Book Review: "Never the Bride" by Cheryl McKay & Rene Gutteridge

Being new to reviewing books via blog post, I can only pray that I am doing this correctly. :) So here goes nothing!

I recently read the book, "Never the Bride" written by Cheryl McKay & Rene Gutteridge. These are the notes that I wrote down while reading this book.

Before I am even out of the first chapter, I have decided that I really don't care for the main character. She is a fanatic! I am thinking to myself, that I am glad she had to change her own tire, and it is a good thing that she isn't married! Little "Miss Perfect" needs to step down from her perfection platform.

The story is really good though. It flows very smoothly. This girl is way too uptight! I suppose that because her life is so totally opposite mine, that I just cringe at her obsessions. Until I read this book, I had never heard of speed dating. I didn't understand what was going on until guy #2 was finished.

I personally don't care for the "God coming to life" part. To me, that seems a bit on the blasphemy level. But knowing that a lot of readers won't take it to heart as I do, I guess is okay.

I started to like her when she came to the end of her 24 hours. It is funny at first, I had no sympathy for this over obsessive female, and then she seemed to become real, when she and Blake were at the construction site. Then she had to go and blow it all by making the crack about Cover Girl and Walmart. That right there tells me that I would never be accepted in her mind ( I know, this is totally fiction and I am getting way too emotionally involved in this character) I happen to love Cover Girl, and Walmart, is all I have to shop at, for anything in my real world! Then as she starts acting upon what God asks her to do, she is a more likable person. At least to me she is.

Too good to be true! BAM! She has to go and do things her way again. At this point, I am so disgusted with the choice she has made with the ex-boyfriend, I don't even want to read the rest of the story. I am just mad at her! (What can I say? I really get into my characters. :))

Okay now that she comes to her senses and completely listens to God, I am once again relaxed with her. I totally fell out laughing with the old woman in the church that has the hearing problem. The birthday was spectacular!

Stupid again! Oh she drives me crazy! I just want to shake her, yell at her, tell her what a fool she is! Then comes Jonathan! I totally love him. Wouldn't you know it, that the one God has picked is just right for her?

As hard as it was for me to relax with this story, in the end it helped me to once again see just how truly stubborn we as humans can be. I see too, that in reality I am not too far removed from Jessie Stone. I need to trust God with my life and stop trying to do things my own way.

Thank you for this book. I really did enjoy it!!

Author Bios:

Cheryl McKay is the co-author (with Frank Peretti) of the Wild and Wacky, Totally True Bible Stories series, which has sold nearly 200,000 copies, and the screenwriter of the award-winning film The Ultimate Gift. Rene Gutteridge has published thirteen novels including Ghost Writer, My Life as a Doormat, the Boo Series, the Occupational Hazards Series, and the Storm Series. Together, McKay and Gutteridge are the authors of The Ultimate Gift, a novelization based on the feature film and popular book by the same title.

After Maine

Oh my goodness!! Praise the Lord above!!! Our trip was the best in the world! My brother and his family are so gracious and beautiful!!! I miss them so very much!!! We had such a wonderful time and I truly hated that we had to come home. Oh I sware, if it weren't for the fact that my husband just absolutly could not handle the very rough winters up there, I would move there in a heartbeat!!!

They have amazing people in their lives!! From the nurses that come in to care for my neice to the people of their church and homeschooling community!! Love and kindness abound all over there!! Thank you Lord for giving me and my family this once in a lifetime opportunity to experience pure, nonjudgemental, hospitality at its finest!!!

May in Maine!!!

What blessings that we receive, and yet in no uncertian terms, do we deserve them. My life long dream is coming true this week. We are going to Maine!!! Words can't describe how excited I am. I am so busy, I just can't believe that I am taking the time today, of all days to update this blog. I have so much to do. UGH!!

We will get to visit my brother and his family. He has children that I have never met and my brother has never met my son. Oh it is going to be a very sweet reunion.

Christmas Letter 2008

I am going to post my 2008 Christmas letter here for all of those that I don't have any other way to communicate with. Mainly online friends, but there might be a few relatives that I may have missed as well. (Totally unintentional)

Hello From Mississippi,

It has been and interesting year to say the least. Elizabeth is now 10 and Anthony is now I. It is hard to believe that I have been a mommy for 10 years!

