Happy Easter!!

My goodness. What a BEAUTIFUL day we enjoyed yesterday! I'm always so grateful when Easter is beautiful, because it's just a bonus in celebrating the resurrection of Jesus...and I always love it when families who get together can enjoy a pretty day outside!

Ryan and I went to church yesterday morning and enjoyed a little pre-church coffee date, followed by a beautiful and affirming service. I appreciated our sermon so much. Perfectly timed for us.

After church, we came home and exchanged our Easter baskets:

 Mine didn't really fit in a  basket. REALLY cool new mirror for our bedroom after we get done repainting it! :)

And someone felt left out, so we gave her some eggs to play with:

We braved the cold and wind for our official Easter photo:

We headed out to our first celebration of the day, which was with my family. This year our celebration included my parents, Ryan and me, my sister Julie, and my Aunt B. We took a picture halfway through lunch so we could send it to my sister, Lori, out in Kansas. The bad part about being the selfie-master is that your head is always the biggest. LOL!!

Mom made the entire lunch herself, and it was delicious, even if Ryan and I were not as hungry as we should have been, thanks to a really big breakfast. LOL!!

We need a Flat Lori for family pictures!!

 I think we clean up pretty well...when we try!

 After lunch, we headed to one of Ryan's family celebrations. It was in full swing when we arrived, but we DID make it in time for the egg hunts. The kids went first:

I can't stand the cuteness of little ones with ponytail sprouts!!!

WAIT. I thought this was the kids' turn???

 

He's a kid at heart, and I love that!!

She thought the lawn ornament was a really big egg! What's the prize for finding THAT one???

Doesn't this just kill you?? So cute.

After the kids' hunt...there was a grown-ups hunt. It was fun!

I found one egg!! {I spent the rest of my time aerating Ryan's uncle's lawn with my heels!}

After we left this party, we went to see Ryan's mom for a while, and then we came home to collapse on Mo!!

 A wonderful day, and I'm thankful for all our families who love us well.

The Shafferland Shuffle

HAPPY EASTER!!!! Praising God today for what this day symbolizes - and hope you are, too!!

* Last Sunday, we got out of church really early, so we took some time to hang out in the living-room-esque section of the church to rest and drink more coffee. We also got to enjoy a lunch out with our friends, Nate and Jenna, and their WAY-too-cute-for-words little boy, Tucker. That so much fun! On the way home, Ryan decided he was craving ice cream, and who was I to argue, so Culver's it was!! That night, we tried our diffuser for the first time. We used the Stress Away oil, and apparently one member of our home is more stressed than we knew. She never left the diffuser the entire time.

* Monday morning, I was so happy to see the beginnings of daylight in the sky when I left home!! YAY!!!! It's been so long!! After work, Ryan and I played with some paint samples we've been hoarding, and by slapping the colors on the wall, we committed ourselves to officially repainting our bedroom. We decided we weren't crazy about those particular colors, so we went to the store to find different shades that we DID like. And when we came home, I made some Easter fudge, complete with smashing up some candy eggs, which was a fun frustration-buster!

* Tuesday was SO PRETTY!!! I am so happy for these nice spring-y days we've been enjoying. We hit the gym after work and then rewarded ourselves with a stop by Starbucks...and then on to Lowe's to get our paint for our bedroom painting palooza. We are both excited for this project, but my GOODNESS is Ryan ever really excited for the transformation! HE even started scraping and mudding just so we can get busy priming!

 * Wednesday was April Fool's Day, so we were the fools who got RIGHT TO WORK on the bedroom makeover! :) We had to pull as much stuff out of the room as we could, and then begin the priming palooza!! Ryan had to do some scraping and mudding, and I just worked on the priming. Yes. We added painting, starting in the middle of the week {before an insanely busy holiday weekend} to our to-do list. Like I said. Fools!! :)

* Thursday was our 28th monthiversary and we celebrated by....PAINTING!!!! That happened, of course, after my visit to the doctor, where I got a clean bill of health AND pictures of my gallbladder surgery. :) We got the room completely primed that night, and while it looks like a first grader's paint job, it is DONE!!! ON to phase two! :) It wouldn't be SOME year in Shafferland if it didn't include a project on a monthiversary.

