NZ Filbruns

Entertaining a Toddler With a Broken Leg

August 29, 2021 by NZ Filbruns Leave a Comment

Some time in July, Miss Joy and her big sister collided on a trampoline, and Miss Joy ended up with a broken leg. It was just a greenstick fracture, so not very serious, but she had her leg in a cast for a little over three weeks. She was walking on it only about nine days after the accident, and getting around pretty much normally, but the first few days were a bit challenging. It’s a good thing she has a naturally sunny disposition! The other hard part was near the end; I think the cast must have been irritating her, because little things that normally wouldn’t bother her at all made her scream. Maybe her leg was itchy, and she couldn’t figure out how to tell us? Anyway, here are some of the things she did during the time she had her cast on.

This first picture was a few days before she broke her leg. I had a bowl of beans on the counter, soaking, and when she needed something to, I gave her a sieve and a bowl and let her scoop beans and water. You’ll see down a little ways why I included this!

The morning after the accident, Miss Joy couldn’t move below the waist at all. The only thing she could do was sit; she couldn’t even figure out how to roll over. She was sitting on the couch with her books, and asked me for a “Bible.” I figured out she wanted a songbook, so I gave it to her and she sang for us. You can hear her in this video clip.

The next day, she figured out how to crawl, and she was off! That evening, Esther gave her a permanent marker and showed her how to draw on her cast. You can see in this video how focused she was.

Right around that time, she caught sight of another bowl of beans I was soaking when I carried her through the kitchen. “Beans!” she exclaimed. She couldn’t stand up, so I put her on the floor with the beans, making sure there wasn’t too much water in them. I didn’t want the plaster cast to get wet! She happily played with the beans for a long time.

One evening, she wanted more beans, but I didn’t have any soaking. Instead, I put rice on a tray and gave it to her. She spent an hour or so playing with that! We had to sweep it up a couple of times, but it was sure worth it.

She spent a lot of time looking at her books.

It didn’t end up being too hard an experience, after all. I sure wouldn’t want this to happen again, but we made it through, and she is as good as new again.

Book Review—Flipping Hearts

August 25, 2021 by NZ Filbruns Leave a Comment

About the Book

When a hurricane rips through Hooper Island, a tidal wave of TV crews follows and upsets the locals.

Brooks Crawforth agreed to volunteer crews helping to clean up and repair things on the island, not a whole home and garden series on the total renovation of several houses and a bit of cleanup on the side. He’s furious, and the show host is spitting nails at the person who blew it in the first place.

His and his father’s jobs are in jeopardy, the islanders are about to kill him, and that crazy show host blames him for her assistant’s last-minute, “you’ve-got-to-sign-this-now-or-we-can’t-come” contract.

One more thing. Did she have to be so cute?

He’s got even more trouble, though. Islanders are starting to blame Mallory Barrows for the invasion. Not only that, there are rumors of dismantling the association and allowing tourism on the islands. How’s he supposed to fix this mess?

They can’t stand each other, but if they can manage to flip off the enemy switch and flip on some cooperation, maybe their hearts’ll get flipped, too.

This “enemies to romance” novel introduces the next island in the Independence Islands Series featuring five islands, six authors, and a boatload of happily-ever-afters.

The Independence Islands Series: beach reads aren’t just for summer anymore.

My Thoughts:

I first read Flipping Hearts as it was being written, a scene at a time, and actually never even read the ending. I was not very impressed with this book; it felt like one of Chautona Havig’s more “fluffy” books. When it was finally finished, I never got around to reading the whole thing again until this week. What do you suppose I thought of it when I was able to read the entire book in one go?

I really liked some of the conversations between Brooks and Bailey. Bailey had only become a Christian recently, while Brooks was raised in a Christian home—but she said some things that challenged him, like the conversation about good versus bad in people. And then there is the line, “But I hate the way we all act like we’re all superior about being in some ‘exclusive club’ while people out there are just doing their best, not knowing it isn’t enough.” As Brooks felt, “Double ouch, Lord.” Then there was the discussion about being “grace blind.” I could relate! Ouch again. All this to say, I was wrong with my first impression of Flipping Hearts. This is a much deeper book than I thought at first glance. I ended up really liking this book. The mystery (who was sabotaging the job?) kept my interest focused on this story, and the interactions between characters seemed very natural. I really liked that the romance was only a small part of the story, near the end.

