Change is Good, Right?

I have been dreading this week for months. It is the week my newlywed daughter and her husband move

to Peru. For five years. And I don't mean Peru, Nebraska.

This most excellent couple is pursuing Scott's dream of several years, helping Peruvians grow and develop businesses. Want to know how they'll be doing it? Visit here.

It's difficult, being excited and sad all at once. Excited because of the wonderful work they hope to do and because of all the ways God may be glorified through their efforts. Sad because I am going to miss my girl.

We go on weekend adventures together, spur each other on to achieve whatever our hopes may be, and share what God is showing us and how He is working in our lives. So often, He is leading us on parallel paths, teaching us the same lessons.

They have been packing up their lives. Choosing which few items travel to South America, what lives in Mama and Daddy's attic, and what finds a new home. My girl and I have discussed minimalism many times; she will finally be practicing it.

And so, My girl experiences her next transition, leaving a comfortable and familiar life to pursue a completely new life, learn a new language, do a new work, and live in a vastly different culture.

I'm excited, really, I am. But I can't help crying too.

No Hodgepodge, but How About Lancaster County?

There's no Wednesday Hodgepodge blog hop today, so we'll talk about fun times from the weekend instead.

Basically, I stink when it comes to remembering to take pictures at events or on vacations, so I might have to do some photo borrowing to illustrate our great weekend in Lancaster County, PA. My daughter and I have traveled to this largely Amish and Mennonite area for two previous weekend adventures and have always had a different experience.

 We wanted to start at the Green Dragon Farmers Market in Ephrata, PA so that's where we headed first. I think it's only open on Fridays so it's crowded, but enjoyable. Imagine a giant flea market/farmers market both indoors and out and you've got an accurate picture. It was past our lunchtime by the time we arrived and we were hungry, so we did what everyone does in Lancaster, eat. There was a 1960s vintage-looking, Woolworth's type of restaurant in the main building so we chowed down quickly so we wouldn't waste a moment of fun.

The shopping commenced. We found some Mango Mandarin Body Lotion from Bath & Body Works for $5 that smells good enough to eat, so naturally we both bought some.  I brought some tote bags that we loaded with meat, cheese, and plenty of fruits and vegetables. My best deal was apricots for .79 a pound, which unfortunately froze a bit since I put them too close to the freezer part of our hotel's mini refrigerator. That's okay, we ate them anyway and had plenty to bring home.

Our feet were unhappy by then, so we passed by the auction area and had our first auction experience. The auctioneer really does talk funny just like you hear in the movies. At one point I scratched my head and was terrified that I might have just bid on a stuffed McDonald's Hamburgler. I sat rigid, eyes down, and didn't breathe freely until I heard the bid go up.

In a moment of spontaneity, we decided to see if there were any tickets available for Sight and Sound Theatre. We'd both heard about it for years and everyone seems to love it, so despite the very pricey tickets, we decided to go. That meant a quick dash to Katie's Kitchen for dinner and the fun of sitting at the counter like the regulars since we didn't have time to wait for a table. What can I say? Amish and Mennonite cooking is yum. Loaded with starch, but very yum. My daughter and I are somewhat amused by the contradictions between the Amish desire and practice of a simple lifestyle and their use of websites and social media to advertise their businesses. I suspect they constantly struggle to find the right balance.

Off to Sight and Sound to see Noah. Wow. It was everything everyone ever told us it would be. At first we were a little concerned it would be a hokey, religious presentation, but as we became involved in the story of Noah and his desire to follow God's will and build an ark, we found it to be challenging and touching. Would we be as willing as Noah to build an ark just because God told us to? It's hard to tell by the picture, but the way the stage was set up, we were surrounded on three sides by stalls filled with animals - models and animatronic. It felt like we were sitting in the ark. As the ark was being loaded they also used many live animals. Pretty amazing.

