- Jen 3 Comments

What I Read in January

I’ve really been on a roll reading this year! It helps to have a Kindle Unlimited subscription 😉 (thanks, Dad and Mom!). At least half of the books I read in January were Kindle Unlimited books. I also read a few other books I’ve been wanting to read for a while! So let’s jump right in and see what I read last month.

What I Read in January | Grace to Grow Blog

  • I didn’t keep track of which ones I read in December or January, but since Christmas I’ve read at least 15 books by Jenn Faulk through Kindle Unlimited. I’ve talked before about how much I love her books, so I’m not going to take the time to describe them all, but I really enjoyed them! Her books alone are a good reason to subscribe to Kindle Unlimited, but I’m excited to see what else I find this year 🙂

  • A Memory Between Us and Blue Skies Tomorrow (Books 2 and 3 of the Wings of Glory series by Sarah Sundin) | I’ve said before how much I love Sarah Sundin’s books, and these two were no exception! These were the conclusion of her first WWII historical romance series, about three pilots who were brothers. Blue Skies Tomorrow was my favorite book of hers so far! I really loved the main characters and felt like I was rooting for them the whole time, as they each faced struggles that drew them together, then forced them apart, then drew them back together again as they grew in their faith. The last quarter or so of the book really kept me on the edge of my seat! 😉 I know that sounds kind of vague, but it was a really good story that makes you think and sticks with you for a while.

  • A Perfect Ambition (Book 1 of the Worthington Destiny series by Dr. Kevin Leman and Jeff Nesbit) | This was another book I found on Kindle Unlimited. It’s the first in a series about the 3 Worthington children, who are descendants of one of the richest families in America, going back multiple generations. One is an assistant attorney general, one is the head of the family’s stock holdings, and one is a entrepreneur who is passionate about the environment. In this book, a crisis happens that brings all three siblings together and changes the direction of their lives. It was pretty interesting, but it didn’t really have the typical plot structure of conflict, climax and resolution, so I didn’t think it was really a satisfying story. I guess I’ll need to read all three books to really get the point, and I might someday, but I’m not rushing out to buy them. If they were on Kindle Unlimited too, that would be another story 🙂

  • Nothing but Trouble, Double Trouble, and Licensed for Trouble (Books 1-3 of the PJ Sugar series by Susan May Warren) | Susan May Warren is one of my favorite authors, and I love that her different series cover so many different genres! These three books had a little mystery, a little comedy, and a little romance. They aren’t your typical Christian romance novels though; you have to read all three books to really get all of PJ’s story. She was known as the town troublemaker growing up, and these books tell her story of coming back to her hometown after 10 years as a nomad with many different jobs. She really struggled to find her place and her purpose in life, and to learn how to see herself the way God sees her rather than how she thinks everyone else sees her. Her new career as a private investigator makes for fun reading, too! She gets herself into quite the scrapes sometimes 🙂

I’m guessing I probably read about 8 of those 15 Jenn Faulk books in January, so that puts me at 14 books total so far this year. A little more than 10% of my goal of 100 books this year, so I think that’s a good start! I’ve never really kept track of the books I’ve read before, so this year I’m keeping a list in my new bullet journal. It’s really fun to watch the list of completed books grow! I also got new books from two of my favorite authors on January 31st, so look for reviews of those as part of my “What I Read in February” post.

What have you been reading? Found any good books lately? 🙂

- Jen Leave a comment

3 Awesome Pro-Life Organizations

I have always been pro-life. I have always believed that abortion is wrong and made sure I voted for pro-life political candidates. But in the last couple of years, I’ve started to become even more saddened by abortion, both for the babies who will never live and for the mothers who felt pressured or guilted into getting an abortion, and who will live with the consequences for the rest of their lives. I’ve started to realize that it’s not enough to say I’m pro-life, but that I need to be pro-active: I need to do something about it! I’m still not completely sure what that will look like for me, but I wanted to share with you some pro-life organizations who do a great job taking care of moms and babies. These are just a few groups that I know of and that I’ve supported, but I know there are many more great groups out there!

