Saturday, June 29, 2013

52 Weeks Book Challenge

Believe it or not, somehow, with the busy schedule we have had I have managed to read six books. I am going to put them all in this one blog post to save myself some time!

In Without a Trace by Colleen Coble we are introduced to Bree Nichols. Bree's husband and son have gone missing in a plane crash somewhere on Rock Harbor and she is determined to find them with the help of her search and rescue dog, Samson. Bree cannot understand the faith of her mother-in-law that helps her trust in Jesus for the answers to this puzzling mystery. Her relentless determination starts her on a trail that will link the crash to a violent crime that threatens to tear the town apart. 


 In book two of the Rock Harbor Series, Beyond a Doubt, our favorite search and rescue hero begins renovating her lighthouse home and uncovers evidence linked to a case that the Rock Harbor police gave up long ago. This new evidence re-opens the case and puts Bree and her family under attack. There is a killer on the loose in Rock Harbor and the question that plagues Bree is can they find him before it's too late?
 Into the Deep is book three in the Rock Harbor suspense series. This book opens up with a local scientist missing his son's birthday party and turning up dead in Lake Superior. Then an Alzheimer patient goes missing and his house is ransacked. Who is committing these crimes and why? Is an environmental group behind these crimes? An unexpected loss personally effects Bree as she is forced to search for one of her best friends while solving this mystery.

A Gift of Grace is the first book in the Kauffmann Amish Bakery Series by Amy Clipston. This series takes place in the Lancaster Pennsylvania area. In A Gift of Grace, "English" teens Jessica and Lindsay loose their parents in a tragic car accident. Their only relative is their mother's sister, Rebecca Kauffmann. Rebecca and her husband Daniel are old order Amish. Rebecca is given custody of her nieces and they begin a new life in an Amish home. Lindsay seems to embrace the Amish lifestyle but Jessica has a difficult time leaving her "English" life behind. Will her behavior cause Rebecca and Daniel to be shunned by the community? Rebecca's mother-in-law owns an Amish bakery so the book has many Amish recipes included throughout.  

 In book two, Daniel's youngest sister, Sarah Rose, is suddenly widowed and pregnant. While trying to deal with the grief of losing her husband she finds out she is expecting twins. Then one day, a stranger shows up at the family's furniture store. Luke Troyer is his name and he claims to be her husband's cousin. But Peter told Sarah he had no living relatives which forces her to face her husbands mysterious past. 

Miriam Lapp left the Amish community four years ago when a horrible accident changed her life. When she left, she also left her fiance, Timothy Kauffmann. When she receives a call from her sister telling her that their mother suddenly passed away, Miriam is forced to return to Lancaster and face her past. 

New Quilt

My oldest daughter, Britni, is expecting her second baby in July. One of her dear friends hosted a baby shower for her earlier in the month. I decided to make a new quilt to welcome baby Belle. I started cutting this quilt out on a Thursday evening and began sewing on Friday evening. I finished up the stippling on Saturday morning just in time to wrap it up for the brunch shower. I purchased these fat quarters as a pre-packaged set(the first time I have done that) from a local quilt shop. I found the pattern on pinterest. I have named it "Belle" for our little Isabelle who will be joining our family soon. 

Thursday, June 27, 2013

What Have We Been Up Too?


Well- the last time I added a post to my blog was in March. Yikes! We have had many things to keep us busy and that left me no time to blog. It is good to be back. Since March we have been involved with three theatrical productions and a ballet recital. The beginning of April we were involved in our local Christian Theater groups production of The First Martyr- an original musical about the babies that Herod ordered to be killed at the time of Jesus' birth. The day after that show ended, our local ballet company moved into the theater to preform a ballet of Alice and Wonderland. We had a brief period of rest in May and then came June. We started the month with Abi's ballet recital and ended with our local community theater groups production of The Wizard of Oz. Dan had an acting part and sang in the choir, Abigail was a munchkin and danced in the Jitterbug scene. Our oldest daughter was the choreographer for many of the dances and I was the head of the props department. It was a wonderful opportunity and we all had a great time. I have added some of my favorite pictures from the show. 

Backstage
Munchkin Dressing Room


Dressing Room before the show


Kansas
Dan as Zeke. His Character becomes the Cowardly Lion
Britni Choreographed the "twister" using dancers
We rented "Fly" equipment- how fun!
Munchkinland
We had 54 "munchkins" and Britni did a great job choreographing them
The Lollipop Guild
Abi as a munchkin- front row 2nd from the left.
The Witch flies in
Poppies- my mom made all 37 of them for me
Glinda brings the "Snow"
Merry Old Land of OZ
Dan as a "Polisher"
Dan made this really cool hour glass
Dorothy in the witches castle
Scarecrow gets his "brain"
Lion gets his "courage"
Tinman gets his "heart"
Flying the Great & Powerful Oz out!
Flying Glinda in to get Dorothy "home"