* I only had to work half a day on Good Friday, but Ryan worked the whole day. He texted me right after he got to work and said the hospital had been slammed with the flu: staff AND patients. I told him to avoid it at all costs, so he did his own version of prevention. LOL!!! That evening, we went to have dinner at our friends' Mike and Angie's house. I made lemon cookies to take, and they made the most DELICIOUS smorgasbord of foods for us! I loved everything I ate, but something didn't love me back. My first run-in with post-surgery grumpy tummy. Sadness! But still a great and fun night with our friends!

* Ryan had to work yesterday, and I represented our household at the birthday party of one of our blognonymous nephews. Fun party and DELICIOUS cake! :) After we both got home, we worked on phase two of painting...the trim! Not the most fun part...repainting white trim white seems rather boring. But it's still an important step! Braeya helped by skimming too close to the walls and getting paint in her fur. Good grief. And then - it was grocery shopping time!! Ryan's favorite part was running through the parking lot with two carts. He turns everything into an adventure!

The Saturday Six

** SORRY!!! To those of you I scared. I'm perfectly fine! Ryan and I were out late last night and I wasn't feeling so well when I came home. Something I ate obviously didn't like me nearly as much as I liked it. So the blog is late to post today and I'm so sorry. All is well!!! **

One.
Spring cleaning isn't a lot of fun in general, but one thing I always look forward to is updating my picture frames. New pictures from the last year - new memories to hang in front of me every day. I love it!! My organizing goal for this week is to update the pictures and freshen up the look of the place!!

Two.

Source

CHALKBOARD EGGS??? WHY DIDN'T I THINK OF THIS????

Three. 

Source

 A few months ago, I interviewed Mandy from Biblical Homemaking about how to be a great thrift shopper. She LOVES thrifting, and the thing that always amazes me is how much great stuff she finds. {I'm one of those who gets too overwhelmed and quits on the clothes in a thrift store.} But in case YOU like to thrift too, she just wrote this really interesting post about how to tell the difference between retail clothes and outlet clothes when shopping in a thrift store. I didn't even KNOW there was a difference!

Four.

I spend some time on the morning show every day, and one of the guys, Jim Barron, is also an illusionist. He was invited to be on a local news show this week as part of their April Fool's Day fun. How cool! It's about a seven minute video, and if you love being baffled by tricks, check it out!

Five.

Source

I had such fun reading this post by Emily Freeman about what she learned in March. The uncanny resemblance between Edith Bunker and Edith Crawley was my favorite.


Six.

I blew through another book last week! I started it pretty late one evening, read about three chapters, and had to go to bed, and when I picked it up the next night, I kept going until I was done. Couldn't stop!

The book is called The First Principle, and it's written by Marissa Shrock...and I actually know her in real life! We went to high school together {though she was a couple years behind me}. This is her first novel, and I am so proud of her for doing a fantastic job with it. She's a middle school language arts teacher, so she works with teens every day, and they are the subject of her novel. It's targeted to young adult audiences, but I completely enjoyed it even as an adult. I found it engaging and probably far more personally challenging than she even intended it to be as she wrote!

I've not read the Hunger Games or any other dystopian fiction, but when I told Lynne about this book, she said the feel of the book sounded similar...so if you have read those kinds of books and liked them, this should be a great choice for you.

Marissa's book is set in an undisclosed future year, when the United States no longer exists as we know it, though pieces of the country we live in presently are referenced throughout. There's been a massive economic meltdown and civil war that has led to a reorganizing of the land as United Regions, instead. Christians are persecuted and many have withdrawn into an organization called the Emancipation Warriors. The government has rewritten the Bible to modify it, and original print Bibles are destroyed if found. Half my brain wanted to view this setup as mostly crazy, and the other half of my brain felt a bit sick...because I have a feeling her ideas might not actually be all that far fetched one day.