3 Awesome Pro-Life Organizations | Grace to Grow Blog

— CareNet | CareNet is a nationwide network of pregnancy centers. Here’s more about their vision and mission:

Vision – Care Net envisions a culture where women and men faced with pregnancy decisions are transformed by the gospel of Jesus Christ and empowered to choose life for their unborn children and abundant life for their families.   

Mission – Acknowledging that every human life begins at conception and is worthy of protection, Care Net offers compassion, hope, and help to anyone considering abortion by presenting them with realistic alternatives and Christ-centered support through our life-affirming network of pregnancy centers, organizations, and individuals.

There’s a CareNet pregnancy center in the area where I live, and I learned about them through several churches in the area. They do baby bottle fundraising drives, where churches pass out baby bottles for the congregation to fill up with change or cash. It’s a great way to get churches involved, and I’m glad my church participates! Pregnancy centers are definitely on the front lines of the pro-life movement, and CareNet is a great example of that.

— Embrace Grace | Embrace Grace is another great way for churches to get involved with promoting a culture of life! Here’s how they describe what they do:

WHAT WE DO:

Embrace Grace, Inc. is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization formed for the purpose of providing emotional, practical and spiritual support for single, young women and their families who find themselves in an unintended pregnancy. The primary goal of Embrace Grace is to empower churches across the nation to be a safe and non-judging place for the girls to run to when they find out they are pregnant, instead of the last place they are welcomed because of shame and guilt. 

WHY WE EXIST: 

Most churches advocate life and discourage women from getting abortions, but once a brave and courageous girl chooses life, a lot of times the church then steps away and has nothing to offer her for support at that point. She is then left with nine months of being scared, worried and feeling alone. She journeys into a season of being a single mom without direction and guidance from a spiritual family. This is where the Body of Christ can minister to women who are desperately searching for a Savior. This is where we can speak into their lives and hearts that will have an impact for generations to come! 

I love the heart behind their ministry and how they equip local churches to make a difference in their communities. More than just saying we’re pro-life, we need to be pro-love. Our message means nothing unless we actually do something to help the women facing unplanned pregnancies.

— Save the Storks | I first learned about Save the Storks from a friend of friend, who used to work for my college but now works for Save the Storks. They work with pregnancy centers in a variety of ways, but the most unique way is through mobile pregnancy centers called Stork Buses: “Our [mobile medical units] allow pregnancy resource centers to operate anywhere abortion-vulnerable women are likely to be – outside of abortion clinics, on university campuses, and at public events. These mobile pregnancy centers minimize the distance and roadblocks between women who most need the help of a pregnancy resource center. We believe going mobile is one of the most effective strategies for reaching women contemplating abortion. We’ve seen it profoundly expand the reach and increase the impact of pregnancy centers all over the nation.” They have 20 buses on the road and 20 more in production, and they’ve helped to save over 1,000 babies. This is a really unique and effective way to reach mothers and babies! They also sell some awesome t-shirts and accessories, and even their own coffee!

If you know of any other great pro-life organizations, please share them in the comments! I would love to learn more about other pro-life ministries and help them however I can. I’d love to hear your thoughts!

- Jen Leave a comment

What it Means to be a Woman

This weekend, there was a lot of news made by the Women’s March in Washington D.C. I hadn’t heard much about it until it happened, but I knew it was supposed to be a protest against President Trump and in support of women’s rights. After hearing some of the coverage, I have some thoughts I want to share about how I view womanhood and femininity a little differently than the media would lead you to believe most women do.

What it Means to be a Woman | Grace to Grow Blog

Watching that rally would make you think that being a woman means being mean, rude, and vulgar. It would make you think it means supporting a woman’s “right to choose” to kill the child in her womb, to discard the unique gift we have that men don’t: the ability to bring new life into the world. It would make you think it means believing that screaming and yelling and getting angry will change things. But to me, that’s not at all what it means to be a woman.

