Beauty on the Backroads

Stories of grace for life's unexpected turns

Cinderella Mom

If you think Jesus would have come into your home that day and not issued a strong rebuke to the head of household, you are mistaken. These words of condemnation have been haunting me for days now. They aren’t all that different than the soundtrack I play in my head on an almost-daily basis. It’s…

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This is 40

I am nesting. On Saturday I emptied the refrigerator. Last summer’s homemade pickles in their jars. The bread ends that seem to multiply on every shelf. The eggs. The milk. The fruit and veggies. All of it sat on the floor or the counter as I carefully removed the shelves and wiped them down with…

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Beauty on the Backroads {or Why I Changed the Name of my Blog}

I’ve heard that life is like a highway. And it definitely seems like that sometimes. The pace of life swirls around me at dizzying speeds. We’re all so busy. In such a hurry. Always somewhere to be, something else to do. I’m a get-to-the-point, get-there-quick kind of girl. I don’t like to waste time on…

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First Friday Five {November}

Once a month, I’m taking time to tell you five things I’ve been loving in the past 30 days or so. You can catch October’s list here.

And now, November!

november

  1. Soup. Chilly temperatures, finally, mean that soup is on the menu at least once a week, but usually more. I love all kinds of soups and making all kinds of soups. There’s something satisfying about stirring together a bunch of ingredients and slurping the warmth straight out of the bowl. Pair with crackers and bread. Heaven. Do you have any favorite soup recipes? I have a hard time choosing just one!
  2. Fall foliage. In the last week or so the colors have really popped around here. I love the burst of colors as I round a bend in the road. Or the way the sun illuminates the leaves first thing in the morning. Fall temperatures took their time getting here this year, so to see the trees change colors was confirmation that the season had officially arrived. I know it’s just leading up to winter, but I mostly welcome the changes each season brings. wp-1477672775000.jpg
  3. Cubs baseball. We are unashamedly Cubs fans, and October gave us more baseball to watch than we’ve had in past years. We donned our favorite shirts every day they played and watched highlights with the kids when they couldn’t stay up for games on school nights. wp-1477672928274.jpgWe put together a Wrigley Field puzzle and kept it on the table throughout the playoffs. And sure enough, they won the whole darn thing! Go Cubbies!
  4. The ’80s. I was born just prior to the ’80s so there is a special place in my heart for certain aspects of this decade which seems like an eternity ago. Especially the music and movies. I stream the All 80s station on Amazon frequently, and I’ve found myself taking comfort in movies like Adventures in Babysitting, Sixteen Candles and Ferris Bueller’s Day Off lately. Thank you, Netflix. (A side note: Amazon Prime includes a streaming music service, which is one of the major benefits of Prime, in my opinion. Also this is an affiliate link, which costs you nothing but offers a small amount of compensation for me.)
  5. My kids. I’m not super-sentimental most of the time, but lately, I’ve really been enjoying my kids. They are 8 1/2 and almost 7 and they are so much fun. Whether it’s hanging out with them on weekends, seeing what they make and do in school, or watching the Cubs with them, we just laugh and smile so much with them right now. (There is also some yelling and frustration and lots of drama, so please don’t interpret this as some kind of perfection. It’s far from it.) I’m glad when they go to school, but I look forward to their company, too.

A ticket to another world: Review of Forest Child by Heather Day Gilbert

When I can’t travel the world, I pick up a book, and good fiction is a ticket to another world. Heather Day Gilbert’s series of Viking stories is guaranteed transportation to another time and place.

The first book, God’s Daughter, was mesmerizing. I had high hopes for the second one, Forest Child, and it didn’t disappoint. (Disclaimer: I received a free digital copy of the book from the author but my opinions are entirely my own.)

forest-childGilbert’s Viking stories are some of my favorite stories to read.

In-depth, flawed characters telling the stories in their own voices set me right into the middle of the action and I cannot get out. I am captive to these tales.

In this one, Freydis, the illegitimate child of Erik the Red, sets out to prove her place in the family by plundering Vinland (northern North America). But the reality she faces in the New World is horrific and her own actions will haunt her all the way back to Greenland and the family farm.

Hers is a story that is at times heartbreaking and difficult to read, but her journey is a beautiful picture of redemption. I especially enjoyed the way married life is illustrated in this story (and the previous one). Gilbert has a talent for depicting the realities of marriage without demeaning the relationship. It is one of my favorite things about her stories.

Gilbert gives us a gift in retelling these little-known Viking sagas. More than simply entertaining, they lead us to truths about marriage, forgiveness, love, and community. The Viking era is not one I am overly familiar with beyond the famous names like Erik the Red and Leif Ericsson (both who play roles in these stories and whose names are spelled differently, reflecting their heritage) but Gilbert’s books make me want to read more about them and hop a plane to Iceland.

Book 2 lives up to the high standard set in book 1. Truly, these are remarkable stories.