Online Shopping

It’s been a long time since I have posted. I’m amazed the holiday season is upon us again. This time last year I was working on the design for this new site. Now it will be up almost a year in January. I was looking through the pages and noticed I still have not added any cookie recipes.

Maybe next month!

I’m feeling very thankful and blessed for having time off from work. There are several projects I’m trying to finish before the end of the year at work as well as on the freelance side. I’ve been taking it easy since Wednesday.

Well … sort of!

This was my fifth year cooking Thanksgiving dinner. I pulled an all-nighter on Wednesday night as Mr. Turkey roasted in the oven. As he was roasting, I was surfing! The dinner turned out great and I enjoyed spending time around family. I also got a chance to get some ideas for what folks wanted for Christmas.

I know folks were out and about on “Black Friday.” At 5am (according to the Walmart sales paper), as folks were rushing through the door, I was holding down the bed. I rarely sleep late, but the last two days it took great strength to tear myself out the bed. Thank goodness for online shopping. In the midst of my laziness, I found some pretty good deals online.

Hah! Didn’t even have to leave the bed thanks to my laptop. Technology is so sweet!

The Amen Sisters

The Amen Sisters
By Angela Benson

Angela Benson was one of the first authors of Christian fiction I started reading a few years ago. I was making a transition from reading secular books and her novels “Awakening Mercy” and “Abiding Hope” are still on the book shelf. Right around this time Angela Benson, Sharon Ewell Foster and Victoria Christopher Murray seemed to start a new movement in Christian fiction that is now booming. Now the selection widens each year as new authors deliver fictional works about people of color and their faith. I read all types of Christian fiction, but it is always a treat to read a novel that is culturally relatable.

It’s been a while since Angela Benson has published a novel, but her latest release is well worth the wait. The Amen Sisters is the next level of Christian fiction. Fiction that exposes what is often hidden or looked over by the church. Touching on a subject that is taboo similarly to the Catholic Church’s sex scandal, Angela introduces us to two sisters struggling in their faiths over earth shattering circumstances.

The novel opens with Francine arguing with her best friend Toni. In a matter of minutes, Toni is lost forever as she commits suicide. Not believing her friend’s confession of being pregnant by their bishop – Francine is burdened with the guilt of being too self-righteous to help a friend in need. After months at a mental health facility, Francine tries to move past her friend’s untimely death and the disillusionment of her involvement with her former church.

Francine returns back home to live with her sister Dawn and her husband, Sly. Unbeknownst to Francine, Dawn and Sly have been having difficulties in their marriage thanks to Sly’s recent affair. Sly’s indiscretion still makes Dawn distrustful and at the same time Sly is tired of trying to prove himself worthy of his wife’s love again. It does not help that Sly and Francine were a couple before Francine skipped town with her former church.

Francine is not easily accepted back into the community especially by Toni’s brother and mother. Despite her adversaries, she learns slowly to reacquaint herself back with God.

This novel touches on quite a bit of how sex outside of marriage can have lasting unimaginable effects. The power of forgiveness and the wickedness of revenge are also touched upon. If you are looking for a juicy novel, this definitely fits the bill. Kudos to Angela for a courageous novel!