glance around our home. Did I? Did I already have it all and I just couldn't see it?

Yes, I did.

"The best way to start creating a beautiful home is by being grateful for what you already have," she said. Ouch. I have much to be grateful for, and I am grateful on some levels. Just wasn't grateful on enough of them.


"The real question is, What am I doing with what I've been given?" Largely complaining about it, unfortunately.

"I had been so foolish and wasteful. I finally came to terms with our shaky, we-have-no-idea-what-will-happen-next-week livelihood. I decided to trust that the God who is in charge of my eternal life could also be trusted with my everyday life." Yes. This. This is where I needed to be.

I closed the book with a sigh of relief and walked around my truly beautiful home and started to look at the blessings in the imperfections {lovely limitations, Myquillyn calls them} in each room. So the floor plan isn't so 2015. It's working just fine for the two of us, and Braeya doesn't get a vote. So the kitchen is small. Aren't tiny homes with tiny kitchens the new trend? On and on I went, finding the lovely in the limitations.

I sure am grateful Myquillyn Smith wrote The Nesting Place, and if you have some vision problems with your own home, you should give the book a read...it might just be the eye exam you need, too. I'm glad she willingly shared her own journey through 13 homes in 18 years of marriage, some of them dreadful and some of them spectacular. {The homes, not the years of marriage.} I'm glad she could point out the lovely in the sometimes EXTREME limitations.

And I'm grateful for my new prescription to see this home in its full spectrum of beauty.

Dreams of the Big and Small Varieties

If you've traveled with me very long at this blog, you know that I do have a fond affinity for houses. If there's a marathon of...well, anything...on HGTV, I'll be watching and coaching from the couch. While normal people spend their free time on Facebook or Pinterest, I spend mine on the realtor app. I've been known to take the long way home from just about anywhere so I can drive by "that one house." If I had my way about it {and I didn't need naps} I would spend every single Sunday afternoon traveling around town attending open houses.

And yet I fear that if left to my own devices, I would be a realtor's worst nightmare, because I truly have no common love when it comes to a house. {This is where Ryan will have to step in and be our voice of reason if and when it ever becomes our turn to create or move to a new Shafferland.} I have fallen madly and deeply in love with lofts in the middle of a city, trailers {not cottages, but actual TRAILERS} by the lake, tiny bungalows that would make furniture placement a game of serious strategy, and sprawling mansions that would make the most perfect B and B.

Obviously I have no idea what God has planned for our future. {If He's mentioned anything to you, can you give me a jingle and clue me in, please? Thanks!} But dreaming can't hurt, right? So today I've pulled my two most opposite dreams together into one blog post.

The Tiny.

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Oh yes. I watch the Tiny House Hunters show on HGTV. And most of the time, truthfully, they're too tiny for me. I love Ryan and pretty much anytime we are home together, we're in the same room, but there's something slightly claustrophobic to me about not having another room to CHOOSE to go into, should I need just a moment.


But now and then, there's something really appealing about a small house. I mean, after all, it's just the two of us. Three, if you count Braeya, but she usually sits ON one of us, so even she doesn't require extra square footage. When I think about the small house, I think about all the time we could have to do {insert idea of the moment here} because we don't have to spend that time cleaning or maintaining the space. I think of cozy. I think of writing. I think of freedom when I think of tiny. Less stuff, more time.

And because around here, anyway, there aren't a ton of tiny houses in locations I would deem very safe, there's always the additional dream of creating this home for ourselves. Of building it and being able to blog about all the fun things we found here and there for next to nothing, and together they made our home. Of being able to walk a visitor through every square inch of the space {which wouldn't take long since there wouldn't be many of them} and tell them the stories of how each detail came to be.

The Huge.

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I do not want a big house just for us. I used to think it would be grand to have a home that was virtually a city within itself. A workout room and an office, a home theater and a pool. Then I realized it had to be cleaned. {And yes, I know, if you can afford a home like that, you can afford to hire someone to clean it. But still.}


But there is a little part of me that has always loved the dream of a B and B. Yes, I know there are horror stories {I've read the blog posts} of havoc created by guests, but I still think the idea is charming. The first time I ever stayed in one, five years ago, I arrived while the innkeeper was still getting my room ready, and I sat on the couch and talked her ear off about how she got into the industry, and when I got ready to check out the next day, I talked her husband's ear off about his own story. And I loved it. I felt like I had new friends...and I still remember their names.

I think Ryan and I would make good innkeepers...and there's still that seed of a dream that one day, we'll encounter the money to buy such a place and make it ours. Make it a Shafferland to share. A place to offer rest to the weary and love on their hearts while they stay.

And on the flip-side of that, when I worked at the station, I interviewed an author whose book told of a season in her life when she lived in community. When she was a roommate with a couple of families who pooled their resources of finances and giftings and lived together. They shared the meals and the work - and the fellowship - and supported one another in the journey. And while I fear I might miss my privacy, there's also a part of me that thinks having a big house to be able to share it with others, not as income, but just as life...would be a beautiful thing.

And in both these versions of the big dream, it's the stories that captivate me. It's being able to share and knowing that in the sharing, there are stories and lessons to be learned.

