Recommended Recent Reads

I've been on the receiving end of two books from author-friends within the past couple of months.  A former student wrote one of them, chronicling her struggle with anorexia.  A blogger friend wrote the other, a collection of short essays about women in the Bible.  Both books were interesting and inspiring, both were about real women's struggles, even though they lived centuries apart.

Tiffany Schroeder Bartell's book, Healing a Hungry Heart, is honest, poignant, and, ultimately inspiring, especially for young women who struggle with the same issues of self-esteem and perfectionism that Tiffany did.  It is also instructive for people like me, someone who is "in" the book as one of her teachers who had no idea what she was going through at the time, although I remember wondering at things I now understand after reading the book.  Tiffany found her way out of the depths her despair and now helps others with similar struggles.

Trudy Morgan-Cole's lovely devotional/inspirational book, Daughters of Grace, is the perfect book to give your mother, your sister, your daughter, your best friend.  But it is also a great book to share with the men in your life.  It's a collection of essays about 26 women in the Bible, their struggles, their triumphs, and how they relate to 21st century Christian women...and men, too.  Beautifully illustrated, the book paints amazing pictures of lives that inspire.  More to the point, Trudy's words paint the pictures clearly and beautifully.

Both these books are good reads--for you and a friend!

Hand Crafts at Home`

I've recently acquired some pretty handcrafted items, some practical, the others just decorative. They are the kind of thing, though, that just makes me smile when I see them. Two of the towels I found at the Blue Door Peddler in Maine. The other (middle) I found in one of the shops I browsed through in Vermont in October.

The hanky dress came in the mail last week from a long-time friend of mine. She actually sent two. I'm not sure what I will do with them. Perhaps hang them on my tree? I don't know, but they sure are pretty =) (She made them!)