About the Author:

Author of the bestselling Aggie and Past Forward series, Chautona Havig lives in an oxymoron, escapes into imaginary worlds that look startlingly similar to ours and writes the stories that emerge. An irrepressible optimist, Chautona sees everything through a kaleidoscope of It’s a Wonderful Life sprinkled with fairy tales. Find her at chautona.com and say howdy—if you can remember how to spell her name.

More From Chautona:

How I Almost Missed This Important Life Lesson

He annoyed her. The guy was bossy, demanding, rude, and unwilling to admit fault—mostly. Truth be told, she was pretty much the same. Two people with similar faults. The relationship would never happen.

Now what was I supposed to do?

Without any idea how I’d take two near enemies and turn them into a couple, I kept writing the primary story—the one that was supposed to bring them together. The one that would have driven me far, far away from a guy like Brooks.

Right about the time I thought about that is when Bailey had her revelation. “He likes me.”

I nearly did a spit take. I mean, where did that come from? Why would he like someone who hadn’t bothered to be likeable?

And still the story unfolded. “Life or death” moment? Check. Unintentional sharing of attraction and heart. Check. Still confused author as these characters draw closer and closer… check, check!

It took until after the story’s climax for me to realize that Brooks really did like Bailey for who she was—and vice versa. Only after all that tension diffused and their distrust had been smashed to smithereens were Bailey and Brooks able to examine everything. Only after that was I able to realize a truth I hadn’t expected to learn.

People fall in love with people they argue with.

People in love argue. See, my husband and I don’t do that. We don’t argue. Ever. Do we agree on every little thing? No. We just don’t argue about it.

Look, it’s not like I’ve never written people who argue. I do. But Never have I looked at a fictional relationship, seen that it would produce the kind fireworks that Bailey and Brooks will, and thought, “Oh, they’re perfect for each other.”

Because see… if I were Bailey, I’d run. Fast. Conflict is a natural part of life and relationships, and I’m not so naïve as to think it’ll never occur. But entering a relationship knowing it’ll be a regular occurrence? Unthinkable!

So as I pondered all this during those last pages of the book, something hit me.

Jesus enters a rocky relationship with us. Willingly.

Don’t believe me? Think about it. Jesus knew, before He ever spoke light into existence, that His bride would blame Him for… pretty much everything. He knew she’d get him brutally murdered. He knew she’d rail at Him, spit at Him, abandon Him, cheat on Him, and even after forgiveness… she’d do it all over again the next day.

Even knowing all that… He still whispers to our hearts, “Be Mine. I love you.”

If that’s not the most beautiful, unbelievable, amazing thing, I don’t know what is.

It’s probably one of the most important life lessons I’ll ever learn. People choose to be in relationships with people they know they’ll argue with—people who will hurt them, annoy them, demand things of them. And the greatest example of One who does it so beautifully is Jesus. Because see… Jesus entered that relationship with me, knowing I’d be that person. Humbling, yeah. Important life lesson? Most definitely.

To purchase your copy, click here.

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To enter a fun giveaway, click here.

Soap!

August 23, 2021 by NZ Filbruns Leave a Comment

I like to make soap once a year, and make enough for at least a year. It’s a very satisfying thing to do; I can make enough for our family for a year or more and only spend about $15 and a little time.

I start by rendering fat from either sheep or cattle, whichever I can easily source. I put it in a roaster in the oven and bake it at about 150°C for several hours. As the tallow melts out of the fat, I ladle it out of a corner, then put it back in the oven. Eventually, I take a pancake turner and cut through the fat to help melt more of it out. When it’s still very hot, it needs to be in a metal bowl, and then when it cools down a bit I put it in a plastic carton and, after it’s cool, put it in the freezer until I’m ready to use it.

