Plain Paradise A Daughters of Promise Novel Review

By Beth Wiseman

This was a very quick read for me (3 days actually). I love reading Amish fiction and always dream about what life would be like growing up and living in an Amish community. Plain Paradise is a story about a mother from the “Englisher” world who has a terminal tumor wanting to get to know the daughter that she was forced to give up at birth to an Amish couple. After returning, she finds her daughter happy and loved by the Amish parents who raised her. We watch as both families struggle with her return and her illness as God becomes present in the situation.

Throughout the book, you slowly get to know the characters though most are vague beyond the main characters. I never felt I really rooted for someone or that I leaned in a certain direction, as I usually do with other books. I had a hard time relating to any of the story line.

The start of the book was slow due to outlining everything that was happening and foundation for what would happen. The story line was very predictable and wrapped up to way quickly. Though this was a good book, it felt that you were entering a middle part of a series or a book that was thrown together quickly.

I would recommend it to someone who loves reading Amish fiction or who wanted a quick read. To pick up your copy, visit the Thomas Nelson Website: http://www.thomasnelson.com/consumer/product_detail.asp?sku=1595548238&title=A_Daughters_of_the_Promise_Novel:_Plain_Paradise

I received this book free from Thomas Nelson Publishers as part of their BookSneeze.com book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

Easter and a birthday

Wow, what is more fun than hyping your kids up on Easter candy??? Adding a birthday cake to the mix!

Saturday, the boys and I met J after work at Toys-R-Us to let Bubba pick out his birthday presents. Bear had a little bit of a hard time, since he did not get anything. Bubba picked out a toy story trike and a tool belt. We got the boys the movie Cloudy with Meatballs and us Where the Wild Things Are. So I spent most of the evening putting together the trike while they watched the final four games. Yeah, Butler!

Easter was great! We woke up pretty early (by our clan’s standards) at 8 am to Bear banging on his bedroom door and yelling for us. To which Dad went to see what he wanted and when asked “What are you doing up?”…”I want to go downstairs and see the Easter bunny.” To which J replied “Well, I don’t think that mommy is ready to get up yet. Do you want to watch tv for a little while?” This was good for about 30 minutes. We got up and went down stairs for the boys to discover that the easter bunny did come. The boys each received a basket from the easter bunny and Mommy’s Ma-mu. They took most items out of them and of course candy was priority, along with a fishing pole. While the boys played with things and ate more candy, I made sunshine yellow pancakes and sausage for breakfast. Once breakfast was over, everyone headed upstairs to get ready for church. Then off we went.

Service was GREAT! He has risen. The worship and the message were wonderful. Daddy’s Ma-mu, Papa Shu, and Uncle Rob came as well. The service was about Luke 24 and which person are you when it comes to God. A really fascinating look at Luke 24, if you are interested in listening to the message you can find it on their website http://www.indyvineyard.org/. The boys had a fun in Sunday school and when we asked Bear about what he learned, he told us that Jesus died on the cross and they took him by ambulance to the hospital and made him all better.

After service, we headed home to begin dinner. The boys watched Cloudy with Meatballs and showed off their new loot to Ma-mu before everyone else arrived. It did not take too long before dinner was ready and everyone was eating. After eating, Bubba opened his present from Ma-mu and Papa Shu, a trampoline that has music. While Ma-mu put it together, Bubba went down for a nap. Once he got up, it was an all go on the trampoline and it did not take him long to figure it out. Later he came to me and said “I jump, I jump”. What a smart little cookie.

We had a little easter egg hunt in the front yard with candy filled eggs and cute little tonka trucks. We played with sidewalk chalk, before sending the boys with Ma-mu and daddy to the park.

Once they were back it was time for everyone to go home. It was fun, loud, and tiring; but I would not trade it for the world.

Continue… Update on Surgery and first couple of days:

Sunday was a very relaxing day and we even went to Wal-mart to do a little grocery shopping. I truly think that the boys were more tired when we got home than I was. Monday was even more of a relaxing day than Sunday and Tuesday was my first post-op follow-up appointment. We took the boys to my mom’s while we went to see the dietician and the surgeon. The dietician was not much help since I was still on a clear liquid diet and I seen her before the surgeon. But I outlined the plan that I had and she was ok with it. My surgeon appointment went good too. I had lost 9 pounds since Saturday and I was moved to a full liquid diet for the next four weeks. My surgeon is excited about my progress and I go back to see her in 5 weeks, hopefully being another 40 pounds lighter.  Wednesday and Thursday are my first official days being home with the boys alone, since J had to go back to work. I have been truly amazed at how I have jumped back into my routines with little hold back. Though I am not able to pick up the boys for the next MONTH, because I am not allowed to lift more than 10 pounds, I have been figuring out creative ways to get things done. Bubba is getting better at climbing up into his highchair and figuring out how to get down from our bed. Today with it being so nice out, I took the boys to the park and let them play for about an hour and half, we came home, had lunch, and now they are taking naps. Tomorrow, we have planned to take the boys to the children’s museum for the day. And this officially ends my updates for now…it is hard to believe that the week is almost over.