Lots more to tell, but this is already getting quite lengthy. Needless to say we had a wonderful time together as we always do. It will be the last time for a while, but more about that soon.

TeXaS

I realized last week that some of my favorite people, and bestest friends I've ever had, live in Texas. My favorite former president lives there too.

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What is it about Texas that attracts nice people? I have flown into Texas for connecting flights to other places and I've driven across that square, top part of Texas (lots of cows) and it took allll day to do it, but I've never actually stayed there.

I know that native and adopted Texans are loyal people. I mean really, where do all those Dallas Cowboy fans come from? It is a wide open country - except for the large metropolitan areas - filled with opportunity and room to spread out. Perhaps that is part of the attraction. Most of my friends moved there because of employment opportunities, always a good reason to make a move.

California, Virginia, and New York are all places I've called home, and each is special in its own way, but I have had the itch to move for a while. A desire to live in a brand new place, meet different people, experience a new way of life, and have a grand adventure. Maybe Texas is calling my name. Or the U.K., I'm quite sure it is calling my name as well.

Could there possibly be two such totally different places? Shows I appreciate variety I suppose.  How about you, are you happily ensconced where you are or do you have a yen to live somewhere new?

Family, No Matter What

Guilt seared her conscience. How could she even for a second believe her brother

 capable of murder?

Dani Pettrey

For today's A-Z Blogging Challenge and the letter F, we are reviewing a book that explores complex 

family relationships, trust and loyalty.

Shattered is the second book in the suspense-filled Alaskan Courage series which follows the complicated lives of the tightly-knit McKenna family, five brothers and sisters who own and operate an outdoor adventure company in a small Alaskan town. Well, four of the McKenna's work together. The fifth, baby brother Reef, is the black sheep who is accused of murdering a friend.

Is he guilty? All the evidence supports that, and so he is arrested. His sister Piper is convinced of his innocence, oldest brother Cole is afraid he might be guilty. Guilty or innocent they, along with the rest of their family and close friends, are determined to uncover the truth. No matter what.

The McKenna's desire to find the true murderer leads them down false trails as they travel around the lower 48 states digging through layers of lies, secrecy and other murders. The deeper they dig, the more they are convinced of Reef's innocence.

This is what we would all hope for from our families. Believing in us and trusting us, standing by us under the worst circumstances. And loving us, no matter what.


Shattered by Dani Pettrey
Bethany House Publishers, 2013
Christian Fiction, 364 pages
Bethany House Publishers provided a free copy of Shattered for review. The opinions stated are my own.

College? Bring it On

I must study politics and war that my sons may have liberty to study mathematics and philosophy. My sons ought to study mathematics and philosophy, geography, natural history, naval architecture, navigation, commerce and agriculture, in order to give their children a right to study painting, poetry, music, architecture, statuary, tapestry, and porcelain.

John Adams

There many directions I could take in choosing to write about the transition to college life. As a mother of four kids whose youngest entered college in August, I could share important tidbits you need to know to prepare for college. I could tell you even more things you as the parent of a college-bound child need to know.

And since I homeschooled my children for 17 years, I have even more valuable advice to share about the transition for kids from education-at-home to the free-for-all life of a dorm-living college student.

I'm not going to tell you any of that. I want to extol the benefits I have reaped as the mother of college kids. 

I can sleep in as late as I want now. No more dragging the kids out of bed so we can begin our school day. (I work from home as a free-lance editor so I can begin my work day at noon if I want and work at night if I want.)

I cook a lot less food a lot less often, and I don't have to grocery shop as much.

People think I should be nominated for sainthood because I homeschooled for so many years and my children have grown into normal adults.

The highlights of my year are no longer the gigantic homeschool convention, the monthly homeschool meeting and yearly mom's retreat, or getting curriculum catalogs in the mail. Since my life is no longer kid and school focused, I can do fun things like to go a sheep and wool festival (maybe not fun to you, but glorious for me and it sure beats back-to-back soccer games on a Saturday).

