The Harbinger by Jonathan Cahn. I am still absolutely stunned by this book. One of my favorite lines: (I own the kindle version, so I am not sure what the actual page number is, but it is in chapter 20)
"A nation that turns away from prayer will ultimately find itself in desperate need of it."
Amen and amen!!
One of my favorite authors is Jenny B Jones. Technically I think she is considered a young adult author, but (& I am in my forties!) I absolutely have LOVED her Katie Parker series, as well as her I'm So Sure series...honestly, I love pretty much everything she writes. Well, earlier this year she stretched the Katie Parker from a four-book series (the last one had been published in 2014 I think) to a six-book series. The confusing part for me was that she published book five in spring 2020, but chronologically that one was written to take place before book four.
*sigh*
With that said, I eagerly anticipated book six, Forever Your Girl to wrap up the series (Oct. 2020). But, I did not enjoy book six as much as I anticipated that I would. It could be that I read it during a season of grief and letting go, so I definitely want to revisit this book in the future. Actually, I think I will start at book one and read all the way through the series again.
Speaking of Jenny B Jones, I was TOTALLY excited when I got an email letting her fans know that SURPRISE she published a new book The Holiday Husband, just in time for Christmas. SQUEEEEEEE - I have already started reading 😍 and let me tell you I LOVE LOVE LOVE Christmas stories. And Hallmark Christmas movies. Especially with Lacey Chabert and/or Jen Lilley. Can I please have the person who bakes those perfectly decorated cookies come to my house? But I digress, where was I??? Oh yeah, the books I read...
The Rock, The Road, and The Rabbi by Kathie Lee Gifford. WOW. This book is amazing. Awesome. Thought-provoking. Beautiful. I will read this again and again and want to get the companion DVD study and go through it as a class with my girls in 2021.
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl. (I do one on one time with each of my girls in the morning and after plugging away at math and language arts (their hardest/most frustrating subjects) we reward ourselves with a read-aloud - and each girl has chosen a different book) I adore Roald Dahl. My absolute favorite of his books (in order) are: Danny, Champion of the World, James and the Giant Peach, and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. I realized this morning that I have not read any of his other books and that seems a shame, as they make the PERFECT read aloud 💖. So, which Roald Dahl would you recommend next?
We are still chugging along in:
The top two are from our one-on-one read-aloud list
The Incredible Journey by Shelia Burnford
Allies by Alan Gratz
Reading (still) to everyone:
The Warden and the Wolf King book 4 Wingfeather Saga
The Betsy-Tacy series
I am embarrassed to list the same books...again. But honestly, our read-aloud season has taken a nosedive since last year. Once, the most highly anticipated and celebrated part of our day, became hard and heavy in 2020. Juggling all of the special needs/medical/mental struggles with a special needs dog...and it just fell apart. I am trying to get us back on track because truly this is such a special, not to mention, very important part of my girls' day to day education. We have some beautiful books to look forward to just waiting for us on our shelves, two from Julie Andrews my mom sent us LAST year that I am eagerly anticipating. We will get there, just obviously at a turtle's pace.
*sigh*
My personal stack:
Speaking of a turtle's pace, I am still wading through a small stack of mental health textbook type books, I have to balance this with 'light & fluffy' reading so that I can get what I need to help those I love most, without becoming bogged down, depressed, and overwhelmed by all of the information.
One of my beloved light and fluffies? Jenny B. Jones' Christmas story (mentioned above)!!!!!!
The Harbinger II
Left Behind - my girls just watched the three-movie series (Kirk Cameron) and I realized I never finished reading the book series and that, in fact, it has been SEVENTEEN years since I last read one of the books. (WHERE does the time go???) This past week, I picked book one up off my shelf and decided a read through was definitely worth my time. But I need to finish Harbinger II first (just realized as Grammarly continually flagged my spelling of this that it's spelled HARBINGER not HARBRINGER) 😁
While wading through the grief of the past month, the mess of the elections and some hard days sprinkled in, I have been drinking homemade hot chocolates (a dash of heavy whipping cream makes ALL the difference), starting to bake (pumpkin bread - YUMMY, some cookies, cupcakes, and fudge *bliss*) and putting up some of our Christmas decorations. (yes, already!!!)
My early mornings begin with the lighting of cinnamon spice candles and reveling in the deliciousness of them, hands cupped around a cup of cinnamon flavored coffee (my mom sent several different flavored bags for my birthday - LOVE LOVE LOVE waking up to enjoy a fresh, new cup each day), huddled over the Word of God, reading and writing as my eyes soak it in, then on to doing my knee exercises and scribbling a story of a ballerina named Avery into a spiral-bound notebook for NaNoWriMo. The days are spent doing school, and many an afternoon is spent working outside chopping up branches and scooping leaves.
Today there is a bite in the air that just makes my heart soar and my joy bubble up, full and overflowing. Pumpkin pie, broccoli casserole, turkey, and stuffing are right around the corner. So much to be thankful for, even as I look back over a hard, heartbreaking year.
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