For some of those questions about how I am feeling:

I have times during the day, especially after a lot of bending, that I ache and I have changed to children’s Tylenol during the day and only take my pain med right before bedtime.

I have been able to sleep on my sides and my stomach for the past couple of nights (because those are my preferred sleeping positions) with no problems.

I am able to drive (though I have not yet) and plan to return to work on Monday.

I am no longer on any diabetic meds and I have not been testing. This is really nice.

I drink water constantly and meals feel more like chores, because I am not hungry and it just takes too long to eat. Protein is the hardest thing I am getting in, just because I would prefer water over drinking a protein drink. Plus the current powder I have is cookies and crème…and it is disgusting now! So I have to figure out another powder that either has no or low sugar last.

Update on Surgery and first couple of days:

I am officially one week post-op and it is hard to believe that it has been a week. I was discharged from the hospital Saturday afternoon, which was a pretty quick stay. I have broken this post up into a couple, because they are so long…

But I want to start before the surgery…Friday morning was nerve-wrecking. We left our house at 4:30 am, picked up my mom, and arrived at the hospital at 5:20. I went to be registered and prepped for surgery a little after 6 am. My blood pressure was crazy because of my nervousness, so they gave me some medicine to help relax me and it worked well. After all my prep was done, J and my mom were brought back to where I was while I waited to be taken to surgery. It seems like they were only there for about 15 minutes before they came to get me. Since they had given me medicine to relax, I had to be wheeled to the OR. Once I got to the OR door, I got up and walked to the table, laid down, they told me to stretch out my arms and I have no clue what happened after that… The next thing I remember, was a nurse telling “Amanda, Amanda, It’s time for you to wake up.” And I opened my eyes, blinked a couple times, then went back to sleep to wake up later in my hospital room with J and my mom with me. They told me that the surgery lasted about 1 hour, but of course it never seemed that long.

Most of Friday day, I spent sleeping or walking. I was in pain; it was not my incisions that hurt, but my back and they gave me heating packs that worked great. About 4pm, J took my mom home and went to his parents for a while to visit with the boys (and to eat dinner). I spent a good amount of time reading, watching tv, and walking until J came back. Between Friday afternoon and early Saturday afternoon, I walked 3 miles.

By Saturday morning, I was finally able to have something besides ice chips and got my first breakfast…which was an ounce of apple juice and an ounce of green jello. And I enjoyed ever drop. The hard part was having to take 30 minutes to eat it…though I knew this was going to happen, my brain did not understand and I had to keep slowing myself down. Lunch included an ounce of chicken broth and an ounce of orange jello…which I did not finish all of it. By 3pm, J and I were headed to pick up the boys from J’s parents. We did spend a little too much time there and we did not make it to the pharmacy before they closed to get my pain meds. J got up bright and early on Sunday and went to get them for me, but he went to early and had to go back later.

So I will continue in the next post with what has been happening since Sunday…

The Flowering Cross By Beth Ryan

This is probably one of the cutest children’s books I have read. The story is about a little girl and Papa Jack, her older next door neighbor, at Easter time. The story teaches us to love unconditionally and lead by example, which are two great traits to live by, for younger children to understand. I loved the Faith ImprintTM which helps gives us parents a way to share God to our children. The illustrations of this book were wonderful, bright, cheery and captured the spring feeling.

My three year old read through the book with me twice last night and when we were done, I asked him about the book to which he responded “Jesus is in there and Jesus loves me”. So I highly recommend the book and I am sure we will be reading it more through the Easter season and after.

I received this book free from Thomas Nelson Publishers as part of their BookSneeze.com book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

Please :)

The nervousness of the surgery is beginning to creep in and I have found myself waking up at night running through the list of what I need to take to the hospital, what the boys will need while they are at the grandparents, did I get all the things I need for after the surgery, and what work items do I need to bring home for me to work on. Though these are not earth shattering things or uncommon things to that should be waking me at night and I know that God will be there with me, but my nature is to worry and over plan everything. So please be praying for me, my family, the surgeons and nurses.

This I have found to be one of the hardest posts I have written.

Not because it is a hard topic, but that it is getting personal.

A year ago, I made the decision to have bariatric surgery. Over the past year, I have been completing the requirements for the insurance company to pay for the surgery. This by no means has been easy and this was not the shortcut to close the weight that has haunted me for the past 13-14 years. Yes, I began my journey with being overweight at the end of my six grade year and did not by any means adjust to middle school. By the beginning of eight grade, I was wearing a plus size 16 and it just kept going up. When I meet my husband in high school, I was a size 20 and 217 pounds. So time continued and I gained more weight (currently at 283 pounds), became a diabetic, and now have blood pressure issues. Which, I should not be dealing with this at my age.

So on Friday, I will enter the hospital at 6am and have surgery. There are a lot of changes coming and I am not sure if we are 100% ready for them, but I am up to the challenge. In the past year, I have made several changes in my lifestyle and diet with only result being gaining weight. The other night, a friend asked “Do you think that surgery is the right choice?” For me, yes it is. It seems that the only time I am able to lose weight is while pregnant, no matter how much I exercise or reduce my calories…I absorb everything. As well, I look like all my overweight family members and we carry it the same way. I want the change!