To make the soap, I melt 13 cups of fat in a large pot. Then, I measure out 12 ounces of lye (caustic soda) into a dry bowl. Put 4 cups of cold water in a large glass dish. I always take it outside for the next step. Carefully pour the lye into the cold water, and stir with a plastic or stainless spoon (not wooden or aluminum) until the lye is dissolved. Now, check the temperature of the melted fat and the lye. They need to be within 10-20 degrees Fahrenheit (I can’t remember the exact number, but it isn’t too crucial) of each other. Once they are a similar temperature, carefully pour the lye water into the fat and stir. If you use a stick blender or hand mixer for this, you’ll reach the next step more quickly.

What you watch for now is called “tracing.” Tracing is simply being able to see a dribble of soap on top when you lift your spoon or the blender out and let it fall back in. Basically, as far as I can tell, it means the soap is thickening enough that it takes an instant to disappear inside again, if that makes sense. When you see tracing, it’s time to pour the soap into the molds—and with cow or sheep fat, you have to work fast, since it hardens quickly at this point! I use plastic Tupperware containers for molds. I made a double batch this year, and filled three 9”x13” containers.

Now, keep the soap as warm as possible for a couple of days, so the chemical reaction between the lye and the fat will keep going. I wrap the containers up in blankets and put them close to the fire.

Two days later, I cut the soap. At this point, it’s still pretty soft. I used a butter knife to cut it into the size blocks we like, and then lifted them out of the containers. If I had left the soap in them for a week or two, the soap would have likely hardened enough that I could pop the whole slab out, and then cut on a cutting board.

I stack the bars of soap in a cardboard box, with newspaper between the layers. This will hopefully keep it drier in our damp house. We keep it in the warmest, driest place we have. We leave it sit to cure for two months to completely finish the saponification process (the chemical reaction).

This is the way I make soap; there are other methods. Do some research for yourself if you are interested in making soap—you’ll probably come up with a lot of tips I don’t know! If you want to make goat’s milk soap, which I do when I have goat’s milk, use it in place of the water. Just be sure to freeze it first, and then let it thaw just till slushy before adding the lye.

June 2021 Photos

August 21, 2021 by NZ Filbruns Leave a Comment

I never got a post up last weekend. I always plan to do that on Sunday after we come home from church. This week, though, we came home for about 10 minutes and then took off to a hut the boys have been going to every so often the last couple of months, hunting possums. We stopped before we got there, though, and took off through the bush on a walking track the boys have been unsuccessfully searching for for about six weeks. I had been telling them they might find it more easily in the daylight (they hunt at night)…. This track, they were told, goes to a hut beside the river. We spent almost an hour walking along it before we decided we’d better turn around so we wouldn’t get caught in the dark. What a tramp! It obviously used to be a fairly easy walking track; it looks like it may have been the grade for a bush railway back in the logging days. Now, it’s getting overgrown, and there are trees laid down across it in many places from a cyclone 3 1/2 years ago. Someone had gone through with a chainsaw and cut out enough that we could get through, over and under the trunks, but it was a fun adventure! I may post about it sometime; Esther had her camera and took pictures. Anyway, that’s why you never saw a post last week, in case you noticed it was missing!

Here are the rest of our June pictures. Esther happened to be with Elijah at his job one day, and got a couple of pictures of him working. He was spreading glue on the floor, and when it dried, he laid down carpet tiles.

Two brothers conferring about the tiny house.

We went to Canterbury one weekend for a midwinter dinner, and then visited a couple of other friends. One person gave us a large stack of puzzles she was clearing out, and as soon as we got home, they were all being used!

We had to replace our stovetop. The boys enjoyed working on that!

This truck stopped across the road one day.

We grew a mixture of colors of carrots last year. Look at the white, yellow, orange and purple! It’s been pretty fun to have so much variety.

Book Review—The Fallacy Detective

August 18, 2021 by NZ Filbruns Leave a Comment

Disclosure: I received this complimentary product through the Homeschool Review Crew.

A few months ago, my mom wrote a letter to one of my children, and mentioned looking something up in The Fallacy Detective. That piqued my interest in the book, and when, soon after that, I was offered a chance to review the book, I jumped at the chance! Of course, the fact that the authors, Nathaniel Bluedorn and Hans Bluedorn, were willing to send us a physical copy made the book even more attractive. Not very many physical books are sent here for review.

