Recap Book Chat Recap Book Chat

Kendra, a 21 year old history major, comes to Cotswold, England to interview Isabel Macfarland, a famous artist on her 93rd birthday. “The cottage was as cozy and inviting as one of Tolkien’s hobbit holes.” Kendra feels a bond with Isabel who says, “We first borns are driven aren't we? We have to be. There is no one leaving bread crumbs for us on the trail ahead.”

Why did Isabel decide to tell her story after decades of secret keeping? Maybe Kendra was chosen because of her belief that…” information is only half of any story about people. Personal experience is the other part.” When the interview begins Isabel interjected,
“I’m not 93 and my name’s not Isabel.”

We are taken back to 1940s London. We meet Emmy, a 15 year old who dreams of designing bridal gowns and her younger sister, Julia, who’s 7, she depends on her sister for everything. Their mum never married and the girls have different dads. Julia’s father visits on occasion but Emmy’s is never mentioned. When Emmy meets Mrs. Crofton, a bridal shop owner, she gets a job and a promise to be introduced to Mrs. Crofton’s nephew, a fashion designer, Emmy thinks she is on her way. But the war has other ideas! Her mum sends Emmy and Julia out of England with all the evacuated children, crushing Emmy’s dreams.

Charlotte is the wonderful woman that opens up her home to the girls. “Thistle House is for people who love and care for one another. We respect one another in this house…We carry one another’s burdens…and hold one another’s hand when the way seems hopeless…”

Believe it or not the Emmy leaves to return to England to meet the fashion designer, Julia discovers her plan and demands to go with her. It was the 7th of September, the day the Blitz began, while Emmy was at her meeting and Julia was waiting at their flat and the girls became separated!

“Fear is worse than pain. Pain is centralized…Fear is heaviness…Fear is not only a leaden foe, but a liar as well.”

Please listen in on Kate and Sheila’s recap on Secrets of a Charmed Life by the tremendously talented Susan Meissner. Happy Reading dear listeners!

Books mentioned:
Dear Mrs. Bird
A Place to Hang the Moon
The Last Bookshop in London


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What a blessed episode! Join Kate and Sheila as they interview Jacob Hudgins, the author of House Rules, the book we’ve been highlighting on Thursday’s Bonus-Bite episodes. He shares how he came to write the book and what he and his wife have learned on their adventure of parenting children together. We appreciate his dedication to putting God first and writing in a straightforward style that helps us amplify God’s Word in our everyday lives. The title is
House Rules but it could also enrich everything from the workplace to the classroom to Nana and Pop’s place.

Jacob’s books can be purchased on Amazon. He can be contacted at his website,
www.jacobhudgins.com We are so grateful he took the time to be with us today!

His motivation to clarify what was truly important in the Hudgins’ household was inspiring. Each chapter is finally honed and ends with suggestions that (when put into practice) will move us closer to God. We want to let God show us where to draw that line in the sand.

Parenthood, like life, has seasons. Whether we find ourselves in the newness and growth of spring, the heat and energy of summer, the bliss and beauty of fall, or the slowing down and gathering around the fire in winter, we all will be blessed to follow these biblical guidelines within our circle of influence.

Please join us as we meet the author of House Rules, School of Christ, A Year with Jesus and Humility Practice and learn how God has led him and his wife to be intentional on this journey called life.


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Greetings dear listeners! Please join Kate and Sheila for Rule #5–No Gossip Allowed in Jacob Hudgins’ book, House Rules. We have an enlightening interview with Jacob coming out on Tuesday. We hope you’ll join us! What does God’s Word say about gossip? The Bible uses words like slander, speak evil of, whisperer, reviling, back-biting, busybodies, talebearer, and meddling. Whew! Quite a list! “...blending together the various biblical expressions, gossip is saying bad things about other people to ruin their reputations or condemn them, especially when they are not present.” In Christian homes, there is no gossip allowed, we want to build up not tear down.

Jacob gives different reasons why we gossip, such as: laziness, jealousy, revenge, or for fun.
Gossip is not a victimless vice, it hurts not only the one being thrown under the bus and also the thrower. Is it a lack of gratitude on our part that unleashes the gossiping gargoyle, destroyer of trust and wrecker of relationships (with people and with God)???

Help! Improvement Wanted! “For lack of wood the fire goes out…” Prov 26:20
Let’s start with us-Be aware. What are my intentions? “The fact that I know something doesn’t mean I have to say it.”
Ask bold clarifying questions-”Is that what they said or just what you heard?
Push back with compassion and understanding-”break the self-centeredness cycle”
Complimenting the victim can change the tone.
Use caution at home not to take the bridle off our tongues, or as Kate said, “Never put stretchy pants on the tongue” Bahaha! We must strive to build and create (like our Heavenly Father) instead of destroy and distort.
We thank you for striving to be intentional with us as we journey toward knowing God better!
Happy Growing and Reading!!!



