Afghan 87

We will call this my car blanket, not as in a blanket for the car, but a blanket made in the car. Yes, I crochet most of my afghans in the car going to and from church. I made most of this one on our summer road trips, however. It was not without some angst, not due to the pattern, but due to the skeins of yarn that kept getting matted and tangled, even after rolling into balls. (I did not do the optional borer row because I just wanted to be done.) In the end, this afghan turned out on and lean, not quite the 36 by 54 inch crib size I aimed for, but still a blanket that I hope will bless a baby.

Hook: Ergonomic crochet hook size J

Yarn: 

Mainstays white

Pattern: Simple crochet blanket (Jewels and Jones)

Size: 32 by 55 inches

Eats and Empties (Week 31)

The Eats:

Breakfast potatoes (Cooking Classy)

Creamy protein peanut butter (Cheat Day by Design)

Greek yogurt pizza (Something Nutritious)

Grilled corn on the cob (Joyful Healthy Eats)

Homemade artisan crackers (Sally's Baking Addiction)

Homemade ranch dressing (with Greek yogurt) (It Starts With Protein)

The Empties:

Jar of applesauce
Package of bacon
Bag of baby carrots
Three pound bag of whole carrots
Frozen easy overnight sourdough bagels (Daddio's Kitchen)
Candy canes-yes, left over from Christmas!
Frozen apple cider
Eight ears of fresh corn on the cob
Container of cottage cheese
Trader Joe's cinnamon graham crackers
Cream cheese
Greek yogurt cream cheese (Free Your Fork)
Bag of frozen green beans
Package of ham
Hemp seeds
Bag of mini marshmallows 
Half gallon of milk
Two pound bag of mozzarella cheese
Frozen pineapple
Frozen homemade pizza sauce (Budget Bytes)
Five pound bag of potatoes
Head of romaine lettuce
Container of sour cream
Old jar of sourdough discard
Spicy ranch dressing (The Spiffy Cookie)
Frozen tomato sauce (The Flavor of Wisconsin)
Can of tuna
Pint of whipping cream

What went to waste:   

Just a little bit of lettuce that went bad, but I just pulled it off and was thankfully able to salvage the rest.

Everything I Read in July

I do not feel like I got in as much reading this month, but then I finished up a bunch of books right at month's end. This month, I read quite a few longer books. I am particularly proud of myself for finishing Jonathan Haidt's tome. After years of being a podcast girlie, I am really digging the story aspect of audio autobiographies and memoirs, especially those read by the authors, and completed three. All in all, I would say it's been a good month, even if maybe it got off to a slower start.

54) The Solid Grounds Coffee Company by Carla Laureano —Whew! What a finale to the Supper Club series. Analyn Sanchez and Bryan Shaw have liked each other from afar for years. A life crisis for both of them draws them together, and into launching The Solid Grounds Coffee Company, a business designed to support Colombian farmers converting their coca fields into coffee fields. Everything is going well, until both of their lives blow up further. They are forced to confront their pasts and imperfections in painful ways and really surrender to God, and to the love God has given them for one another. The plot of this book packs some punches, but isn't that the way God's grace is sometimes? Solid, confrontational, and just what we need.

Note: I appreciated the author's note about coffee and its production at the end of the book. As much as this is a good story and a fictional prod towards God's grace, it is also a work of advocacy on behalf of Columbian and other indigenous coffee growers. Props to the author for this!

55) Made for This Moment: Standing Firm with Strength, Grace, and Courage by Madison Prewett Troutt—Madison Prewett grew up in a Christian home, went to Bible school at her church, graduated from Auburn University, and then went on The Bachelor reality show. This book is more about learning identity in Christ and living out of that, but it does include some tidbits about her upbringing and time on the show. The book is easy to read, with questions to help with application. It encourages readers to be confident in and through Christ. Overall, this book is a quick ready with a solid message from which younger girls might especially benefit.