We’ve been reading through The Fallacy Detective as a family. Several evenings a week, I read a lesson aloud at the dinner table, and then we discuss the questions at the end of the lesson and try to figure out the answers. It has been a lot of fun! We are really enjoying this book. We’re learning to recognize fallacies, too. Quite often, someone will call out, “That’s a red herring!” or “You’re using a straw man argument!” Today, one of our boys used equivocation, and when we were discussing a possible scenario, I said, “That’s special pleading!”

There are five sections in this book. The first, The Inquiring Mind, includes three chapters about the importance of exercising your mind and learning to listen to others. The second section, Avoiding the Question, includes a lesson or two about several different fallacies. We had a lot of fun with the chapters about Red Herrings, Special Pleading, and the Straw Man Fallacy. Some of the children like to say the words Ad Hominem and Tu Quoque—and trying to remember what they mean!

We’re working through the third section of the book right now, Making Assumptions. The first lesson in this section is a story, and then there are questions about whether statement were true according to the story, or not. It was fun to see what assumptions we made that weren’t actually in the story! We have also learned to recognize circular reasoning, equivocation and loaded questions in this section. The Slippery Slope was quite interesting, and I’m looking forward to the Part-to-Whole and Whole-to-Part lessons next.

Coming up, we have sections titled Statistical Fallacies and Propaganda. I’ve already been pointing out examples of these to the children when I see them in the media, so it will be interesting to read the lessons about them and learn what the Bluedorns have to say.

Each lesson describes a particular type of fallacy in an interesting way, using conversations or stories to get the point across. Most lessons have a comic strip (often Calvin and Hobbes or Snoopy), or a cartoon. My younger set love comics, so they like to look at the book just for those! In fact, the day it arrived in the mail, the book got soaked because someone was reading it while holding a cup of water (I was glad I had taken a photo for this post already!). After the fallacy is thoroughly described and illustrated, there are a number of conversations or short stories given, and the assignment is to identify the fallacy included, if there is one. Some of these questions poke fun at the authors. That always gets a laugh here! Some of the members of our family are getting very good at identifying the fallacies! We’re all glad there is an answer key at the end of the book.

The The Fallacy Detective is a great book from which to learn logical thinking and recognize bad reasoning. It’s also a lot of fun! We laugh a lot while we’re working on these lessons. Everyone in the family is enjoying it; if I forget to read a lesson, I’m usually reminded, and not always by the same person. Elijah and Esther are probably the most interested, but even Mr. Sweetie and Mr. Imagination enjoy the lessons. Every family should get this book and have fun learning to recognize faulty reasoning together, although it is quite possible to go through it alone and learn a lot, too. It’s just not as fun! Be sure to click the image below to read other people’s reviews of this fascinating book!

Product Review—The HomeScholar LLC

August 12, 2021 by NZ Filbruns 1 Comment

Disclosure: I received this complimentary product through the Homeschool Review Crew.

I’ve been looking over the resources offered by The HomeScholar LLC today. Their High School Solution has a wealth of information and encouragement for any homeschooling family! I listened to parts of both an online conference and a recorded live conference talk by Lee Binz, and read the handouts from these presentations. I didn’t have time to get through all their material, but enough to get a feel for what she offers.

The point that is stressed over and over is not to fear! You can do this! You can teach (or rather, direct) your children through high school! Lee gives a lot of information about what should be covered during high school, either to meet college entrance requirements, or simply to prepare for life. With each subject area, she talks about the types of classes or studies that high school students can take and how to use their interests to earn credit. What constitutes a credit, anyway? She tells what, and how to grade classes. One handout available is a planner to help make decisions about what classes to take each year of high school, in order to earn enough credits.

I found a paper about Research Facts on Homeschooling quite interesting. The statistics are from the United States, and are over ten years old, but very encouraging! People’s reasons for homeschooling are also reported here, and some of the results that are seen in homeschooled children as they mature.

I glanced over the materials included in a section titled How to Homeschool the Gifted Child. Not much in that group of talks and articles was very helpful to me; our children are not academically gifted, for the most part. Rather than having to keep up with a child who learns and understands easily what he/she learns in school, I’ve had to push most of mine all the way through! If you have academically gifted children, though, these resources would likely be very helpful. (I’m adding the term “academically” to “gifted” because I consider all my children gifted… but in different ways!)