Being a woman means being an image-bearer of God, made to complement and work alongside men. It means loving and encouraging our families. It means bringing joy and beauty to the lives of the people we love. It means serving the people around us, showing compassion and empathy. It means teaching our daughters how to be ladies and teaching our sons how to be gentlemen. It means standing up and speaking out about the things that matter, but with love and truth, not anger and lies. It means protecting the vulnerable; the children in foster care, the unborn babies, and the young, scared mothers who think they have no choice but to abort their baby. It means reaching out and showing love, especially to the people we don’t agree with, even starting with the women who marched in Washington, many of whom are genuinely hurt and afraid. As women, we have the potential to greatly impact the world around us with the unique feminine traits God has given us, but only if we act out of love.

Those women made the news last weekend because they’re angry and upset. And you know what? I’m upset about some things too, and I’m glad we live in a country where we can talk about those things and then do something. I’m upset that tens of millions of babies have been killed over the last few decades, before they even had a chance at life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. I’m upset that a lot of their mothers felt trapped, like they had no choice. Some people celebrate these things as “women’s rights.” But what about the rights of the girls who never got the chance to become women? What about the mothers who were told the lie that it wasn’t really a baby, that they would be better off without the burden of a child anyway, and that no one cared enough about them to help them raise new life, that the only help available was to help their unborn children die? So yes, I’m upset. But mostly I’m upset with myself for not doing more to change things. Because you know what? Protesting doesn’t change anything. Screaming hatred for our new president doesn’t change anything. Only love, God’s love, has the power to truly change hearts and minds and souls. Only love can change things, and love, like faith, is a verb. It requires action, putting yourself out there, giving of yourself.

So whatever it is that upsets you, that makes you angry, don’t just protest, make a sign, post on Facebook, and go on your merry way. I’m all too guilty of that sometimes too, but I want to change. Whatever your issue is, go out there and fight for what you believe in. Start small; don’t worry about doing some grand gesture. Do what you can with what you have, where you are, but just do something. I’m reminding myself of this too. Because what it really means to be a woman? is to show love through action. Take the love and passion God has given you and use it to help support and encourage the people He’s called you to.

- Jen Leave a comment

2017 Goals + Word of the Year

Well, it’s taken me long enough, but I think I’ve finally decided on some goals for this year. I haven’t quite planned out all the steps I’ll need to take to accomplish them, but I’m headed in the right direction!

I’ve never really had “word of the year” before. I follow a lot of bloggers who pick a word to define how they want to live that year, but this is the first year I’ve tried to pick one for myself. It may change, but here’s what I have right now: discipline. That doesn’t sound very fun or exciting, I know! But it encompasses a lot of the goals I’ve set for this year. My main, overarching goal for the year is to create habits (while I’m still fairly young) to set myself up for success later in life, and I will definitely need discipline to do that. Then maybe next year, my word can be more fun 🙂

So, here are my goals for the year:

Spiritual:

  1. Set aside time to consistently read the Bible (possibly using She Reads Truth, especially during Lent, Advent, etc.).
  2. Read Fervent by Priscilla Shirer.
  3. Use my Val Marie Paper prayer journal. This is the one I have.

Physical:

  1. Commit to eating healthier (probably the Trim Healthy Mama plan).
  2. Drink more water! Work up to a gallon per day.
  3. Exercise regularly (find something I can stick with).
  4. Develop an evening routine and consistent times to go to bed/wake up.

Personal:

  1. Stick to my EveryDollar budget (save money for the future!).
  2. Read 100 books. That sounds like a lot, but I’m a fast reader and I got a Kindle Unlimited subscription for Christmas 🙂 I also want to read more nonfiction…maybe 1 out of every 5 books I read.
  3. Learn how to get the most out my bullet journal and update it regularly. I just started a bullet journal at the beginning of the year, and I’m still figuring out how to use it, what things to put in it, and what things I can leave out.

Business/Career:

  1. Blog regularly (2-3 times per week).
  2. Start a Facebook page for my blog and promote it more on social media.
  3. Interact more with other bloggers (commenting on posts, etc.).
  4. Take a blogging course. I’ve been looking at some free video courses on Skillshare and Building a Framework by Abby Lawson of Just a Girl and Her Blog. If you have any suggestions, let me know!
  5. Research some career possibilities I’m interested and figure out what the next steps would be (going back to school, etc.).

