Showing posts with label romance. Show all posts
Showing posts with label romance. Show all posts

Tuesday, July 19, 2011

Book Review: Courting Trouble by Deanne Gist

"Tired of waiting for a match made in Heaven, she'll settle for one made in Texas."

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"It's 1894, the year of Essie's thirtieth birthday, and she decides the Lord has more important things to do than provide her a husband. If she wants one, she needs to cat him herself. So she writes down the names of all the eligible bachelors in her small Texas town, makes a lists of their attributes and drawbacks, closes her eyes, twirls her finger, and . . . picks one. But convincing the lucky "husband-to-be" will be a bit more of a problem."
(quotes from the back cover)


It's summertime and the reading is good :)

I just finished Courting Trouble by Deanne Gist, and I was very impressed!

The story covers about 8 months in the life of a 30-year-old single woman, Esther (Essie) Spreckelmeyer, in the small town of Corsicana, Texas in 1894. Essie is the only child of the town's judge, and beloved by almost everyone in her delightful little hometown.

This book is well-written and obviously, thoroughly well-researched; however, through the first few chapters I was afraid that I was not going to like it. This was mostly because I got that "I'm so embarrassed for you" feeling on almost every page reading about Essie's attempts to catch a husband. I should have realized that that was actually a very good sign - I was already emotionally connected to Essie.

Throughout the rest of the book, we follow Essie as she wrestles with God's plan for her life, and at some points, takes matters into her own hands - with some heartbreaking consequences. I'm pretty sure that the people at the laundromat thought I had lost my mind. There I was, folding clothes and reading simultaneously, and weeping as Essie and her family worked through some of the more serious issues together. (I'd make that a much better sentence, but I'd hate to give away the good parts :D)

This was such a beautiful story of God's grace and redemptive power in a person's life. It was also a wonderful, realistic look at how the choices we make effect everyone around us, not just ourselves. The author also did a fantastic job of looking at God's forgiveness and the importance of accepting His forgiveness by forgiving ourselves.

All in all a great, emotional read that I would highly recommend! I both shed some tears and laughed out loud, and I can't wait to get my hands on the sequel: Deep in the Heart of Trouble.

Hope you have a tremendous Tuesday!

Friday, April 24, 2009

~ My Husband Rocks! ~ Romance on a Budget ala Love, Actually


Click here to read about why I started MHR Fridays!

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Good morning, and happy Friday everybody!!! I hope that you have all had a fantabulous week!

Yesterday, if you were able to make it through my long ramblingness you found a link to Love, Actually! The adorable Cher has created a place to help everyone inject a little "romance on a budget" into their relationships! I LOVE it!!! So today, in addition to our "love ya hunny" shout outs to our hunka-hunkas, we're sharing our creative romance ideas!

The Note

One of my favorite, inexpensive ways, to be romantic is the ever-flexible, always appropriate love note.

I especially enjoy utilizing this tool when Austin is going to be away from home on a business trip, or when our schedules conflict so that we do not get to see each other as much as we normally do.

I know that this does not seem especially creative; however, the creativity comes in in the delivery factor. Sometimes, I make up a packet of little envelopes, one for each day, and sneak them into the top of his suitcase for him to find when he arrives at his destination. Sometimes I am even more diabolical and hide little notes in his pants pockets or in his shoes or in-between his toiletries to be little "I'm thinking of you" surprise reminders throughout his trip.

The reason this factors into the budget is it is always (almost) free! If your house is anything like ours, you have tons of random notebooks and pads of paper and note cards in any given drawer or shelf. And even if you want to make them very decorative and unique, you can buy some pretty paper on the cheap almost anywhere (think Dollar Tree, not necessarily Archivers :D).

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Austin had a super rocking moment last night - in a moment where I was showing off my not-so-rocking side, lol!

We purchased a new snowblower/lawn mower machine (I know that there is a much more technical term for this device, I just cannot think of it at the moment) this winter, so last night, since it is getting nice and the grass is growing, Austin was working outside switching it from the snowblowing functionality to the lawn mower persona. And I was putzing around the kitchen doing some dishes, folding some laundry, you know - girl stuff, lol! (j/k) when I discovered that even though I empty my lint trap out regularly like a good homekeeper, there is still a ton of lint that gets trapped inside the little cagey part of my dryer! Try as I might to get it out of there I could find no device small enough to reach down to the bottom and bring back up with it the offending lint.