Vacations don't have to be educational anymore. I went By Myself, no husband, no kids, on vacation last fall and hung out eating, knitting, shopping, laughing and talking with some of my best buddies for five days.

So you see, adjusting to college or having your kids grow up and go to college doesn't have to be the traumatic event some writers warn about. In my opinion? College is great.

Welcome to the Blogging from A-Z April Challenge 2013. I'm aiming for short, entertaining and occasionally insightful posts. Topics addressing transitions are the goal . . . but we'll see.

Image: cooldesign/freedigitalphotos.net

Rare Earth a Rare Find

Unfortunately, I haven't been reading too much lately.  That time thing, you know?  But had I known how exciting Rare Earth was going to be, I would have made time, put away lesser books weeks ago and jumped right in.

Suspense, action and adventure are not my usual fiction choices, but the premise of the book was  intriguing, so I knew it would be an interesting read.

Davis Bunn, the author and co-author of many books, has written an intricate, action packed adventure centered in Kenya. Greed and corruption are at the center of the story as people from the U.S., China and Kenya strive to steal the riches Africa has to offer.  Rare Earth refers to certain elements valuable to high-tech industries that companies and countries would do anything to monopolize.

The story's hero, Marc Royce, is sent by the U.S. government to covertly discover what ties a series of seemingly separate events together.  Who is behind the events?  Who can be trusted?  What is really at stake?  How are people from China, Israel, Kenya and the U.S. connected to the strange evacuations of people from refugee camps in Kenya?  All of these occurrences are showcased against a volcanic eruption that has driven thousands from their homes and surprisingly joined together tribal enemies.

Royce would give Chuck Norris a run for his money in terms of awesomeness, but I think the book is more a story of many heroes, everyday people who love their country enough to fight large-scale corruption, knowing that their lives are at risk doing so.

An intense, fast-moving story, Rare Earth is the type of thought-provoking book that appeals to lovers of good fiction.



Rare Earth by Davis Bunn
Bethany House Publishers, 2012
Suspense, 363 pages
Bethany House Publishers provided a free copy of Rare Earth for review. The opinions stated are my own.

On a Little Adventure

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You would normally see a Five Minute Friday post today, but I am currently on an adventure, not home and staying away from the computer.

I can't wait to share more about Transitional-Woman's Excellent Adventure next week.  All I can say is, I would never have imagined I would ever do something like this.

Are you curious?

Is This the Room Where They Beat You With Rubber Hoses?

That's what I asked my husband as we neared the end of four grueling hours.

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After many years of phone calls where we discovered we were the winners of a three-day, two-night getaway, we finally gave in and took advantage of our "prize."

That's right.  We went on one of those time-share trips where you listen for 90 minutes to the sales spiel, say "No thanks" and go on to enjoy the rest of your mini-vacation.  Only we didn't get off so easily.

Ninety minutes grew into four hours, we were driven from one holiday resort to another, taken back and forth to the sales office, said "No" in as many ways as we possibly could and grew so weary and confused that we forgot where we were and where we parked our car.

I told my husband it reminded me of the wrestling matches I watched on television with my dad when I was a little girl.  There would be special tag-team matches with two, two-man teams.  When one wrestler grew weary he would fight his way to his corner and slap the hand of his tag-team partner whereupon that man jumped in and our weary warrior stepped out to regroup.

But there was always one team who would fight dirty.

We were not that team.

No less than three salesmen tried to befriend us and find our weak spots, wearing us down to the point where we would sign on the dotted line.  One salesman even inferred that I didn't care enough for my husband because by saying no, I was not allowing him enough relaxation time so he might have a heart attack and die.

I'm not kidding.

I'll spare you all the details, but in the end we said "NO" and stuck with it. But I'd love to share a piece of advice.  If you ever decide you want to buy a time-share, just keep saying "NO."  You would not believe just how low a price we finally got them to offer, just by being stubborn.