The novel is written in first person from the viewpoint of 16 year old Vivica Wilkins. She's the daughter of the governor of one region, and she learns early in the book that she's pregnant, which is forbidden for teenagers, per the rules of the Population Management portion of the government. {There are restrictions on adults carrying babies to term as well...depending on their financial stability.} Vivica's quest to carry her baby to term puts her in all sorts of peril, and the story keeps a fast pace as she attempts to stay one step ahead of the government officials trying to find her in hiding.

One thing that is different in Marissa's book from many other similar types, is her strong lacing of faith throughout. She doesn't hide the plan of salvation or the truth of the Gospel in the lives of her characters. I appreciated that so much - especially as an option for readers who love dystopian fiction but miss the absence of faith in it.

While the story is great and fast-paced, the thing that smacked me in the heart was the TRUTH that we're already seeing the beginnings of the sorts of government control and lack of privacy that run rampant in the year of the book. It was such a reminder of the freedoms we enjoy now and the realization that one day, to claim the name of Christ could bring with it great physical danger. It was a faith-shaker {in a good way} for me.

Whether you have teens or whether you're an adult, I think this is a great read. I appreciate the faith message laced within it, the well-crafted story, and Marissa? I'm proud of you! Great job on your debut novel!

Monthiversary 28

Two months ago on our monthiversary, we had the day off together because we had to go to the doctor about my pesky gallbladder. LAST month, on our monthiversary, I was one week post op and home on gallternity leave learning how to make coconut cream pie. MAN, both of those seem like a lifetime ago!

Yesterday was monthiversary 28, and I went to work so I could be part of BLT, and then I drove through car-wash-like rain from Fort Wayne to Kokomo to go back to the doctor for my follow up visit. It was the first day that worked for both the doctor and me.

Ryan couldn't go with me to this one; he had a full work schedule. So I went alone and waited for my turn...

I got a really good report! She said I'm doing well, and as long as I don't perceive any issues from my end, I don't have to go back!! YIPPEEE!!!! She also gave me copies of the pictures they took OF my gallbladder and liver and pancreas and such - from inside me. Ryan had seen those pictures on the day of surgery and had been SORELY disappointed that he didn't get to have them. So when she handed me my very own set of full color prints, I knew I would have a monthiversary gift for him that would outshine anything I could have purchased.

After I left the doctor's office, I went to get Ryan a drink and then I went to visit him at his work...something I never get to do. He was as excited as I imagined he would be to see all the pictures. He grabbed them and showed them to all his co-workers. That healthcare bunch sure does find the strangest things interesting. ;)

I was pretty wiped out from our week, so I came home and took a nap, and Ryan kindly made our dinner. {Breakfast for dinner at the Shaffers!!} I did pitch in a little at the end. :)

We shoved that food down our throat as fast as we could, because you know...exciting times awaited us!!

If you missed BLT yesterday, you missed me talking about Ryan's choices to pull stunts like the one you see above. Lynne said he had cat-like reflexes, which is what HE always says, too. I reminded her of the time he accidentally walked backwards off his best friend's roof while he was helping reroof it. She said, "Ryan may have landed on his feet, but he has four guardian angels in the hospital!!" LOL!!

Oh...in case you were curious...I helped, too.

We also had to take our monthiversary pictures, so we set the camera up on the timer, to get ourselves with our painting paraphernalia.

The first try went a little wrong, when Ryan was unable to maneuver the obstacle course of furniture and plastic slipcovers WHILE carrying a loaded paint roller, before the timer began. CRACKED ME UP.

So we tried again. THIS time I held the roller while he set the timer and ran. Worked MUCH better.

Even got a shot with our girlie.

And lest you think we are THE worst painters in the world, that's just a primer coat. I promise the real color will look better. :)

Happy monthiversary, Ryan!! I love projects with you AND life with you!! I love YOU!

Small World, Big Impact: Trudy

1. Today is our 28th monthiversary. Still crazy in love with this guy named Ryan who has put up with crazy ole me for 28 months now.

