Happy New Year!!! May your reading continue to thrive in 2025!!!

Join Kate and Sheila as they very carefully recap The Nature of Fragile Things 

by Susan Meissner while striving to withhold all the plot twists and jaw droppers.

This roller coaster of a read begins in 1906 just before the San Francisco earthquake.

We meet a young mail order bride, Sophie. She is an Irish immigrant who answers an ad of the bereaved widower, Martin, who is seeking a mother for Kat, his 5 year old daughter. Sophie longs to have a home and be a mother.

This book is unlike any historical fiction we’ve read! 

“It is the nature of fragile things to break…it is also in our nature to start over after disaster.” 

GloriaZ  recommended this book and The Frozen River, so far she’s been a good resource in our Quest to Read the Best! 

Have a blessed day dear readers!

https://www.youtube.com/@GloriaZThompson

2024 Recap Book Chat Awards…Please join Kate and Sheila to see if you agree or disagree with their choices : )

Most Whimsical - ?

Grittiest - ?

Most Unique Format - ?

Best Opening Line - ?

Most Unpredictable - ?

Most Intense - ?

Most Impactful in Society - ?

Most Creative - ?

Best Leading Lady - ?

Best Leading Man - ?

Best Ending - ?

Changed Our Lives - ?

Stands the Test of Time - ?

Overall Best Book - ?

Quotes from The Green Ember: “All of life is a battle against fear. We fight it on one front, and it sneaks around to our flank.”

“Stay on the job, son. Do the next right thing.”

Have a Happy New Year dear listeners! Happy Reading : )

“Knowledge is something given bit by bit. In life, there are few things that must be done the first time around.” I’m so thankful for God’s grace! Let's join together and strive to learn and grow into the women that God designed us to be. We are all at different places on the road of life, some of us are on bumpy roads while some are smooth sailing and others experiencing dangerous hairpin curves! The beginning of the journey we tend to have more energy, and as the miles stack up behind us we gain wisdom.

I get it, you want to make sure that hubbie is right before you’re all in. But where is the trust in this kind of thinking? Life is uncertain, that is where faith comes in.

“All men make mistakes. A woman’s place is simply to obey for God’s sake, not for right’s sake. If you wait until you feel that your husband is right before you obey him, then you will seldom obey him, and you will never enjoy the miracles of God.” : )

We finished up Titus 2:3-5, we discussed being discreet, chaste, keepers at home, good, and last and  most challenging … obedient to their husbands.

What tools do we need to have a glorious marriage?

Joy

Thankfulness

Contentment

Reverence

Submission

Prayer

Believing God’s Word

Culture may have changed but God’s plan for marriage remains consistent with His Word.  Please join Kate and Sheila as they wrap up Created to Be His Help Meet by Debi Pearl. 

Merry Christmas dear listeners!

Episode 168 - A Christmas Carol

What caused the miser, Scrooge, to choose his path?

Was it his absence from home or his father’s wrath?

He chose his master passion, Gain- over his intended, Belle, 

She released him with a heart full of love for the man she once knew so well.

He grew self-absorbed, uncaring, and oh so tight,

He might never have changed without his visitors each night.

The ghost of Christmas Past taught a reluctant Scrooge a thing or two,

To the  second shade  he was much more open to learning something new. 

“Scrooge was better than his word. He did it all and infinitely more.”

This little book hits everyone at their core.

Thank you for sharing your day with Sheila and Kate and Dickens too,

We wish a very Merry Christmas to each one of you!

The Man Who Invented Christmas is the movie whose title escaped us,

https://www.amazon.com/gp/video/detail/B077MFZMB3/ref=atv_dp_share_cu_r

Please join Kate and Sheila as they continue discussing Created to Be His Help Meet by Debi Pearl. 

Part 2 recaps how God encompasses all the kinds of men mentioned in part 1:

 Mr. Command, Mr. Visionary, and Mr. Steady.

We learn that our reactions define us because they are not premeditated so they show what is in our hearts. Luke 6:45…out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. 

2 Cor.10 says to bring every thought into obedience of Christ. 

“Eve was deceived, she was supposed to be Adam’s helper but she helped herself to spiritual knowledge and acted independently, becoming his downfall instead of his help meet.”

Jezebel and Ruth are two very different women, one lived for self and the other was a beautiful example of a woman with a thankful submissive attitude. Which one would you want to have coffee with?

Being a godly wife is not contingent on your husband being godly, he might be a super jerk but enduring abusive words should not leave one feeling abused when living in the love of God. Women must gain their self-image from what God thinks of them instead of what their husbands might say in selfishness and anger.

Titus 2:3-5 gives eight things God requires of women. We covered:

make wise decisions. Think of Mary, the mother of Jesus, a teenage girl clinging to the back of a bouncing donkey, contractions pulling at her exhausted body, while her desperate husband searched for a place for her to give birth. Her emotional well-being did not depend on her surroundings.

This book is challenging, yes, but there is a delight and peace that comes from leaning into God’s design for us instead of resisting it. 

Probably the most impactful and challenging book we’ve read besides the Bible, CREATED TO BE HIS HELP MEET by Debi Pearl takes us back to God’s Word for a closer look on women’s role. To say this book is countercultural is stating the obvious. Society tells us (Happy wife, happy life)  women are above men and deserve to be served, however that robs us of our true God-given role. “A good help meet has a passion to be of service.”  1 Cor. 11:8-9 tells us why women were created, something that many in our culture omit. 