56) Provenance by Carla Laureano —As a former foster child, Designer Kendall Green has never really had much of a home or a family. Then she gets words that her maternal grandmother willed her land and houses. This takes her from California to Jasper Lake, Colorado to explore not only her heritage, but the history of the homes willed to her. This story does a good and gracious job of depicting some of the struggles of youth in the foster system, as well as having a good story line. There is a little romance, some mystery, some history, and a lot about God's provenance in ordaining life and bringing people to himself. This is an interesting read, even if a bit different than some of Laureano's other books.

P.S. Don’t miss the very special epilogue only on the author’s website!

57) For the Love of Money by Terri Blackstock—This little novella was a quick read; about Blake Adcock and Julie Sheffield who quickly gain, and give away millions. This book is pretty cheesy, and slapstick, laugh-out-loud funny at points. Parts are too unbelievable to be true, and other parts, like realizing that money fails to bring love, ring true. Overall, I think the story is just too short to have a well-developed plot.

58) The Recipe by Candace Calvert —Okay, this story gets five stars for cuteness! Dietary tech Aimee Curran is trying to bake her way into culinary school. Evidence tech Lucas Marchal is working tirelessly at his job, and trying to get his grandmother Rosalynn to eat her meals when he visits her after hours. Rosalynn is the only family he has left, and he’s not willing to let her go. More a short story than a full novel, this book is a good one about loving God by loving people—truly the best recipe for living a sweet life.

59) Hook, Line, and Sinker by Susan May Warren —A novel with college-aged characters was a bit young for me, the the story still hit on some timeless truths about forgiveness, love, identity and evangelism. Maybe I didn’t identify with Abigail Cushman’s age, but I could identify with her feelings about not measuring up. Ross Springer wasn’t an academic, but his grief and desire to be loved are also relatable. The hook, line, and sinker title is a bit cheesy, but this story admittedly reeled me in. I give it three stars.

60) The Voice: Listening for God’s Voice and Finding Your Own by Sandi Patty with Cindy Lambert—I am really enjoying autobiographies and memoirs read by their authors. This one was authored and read by Sandi Patty, a predominant voice in early Christian music, who fell from grace after a public affair and divorce, and then seemingly disappeared for quite some time. This book isn’t about that, though. Patty writes that she authored a separate book, Broken on the Back Row, about her divorce. She writes that she is not proud of the divorce and does not want to encourage others down that path. Rather, she wants to share about how she lost her voice as a child, and regained it as an adult. This is her story, of being raised in a Christian home, of experiencing early sexual abuse from a teacher, of struggling with self-esteem and food, and turning it over to God: listening to His voice and the truths it said about her. Each chapter of this book ends with a verse and questions for reflection. The book allows readers to learn not only about the trajectory of Patty’s career, but to consider the arcs of their own lives and what God has for them. I throughly enjoyed this book and if it is possible, suggest the audiobook over the paper book. After all, the book is entitled The Voice for a reason.

61) Broken Hearts Bakery by Carla Laureano—A self-published book, and a bit edgier than the author’s traditionally published works, this book follows lawyer Gemma Van Buren as she returns to her homework of Haven Springs, Colorado. She didn’t want to come back, except that her best friend, and it turns out the town, still needs her. The pain she faces is deep, though. Deep, too, run her feelings for her first boyfriend Stephen Osborne who has also returned to town. Will Gemma finally be able to make decisions out of hope rather than fear? Will both of them be able to make the right decisions for themselves, rather than than in attempts to please others? This is a good book, but felt lacking, and as I finished reading, I realized it was lacking mention of God or relationship to him. Looking at the author’s recent social media, that appears to be the way she is moving her career, too. More than anything, that breaks my heart, for her eternity, and for readers who will now miss her art. Although this book is one of a series, it is the last our library has, and probably the last of this author I will read.

62) The Righteous Mind: Why Good People Are Divided by Politics and Religion by Jonathan Haidt —More than anything else, reading this book was an exercise in mental strength. Written by an evolutionary psychologist (which I did not know before I started reading), it is more about how and why morality evolved, than about how to reach across political and religious divides. I did find it useful to understand how liberals base their morality around two foundations, while conservatives have six moral foundations. In the end, Haidt concludes that the best way to reach across political and religious divides is to try form relationships before making judgments. I think reading Compassion (&) Conviction by Chris Butler, Justin Giboney, and Michael Wear is a much better book from which to draw this conclusion, but for what it is worth, this book also ends with the same suggestion.