2. We started priming our room last night. It's HUGE. Funny how it doesn't feel so big until you go to paint it, right?

3. My computer isn't feeling well, so I'm posting this from Ryan's...so for anyone who actually might read the "posted by" thing at the end, don't be confused. It's really me. Bekah. :)

4. On to today's regularly scheduled programming. I'm sharing another person whose life has so touched mine and helped shape me into who I am today.

I knew Trudy considered me a special friend when she asked me to be in the delivery room when she gave birth to her first child. There's a whole separate level of trust involved when you invite someone into one of the most sacred moments of life. But even then, I didn't have a clue how much she really loved me. It wasn't until almost a year later that she showed me in a way no one else ever had...how much I meant to her.

I was going through a rough patch with someone else in my life, and I was frustrated beyond belief. It was a ridiculous situation that had blown out of proportion in control in ways it never should have. I was a brand new adult...in that awkward time when I was expected to know how to handle things because I was an adult and dreadfully unaware of how to handle things because I was such a new adult.

The only thing I did know was...something had to change. I couldn't continue living the way I was in that moment. The stress would kill me if something else didn't.

So one night, I decided to call Trudy. It was late, and I knew the discussion wouldn't be a short one, but I needed her advice. As she always does {for everyone}, she dropped everything she was doing and talked to me for quite a while. She listened, she offered her opinion, and she offered advice. She said she would pray for me, and she told me she hated to see the situation dragged out like it was - and all the people whose hearts were hurting over it.


One of the hardest thing about the entire mess that entangled me was the mutual friends I shared with the other person involved. They were numerous, and I had reached a point where I felt so wounded by the words and actions of the other person that I just didn't feel I could continue to share close friendship with anyone we shared. I didn't think I could trust anyone who knew the truth of what was happening between us and still supported someone who hurt me so deeply. I told Trudy that right out loud, and she immediately started crying.

"It's not fair, Bekah," she said. "I love you, and I don't want to make a choice that could cause me to lose your friendship." She said other things after that...things I don't even remember. What I remember is that she cried.

I didn't remember any of my friends ever crying over me before. {Of course, to be fair, I think it was the first ultimatum I'd ever issued to a friend.} But through her tears on that phone call, I learned something I'd never known before: I had friends who valued me enough that they would cry at the thought of our friendship dissolving. Before that call, I didn't know my presence mattered that much to anyone!

Trudy, thank you for teaching me a measure of my worth. Thank you for being open with me during a difficult season. Thank you for teaching me that it may not matter what my words are...they might be forgotten...but if I am honest with my heart, that won't be forgotten. Our basic need is the same across the board. We want to be loved. You showed love through your tears, and you've challenged me to do the same.

***

I still love Trudy and her family so much! I proceeded to attend three more births for her, and I've loved watching her kiddos grow up! The craziness of my schedule since I started working at the station has kept me from spending as much time with her as I would like, but I'm thankful she still calls me friend and has room for me in her life! And I'm grateful for her example to me. I know I don't always do friendship right...I stumble more than I realize sometimes. But oh goodness. How I do love my friends and hope they know they are as dear to me as Trudy's conversation taught me I was to her!

In Which A Project is Born

I have the most long-suffering husband in the entire world.

And not just because he's married to me.

He married me knowing the master bedroom in my house was purple. And then he put up with a purple bedroom for twenty-nine LONNNNNNNNG months.

Since it was just a cosmetic change, we spent all our time fixing up the parts of the house that actually NEEDED real updates. And then we were tired of renovating and just stopped.

But...the time has come.

The time to pull out the paint samples and see what purple would look like if it were more....tan and blue. The colors of the beach....

Verdict? Blue and tan are good. But not THAT blue and tan. So....back to the Lowe's we went for more paint chips.

We found some paint we liked, and I knew the project would come soon.

Apparently REALLY soon. When I came out of the bathroom yesterday morning, at 6:30 a.m., Ryan was already working.

Scraping had commenced, and no, he didn't have the day off. He was just eager to get a little done BEFORE work. I don't even know what that means.

So last night, after dinner, we went to Lowe's with our paint chips and made our purchases!! A cart full of paint and supplies!

And then...are you ready for this?

He wanted to make a paint pyramid.