Well there you have it! My goals for 2017, which are written at the front of my bullet journal so hopefully I won’t forget 😉

What are your goals for 2017?

- Jen Leave a comment

2016 Favorites

I know we’re already 11 days into the year, so it might be a little late to still be talking about 2016, but I’ve kind of been getting a slow start to this year. In fact, I really haven’t given much thought to my goals for the year yet…this blog is called Grace to Grow, right? So I’m giving myself to grow into 2017 slowly. There’s nothing magical about January 1st! So in the meantime, I thought I would share some of my favorite things from last year.

TV Shows: When Calls the Heart, Designated Survivor, and Fixer Upper // Last winter I started watching When Calls the Heart, and I loved it! Something about the sweet community and the simpler times made it the perfect show to watch while working on an embroidery project. This fall, we also started watching Designated Survivor, and it’s been really good! It’s a really intriguing concept, and fascinating to think about how a situation like that might really play out. It’s a good inside look into life as the President, too. And then, of course, everyone’s favorite: Fixer Upper! It’s been popular for a while, but I didn’t start watching it until the newest season started in November. My sister and I watched quite a few episodes while she was home for Christmas break, and now we’re hooked 😉

New (to me) Authors: Sibella Giorello and Sarah Sundin  // I couldn’t pick just one favorite author I found last year! They have really different writing styles and they write in really different genres, but I really love their books 🙂 Sibella Giorello writes the Raleigh Harmon mystery series about a really smart, capable, FBI agent who works on some really tough cases. Sarah Sundin writes WWII romance, and her most recent series has a little bit of mystery too! I’ve either read or ordered every book by both of these authors, and I can’t wait for their next books!

Kindle Unlimited Author: Jenn Faulk // I read a few of Jenn Faulk’s books during my free trial of Kindle Unlimited, and I was really excited when my parents gave me a year’s subscription for Christmas! I’ve already read 15 of her books since Christmas 🙂

New Series: Montana Rescue by Susan May Warren // My favorite new series that started in 2016 is definitely the Montana Rescue series by Susan May Warren, including the Montana Fire prequel series that came out in the summer. I can’t wait for the next three books in the series to come out this year, starting with a new one at the end of this month!

New Book: The Magnolia Story // I read so much last year, I’m really having to stretch to come up with different categories for all my favorite books 🙂 So my favorite new stand-alone book from 2016 is The Magnolia Story by Chip and Joanna Gaines! I read it right after I started watching their show, Fixer Upper, and I loved getting to hear about how they met, how they got their business going, and how they’ve overcome the challenges they’ve faced. Now when I watch the show I feel like I know them a little bit better!

Podcast: The Boundless Show // I never really listened to podcasts before 2016, but now I have several that I really like! My favorite, though, would have to be the Boundless Show by Focus on the Family. It’s geared toward single adults, especially young adults, and I love the variety of topics they cover.

Blog: Phylicia Delta // Phylicia’s blog is one of my all-time favorites, and I always read every one of her posts. I especially enjoyed her productivity series in December, and I love that she does live videos on Facebook to go along with a lot of her posts!

Blog Post: I haven’t written a whole lot of blog posts, since I just started blogging in September, but I think this post was one of my favorites to write. I love reliving the vacation my family took to Alaska! That was the best vacation we’ve been on, and we all have so many fun memories.

Instagram Photo: I love this photo I posted last April! It really shows how crazy our weather can be in the spring 😉 Plus, it turns out that this is one of the most recent pictures we have of our dog, who had to be put down in October.

Well, now that I’ve relived some favorite moments from 2016, it’s time to get started on planning for 2017!

What were some of your 2016 favorites?

- Jen Leave a comment

2016: Year in Review

We’re in the final days of 2016, and honestly, I’m glad it’s almost over. This has not been one of my favorite years, mostly because of my job situation and struggling with finding a purpose and some semblance of a career. That struggle is definitely not over, but I’m hoping it gets better in 2017! It’s been kind of a rough year for our country too, with terrorist attacks, natural disasters, and of course our recent contentious election. But there have been some really good things about this year too, and that’s what I want to focus on today! So here’s what went down in 2016.

