Softly and Tenderly

Happily married and owner of two successful boutiques, Jade longs to begin a family with her husband, Max. But when she discovers that Max has an illegitimate son - who he wants her to help raise - Jade's life is turned upside down.
She flees to her childhood home, a rambling Iowa farmhouse, with enough room to breathe. There - while her mother's health grows fragile, and the tug of her first love grows stronger - Jade begins to question everything she thought she knew about family, love, and motherhood. In the wide-open landscape, Jade begins to see a future that doesn't rest on the power of her past, but in the goodness of God's tender mercies.
I didn't realize that Sara Evans, the country singer, wrote books. So, I was surprised when I saw that she had a book available for review on the Thomas Nelson site. Not knowing that Softly and Tenderly was actually a sequel to another book written by her, I went ahead and ordered it.
I found this book to be hard to get into. I think had I read the first book, this one would have resonated with me a little more. I liked the characters, and felt like she gave them depth of emotion, but thought the story could have been a bit more lively and engaging.
This book is classified as Christian Fiction, but is not overly religious so that anyone could pick it up and still find a positive message of Jesus throughout without the feeling of having been preached at.

fall festival and halloween

Steven and Staci...good looking pirates!

beautiful M and A

gorgeous H

lovin' the skater dude

R looks all grown up!

M and S are too, too cute!

Emma is a beautiful ballerina

These boys are ready for some CANDY!!

I love this pic!

making hooks to go along with the pirate theme

I have no idea what Luke is doing....he snuck in here!

2 of our trick or treaters (we only had 5!)

princess party

While the Brandhorsts were here visiting, their youngest, Abigail, had a birthday. Well, you know I couldn't pass up the opportunity to host a princess party....although, it had to be thrown together, and we just had to find kids who weren't in school and could come. We had two little boys and one little girl come to the party and we were very grateful! Abigail had a good time being the princess, and I had a good time joking around with her that I was the princess (she quickly reminded me each time that SHE was indeed the princess!). She is a sweetie, that one, and I miss her!

paperless library?

I had the opportunity a week or so ago to visit a school in Columbia that is trying to be "less paper" or paperless. All of the teachers and students have Ipads, and their curriculum content comes from apps that the teacher finds. The library has about 1600 books, but the rest are e-books. I didn't like it. The school was pretty, and the teachers are probably great, especially since they were hand-picked to work there, but I wouldn't want to be there. One of the people I was with felt like it was a science experiment. There were a lot of glitches, but the thing I liked least was the fact that with e-books there is no contact with students. That's my favorite part of my job!! I love talking books with them, recommending books and then hearing what they have to say about them. Sometimes, they even recommend books to me! All of that is gone if they are left to download books on a device. Most of the students I've talked to, and even the ones who were reading that day in the library preferred a book that can be held. I am all for technology when it makes life easier, but taking away the human component is sad. I hope this is not the wave of the future!

tell me about Brazil

Charlotte talking to a group of our ladies about the food in Brazil.

This purse is made from seeds. It was very pretty!

couple of musical instruments

money

she talked a lot about the fruit, and man it sounds yummy! I can't wait to go to taste everything!

We all had a great time listening to her stories and learning about living on the Amazon! Thanks, Charlotte!!