A gift from my niece. I just finished watching the movies, The Christmas Shoes and The Christmas Blessing, just days earlier. How did she know it was just what I wanted? Thanks, Heather! Hardcover.(Third in the Christmas Hope Series)

From the back cover:
Open your heart and find the true meaning of Christmas Hope.
For some reason I had always assumed that when God wanted our attention He would do something big that would rouse us from our sleep to bring us back to Him, but I was wrong. God is always speaking. We are the ones who are hard of hearing. God is always patient, waiting for us to believe. We are the impatient ones, demanding to be convinced. We want something real, something we can touch and see to help us believe. The mountains, oceans, and skies aren't enough. Our babies who smile and laugh and reach for us aren't enough. We need more. And we have it, all around us, every day. If we would just take the time to listen and see, we would walk toward God and believe, or at least some of us will. Some like me.

Started: 12/30/07
Finished: 1/14/08 This was a very good book. Very appropriate for what has been happening in my life these days, too. It was just what I needed... Thanks Ms.HS

Lent to sister, KDO.
Returned 3/2/08

Sending to seethroughfaith as part of my 8/8/08 RABCK 5th BC Anniversary Celebration.

Thanks for sending the book. It looks lovely. I am hoping to have it read by Christmas (the book won't take that long but you should see my TBR pile!)so that I can release it in the Finnish Christmas City (we have a daily release under the huge Christmas tree in front of the cathedral) or another Christmassy release /give away.

The BCID was missing -(thanks for sending it by PM) and so the book has now got a lovely new label in it - in the form of a Christmas gift sticker.

reserved for my thoughts

I had plans to release this in December under the Christmas tree - but instead I am offering it for one of the RABCKS in the Finnish forum's Advent Calander - hosted by ipsu.

I'll read it before then though and have already dipped into it and this is the quote that will come in one of the boxes of the Advent Calander.

"I turn off the radio so I can hear Mia sing. She's attempting "Jingle Bells" but with the exception of 'jingle' and 'bells' I can't make out any other words. Her performance takes on a burlesque dimension as she grabs hold of her foot, raises her tiny leg, and belts out another chorus. "Where are we going?" Mia asks when she catches me looking at her. She attempts to rise up out of the car seat to get a better look at where I'm driving. Mia has been in two foster homes in the past year. I don't know how many times I've heard little voices ask me questions from that backseat in my seventeen years as a social worker. How many times did I drop off at a foster family's home a few days before Christmas because his mother was arrested or put back into rehab? How many times have I taken a child back to his biological parent because his father met the goal set by the state and found a job and a place to live, or his mother has a clean bill of health from the substance-abuse program she'd been in for the last four months? I've traveled these roads many times with tiny passengers just like Mia in my backseat asking where we were going.

I drive beneath a banner stretched across the street that reads PEACE ON EARTH. ..."

Thank you again Dee for this blessing - it will be lovely to pass the blessing on to someone here in Finland this Advent.

This book is soon on its way to Tampere, Finland ... and its new owner EM64 who was the winner of the 14th window in the Finnish 2008 Advent Calander RABCK draw.

I hope you really enjoy this book Em.

I re-read it before sending ... it's a sweet sweet story and really touches the heart ...

CONTROLLED RELEASE NOTES:

This is a really special book. It's full of hope.

My hope is that you will pass it onto someone special next Christmas

The book arrived yesterday, thank you so much, stf! Now I have a year to plan something special to do with it next Christmas :-)

It was a sweet story but not too sweet. While reading I was thinking that it was a bit like Touched by an Angel meets It's a Wonderful Life kind of a story. I quite liked to idea that you should never lose hope even if bad things happen. Thanks for sharing, stf!

Lovely looking book arrived today, just in time for Christmas. Thank you, em64.

Merry Christmas!

To me this story was about coping with death and loss and that reminded me of my late father. Five year old orphan Emily was heartbreaking. For these reasons I read most of the book in tears. The story had no surprises, but it was good enough. Christmas allows some miracles, so even I wasn't irritated by the sweetness. I enjoyed a book a lot, reading it was like watching a cosy Christmas movie.

This book was hiding behind the 23rd window of Advent Calendar on a Finnish forum.

2010 "KEEP THEM MOVING" # 46

Got this from advent calender. Hopefully I will read it next year.

Too religious shit for me to read.