Book Review: Fatal Exchange by Lisa Harris

Even though her whole family are in law enforcement, Emily Hunt is much happier in her quiet life as a high school teacher. She enjoys making a difference in her students lives. But one of her students is in big trouble, and it gets so much worse when he holds Emily and her class hostage with a gun. So much for not seeing the action the rest of her family does.

What makes matters more complicated is that the police officer dealing with her negations is none other than Mason Taylor, the officer her sister believes is responsible for her brother's death. Feelings that both Mason and Emily felt for each other when her brother was alive are still under the surface, making things tenser still.

They will have to rely on each other to help each other and the students get out safely. 

I enjoyed this second book in the Southern Crimes series and would highly recommend reading the first book before you start this one. I even wish I had gone back and re-read it before I started but I was able to remember the main details at least. I like that the main characters had a bit more background than just meeting and falling in love in a few chapters. There were some good plot twists too, but I don't want to spoil it  - you'll just have to read it  for yourself :-)

Thank you to Revell Publishers for a free copy of this book to review.

The Day my Mam said "Yes"

Because it's Mother's Day, I wanted to write a post for my Mammy :-)

During church on Sunday's, we have been doing interviews with different people, just to kind of get to know them better. One thing they are usually asked is, "what would be an event that was a turning point in your life?" I think this is mine:

I have no idea how old I was at the time (under ten), but one day I was sick and my mam took me to the doctor. For my non-Irish readers, do not picture a "practice" like in the US. At home, doctors will often set up in the neighborhood in one of the houses. So one room will be the waiting room and then the back of the house is usually changed to be the doctor's office. You just go during the times he is there and wait your turn. Usually no secretaries or nurses or multiple offices. You wait your turn, he comes out and calls next, and then you go in for your visit and pay him cash when it's over.

So, there we were in the doctors office, waiting our turn. Our doctor at the time was a man from India - he was a good doc but not super friendly or warm and inviting. After our visit, he turned to my mam and said, "I'm not going to charge you for this visit, and actually, I think I have the medicine you will need right here so you can just have it and not have to go to the chemist (pharmacy).

That. Was. Weird.

That had never happened before and it never happened again. Just that once.

One the way home, my mam told me that the night before, she had been in church. There was a missionary visiting and she felt like God wanted her to give money to the collection for him. All she had in her purse was (I think) a ten pound note and that was all the money she had left for the week. But she gave it anyway.

When I got sick and had to see the doctor, she had no idea what she was going to do. She thought she would go and ask him if they could work something out for the payment. And she sat in that doctor's office praying and praying for God to work something out. And then the doctor told her no charge. She didn't tell him anything - she hadn't even brought it up yet! And THEN he GAVE us the medicine!

I think that day, I saw that when we trust God and obey Him, He will provide in ways we could never imagine or expect. I don't think I ever looked back since that day. My mam's saying yes to God and watching Him work for her was all that it took for me to see that I could say yes to whatever He asked, knowing He could be trusted. And not once has He ever let me down in the over 20 years since!

On this Mother's Day, I want to thank my Mother for her "yes" that day. It changed my life.

Book Review: The Pelican Bride by Beth White

Genevieve Gaillain and her little sister, board the Pelican in France to be taken to a Colony in Louisiana, never to return. Both have pledged that they will help to spread the New World with pure French citizens by agreeing to marry the soldiers at the Fort there. Genevieve is excited to finally be able to practice her religion without fear of persecution, but when she arrives she discovers that she is not so free and at peace as she hopes.
When she finally finds someone with whom she feels she could make a life with, she realizes that settling down and living a quiet life with the man she loves will not come easy. There is unrest among the native americans around them, and on top of that, something does not feel quite right at the Fort - could there be a traitor among them?

Though I thought the time period and the story was pretty interesting, I will admit, it took me longer than with most books to make it through this one. So many French names made it difficult to read as there are a lot of characters with unfamiliar names so it took a while to really know who was who. The story was also a little slow moving at times, though it picked up quite a bit at the end. If you are interested in the time period, I would say give it a go, but it probably wouldn't be the first book I would recommend to someone.

Thank you to Revel Publishers for a free copy of this book to review.

When Aidan Grows Up...

Always a hero of some sort, but even heroes need a nap sometimes.

The past few months, Aidan has been making a list of things he will do/be when he grows up. Here are a few of his goal this far:

1. Be Ironman (sometimes this changes to other super heroes but it's mostly Ironman)
2. Have a "mushtache"
3. Drink chocolate milk ALL the time
4. Also drink grape juice
5. "What else do grown ups drink? What does coffee taste like? (I tell him I think it's gross) I will probably like it and I will drink it all the time.
6. Live next door to Grandma
7. Not be married (if he does indeed have a "mushtache," this might not be so hard ;-) )
8. Have kids, but not my own - kids who don't already have Daddies.
9. Have 4 tvs
10. Have a Wii and play Mario on it - Eoin can come to his house to play because Eoin will only have one tv.

That's it for the moment. I'll add to the list as he does :-D

Eóin turns 7

Last month, my baby boy turned 7 years old! This year he chose Mario as his birthday party theme.  I think he gets just as excited about the decorations and cake as he does about the presents. Pics are on facebook here. He had a few school friends over and it was so funny to watch them all talking and playing together since I don't get to see them interact at school much. Such boys and big kids!

He has grown up so much this past year, and we are definitely entering a new phase of parenting. Explaining the reasons behind the rules and really working for him to see the heart behind his actions is becoming more and more important. He has such a tender heart for others which I am so thankful for, especially homeless people and others who don't have as much as our family has been blessed with.

He LOVES to play board/card games - favorites are Sorry, Uno Spin, and Skipbo. He also really enjoys reading which I am so excited about since I am a bookworm too! His other love is video games - it must be a boy thing.

He has also grown up physically. The kid eats like a teenager at dinner, but is still a string bean - just getting taller and taller. He's lost two teeth this year, and doesn't know what happened to either of the teeth. How do you not notice it twice!?! He was very relieved it didn't hurt though and was pretty happy with the dollar under his pillow :-D He is saving for a Wii apparently - might take a few more teeth...

Here's his yearly interview questions and birthday minute pics (most taken at 1:40pm)...
Favorite Food: ice-cream and taco salad
Favorite Color: Green
Favorite Toy: Superhero toys
Favorite Song: The Mario Song (really?)
Favorite TV Show: Sonic the Hedgehog
Favorite Place: Crown Center
What do you want to be when you grow up: A Policeman

Feb 15, 2007

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