63) Things I Should Have Said by Jamie Lynn Spears—I never really listened to Britney Spears, but I knew who she was. Who I didn't really know was her younger (by nine years) sister Jamie Lynn. Jamie Lynn was herself a child star, but one who disappeared from stardom for six years after a teenage pregnancy. I checked out this book because it was billed as a life story about Spears' “journey back to faith.” While I would argue that this journey occupies a small space of the book, and that her journey was more about conversion to the religion of Catholicism than anything else, I did appreciate Spears' vulnerability in telling her own story. I admire how she is trying to break unhealthy family patterns and leave a new legacy for her daughters, who are Watsons (Spears' husband's last name), she notes. All in all, this was an easy book to read, with some statements worth considering. If you're a Britney fan, you might enjoy reading this Spears book even more.

64) Redeeming Love by Francine Rivers—I have read this book probably three times now, and before I proceed further, let me state that it is not safe for children! Based upon the book of Hosea in the Bible, it is about Farmer Michael Hosea taking a prostitute named Angel as his wife. That is where the strict to text allegory ends, but the portrayal of a love that never gives up is definitely biblical. I read the book after reading Hosea in my Bible reading plan, and as I read the book this time, I was struck by how sure of his identity Michael Hosea is. He knows who he is, which allows him to love like he does. Isn't that what Jesus did? Sure of his identity, he was able to love us fully, even unto death on cross! If that's not redeeming love, I don't know what is!

65) The Woman in Me by Britney Spears—Once again, I am not a Britney fan, but I am fascinated, and in this case, saddened, by people’s stories. Britney comes from a background of decades of mental illness and abuse. Her brother had a traumatic accident as a child, and so did her niece. It is pretty clear from this audiobook that fame forced Britney to act as an adult when still a child, and then as an adult, her family took action to make her a child again through conservatorship. While from an outside perspective, it does seem that Britney is not mentally well, it also seems pretty clear that her family is not well. If they really cared for her, why would they still force her to perform while in their 13-year conservatorship of her? All in all, this is a sad story, for Britney and for her family. I really hope and pray that they find salvation through Jesus, hope, health, and healing!

66) Cheering You On: 50 Reasons Why Anything is Possible with God by Holley Gerth—Given to me as a gift, this sweet little devotional was definitely encouraging! I have read books by Holley Gerth, but this is the first daily guide I have seen from her. Each day follows her (in)courage.me pattern with a daily verse, and a challenge to live out God's will in real life. Alternate pages includes sweet quotes from other authors. With bright and cheery colors and a gorgeous layout, this book is pretty to look at too. I already gifted this once to someone else and anticipate doing so more.

67) By your Side by Candace Calvert—It took me a little bit to get on the side of these characters. Maybe it was the medical lingo (since Calvert was an ER nurse in her previous life, I imagine it is very accurate)? Still, once I got into the story about former foster child and now ER nurse Macy Wynn and police officer Fletcher Holt, I was hooked! Macy has a lot of trust issues, but so does Fletcher. Each in their own way, have to make peace with God and learning to trust him, with everything, not just preventing bad things from happening, because both of them have had plenty of those. This book is full of suspense with its sniper sub-plot, and contains both medical trauma, sexual trauma, and grief, so reading it is not for the faint of heart. Getting to the end and reading about God being first and having a plan for life, though, is beautiful. If you have time to sit down and read a book from cover to cover, this is that kind of book. It's just hard to put down when so much is happening!

68) Go Big or Go Home: The Journey Toward the Dream by Scotty McCreery with Travis Thrasher—After the Britney Spears autobiography, I needed a more wholesome audiobook. This definitely fit the bill. While I didn’t watch Season 10 of American Idol, as a previous big fan of the show, I knew who Scotty McCreery was. This book gave me an inside look at his Idol journey, from the small town of Garner, NC, to stardom. Reading the book in his own voice, McCreery is authentic, honest, and real. He does not shy away from talking about his faith or his values (including changing an Idol song last minute due to finding out it was from an X-rated film). He unashamedly talks about his love for sports, especially the NC Wolfpack. I appreciate how McCreery takes time to name names and give credit to the people who have contributed to his journey. While I’m not a big country fan, this book makes me want to listen to McCreery’s music and helps me understand why he has the fan base that he does. He may be a big star, but at the end of the day, he’s a home boy. Even he says that.