The section about Homeschooling Struggling Learners is more helpful to me! Most of our children fall in that category. Some have had severe dyslexia; Simon still struggles to read and write. In this section is a talk by Hal and Melanie Young, offering suggestions for accommodations for struggling learners in high school and college. There are also a couple of articles offering advice and encouragement. Even people who struggle through high school can go on to college, with some help!

One piece of encouragement that stood out to me, as it was repeated many times throughout the materials I looked over was that each child is unique. We have to find what works for each one. By the same token, each family is unique. In our family, we have not put an emphasis on going to college or university. So far, our children have not needed it; two of the boys found themselves doing apprenticeships (which include lessons and assessments through a vocational school) in trades, and the third boy is hoping that an apprenticeship will open up for him soon, too, with the man for whom he has been working part time. If you are unsure what direction to go with your children’s high school, the High School Solution might be a good resource for you to look at. There is a lot of information about how to take the SAT and ACT tests here, as well as how to structure high school in general.

All that is under the How-To tab. I haven’t even started on the other tabs, which are labeled Ages, Stages, and Curriculum. And then, there are the bonuses. There is a lot of material here! If you need help or encouragement in homeschooling through high school, definitely check out The HomeScholar LLC. Click on the image below to read what other families have to say about this company, as well.

Hallway Makeover

August 8, 2021 by NZ Filbruns 1 Comment

The day before Christmas, we replaced the carpet in the living room. It looked wonderful! We had enough left to do two more rooms, so we decided to do the hallway next. It still had the old carpet from the 1930s, which was very pretty when new, but by now…. It was quite threadbare. This is what it looked like:

When I took that picture in early February, I had already packed all our books and we had taken the bookshelves out (this hallway is wide enough that we have made it into our library, with bookshelves on both sides of the room). Elijah finished ripping out the carpet so it was all ready to lay the new carpet when he and his boss had time to do it. This next picture shows Elijah working on laying the carpet, with his boss overseeing him.

The end of the hall toward the laundry room/entry to the house looked like this. In May or June, I got the idea that floor-to-ceiling bookshelves would be a much more efficient use of the space, so asked Elijah if he would be interested in building them. He was! I used my spare time one day to draw up plans, and then one day when Elijah had an unexpected day off, he went to town and bought wood for building the shelves.

Over the next month or so, Elijah worked on the shelves when he had time, and once they were in place, I painted them. It took a few more weeks for the wood to completely dry, but last week I was able to fill them with books. Instead of having books here and in our bedroom, they are all here now, and very well organized. I even labeled the shelves so everyone knows where each category of books is supposed to be! (We’ll see how long that lasts.) I dreamed, when I was a little girl, of being a librarian. It looks like that dream has come true!

Elijah was excited to put the games on the second-to-top shelf yesterday. They had been in a deep closet, where they were hard to find. Now, we can easily see which one we want, even if not all of us can easily reach them!

Book Review—The Last Gasp

August 4, 2021 by NZ Filbruns 1 Comment

About the Book

Book: The Last Gasp
Author: Chautona Havig
Genre: Christian Historical Mystery, Fairytale retelling
Release date: July 6, 2021

At the pinnacle of his Hollywood career, Garrison Prince’s reign ends tonight.

As plain old Gary Prinz, he can pursue his Bible education, buy a bungalow in Pasadena, acquire a few chickens, and marry the girl of his dreams. He just never imagined trading the silver screen for a pulpit would wreak such havoc.

A cigarillo girl, Lucinda Ashton spends her days with her boyfriend, Gary, and her evenings selling candy and “gaspers” to the Hollywood elite at the Taj Mahal Theater.

However, when gunshots ring out just as intermission begins, Lucinda finds herself smack-dab in the middle of a brouhaha that leaves three dead, and no one has a clue why.

All the police know is that the evidence points to Lucinda as the killer and Gary as the intended target.