Hmmm...come to think of it, it was all about the story in the small dream too. So maybe I do have more of a common thread in the house dream than I knew. It's in the story. After all, for me, it always comes back to the story.

The Saturday Six

**Candy S, you are the winner of "The Dating Manifesto" giveaway. Please send me your contact info so I can mail your prize!!**


One.

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I really appreciated this raw and vulnerable post by Sarah Forgrave. I remember my crisis of faith five years ago, when I sat on a chair and had to decide if I had enough faith to continue trusting in the God I'd walked with for years. {My answer was yes.} It was HARD, because I questioned if He could be trusted. He's proven he can be. Though life is considerably brighter now than it was that day, I still struggle with the waiting and the disappointments, and her post reminded me HE MOVES.

Two.

You know I've been doing all this cleaning and purging in the last month or so, and my sister found and shared this article...kind of a guide on things to clean out that perhaps you might not have considered. {Or maybe you DID, but you were hoping you were just overzealous.} If you need a jump start on simplifying, check it out!

Three.

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I don't know whether or not you caught this post by Melanie Shankle, but if not, you have to read it. It made me laugh SO HARD. Although I would like to stop and discuss the frightening mention of the possible resurgence of perms. Shall we???

Four.

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I have no words. SERIOUSLY no words. You have to look at the inside of this barn.

Five.

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I don't think I've said so this time around, but Ryan and I are in the market to move again, so our house is for sale and we've been praying for God's favor to allow us to move close to Ryan's work and cut out his commute. So of course my little eyes are hyper-sensitive to anything about moving, and this article on creating a packing station was so helpful!! 

Six.

Wrapping up this week with a book review! After FAR too many years away from reading fiction, I am delighted to have the time to get back into it in this new season. I'm discovering authors I'd not known before and thoroughly enjoying their styles of storytelling!


And so it was that I learned about Irene Hannon. She's not a new author - actually has almost 50 published books to her credit - but Hope Harbor was my introduction to her. This contemporary romance has all the promise {based on the cover you should never judge a book by...} of a sweet, feel-good read, and there are things about it that are blissfully that. But thankfully it goes deeper than that.

The book tells the story of Tracy Campbell, who lives in the Pacific Northwest...in the kind of town you'd want to move to, actually: Hope Harbor, Oregon. It's the small-town, water's-edge, taco truck, bike-riding kind of place that makes your heart rest with ease. And that's what Michael Hunter was hoping for when he rolled in to town after a cross-country drive from the pace and stress of being a CEO in Chicago. He's taken a leave of absence from his job to sort out his life, which has been crushing in too hard, and he's counting on this town to give him the space and comfort he needs to accomplish that.

But the town, for all its quaint charm, does have real people living in it - and with them come the same things that come with all of us: stresses and secrets, wounds, and worries, floundering and faith-testing. And that's the true delight of this book. It offers just enough feel-good to accomplish what a good novel does: an escape from life pressing in...but it also offers just enough real-life to make it a read laced with lessons and understanding of what the characters feel.

I loved the characters of Hope Harbor. I cheered for them and ached for them to find healing for their wounds and solutions for their problems. I appreciated that they weren't sickeningly perfect, and that not everything came easily for them. But I also appreciated that they were the kind of people I wanted to like. And my biggest delight was finding out that this book is not standing alone...a new installment for these characters I came to love will roll off the presses next summer!

The book isn't suspenseful in a heart-pounding way, but it's captivating in story and well-crafted in romance. I'm looking forward to book #2 and more storytelling from Irene Hannon!

{Thank you, Revell, for providing a copy of the book in exchange for an honest review. And thank you for making clean, faith-inspired romance a reality for readers!}

The Saturday Six

One.

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Fascinating reminder {and much-needed for many of us, I believe} about how God equips us to do what WE need to do. We won't be equipped to carry out someone else's calling...though it seems many of us grumble about lacking what we need to do just that. Timely read.

Two.

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Obviously since we don't have kids, it's kind of odd to read an article about organizing their clothes for storage.  But since WE are in the middle of a huge sorting and reorganizing party here at our house, I wanted to read what this post had to say. And I REALLY loved the free printable attached. I think this would work great for any kind of storage tub - kids' clothes or not. We haven't yet tackled our attic...but when we do...I have a feeling...

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I think most of you know my first love in music has always been southern gospel, and I've missed it these last few years of being in the CCM world. One family I do enjoy a great deal is the Collingsworth family. You cannot beat family harmony, and these folks have a double portion, I think. This week I stumbled upon the news that the daughters of the family have their own blog! It's new, but it looks like a lot of fun, so I thought I'd pass it on to you. Very pretty pictures and very pretty sisters!

Four.

Speaking of pictures. Ohhhhhhhhhhh some vintage Bekah for you!! My friend Kelly posted this to Facebook this week. It was her birthday party some THIRTY YEARS AGO. I decided she must have been holding food, because that's the same "GIMME FOOD" look my face sports these days.

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Sometimes people ask me how and why I can share so much of my heart with people I don't even know. I think this post sums it up pretty well. 

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And rounding out today's fun...who wouldn't want to live HERE?????? {Provided, of course, that you don't have to CLEAN it.}