Where is Home?

It has been a very relaxing weekend here.  Dear Hubby has kicked backed and relaxed which is always good to see.  We celebrated his dad's 78th birthday yesterday with homemade beef stew and fresh peach cheesecake (yes also homemade!).  Even though we had chores to do for the most part we cuddled, nibbled on small meals and watched the birds go by.  When Dear Hubby had computer time or had to run to town to take care of the new kittens at his work, I would grab my book and sit out in one of these blue chairs to read.  Now you tell me you would not wish to do the same?  Okay without the lawmower there.  Yeah, as I said we had to do a few chores.  I have been house/pet sitting so much the last two months that I am beginning to wonder just where is home?  Not the physical address, but the feeling that you have inside.  Many days I feel more at home within myself in the solitude I have been experiencing then when I was in my own actual house.  Now why is that?

I was entranced while reading Lucy Come Home by Dave and Neta Jackson.  I can't wait to share it with Granny M.  She will really love reading this on our big ol front porch.  That is her favorite place to read.  It was wonderful to not only read the current story of Lucy but also her back story to understand how she became ensnared into her life.  It made me thing of the paths I have taken.  Looking back I wonder if I could pick and choose then which ones would I have avoided.  Then if changing one of them would keep me from my current life would I change a thing at all?  It is interesting to think about.  Dave and Neta have really mastered the art of writing feelings.  I know that I often would be choked up as if I had been crying when Cindy was tearing herself apart trying to understand just why life had to be so very hard.  I loved that she tried to always live with intergity.

Fifteen-year-old Cindy worked long days beside her migrant worker family in Michigan's sugar beet fields in the early 1940s -- the "war years" -- until she met a dashing young man from a traveling carnival, bringing some joy and fun into her hard-scrabble life. But a tragic twist of fate -- and a dead field boss-- sent the two young people on the run, leaving behind family and everything she'd ever known.

Lucy Tucker, the crotchety old bag lady from the popular Yada Yada House of Hope series, is a veteran of Chicago streets and not about to give up her independence, even as she approaches her 80th birthday. Until, that is, a young displaced woman with her gentle aging mother and a dog named Dandy seem to need her -- unsettling the secretive Lucy, who doesn't let anyone get too close. But just when it seems her past is catching up with her to bring her in out of the cold... Lucy disappears again. How these two tales intersect and intertwine between past and present gradually shines light into the dark corners of Lucy's murky past. But... why won't Lucy come home.

Dave and Neta Jackson are award-winning authors living in the Chicago area where their parallel novels from the Yada Yada House of Hope and Harry Bentley series are set. As a husband/wife writing team, Dave and Neta Jackson are enthusiastic about books, kids, walking with God, gospel music, and each other! Together they are the authors or coauthors of over 100 books.

It has been enjoyable to be part of the Litfuse Blog Tour for Lucy Come Home.  I wish to thank them for sending me sure a wonderful book. I have to say that Litfuse has never sent me a dud yet! That is one of the amazing perks of the gift being a book reviewer.