Four new friends, one young orphan, and a potluck of clues that don’t seem to fit anywhere leave the police baffled, Lucinda in fear for her freedom, and Gary ready to trade in his acting shoes for gumshoes if it’ll save his “Cinda.”

The first book in the Ever After Mysteries combining beloved fairy tales and mysteries, The Last Gasp. This Cinderella retelling blends a murder with enough crime and story clues to keep you on the edge of your seat.

My Thoughts:

Murder mysteries are not my favorite genre, by any means. I usually steer clear of them. I don’t like reading about blood and gore and people dying, and since much of my reading time is the 15 minutes just before I go to bed at night, I don’t like to read very many books that are so gripping that I dream about them all night (that’s not very conducive to a good night’s sleep!). However, if Chautona Havig writes a murder mystery, I’ll read it—I know I will enjoy it, and I won’t end up dreaming all night about the story, trying to solve the mystery. At least, most of the time I won’t. Chautona’s most recent mystery, The Last Gasp, has a few scenes that aren’t pleasant, but overall it’s a delightful story.

Gary Prinz, also known as Garrison Prince, reigns as Hollywood royalty after starring in another new film—but today he is resigning. He has made up his mind to go to Bible college and become a pastor, and Mr. Walker, the head of Imperial Studios, is not happy about it.

Lucinda is making a modest living for herself selling candy and cigarettes at the Taj Mahal Theater, and spending time during the day with her friend Gary. She thinks he is about to propose, and has determined what her answer will be. Tonight, though, she has to work, being careful, as usual, not to look at the faces of the elite she sells her wares to, even though Garrison tries to catch her attention.

When a shot rings out at intermission and an actress falls dead, and three more people end up dead before the night is out, no one can figure out a motive—much less who might have killed them. Lucinda is dumbfounded when she is arrested for the murders—why would anyone think she might have been responsible? And who was being aimed at, anyway? Was Mr. Walker really that unhappy with Garrison? Lucinda, herself, wasn’t very happy when she discovered that her Gary was actually Garrison Prince. Why had he concealed that information from her? Could she really trust him?

As I said, I don’t enjoy the bloody part of a murder mystery. I was glad that part only took up a few pages! On the other hand, though, as I’ve read before about stories like this one, it’s satisfying to see evil brought to justice. The author did a great job of concealing the real murderer until nearly the end of the story, and weaving a delightful romance through the story at the same time that the investigation is going on. She was able to weave genuine faith in God throughout the story, too, in a way that I loved. I also loved the child who comes into the story! If you enjoy gentle, clean romantic suspense, don’t miss this story. It’s good!

I received a review copy of this book from the author, and these are my honest thoughts about it.

WARNING: People are shot in Chapters 3, 5 and 6.

About the Author:

More From Chautona:

What Beautiful, Unexpected Parallel Did I Find Writing this Mystery?

I bought it at Pic-n-Save when I was eleven—an 8.5×11 paperback book of traditional fairy tales. I learned another side of the age-old stories that you don’t see from Disney. Rapunzel? Yeah. That was the story about the queen who was craving rampion (a salad vegetable) so much that she promised to give up her child for it. Rampion—Rapunzel. It’s a thing.

It’s also where I learned Cinderella’s name as “Aschenputtel.” Look, those Brothers Grimm were… well, they were German and that should explain everything. “Puttel” just sings of German, doesn’t it? That tale was also a bit gruesome. The one sister cut off her big toe to make the shoe fit because her mother said, “You won’t have to walk anywhere if you’re a queen. Who needs it!” So the idiotic girl did. Same for the other sister and her heel. Seriously, didn’t she learn from her older sister?

Oh, and it’s the one where mother and stepsisters get their eyes picked out by birds. It reminded me of Proverbs 30:17. “The eye that mocks a father and scorns a mother, the ravens of the valley will pick it out, and the young eagles will eat it.”

Talk about bringing Scripture to life for kids there. Gulp

True confession, our kids used to sing that verse to the tune of “All Hail the Pow’r of Jesus’ Name.” You should have heard the lusty voices of our children in our Grand Marquis station wagon (may the wonderful beast rest in peace) singing, “The ravens shall pick out his eyes and eeee-agles eeee-eeaat the saaaammmme!”

I digress.