69) The Emotional Lives of Teenagers: Raising Connected, Capable, and Compassionate Adolescents by Lisa Damour, PhD—This was a truly excellent book! Written by psychologist Dr. Lisa Damour, an advisor for Inside Out 2, the book is accessible and timely. Focusing more on what is normal than what is abnormal, Damour focuses on equipping parents with practical tools for helping teens regulate emotions. Rather than trying to get rid of distress for adolescents, Damour encourages parents to help their teens become emotionally healthy “having the right feelings at the right time and being able to manage those feelings effectively.” Damour normalizes the separation/individuation process, which can help parents take teen snark and sarcasm less personally. There are plenty of jewels in this book, too many to summarize in a brief recap. Parent or not, this book helps people understand teenagers, and the world could benefit from more of that.

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Have you read any of these books? If so, what did you think? Please share in the comments section!

Strong(er) in July

I don't think I am getting stronger, at least in terms of my pull-up goals. Sure, I went down another band size, but now I can barely get to the top of the bar for one rep, let alone the three, five, or eight reps in the Nourish Move Love Assisted Pull-Up Plan. I tried to do one pull-up and nope, couldn't do it. I didn't even get half-way up. Still, I am committed to finishing this plan, because if I don't try, I can't know if a pull-up is really impossible for me, or just not possible yet.

Overall, I felt like I gained strength in the Overload 30 program, but now I feel that waning. I held my mileage steady these last few months, but started a specific training program on Sunday, which means less strength. Sigh. I am realizing that life is about priorities. I can't be strong everywhere, or at least not at the tip-top of my strength game in every area of my life.

Thankfully, marriage is going pretty well. We have our fits and starts, but more time to communicate, and re-communicate. I give God thanks for that. We are still working through The Marriage Devotional by Jennie and Levi Lusko, and I still try to listen to a marriage enrichment podcast each week. I am thankful for those resources. 

I continue reading the chronological Bible reading and listening to The Bible Recap podcast episode each day. I don't feel like I am not getting anything from this. (Maybe Bible reading has a cumulative effect?) I don't feel like I am getting as much as I can from it, either.

Maybe the theme of this month's post should be the summer doldrums. I am not not making progress, but I am sure not making the progress I would like. At the same time, I don't have the energy, or want to put in the energy to push harder. Maybe this is a rest. Maybe rest is a flex to get ready for the next season of God growing me stronger? We shall see.

Eats and Empties (Week 30)

The Eats:

Greek yogurt cream cheese (Free Your Fork)

Homemade protein vanilla latte (Pretty Delicious Life)

Polish strawberry pasta (The Modern Nonna)-I'd never heard of this, but when I read about it in the "Tuesday Things" post on How Sweet Eats and I had the strawberries and yogurt, I bought the pasta to try it!

Three ingredient blueberry bagels (Calla's Clean Eats)

Three ingredient yogurt cheesecake tortillas (Goodness Avenue)

Black bean burger (Eat Plant-Based) bowl with sauteed peppers and onions (Artful Dishes)

The Empties:

Airplane snacks
Frozen blueberries
Fresh cantaloupe
Frozen fire-roasted white bean quinoa soup (How Sweet Eats)
Container of Greek yogurt
Green pepper
Half gallon of milk
Head of romaine lettuce
Can of Progresso soup
Two pound carton of strawberries
Package of ready to cook tortillas

What went to waste:   

Some frosting from my birthday that I kept forgetting about. Blue (mold) chocolate frosting is a no-go.

Changing My Thinking

"Do I want to?" 

"No. But I'm going to do it anyway."

That's been my inner dialogue for a long time. I used it to motivate myself, to get myself to do hard things, to slog through the mundane things that really just needed to be done. But recently, I realized that it was really not helping me in the ways I thought it was. It was making me resistant. It was making me angry. Instead of pushing me through, it was reminding me that I really don't want to do the thing. So with the Holy Spirit's help, I've been changing my thinking.