And then...he came up with all of the following on his own:

Don't let all those faces fool you. THIS BOY IS GETTING RID OF A PURPLE ROOM!!!!!!!

But you know what's funniest of all? As {obviously} excited as he is to be rid of the tri-shade purple master bedroom, he's really THIS excited to have a new project!!

I love this guy. Project junkie that he is and all!

If you can stand it, I'll post updates when we're done! {Which may be sometime between my shower and leaving for work tomorrow morning!}

He Knows

One of the greatest joys of life with Ryan is the way we pray together. It's absolutely unlike anything I've ever experienced in any relationship I had before him, and it's a true joy.

We've had a lot weighing on our hearts lately. Not really a revolving door of things, but the same few things that continue to press in. We've been seeking direction and trying to wait well, patient before the Lord while we wait for answers.

Last night, we prayed together - literally on our knees, heads pressed together and hands squeezing. And even while words tumbled out of my mouth, I realized what a treasure it is that I have a husband who listens to my prayers and adds his agreement to my words as I pray. And when he led the prayer time, I was so grateful that his requests and his offerings to the Lord were of such a pure heart that I didn't have to hesitate in agreeing with him.

I know some couples struggle to pray together...whether they're embarrassed to pray out loud in front of each other or they can't find a way to agree in prayer...and it was a reminder to me to not take for granted what we have.

Our prayers are laced with requests for our friends, many of whom are wading through deep waters right now: health problems, direction for their future, heart crises that seem to weigh them down. It's a privilege to pray for them, but my goodness, it's hard to carry even a corner of the burden, and we know each of them bear the full weight of it. We hurt for them.

And we're praying over our own future, as we seek God's continued direction in everything we do. Right now we are in a period of waiting, which is one of our favorites...and we want to make sure we don't miss any direction in the waiting!

This song comes back to my mind so often. You might know it...you might not. But if you're soaking your life in prayer right now too, it might speak to you.

And it's true. He knows.

 

Homemade Face Wash

I had a few of you ask about the homemade face wash I referenced last week...so I wanted to hand over that recipe today!

I wanted to also give you a little background on why I'm doing more DIY/homemade stuff...and why I'm doing on a non-fanatical basis.

It's true that I'm possibly one of the most easily-freaked out people I've ever met. It's just better all the way around if I know minimal information about most things, because the more I know, the more I worry, and no one has time for that level of panic. Ignorance really is bliss, sometimes.

So that's the reason I refuse to really read and research all the ins and outs of the chemicals in everything around me, because if I dig in too much, I'll buy a plastic bubble and never leave it. {Except living in plastic is probably a health hazard too!!} It's just a weird thing about my brain and personality. Having said that...I am increasingly aware that I can do something to eliminate at least a portion of the junk in my life. And something is better than nothing.

Very slowly, Ryan and I have been working to find ways to do things on our own so we can be a little more in control of what we're putting in and on our bodies. In addition to that, we're always on the hunt for ways to save money, and if somehow, a little bit of a DIY life can accomplish both of those things at one time, we say yay! But on the flip side of that, we're not choosing to go 100% organic on everything in our entire lives. We're not driven by it in every area.

In the land of health and beauty products, I decided to start my DIY adventure with face wash mostly because my store-bought bottle was almost empty. For many years, I used Mary Kay face wash, but at almost $20.00 a bottle, I came to the place where I didn't feel like I could afford it anymore, so I moved to a store product that was about $5.00 a bottle. Not horrible at all in the grand scheme of life, but if I could do it cheaper myself...and save some mysterious chemicals in the process, I wanted to try.

I found a recipe on Pinterest that took me here, and then I made my own version of it, which is as follows:


Homemade Face Wash

1 cup water
1/2 tablespoon grated glycerin soap
5 drops lavender essential oil

Bring cup of water to a boil in a pan on the stove. Add the grated soap and stir until it's completely melted. Let it cool, and add the essential oil drops. Store in a glass container. 

Tips and Hints:

* The original recipe called for unscented glycerin soap, but at our grocery store, that did not exist. I decided to purchase the 3 pack of Vitamin E glycerin soap, which cost me $3.00.