Cinderella—I mean, Aschenputtel—really wasn’t my favorite story, though. I liked other stories from other books. Like the Ten Brothers—a Chinese folk tale. You know. Fairy tale.

Know which fairy tale I liked even less than Cinderella?

The Little Mermaid. Seriously, I didn’t like the original (Sorry Mr. Andersen… I just didn’t), and I can’t stand Disney’s. But when we first began planning the Ever After Mysteries, I knew which one I wanted to do. The Little Mermaid had everything going for it. Houdini and a water tank. Can’t you just see it? It would have been great. But a friend asked who was writing about the “cigarillo girl” (as I mention in THIS post), and well… the rest is history. Or at least, it’s set back in history.

But there’s one truth I discovered as I wrote this mystery.

Mystery… that’s a good word for this truth, actually. Cinderella is a beautiful picture of Jesus as our prince. We can be His bride and put on the shoe He has fashioned only to fit us, or we can try to snatch it up and make it suit our wills and hold our overgrown egos (work with me here). He takes us out of our ragged, dirty lives and brings us home… to Him. To His Father.

Is there anything more beautiful? I don’t think so.

In The Last Gasp, Gary knows Cinda long before she knows him—truly knows him. He loves her just as she is. Is it a perfect retelling of the beauty of Christ’s love for his church? Not hardly. It wasn’t intended to demonstrate that relationship at all. But there are tiny nuances that do. And that’s pretty cool.

To purchase your copy, click here.

To visit more of the blog stops on this tour, click here.

To enter a fun giveaway, click here.

Simon’s House

August 1, 2021 by NZ Filbruns 1 Comment

Simon bought a house almost a year ago. I’ve been intending to post pictures of it ever since… finally, here they are! Sorry for the delay, Mom—I know you’ve been curious about what his place looks like. Most of these are pictures James took in the summer. This is the view from the road, up to his garage. His house is on the right; on the other side of the house to the left is the garage where Simon works.

The chimney on the side of the house is gone now. The boys spent a couple of days in June bashing it out. They needed to get rid of it in order to replace a beam under the house there.

To enter the house, you use the back door. This is the mudroom, with the laundry straight ahead. To the right is the kitchen door, and then the door into the toilet and bathroom.

As you can see, the bathroom is pretty rough. The entire house needs to be redone.

This is the kitchen and living area. The stove is very good at heating the house, and the appliances work. The sink tap, however, does not.

There are three smallish bedrooms.

The enclosed porch faces the road, and is accessed through a bedroom.Inside the garage. That is Simon’s Austin on the left. He stored his tractor there until it was needed here this winter for feeding cows. The white thing on the right, closest to the camera, is a Land Cruiser in pieces, I believe. (Another project!)

Another Land Cruiser Simon dreams of restoring. It’s stored in what used to be the chicken house.

Simon has a lot of fruit; these are his blueberries.

The view from the hillside above the house. That’s Simon and Mr. Sweetie mowing lawn, and Little Miss was checking out the raspberry bushes.I went over in June to take a few pictures one rainy Sunday afternoon. This is the house from the road. Simon stores his extra vehicles there!

The backyard, looking up at his orchard.

Enough furniture has been donated to outfit the house a couple of times! I’m not sure what Simon will do with it all when he comes to gutting the house.

Simon was pleased to be able to bring two of his geese over from Canterbury. They mow the lawn for him.

This is the biggest project Simon has undertaken yet. He’s working on replacing the piles under the house right now, as a first step in renovation. He needed to level the house before starting on anything else. I think they have two out of eight “bearers” repiled so far.

Book Review—Regaining Mercy

July 29, 2021 by NZ Filbruns 1 Comment

About the Book

Book: Regaining Mercy
Author: Carolyn Miller
Genre: Christian Contemporary Romance
Release date: June 29, 2021

A mom ready to do anything for her son. A man determined to win the woman he loves.

Going on Love at First Glance had seemed like such a good idea. She didn’t care about finding Mr. Right. No, Mindy Murray chose the reality TV show for more mercenary reasons. A mom’s gotta do what a mom’s gotta do when it comes to feeding her son.