January: I don’t remember too much about January, honestly! But I do remember one fun day I had with my grandmother, when we went to New Hampshire to see Ted Cruz speak. We left early in the morning, stopped for coffee on the way, and got to go out to lunch after. It turned out to be a really fun day!

February: In February, I got to spend a few days house- and dog-sitting for my grandparents while they were traveling. It was fun to get a little taste of living on my own! Then, my parents and I were able to spend a weekend visiting my sister at college.

March: March was a busy month! We had our presidential caucus, which I volunteered at, right at the beginning of my sister’s spring break. Then I had my wisdom teeth out a few days later. That wasn’t exactly fun, but I’m glad my sister was home! I’m pretty sure March was also the month I bought my blog domain and hosting, but I didn’t start writing for a while.

April: A lot of fun things happened in April! Near the beginning of the month, I made my first solo road trip down to visit my sister for her birthday (and a Newsboys concert!). Then at the end of the month, I was elected to be a delegate to the Republican National Convention in July.

May: In May, I started my job as part-time secretary at the Christian school I graduated from. My sister came home from college for the summer, and a week or so later, we had family come in from all over the country for my grandfather’s 80th birthday party.

June: Nothing really big or exciting happened in June; it was more of fun memories of spending time with my sister. We went to the beach, went to Panera a few times for lattes and scones, went to Bible study, went shopping, did errands…plus, school got out, so I was able to switch to working half days!

July: This was the month when I did the biggest, craziest thing I’ve probably ever done! My mom, sister, and I drove to Cleveland with one of my mom’s friend for the RNC. I was a delegate, my mom and her friend were alternates, and my sister was along for the ride ? It was quite an experience, and definitely an honor to represent my state. I’m so glad we could go, and even though my dad had to stay home and work, it was a fun family road trip with the added bonus of our friend! Another fun event was the wedding I got to take pictures of with my sister. That was my first time as her second shooter!

August: The Rio Olympics were this month! It’s always fun to watch our athletes (and see the USA blow every other country out of the water!), and I especially loved watching the women’s gymnastics. I wish I could be friends with those girls! We also spent this month trying to do fun things before my sister had to go back to college, like getting up super early to drive to the beach and see the sunrise. Then my mom and I drove my sister back to school and got her settled in at the end of the month.

September: I tried my hand selling something at our small town fair! We’ve talked about it for years, and this year we finally decided to sell iced coffee. My family helped a lot; we just wished my sister could have been there! She did come home a couple of weeks later for my birthday, and we had a great weekend going to a for KING & COUNTRY concert and going to a high school football game for the first time! This was also the month I really started blogging, at least semi-regularly ?

October: In October, I got to drive down and visit my sister for her fall break! It was just a 3-day weekend, but we got to do a lot of fun things because she didn’t have classes, work, or much homework. Plus, almost everyone had gone home for the break, so we pretty much had the place to ourselves!

November: The first fun thing about November was that a Chick-fil-A finally opened in my home state! It’s an hour and a half away, but we did get to make the trip the first weekend it was open, and it seemed like everyone in the state had the same idea. I also started my second job as a grocery store cashier, to add to my school secretary income. Then, of course, we celebrated Thanksgiving and started getting ready for Christmas.

December: December was a busy but fun month, getting ready for Christmas! At the beginning of the month, my mom and I spent a couple of weekends helping with the Christmas Spectacular at our church. My sister came home around the middle of the month, and I had a couple of weeks off from my job at the school. We had a great Christmas, going to church on Christmas Eve and Christmas morning, then celebrating with my dad’s family that afternoon.

And now here we are! It’s been a year of highs and lows for sure. I love taking this time between Christmas and New Year’s to reflect on the good memories, try to learn from my mistakes, and figure out where I want to be this time next year and how I can get there. I’m excited for 2017 and my dreams and goals for this blog, and I would be honored if you want to follow along!

How was your 2016?

