Spring is here!

It's a beautiful, bright sunny day today, and it's finally starting to feel like spring is here! I've started spring cleaning early, cleaning under the couch and in the cushions. It's amazing what migrates there.

Please pray for my cousin Trisha, even just for a moment. Trisha is 34 with two children ages 6 years and 1 year. She was diagnosed with ovarian cancer a couple of weeks ago, and through the testing they found cancer in her lungs and colon. She just finished chemotherapy and surgery for those cancers and now they found cancer in all of her lymph nodes. Pray for God to place his healing touch on this family.

This weekend I finished two books. The New Thought Police by Tammy Bruce and Cape Refuge by Terri Blackstock. I've been reading a lot of conservative political books lately and between them and Donald Miller, I've come to realize that my faith in God should have nothing to do with my politics or my patriotism. It's a hard thing to separate sometimes because the media often seems to think that all conservatives are right-wing Christians, and it's easy to buy into that ideology. No more, not for me. My faith in the Lord supercedes my loyalty to anything else. Thank you Donald Miller!

The New Thought Police is a well thought out book by Tammy Bruce, former chairwomen of the LA chapter of NOW who is pro-gun, pro-choice, and lesbian. I read her more recent book The Death of Right and Wrong on a recommendation from Amazon.com and was at first taken aback by the author's own description of herself. This was not someone I expected to have much to agree with. Both in that book and The Thought Police I was surprised again and again at her matter of fact discussions of how liberalism is changing how we think about ourselves, our children and our country. One of the things I value most about her writings is that she is rarely vitriolic in her anger. Reading Michael Savage is also educational, but his insults and rage makes my stomach turn. Bruce turns much of her anger toward the organization of NOW, but considering how she has been burned by them, her anger is righteous. I find myself respecting Bruce and nodding my head in agreement with her often. More great reads in this style are Spin Sisters by Myrna Blyth and Bias by Bernard Goldberg. These books will change how you view the news.

Cape Refuge by Terri Blackstock is the first in the self-titled series. Blackstock is a wonderful Christian suspense author, and I'm currently working my way through all of her writings. (Books 2-4 in the series are in the very tall stack of books by my bed) Sometimes the stories can be a bit formulaic, but her message of salvation makes her work rise above the rest. Morgan and Blair Owens are devastated by the brutal murders of their parents and determined to find the killer. When Morgan's husband, Jonathan, is arrested for the murders, the women have to overcome their differences and work together to save not only Jonathan, but the legacy their parents had created in the town. If you like Tami Hoag or Julie Garwood's contemporary thrillers, you'll definitely enjoy Terri Blackstock. My one complaint is Blair. For someone whose life is in danger, she certainly takes a lot of lonely walks. I was ready to shake her by the end of the book, and I hope that her character becomes more sympathetic in the second book.

I'm still reading Donald Miller's Searching for God Knows What. What a truly amazing author. He moves me to tears and I want to share what I've read and learned with everyone around me. I can't say it enough: read his books!

Just another quick note, I was thrilled to find Lisa Samson responded to my post from Saturday. She is one of my favorite authors, and I swear that Mia (my three-year-old) could be the model for Trixie in Club Sandwich. And on that note, her pants need to be changed. :( Enjoy the beautiful day