"Do I want to?"

"No, no that."

"I'm choosing...because."

"I'm choosing to run these errands now because I want time to go to the running store tomorrow."

"I'm choosing to do this chore because I will experience less stress tomorrow."

"I'm choosing to put the dishes away because I would want that done if it was me coming home late."

"I'm choosing to do this work now because I accepted the responsibility of being a supervisor."

This inner monologue doesn't change the fact that things are hard. It doesn't make me like cleaning the shower or slogging through running errands in the heat. It does remind me that I am blessed to have choices, and that I have control over making them. I am an adult living in America, so for the most part, no one is making me do anything. I choose to do things, and that choosing involves choosing my thinking. I can choose to think in ways that aren't helpful, or I can choose to change my thinking to ways that are. The choice is up to me.

Maybe We Should Pray...

Maybe you've seen the memes. There have been quite a lot of them going around about Astronomer CEO the JumboTron at a ColdPlay concert caught Astronomer CEO Andy Byron in a compromising situation with his HR chief (Levy, 2025). As my husband wisely pointed out: You cannot expect to keep a relationship private when you take it to the public arena. Or as my parents taught me growing up: "Be sure your sins will find you out." At some point sooner or later, a person continuing in a pattern of sin will be found out. It was true for OJ Simpson, who was never found guilty of murder, but still ended up back in jail for another crime (Seeman, 2024). It is true for Ruth Chepngetich whose marathon record seemed too good to be true, and probably was, now that she has tested positive for a banned substance. And it's true for us (Grez, 2025). No pattern of sin will permanently go uncovered, or unpunished.

Scholars debate whether or not John 8:1-11 should be in the Bible. It is probably a true story, but not canonical (Jenkins, n.d.) Still, it has lessons to teach us, particularly verse 7 "Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her" (English Standard Version, 2016). I need to judge sin as sin, but I also need to realize that the same sin lives in me. Perhaps before judging others and making fun of them, I need to ask the Spirit to judge my own heart.

After discussing the Astronomer situation with my husband I felt conviction that I needed to pray for that man, too. Yes, he sinned. Yes, he got found out. But he has a wife and a family and friends and relatives. This is not a one shot take-down. This is a family that is going to struggle and suffer: a family that needs salvation and redemption. Then there is the woman and her friends and family. They all need Jesus. We all need Jesus.

Come at me if you want for maybe being too soft on sin, but you know what? God has been gracious with and merciful towards me. Jesus saved me from my sin and continues to cover the sins I continue to commit, sometimes because I want to, and sometimes because they come out of my innate sin nature. When I see things like the Astronomer CEO scandal, I want the Spirit to convict me to search my own heart, to confess and pray against sin, and then to pray for and against the sin of others, as well as for their redemption. It's easy to judge, but maybe we should pray instead of doing the modern version of casting stones and making memes.

References:

English Standard Version. (2019). Bible Gateway. https://www.biblegateway.com/versions/English-Standard-Version-ESV-Bible/#copy

Grez, M. (2025, July 18). Women’s marathon world record-holder Ruth Chepngetich provisionally suspended after testing positive for banned substance

CNN. https://www.cnn.com/2025/07/18/sport/ruth-chepngetich-suspension-banned-substance-spt

Jenkins, C. (n.d.). Why we are not preaching on the woman caught in adultery. Christ Community. https://cckc.church/can-i-trust-that-the-bible-has-been-accurately-preserved/

Levy, A. (2025, July 18).  Astronomer CEO Andy Byron placed on leave after viral Coldplay kiss cam video. CNBC. https://www.cnbc.com/2025/07/18/astronomer-andy-byron-coldplay-kiss-cam.html

Seeman, M. (2024, April 11). After 'trial of the century,' OJ Simpson spent prison time, rest of life in Las Vegas. 24 News. https://nbc24.com/news/nation-world/after-trial-of-century-oj-simpson-spent-prison-time-rest-of-life-in-nevada-death-cancer-las-vegas-robbery-case-lovelock-prison-parole-probation-bruce-fromong-alfred-beardsley