- Jen 1 Comment

The Light Has Come

Today is the day we’ve been waiting for. Our Messiah is finally here!

There were 400 years between the Old and New Testaments. 400 years of silence from God, 400 years of waiting, wondering, the memory fading…no prophets to speak on His behalf, to remind them of His promise to send a Messiah who would finally fulfill the Law. 400 years of wondering if it was real, if He had really talked to them, if He was really coming to save them like He promised…and then He came. Quietly, humbly, without fanfare, born in a stable to a poor teenage girl and her fiance. Under the radar of everyone except the shepherds, told by the angels, and the wise men, led by the star. The silence was broken, but almost no one knew. God was with us, one of us, part of the world He created, in a way no one expected or anticipated. But that’s the way He works, because if we could understand Him, we wouldn’t need Him. Christmas shows us that we need Him, more than we could ever know. But He knows, and He came for us because He loves us.

This part of Friday’s reading in the She Reads Truth Advent reading plan was something my soul needed, and maybe yours does too: “This is God’s pattern. He always shows up. He always saves. He is always coming back, and that is never not true, no matter how thick the silence…the silence will end, the darkness will abate, and Christ is coming back.” This Christmas, there is a lot of darkness in the world. It may seem like God is silent, in your life and in the world. But Christmas is His promise that He is coming back for us, to set the world right again.

I hope that this Christmas brings you time to celebrate and reconnect with your family and friends, and experience the joy of the season. I hope you also have some time to reflect on and truly appreciate the great gift God gave us when He broke His silence some 2,000 years ago. Merry Christmas!

“The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of deep darkness a light has dawned…For unto us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on His shoulders. and He will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the greatness of His government and peace there will be no end. He will reign on David’s throne and over His kingdom, establishing and upholding it with justice and righteousness from that time on and forever. The zeal of the Lord Almighty will accomplish this.” Isaiah 9:2, 6-7

- Jen Leave a comment

The Most Wonderful Time of the Year

I can’t believe Christmas is less than two weeks away! It seems like Thanksgiving was just yesterday. There are so many things to love about the Christmas season, I wish it would last just a little bit longer! Today I thought it would be fun to share some of my favorite things about December and the Christmas season, so here they are, in no particular order.

Christmas lights, buffalo plaid, and homemade peppermint mocha can make any day merry and bright ?❤️☕️

A photo posted by Jen Newendyke (@jenewendyke) on

  • Peppermint mocha // Whether it’s Starbucks, Dunkin Donuts, or Coffeemate creamer, I can’t get enough of peppermint mocha coffee! It’s my absolute favorite this time of year. I’ve even come up with a quick and easy way to make it at home: put a packet of peppermint hot chocolate in your mug, brew a cup of strong coffee in your Keurig (or coffeepot), add a little milk or half and half, and voila! Peppermint mocha! I’m sure I’m not the first person who thought of that, but it is an easy way to get your peppermint mocha fix (and cheaper than Starbucks, that’s for sure!)
  • Bath and Body Works Winter Candy Apple // This is my all-time favorite scent from Bath and Body Works. I don’t shop there very often, but when I do, it’s almost always to buy Winter Candy Apple shower gel, lotion, hand soap, etc. at Christmastime!
  • Christmas lights // Every year, my dad’s cousin (who lives right down the road from us) decks out his house and front yard with tens of thousands of Christmas lights, and he has them set up to flash along with some Christmas music. He even has an FM transmitter so you can listen to the music in your car while you watch the lights! It’s our family’s annual tradition to go to his house every Thanksgiving night to see him turn the lights on for the first time. As much as I enjoy his outdoor lights, I really love the indoor lights we have at our house: on the Christmas tree, on the mantel, and the electric candles in the windows. There’s just something so cozy and peaceful about Christmas lights at night!
  • The Christmas Spectacular // The annual Christmas program at my church is called the Christmas Spectacular, and it really lives up to its name! They put on 13 performances every year; it’s a mix of dance, drama, music, and an awesome light show. We love to go watch it, and my mom and I also helped as greeters at several of the shows this year. It wouldn’t be Christmas without the Spectacular!
  • Christmas Eve Candlelight Service // One of my absolute favorite Christmas traditions is going to our church’s Christmas Eve candlelight service with my family. We sing Christmas carols, see a few scenes from the Spectacular, and then at the end, we all light the little candles we got on our way in and hold them while we sing Silent Night. It’s a great time to take a moment right before Christmas day and remember why we really celebrate.
  • Hallmark Christmas movies // Sure, they can be kind of cheesy, but they’re also fun, lighthearted, and full of Christmas cheer. And there are new ones every week for the entire months of November and December!
  • Peppermint everything // This kind of goes along with the first item on my list, but I’m a sucker for anything peppermint this time of year. There’s peppermint yogurt, peppermint ice cream, peppermint brownies…pretty much anything you can imagine, including peppermint Oreos! Those are really good dipped in coffee…I know it sounds strange, but it’s delicious!