When Mindy returns to Elnora, the girl from the “wrong side of the island” just wants a chance to rebuild her reputation. Too bad the folks at church don’t practice what the preacher preaches.

Enter Dermott Reilly. The interim boss at Greener Gardens has always had a soft spot for Mindy and her son, but with his new responsibilities, an important garden competition, and a few other concerns, he finds it difficult to prove himself to her.

A tropical storm and a missing child prove that sometimes grace appears in the most unusual ways.

Regaining Mercy concludes the Elnora Island romances of the Independence Islands Series, featuring five islands, six authors, and a boatload of happily ever-afters.

The Independence Islands Series: beach reads aren’t just for summer anymore.

My Thoughts:

I’ve been hearing good things about Carolyn Miller’s books, so I decided to sign up to review one of her books. I think I like her! Regaining Mercy is primarily romance, but there is enough else in the story that I enjoyed the story anyway.

Mindy has just gotten home to Elnora Island from being part of a reality show in Hawaii. She’s doing all she can to make a living for herself and her son, but people are looking down on her. When a particularly nasty woman deliberately insults her, Mindy loses her job at the grocery store—what can she do now? She knows she’s a terrible mother, and that’s probably why Jon, at four, hardly talks. She’s had so little experience with children, though, that she doesn’t know if he’s acting normally or not, and she certainly won’t be taking him to a doctor when she hardly has enough money for food!

Dermott, the interim boss at Greener Gardens, wants to help out his friend in any way he can. He feels overwhelmed, though, with getting jobs done and promoting the gardens they’ve done in a competition. He finds a way to help Mindy by helping him with promoting the business on social media—and doesn’t mind spending time with her! But, will she ever see him as more than just a friend? Then, a severe tropical storm hits, a child goes missing, and Mindy knows for sure that she is incompetent. How can any good come out of this mess?

I liked Regaining Mercy. As I said, it’s not just romance. Mindy is learning to be a mother, and how to get along with people. She is also learning that she is worth something, that she has value. She also had to learn to accept help when she needed to. I loved her friend Tina; she was so kind and caring.

I chuckled at one word in Chapter 8. The author is Australian, and she used an un-American terminology: “That’s when you rang earlier…” We hear that said here, in New Zealand—but in America you would say “called.” Oops!

I received a review copy of this book from the author, and these are my honest thoughts about it.

WARNING: The word “gosh” is used once, and two kisses are described.

About the Author:

Carolyn Miller is an Australian author of inspirational romance, particularly that of the Regency era, and loves drawing readers into fictional worlds where flawed people can grow in faith, hope and love through stories that show the truth of God’s grace in our lives.

More From Carolyn:

Have you ever wondered what might happen if a failed TV reality star was to return home to her narrow minded community? What if she’s been tarred and feathered with disgrace?

In our world of insta-fame, selfies and fakebook, I find it fascinating that so many people are entranced by so-called reality TV, with its editing and narratives and shiny-eyed hopefuls chasing money, love and dreams. But what if it doesn’t work out? What happens next? How do you resume ‘normal life’ when you’ve been living in a very artificial world?

I enjoy writing fiction that is grounded in reality, with realistic, flawed characters who are on a God journey to find faith and freedom. My contemporary and historical novels often see characters struggle with the choices they’ve made (don’t we all?), which is exactly what single mom Mindy is dealing with.

Combine Mindy’s challenges with those faced by gardening expert, Dermott, a man whose stone wall building skills are better than his way with women, or his inability to hide his attraction to his former co-worker’s younger sister.

Regaining Mercy encourages us to see ourselves as God does, to not let the labels of the past to shape our future. Along the way, readers will enjoy the honest portrayals of family, friendship and faith.

I’m so glad people are really enjoying my new contemporary books, where I can bring my love of gardens (& my horticulturalist hubby’s expertise!) to a new audience. Want to see what’s growing in my garden? Check out my website www.carolynmillerauthor.com – and you might even see some of my husband’s famous stone walls!

If you enjoy stories of hope, heart and humor, then you’ll be sure to enjoy this novel about a prodigal and the patient gardener who helps her find God’s mercy – and renewed hope for her heart.

Happy reading!

Carolyn

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