Today's Blessing Ministry

From Dell's Desk

I found the top of my desk. A woman in Prescott once wrote about me as the Clutter Queen. I don't know if you have this problem, but I find it very difficult to dispose of a piece of paper--especially one that might have something written on it.  Who knew that I'd grow up with this illness. 

But the other day Gil gave me an ultimatum.  Ok, it wasn't really an ultimatum--he simply asked, "Where is the December bank statement?

"On my desk," I replied.

It wasn't laughter that reached my ears, but I got the message. After that brief encounter with the Incredible Hulk, I began the task.  I found a list of URLs that I had to check out. That only took about an hour. I got right back to my task after that.  

A beginning of a poem about lizards doing push ups on a boulder in our back yard stopped me for a few minutes.  And, the address of my cousin in Idaho took me to my box of greeting cards so I could write just a quick note....

By that time, I thought I'd better begin searching for that bank statement in earnest. Gil would be home at noon and he needed the statement. Before lunch, I went online and printed out the necessary information.

 My task has since been accomplished.  The top of my desk is all polished beautifully, and a pen and note pad sit beside the telephone.  In  a cardboard box beside my desk resides all those writer's guidelines, and little pieces of paper,and somewhere inside I'm sure the bank statement for last December. 

A few years ago, I wrote an article about setting up a business file. I'll have to pull out the magazine and read it over.  This Clutter Queen has to get the clutter under control. Maybe then the gal who wrote about me will call me the Neat Freak. Hmmm, that would be different.

Book Review

Title of Book: Plain Jayne
Author: Hillary Manton Lodge
ISBN No: 978-0-7369-2698-0
Publisher: Harvest House Publishers, Eugene, OR
Publication Date: January, 2010
Reviewer: Dell Smith Klein

ABOUT THE BOOK
With Plain Jayne, Hillary Manton Lodge enters the inspirational fiction category. Plain Jayne is the first “Urban Amish” story to hit the markets.

Jayne, a newspaper reporter, is encouraged to take a 3-week leave of absence from her job with a major daily, which she does – only to fall back on her journalistic instincts when blindsided by an encounter with an attractive yet suspicious man.

Feeling no sense of loss for her preacher father who never expressed love—verbally or otherwise, Jayne begins to research the Amish lifestyle. An initial interview with the owner of an Amish furniture store leads to the opportunity to live with an Amish family. What transpires is anything but the slow-paced Amish fiction already on the market.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Hillary Manton Lodge, author of Plain Jayne, graduated from the University of Oregon’s School of Journalism. Today, she works as a freelance photographer while following her passion to write fiction. She and her husband live in the Pacific Northwest. You might be interested in her blog at http://www.hillaryonwriting.blogspot.com, or check out her website at http://wwwhillarymantonlodge.com.

REVIEWER’S COMMENTS
Novels about the Amish are popular right now, but I have held none that tickle the funny bone quite like Hillary Manton Lodge’s “Urban Amish” book, Plain Jayne. Jayne, a motorcycle riding, cell phone talking, jeans wearing “English,” learns so much from her Amish friends. Her witty responses to the quiet, hard-working lifestyle of the Amish never borders on sarcasm. Besides that, she learns to make pie, and how to cut out quilt squares – two things she never saw herself doing, ever!

Men in her life are so real that several times I found myself saying, “Yeah, I’ve met that one.” All of Lodge’s characters ring true. Levi stands out as a man of character who loves his family, though they have little or no contact with him. Sara’s conflicted emotions made me think of my teen years when I wanted sometime to follow God and other times to see what might be out in the world for me. Gideon and Martha stand as such beautiful Amish people who want the best for their children and reach out to a stranger who is so unlike themselves.
Some of these characters, I hope to see in future novels by Hillary Manton Lodge. But I can’t leave you without letting you see a bit of her writing. Here we go:

From Chapter 25:
When he and I pulled up to Pastini in Corvallis I began to wonder, was this a date? Like a real date? I mean, I knew we were sharing a meal together, but lunch isn’t necessarily the “date meal.”
I changed my mind as we sat down. He held out my chair and pushed it in for me. Any lunch date with chair assistance is a date.

From Chapter 30:
I don’t know anything about makeup sex, on account of my mother’s voice in my head making me think about cows.
Make up kissing on the other hand…hadn’t really experienced that one either.
Until now.

I highly recommend Hillary Manton Lodge’s book Plain Jayne, to hit the book store shelves in January, 2010. Be the first in line. It’s a good book. You’ll be entertained and your learn more about Amish. By the way, I hear that there will be an Apricot Raspberry Pie recipe and a list of discussion questions at the end. Good job, Harvest House and Hillary Manton Lodge.


 

Amish Books

 Right now books about the Amish are riding the crest of the popularity wave.

Here are a few you might enjoy reading:

Plain Jayne by Hillary Manton Lodge

Plain Perfect by Beth Wiseman

A Widow's Hope by Mary Ellis

Rebecca's Promise by Jerry S. Eicher

Where Grace Abides by B.J. Hoff

You won't be disappointed reading any of these. 

This month, I'm going to add one more book to my list.

Rebecca's Return by Jerry S. Eicher

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