“NO man has ever crawled out from under his wife’s criticism to be a better man. God stands with you when you stand by your man, but you stand alone if you stand by your rights.” 

We have 40,000 thoughts a day, if we are to have a thankful spirit we need to practice being thankful. Phil. 4:8 tells us what we should think on, Pro.23:7 says as a man thinks in his heart so is he…bottom line: thoughts are powerful! 

Debi Pearl describes in detail the three kinds of men: Mr. Command, Mr. Visionary, and Mr. Steady. The Key is to know your man. Ask God for wisdom and patience, James 1:5. Wisdom is mentioned in the Bible 223 times! If you’re like me, you might’ve been avoiding praying for patience. It often gets swept under the rug along with self-control, while I focus on the love, joy, and peace part of the fruit of the spirit. However, it is not a buffet, I must work on them all, including the Mt. Everest one for me… patience.

This book has been a life changer for both of us, so I guess, in my case, old dogs can learn new tricks, bahaha! Won’t you learn along with us as we dive into discussing God’s role for women eons before Helen Reddy belted out, “I Am Woman Hear Me Roar”.  Roaring is not a fulfilling way to live this earthly walk at all. Change is hard. Are you up for the challenge?

This nonfiction account of our nation's 20th president will knock your socks off.

 Destiny of the Republic, A Tale of Madness, Medicine, and the Murder of a President by Candice Millard gives readers an amazing glimpse into the past. We get a front seat to the election of a man who did not want to be president but was willing to get out of his comfort zone for the good of the country, appealing to God for aid in the trial before him. He made great strides to bring a divided country together, yet little is known about James A. Garfield, “a man incapable of carrying a grudge, a poor hater but a good fighter.”. 

Fatherless before the age of 2, Garfield grew up in abject poverty. Interestingly enough, so did Charles Guiteau, the man who shot him. What determined their vastly different paths? The big difference was attitude. “Garfield rose quickly through the layers of society, not with aggression or even overt ambition, but with a passionate love of learning.”

Guiteau believed he was entitled to special treatment, his work ethic was almost non-existent. He survived by asking men for money when necessary or just not paying bills when he could get away with it., 

The real cause of Garfield’s death surprised us, pride ended up being the culprit. Please join us as we unpack the sad facts about the disbelief doctors had about germs and the unwillingness of Dr. Bliss to listen to others which caused Garfield to suffer needlessly. “Ignorance is Bliss” is a quote that now has a new meaning. On the other side of the coin, there were helpful caring people who worked tirelessly to help the president (air-conditioning was invented by the Navy and Alexander Graham Bell worked on an invention to find the bullet). Garfield’s many quotes are true gems, “I’d rather be beaten in Right than succeed in Wrong.”

Greetings dear listeners! Please join Kate & Sheila as they review some of their favorite books from A to Z!

A-All the Light You Cannot See & A Tree Grows in Brooklyn

B-Brothers Karamazov 

C-Count of Monte Cristo

D-David Copperfield & Dracula

E-Everything Sad Is Untrue

F-Forest of Vanishing Stars & Frozen River 

G-God’s Smuggler & Giver of the Stars

H-House Rules & Habits of the Household & Hiding Place

I-In His Steps & Imprinted

J-Joyous Leadership

K-

L-Living Fearless & Ladies of the Lake

M-Mere Christianity

N-Nightingale

O-Ordinary Grace

P-Peace Like A River

Q-Quiet by Susan Cain

R-Reading Promise

S-Saving My Assassin

T-Things We Didn’t Say 

U-Unbroken & Unoffendable

V-

W-War & Peace

X-tra special-At Home with Madame Chic

Y-Yours Cheerfully series

Z-Zhivago (Dr.)

We are so thankful for each of you for listening to our attempt to highlight books from A to Z. We hope you can help us out on K & V : )

In this episode we discuss the awesome book Living Fearless by Jamie Winship! We delve into the exploration of themes such as fear, truth, identity, and the importance of confession. We discuss how fear can hinder creativity and relationships, and the transformative power of honesty and seeking God.

Here are some of the key takeaways we found in Jamie's book...

“Reading is the act of listening and speaking at the same time, with someone you’ve never met, but love…”

Join Kate and Sheila as they embark on Daniel Nayeri’s tale of an unbelievable but true journey, in Everything Sad is Untrue. The story describes how Daniel’s mother and her children had to flee Iran after  converting to Christianity. The miraculous and harrowing road to freedom is beautifully told through the eyes of a young Daniel. 

“The Legend of my mother is that she does not stop. And if you don't stop, you're unstoppable.”

Everything Sad is Untrue is written in a traditional Eastern way of Storytelling where “the stories aren't the thing. The thing is the story of the story. The spending of the time. The falling in love.” It allows us to see each other as our true selves.

Daniel tells us about the God who Listens and the God who speaks and the importance of a God that does both. May we implement this in our lives as we practice listening better and speaking kindness often. 

“Love is empty without justice. Justice is cruel without love.” 

“But what you believe about the future will change how you live in the present.” 

What do you believe about the future?

Meet Daniel and his unstoppable mom in this short video. Why this author and his mother fled Iran in the 80's