What are your favorite things about the Christmas season?

- Jen Leave a comment

What I Read in November

What I Read in November | Grace to Grow Blog

Despite having a new job and Thanksgiving preparations take up more of my time in November, I was still able to read 11 books. I found some good ones that month! Plus, one of my favorite authors, Robin Jones Gunn, released a new book: the first book in her Christy and Todd: The Baby Years series. I loved the Christy Miller series growing up, and I’m so glad she’s still writing Christy and Todd’s story!

But I’m getting ahead of myself! Here are all the books I read in November:

Through Waters Deep and Anchor in the Storm by Sarah Sundin (Books 1 and 2 in the Waves of Freedom series) // This is the second World War 2 series I’ve read by Sarah Sundin, and her most recent one. In the first book, Through Waters Deep, Mary Stirling works at the Boston Navy Yard. It’s there that she meets Ensign Jim Avery, and they are soon drawn into an investigation of a saboteur on Jim’s destroyer, the USS Atwood. In Anchor in the Storm, Jim’s sister and Mary’s roommate, Lillian Avery, is struggling to find her place as a female pharmacist. When Jim’s best friend, Ensign Archer Vandenberg, notices his men struggling with nerves and drowsiness, he enlists Lillian’s help to uncover a connection to the large sedative prescriptions she’s been filling. This series has the same rich WW2 details and sweet romance as her previous series, with the added bonus of mystery and intrigue. It’s the perfect blend of crime-solving, romance and history. I can’t wait for the third book to come out in March!

Where Treetops Glisten by Cara Putman, Sarah Sundin, and Tricia Goyer // I decided to buy this book because I’ve been reading everything I can find by Sarah Sundin. This is a collection of three Christmas novellas, following three siblings through WW2. I love that the stories all tie in to a Christmas song from the time period (White Christmas, I’ll Be Home for Christmas, and Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas). Three wonderful stories, perfect to read during the Christmas season!

Where’d You Go, Bernadette by Maria Semple // This isn’t the kind of book I normally gravitate to, but I’ve heard good things about it from several people and found it on sale at Books a Million. The story format is a little hard to get used to at first; it’s written as a collection of e-mails, notes, and correspondence that we later find out was pieced together by Bernadette’s daughter. It turned out to be a story that held my attention, and was pretty funny and eccentric. A story about a somewhat dysfunctional family, a mom who has lost part of her identity and is struggling with anxiety and fitting in with the social hierarchy of her daughter’s school, and a daughter who loves her mom no matter what–it’s somehow relatable, even though parts of the story can seem far-fetched. Overall, I enjoyed it.

Resolutions, The Plan, and Taking Chances by Jenn Faulk // I always enjoy Jenn Faulk’s books! Whenever I’m in between books, I like to find one of hers I haven’t read yet and download it to my Kindle for a fun read. These three were no exception; I loved reading about new characters and seeing how they tied into the storylines of her other books I’ve read. I can always count on Jenn Faulk for a fun, lighthearted romance with characters I wish I could be friends with and a spiritual message that never seems forced or fake.

