Book Review: The Woman He Married

The Woman He Married by Julie N. Ford
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I read this book after reading the sequel "No Holly for Christmas." I had no idea that this book existed when reading the other or I would have done it the other way around.  I prefer to read in sequential order. However, reading in the wrong order actually didn't take anything away from either book, they are that loosely related, especially in the story-line.

"No Holly for Christmas" focuses on Josie's x-boyfriend Brian, and this book focuses on Josie. Even though Julie Ford warned me that her second book seemed to have better reviews, I equally enjoyed both books. There wasn't the mystery in "The Woman He Married" like in "No Holly for Christmas", but both books have something different to offer.

This book was a great read for me. It focused heavily on Josie's conflict between being a good mom and pursuing her legal career, a storyline in which every mother out there can relate. I personally enjoyed Ford's exploration of Josie's troubled marriage. It's no wonder to me that she wrote with the perspective of a former marriage and family therapist. In fact, that is the the second best thing I appreciate about Ford's writing. She writes smart. She knows her stuff, especially interpersonal relations.

The thing I love the most about Ford's writing is her humor. It is subtle, but it's in there. For instance, here is one of my favorite lines from the book describing Josie's solution to throwing a dinner party at the last minute: "Relgious or not, at that very  moment Josie was pretty sure there was a god, and that God wanted her to go to Costco." Any mother with more than one child completely gets that line and finds it to be the best kind of humor: honest.

Once again Julie Ford left me a true fan. I'm glad we are facebook friends now so I can be sure to know of and buy a copy of every one of her future books.

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Happy December

Sophia's drawing was chosen

as the December feature

in her elementary school

calendar.

It makes me smile

every time I catch a glimpse

of it

hanging on my fridge.

It also makes me smile

that we live in a state

famous for its

awesome snow.

How to do Disney

LG and I are not vacation planners.
We like to fly by the seat of our pants,
which means our vacations usually amount to
a weekend camping trip here and there.

But our kids wanted to go to Disneyland,
and we had the money to accommodate their wish.
So we delved into the world of Disney.
We did really well for beginners
thanks to the help of our friends
and my Disney-fanatic sister.

I thought it would be a great thing
to post a tutorial for any families
who want to do Disney in the future.

Here are the photos,
they wouldn't save from my phone
without publishing them.
I don't have time
to write the tut right now
but I will come back and do it later.

A God of Grace

I try to apply

a good

Southern saying

into my life

daily.

It helps.

A lot.

For instance:

when your 13-year-old

has lost yet one more thing.

This time it's a $30

memory card

that holds all of her photos

for photography class.

You worry that she's never

going to be organized enough

to get into college.

You start to edge out onto

the cliff of anger

and desperation

and are about to go crazy

with the lecture

and the screaming,

but you take a step back

and pray

instead.

God's got this.

See how that works?

Worry.

Gone.

Just like that.

It works on the big things too.

Like when you are on the verge

of divorce

because your husband

has quit functioning

all together

(I can say this

because it has been years now)

and you can't go another day

with a broken man.

God's got this.

And he did.

And it wasn't up to me.

It never is.

I am not the healer.

I do not control anyone

or anything.

All I can control is me

and my choice to be happy.

That's it.

And the best way to be happy

is to know

God's got this.

Because he always does.