* The original  recipe also called for peppermint and lemon essential oils, but I chose to use lavender instead. I did find a really helpful article online here that talks about how different oils are helpful for different skin types and issues.
 
* I am so brand new to the world of essential oils that I cannot even claim to be any sort of teacher. But I can tell you that one thing I have learned about them is that they should not be stored in plastic containers. Because of that, I purchased a bottle actually intended for oil and vinegar in the kitchen. I keep it on the bathroom sink and just pour out some of the soap onto my washcloth each morning when I wash my face. One thing you should know is that this does not create a lather, which is weird at first, but it doesn't sacrifice any cleanliness, I can promise you.

* Between the glycerin soap and the oil, it's pretty invigorating and wakes me right up, which I love. My old face wash had caffeine beads in it, and I was worried I would miss those, but this has done a great job of being the perfect wake up call.

* I believe my skin is even less oily than it was with my face wash, and it feels really soft, even before I put on moisturizer. I may, in the future, play around with different oils, as I learn more about them and what I need for my skin, but for now, I'm really pleased with this.

* This used next to NONE of the three bars of soap I purchased, and obviously water is already covered under our household bills, so even when adding essential oil drops, this is still much cheaper than purchasing face wash at the store, and with the results being positive as far as how my skin looks and feels, I'm sold on continuing to make this myself. {Bonus: it takes almost no time to make!}

* I'm guessing the recipe above will last about a month or more, so I won't have to make it very often!

The Shafferland Shuffle

* Last Sunday, Ryan and I came home after church to spend some time in prayer about things we're wrestling through right now. I think even Braeya was feeling it...because she parked herself on the Bible to watch us! We rested all afternoon and ventured forth that night for a few things we needed, among them {for me, anyway} a stop at Starbucks! :) And then I started the aforementioned hippie practice of making my own face wash!

* Monday, on the fourth day of spring, Indiana got snow. Not the most we've ever gotten in a day, but apparently people had already forgotten how to drive, because I passed half a dozen wrecks on the way home, and I had to drive about 30 for a good chunk of that trip. BOO. By the time we got home, we were just worn out, so we skipped the gym and stayed home. And while Ryan took a nap, I did some journaling in my new journal. Ahhhhh how I love a new journal.

* Tuesday's commute home was SO much nicer than Monday's. Thank you, Lord, for blue skies again! Ryan and I hit the gym and then came home to enjoy some skinny Mexican pizza, which was absolutely DELICIOUS. And I was so excited because my oils kit arrived! Yeah yeah - I entered the oils world!! {More proof for Mom that I'm a hippie, I fear.}

* Wednesday night, Ryan and I kicked our original dinner plans out the window and made the pizza kit we bought from the youth group at church. It was actually really fun to construct our own pizza! We curled up and watched TV and even did some reading - yes, even RYAN did some reading! It was a fun night!

* You already read about our Thursday - when I forgot my breakfast and had to go in search of it in the rain...and when Ryan forgot the coffee grounds in our coffee pot. It was a gloomy day, but we made our way to the gym that night anyway. It was not a great workout for either of us. But I suppose going is better than sitting at home, right? {Things I tell myself...}

* Friday, Lynne and I had a Mid-Morning planning day! It apparently required four iced teas, two coffees and a water. :) We had a fun day and got a lot of work done - and took advantage of the fact that the place where we met had white board markers provided for writing on the windows. OKAY!!!! After work, Ryan and I grilled out for dinner and then headed to Starbucks for a leisurely little date.

 

*Ryan worked yesterday, so I enjoyed a long day of writing at home. One of those kinds of days where I get so engrossed that I forget important things like hydrating and bathroom breaks. The not so fun part of the day was the GIANT splinter I got in my foot and had to yank out. It HURT! {This is why I'm a carpet girl. Hardwoods are hazardous!} Ryan and I tried to FaceTime on our lunch hour, but our phones rebelled against us, leaving us to stare at ourselves. :( 

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.

Source

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.

Source

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.

Source

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.}