A December Bride by Denise Hunter (A Year of Weddings Novella Book 1) // I decided to re-read this book after watching the Hallmark movie based on it, to see how they compared. Even though they had some differences, I really enjoyed both the movie and the book! It’s a story of a broken engagement, then a fake engagement that (spoiler alert!) turns real. It’s a novella, so it’s a quick read, but it’s a really touching story.

Stone and Spark & Stone and Snow by Sibella Giorello (Books 1 and 2 in the Raleigh Harmon Mysteries series) // I’ve talked before about how much I love the Raleigh Harmon series. When I finished the 6 books in that series, I found out that Sibella Giorello had written a three-book series about the fifteen-year-old Raleigh. I read the first two books in November and loved them! This series is an inside look at the events that first interested Raleigh in geology and solving crimes, and the people in her life that made her who she is. Her character and her skills were really refined by fire, between helping her best friend deal with tragedy and struggling to relate to her mentally ill mother and her father as he tries to help her mother, along with the usual high school drama. It’s really interesting to get a look at her life while her father was alive and before she became an accomplished FBI agent and professional geologist.

Sandy Toes by Robin Jones Gunn (Book One in the Christy and Todd: The Baby Years series) // The Christy Miller series by Robin Jones Gunn was one of my favorites when I was a teenager, and I’m so glad that her story has continued through The College Years series, The Married Years series, and now the first in a three-book The Baby Years series. I love reading about Christy and Todd as they grow up, get married, and start a family. They’re such relatable characters, and I wish we could be friends in real life and that I could babysit their kids 😉 even though they only have one as of this book. It’s fun to follow along and see them learn and grow through each stage of life, and this book showed what I imagine to be a very accurate portrayal of the struggles a young couple faces as Todd tries to find his place in a career and as they prepare for a baby. I can’t wait for the next two books in the series!

Have you read any of these books? What have you been reading lately?

- Jen Leave a comment

December Goals

December Goals | Grace to Grow Blog

It’s hard to believe it’s December already! Soon it will be 2017 and time for New Year’s resolutions, but for now, we still have a month left of 2016, so let’s make the most of it! Here’s how I did with my November goals:

  1. Write at least two blog posts per week. I ended up posting 6 times in November, so not quite twice a week, but not bad considering I started a second job and am still getting used to my new schedule.
  2. Read 8 books. I definitely accomplished this and then some 🙂
  3. Set up a budget. I know I’ve been putting this off for a few months, and I still didn’t get it done. Now that I have a second job, I’ll have a better idea this month of the total amount I have to work with.
  4. Finish my machine embroidery project. I actually totally forgot about this! I’ve been busy with two jobs, Thanksgiving, and then Christmas preparations…oops! This is still something I want to do though.
  5. Get a good start on buying/making Christmas presents. I did really well with this one! I think I’ve bought everything I need except a gift card or two, and almost everything I have is wrapped. I’m really excited I got that done before December! Now I still have a couple of things to make, so hopefully I can set aside the time to finish those without rushing right before Christmas.

Now, here’s what I want to accomplish in December:

  1. Work on pre-scheduling blog posts. I would still like to work towards the goal of two posts per week, but I think I’ll have an easier time accomplishing that if I’m not scrambling to write something at the last minute. Sunday is the one day a week I know I don’t have to work, so my plan is to set aside time on Sunday afternoons to write posts for the week.
  2. Consistently follow the She Reads Truth Advent reading plan and read The Greatest Gift by Ann Voskamp every day. I posted here about why I’ve decided to read these two things, and I want to be disciplined and read them every day instead of falling behind and trying to catch up.
  3. Set up a budget. Now that I have a better idea of how much I’ll be making every month, I’m finally going to set up a budget on Mint! No more excuses!
  4. Finish making Christmas presents. This should be pretty easy to accomplish, since I kind of need to get them done by Christmas 😉 But I don’t want to wait until the last minute!
  5. Do some Christmas baking. I want to make the time to enjoy Christmas traditions, especially once my sister gets home from college in a couple of weeks.
  6. Start working on goals for the new year. It would be nice to get a head start on that before New Year’s Eve 😉

What are your goals for December and/or Christmas plans?