My knight in shining armor (actually at that point it was slightly on the dirty side t-shirt - he had been laying on the ground working on the lawn mower) chose that opportune moment to be done working outside and come in to rest for the evening. Me being the always-considerate of his time wifey that I am pounced on him the second he was through the door with "How am I supposed to do this?" (imagine a sightly annoyed - yes - even a little whiny tone). At that point he could have said - "Honey, I'm hot and tired and would rather work on that later." But he didn't. He just got out his little drill, took a couple of screws out of the inside of our dryer and proceeded to vacuum out the inside! Not only did he not put me off, he did the job for me! - Isn't he great! :)

(I wanted really bad to take a pic of him with his head inside the dryer, but I thought he might not appreciate the angle too much :D)

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Be sure to check in with the other ladies who are bragging on their rocking hubbies today by clicking on the "My Husband Rocks Participants" button in the left sidebar.

And if you have not had a change to check out Love, Actually yet, scoot on over there and poke around a bit! :)

(if you would like to add the MHR Fridays button to your sidebar, use this code ).


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If you're not a blogger, but still want the world to know about your amazing husband (or wife, or husband to be, or wife to be, etc.) leave a shout-out in the form of a comment! If you're unable to comment, e-mail me at katylinvw [at] yahoo [dot] com and I'll add your shout out to this post!

As always, on Fridays From*me Tees will refund your shipping on any order of two or more items if you mention the great adventure and ~my husband rocks! Fridays~ in the "how did you hear about us?" section of your order form, so run on over there and check them out, too! Thank you From*me Tees!

Hope you all have a wonderful Friday, and a fantastic weekend!

Thursday, February 19, 2009

MHR Inspiration #11

Hello and happy Thursday everyone!!! Where do these weeks go? I cannot believe that it is already Thursday again! I promise that my blog will not always be a simply Thursday/Friday MHR event! I will at some point begin my regularly scheduled programming and visiting around at everyone else's blogs, too! Sorry that I've been such a slacker lately!

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I really enjoy researching and finding different articles and challenges for us every week, but if any of you have found a great resource that I've missed, please shoot me an e-mail to let me know! (katylinvw{at}yahoo{dot}com) I love finding new sites and blogs and ministries that focus on our marriages.

Speaking of Focus on Marriage, has anyone registered, or is anyone thinking about attending one of thes simulcasts? It looks SOOOOOOOOO great! The date is Saturday, February 28th, so there's still more than a week to find a location near you!

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This week I started out with more than a dozen articles that I really liked, and I was able to narrow it down to three. They are all phenomenal, so if you have time, please check them out, or bookmark them to read later! :)

Loaded Question
by Eva Marie Everson

How to Have a Happy Husband
by Lindsey Meier

Respect Your Husband (Even If You Don't Think He "Deserves" It)
by Nancy C. Anderson

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Prompt/Theme for Friday, February 20, 2009

Share your favorite "married moment" from the past couple of weeks. Anything that was special, made you smile, or made you feel all "warm and fuzzy" :)

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CHALLENGES

1. Ask your hubby the "loaded question" from the first article, and dilligently follow through on his request.

2. Implement the "VIP" system from the third article in the way you relate to your spouse.

3. Pick one piece of advice from the "How to Have a Happy Husband" article to focus on improving in yourself.

Thanks for reading everybody! Hope you have a phenomenal day, can't wait to read all about your rocking hubbies tomorrow!!!

Thursday, February 12, 2009

MHR Inspiration #10

Hello to everyone out there in blogland! No, I haven't died, I have just ben a bad, bad blogger of late! :)

I am excited for the upcoming Valentine's Day. Austin thinks of it as just another way to line the card companies' pockets, and I can't say that I fully disagree with him! Also coming up next week is the two year anniversary of our engagment. Austin has been gone for the last couple of days as well, so it will be an especially nice weekend :)

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I have two articles again this week. The first is short, but chock full of great advice:

10 Secrets to a Successful Marriage
by Mitch Temple


The second is more geared for the holiday itelf:

The Romance Factor
by Twanda R. Smith

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Prompt/Theme for Friday, February 13, 2009

1. Tell the story of your first Valentine's Day together.

2. In reference to the first article, which "secrets" do you do well, which could you work on, which do you struggle with?

3. If you decide to take the advice of the second article, tell us what you're going to do, or share pictures if you have time!

Challenges:

1. Even though I do not always agree with the commercial hype of Valentine's Day, take advantage of the excuse to be especially romantic and dote upon your hubby!

2. Even after Valentine's Day is over, be intentional about showing genuine kindness and tenderness to your husband!


Hope you have a wonderful evening!