Blind Hope

Jesse and I have a busy weekend ahead of us! Our cousin Julie is coming up for a cookout tomorrow night with her friend Kourtney. It'll be a fun night of just relaxing and laughing until our sides ache. Then on Sunday, there's the parade in Gillett, and after that a cookout at my mom's. At last count she was up to 14 people attending! More fun with yummy food. Monday is Molly's 17th birthday (!!), so I'm taking her to see Eclipse in the theater. We've both read the Twilight series, so it will be nice to have a little bit of time with her before she heads off with her friends. The weather looks fantastic so I'll break out the sunscreen and some of the cute tops I've been picking up. I'm not sure if I'll be doing any reading or blogging, so in case I don't, have a wonderful 4th of July and make sure to take the time to remember how blessed we are to live in the US of A.

Blind Hope by Kim Meeder and Laurie Sacher is the latest volume about the wonderful things going on at Crystal Springs Youth Ranch which brings together abused horses and at-risk children for some amazing healing. Laurie, a team leader at the ranch, adopts an abused Australian shepherd, Mia, sight unseen and at first regrets the decision. Mia's rotten teeth make every lick from her pure torture from the terrible breath. She's also underweight and dirty with thick matted fur. But Mia's sparkling personality quickly wins Laurie over, so that when she learns from the vet that Mia has diabetes, is going blind, and won't live long, she is devastated by the news. Laurie can't bear to let the darling dog go, because the more time she spends with Mia, the more she learns about what it means to be a child of God. As Mia rests in Laurie's presence, despite being in a storm, Laurie learns to rest in God. When Mia goes completely blind and learns the she's safest when closely listening to her master's voice, Laurie learns the same. The format of Laurie telling the story to Kim sometimes breaks up the emotion of the tale and feels a bit awkward, but even with that, it's a powerful story of healing and love. It's one I will be passing along to family and friends!

Go here to read the first chapter and here to see a video about the book. 

Thank you to Waterbrook Multnomah Publishing Group for providing me with a copy of this book for review.

Today's picture is from a few weekends ago. I caught Mia laughing hysterically, and I just love it! I hope this weekend is just as much fun!