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The Horse and His Boy is book #3 in C.S. Lewis’s Chronicles of Narnia timeline. Readers meet Bree, a powerful and confident war horse, whose homeland is Narnia, hence the reason he can speak to Shasta, a poor fisherman’s boy, on the brink of being sold into slavery. Bree convinces him to escape. When Bree finds out Shasta can’t ride he asks him if he can fall. “I suppose anyone can fall,” said Shasta. “I mean can you fall and get up again without crying and mount again and fall again and yet not be afraid of falling?” What a vivid picture of perseverance!

Shasta and Bree’s path crosses with a princess fleeing from an arranged marriage, Avaris. They start journeying to Narnia together but are separated when Shasta is suddenly mistaken for a prince and whisked away.

Meanwhile, Avaris overhears an evil prince plotting to capture Queen Lucy in Narnia and destroy another land along the way. When Avaris and Shasta reunite they ride for all they’re worth to alert King Lune of the trouble. Bree says he can run no more and even gives the reason why. “But one of the worst results of being a slave and being forced to do things is that when there is no one to force you anymore you find you have almost lost the power of forcing yourself.”

Aslan tells Shasta, “I was the lion…I was the lion who forced you to join Arvais. I was the cat who comforted you among the houses of the dead. I was the lion who drove the jackals from you while you slept. I was the lion who gave the horses the new strength of fear for the last miles so they should read King Lune in time. And I was the lion you do not remember who pushed the boat in which you lay, a child near death, so that it came to shore where a man sat wakeful at midnight to receive you.”

Guidance, courage, justice, and forgiveness are some of the impactful themes wonderfully woven through this gripping tale. Won’t you join Kate and Sheils as they saddle up for Narnia? Happy Reading dear friends!



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“Sometimes little things matter a lot. Words change things. Words start wars—and end wars. Words start marriages—-and end marriages. Words make us feel like we can’t go on—and make us feel like we can. We speak with love.” Jacob Hudgins shows us in House Rules why Rule #4 We Speak with Love is so vital for families. James 3:7-8 tells us that the tongue cannot be tamed, that it is restless evil, full of deadly poison. Doesn’t that sound serious?
Time should be taken before speaking so our family hears the point not the anger. We must watch what comes out of our mouths because it reflects what is in our hearts. As Eph 4:29 says, “Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear.” Don’t you love that terminology?
Build up vs destroy, which has a path for growth? Here’s this week’s diamante:

Anger
Harsh, destructive
Provoking, attacking, labeling
Insults, tone, patience, consistency
Nurturing, growing, benefiting
Kind, constructive
Love

Thanks for joining Kate and Sheila as they seek to fill the quiver of families with godly wisdom that can impact today’s homes in such a way that will glorify our Father in heaven!


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Let’s look back to a simpler time, when kids played outside until dark and phones were attached to the walls. Have you seen the movie Secretariat where the father says to his sons, “Get your devices off the table,?” The devices were their toy airplanes, that always cracks me up but it also is a reminder of how much things have changed. Ordinary Grace by William Kent Krueger reminds us of a less hurried time. He wrote from his hear masterfully weaving together a novel of historical fiction, matters of grief, coming of age (bildungsroman), and mystery.

The story is told from Frank Drum’s viewpoint as he, now a grown man, looks back to the summer when he was an unsettled kid of thirteen grappling with what manhood was all about in his mixed-up world. His younger brother, Jake, has a stuttering problem. He also has deep insight. He didn’t fake things, he was the real deal. Ariel, their talented older sister, was soon to be on her way to Juliard. Their father, Nathan Drum, pastors 3 churches, ministers to his war buddy,Gus, and pours into the whole community. “My father and his great embracing heart.”
On the other end of the caring spectrum we meet Ruth Drum, distant mom and wife, being a preacher’s wife is not what she signed up for.

Kruegar shows the after effects of WWII. “I think that it wasn’t so much the war as what we took into the war. Whatever cracks were already there the war forced apart, and what we might otherwise have kept inside came spilling out.”

The novel starts with an accidental death of a small boy then the boys find a homeless man who died of natural causes. Next, there’s a suicide attempt and a murder! Not a book for youngsters, the content is heavy and the language is like that of sailors, but for readers that are ready it is a gift. We are shown the different ways people work through grief.
“Hope was what my father held to. My mother chose despair.”
“I (Frank)felt ______’s death had shoved me through a doorway into a world where I was a stranger.”
Jake said, “If we put everything in Gods’ hands, maybe we won't have to be afraid anymore.”

Please join Kate and Sheila as they dive into the 1960s. Blessings to you, dear readers!




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