In May, we rented a car and spent a weekend in a rented cabin in Gatlinburg, TN. We met up with a group of ladies that I met online from the site that I am a Global Moderator on. Online Christian Parents. It was really nice and the atmosphere was beautiful and we wee very blessed by the fellowship that we shared with the friends.

While there, w spent two days at Dollywood theme park. It was fun and the children had a blast!!! We went on some real wild rides that I don't think Elizabeth and Anthony would have gone on had they known what was in store. lol

In July, my job at Milwaukee Electric Tool Corporation ended. The company had been purchased a few years earlier by a company from China and all of the operations were set to move overseas. I worked in the reconditioning department for five years. Since the majority of the plant was manufacturing, and that part of it was set to go to PRC (Peoples Republic of China) they chose to shut the whole plant down. My department moved to another town here in Mississippi but it would have been way too far for me to commute back and forth, so I took my severance and unemployment.

So now, I am a SAHM (Stay at Home Mom) and I am currently homeschooling my children, which is going well by the way. We are in our second year of this and in our hearts we know, that thi is God's will for us and for our children.

I am using a multi aged curriculum called My Father's World that I can teach both Elizabeth and Anthony from. They just have individual Math and English. Our main course of study this year is Geography. They are learning so very much about each continent. I am learning right along with them. It is all going very well.

Mike is still in the process of trying to get his disability. It is a long, drawn out process. The first part of the year, we went for several trips to Jackson for hi to get Faucet Injection shots in his lower back. Come to find out that they really don't help the problem, they pretty much just act like a band aid for a couple of weeks. We quit doing them. So he lives in constant pain with numbness and cramping in the back of his legs. Nothing else we can do. Our insurance runs out at the end of the year.

He also had a bout with serious depression at one time. The doctors wanted to hospitalize him for it, but we got hover the worst part of it. He tried medications for a time, but come to ind out, the meds were worse than the depression and he got off of those.

Elizabeth and Anthony are amazingly smart and we are so very proud of all their accomplishments. They are like any brother and sister though, each trying to out do the other. Sometimes it can way heavy on mom's nerves, but I suppose that is normal and to be expected.

We don't know what God has in store for us next year. But we have faith that He will carry us through and provide for our needs. He always has.

We pray that you have a very Merry Christmas and a Very Happy New Year!!

Love Mike, Sarah, Elizabeth, and Anthony!!!

My Mountian and God

What is my mountain? What my mountain is, God knows. But the issue that really needs attention concerning this, is am I going to have faith enough, and trust in God that He can and will remove this mountain from my life?

God has moved a huge mountian in my life before so I know first hand, that it can be done. But as of late, my faith has been weak. My trust level is not very high. My personal relationship with Him needs to be much closer than what it currently is. Pray for me that I can resolve these feelings inside of me so that I can once again see God move a particular mountian from my life.

Anxiety

I am not one much for anxiety. But here recently, I have been. Not too bad, but it just seems like I am struggling with Satan on a constant daily basis. There just seems to be so much uneasiness all around me. I am not looking forward to the next 36 hours that is for sure. There is nothing I can do about it except ride it out. I know it will be okay, DH says it will and I trust him. I just wish we didn't have to do this. Maybe it is immature on my part, but there has been so much tension in the past year concerning this, that I wish I could just not have to do this.

I know it sounds like I am babbling and not making any sense to those of you that might be reading this. But I really can't mention details. The Lord knows what is on my heart, as does my husband. That is all that matters. I sure could use some prayers to get me through the next two days. I will be much much better after that. I will for sure need a long uninterupted nap when this is all over with. That is for sure. DH says that this will be the last time. He said that before this came up too. We shall see. It is of course in God's hands and I must trust Him to ease my tension. It is another area that I am having a hard time with.

Thank you for letting me rant. I have much to be thankful for and that is what I need to concentrate on.

The Day After

I cried this morning when I saw the news. I hurt for the loser. I know it is all in God's plan and He is the judge, and He is in control. The final battle has of course already been won and that is the victory party that I plan on attending. But until that day, I must continue to pray that everyone will see the one choice that they truly need to make.

Pray for our country. Yes, one promise he made is true. Change is coming. On that, you can depend. Pray for our country.