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1. I am very happy because I caught up on two emails today and already received a response from one of them!!! 

2. I have read two books in the past three days (one today).  Oh.  My.  Goodness.  They were soooooo good!  However, to be perfectly honest, I finished the first one in a state of confusion and the second one in disbelief.  It was too much of a comeback happy ending.  I almost wish the girl had been left dead (I know, I can't believe I am saying that, either).  Due to this state of events, I have found it necessary to write the authors about these two books.  I haven't written them yet, but I am going to.  Also, these two co-authors live part-time in London!  I want to be friends with them.  Writing a letter is a good place to start, no? : )

3. Today has been so restful.  I literally read from about 9:30ish until 3:00ish, with only a few short breaks.  I popped over to Publix.    When I came home I was planning on starting another series by the same authors, but suddenly sleepiness overtook me and I took a little nappypoo (translation: nap)!  Hopefully it will be an early-to-bed night.

4. Tomorrow we head out to the lake house for the day.  Just a day of relaxation, family, and fun!

5. While reading my two books I began thinking.  Wait, let me give a little context.  The books are about WWII.  It is a continuation of a series that focused on a family, in particular their daughter, who was German but she lived in Austria and how Hitler took over and she assisted in saving Jewish children.  She married an American, which assisted in her ability to stay safe and help the children.  Anyway, the first book in this new series by Brock and Bodie Thoene focused on a new character.  The above girl's cousin.  They had to flee Belgium and finally made it to England where she helped refugees.  The second book was a continuation of the first girl's story.  She was chaperoning evacuated refugee children to America when their ship was hit by a U-Boat.  It is the story of her's and others survival.

Anyway, the reason this made me think is because the pain that was represented in this story was so incredible.  However, I cannot even begin to imagine being in such a position.  I cannot imagine being in such a place as to face such horrors, running from my home, leaving everything, hiding in the woods, being shot at by planes, being treated as nothing better than a worm wanting to be squished.  All for what?  Power?  A "pure" people?  When boiled down, those are essentially the two reasons.

Anyway, the United States has been spared war.  While it has affected us, war has not taken place on our land since, the Civil War?  Yes, there were black outs during WWII, we were not bombed every night for hours.  We did not leave our home in the morning and come home to a pile of rubble.  It is beyond my comprehension as to what it would be like to fear a bomb dropping on where I slept and be exploded into pieces.  Imagine being the only person alive in a family because you were out for a walk while everyone else was at home.  The terror of being dragged out in the middle of the night, shoved in a room or train full beyond capacity of people, and then sent to a concentration camp or work camp.  We don't have to fear that.

Yet, all around the world people fear death.  People fear attack.  People die of hunger.  People fear being discovered and imprisoned or killed for their religion.  I am speaking out of a very tiny bowl of knowledge.  I have never experienced anything of which I have written.  I can only imagine.  Yet, when imagining something with no context, it is very hard.  As was said in my book, only when names and stories were put to the numbers of deaths did they become more real.  Otherwise, the numbers were just numbers. 

A quote from my book is, "Women are like tea.  You never know how strong they are until they are in hot water."  We don't know what we can take until put in the situation.  God will not give us more than we can handle.  He will provide the strength needed.  Without knowing God as a strong fortress, a loving protector, and all powerful the above situations would seem positively impossible.  As it was things were already beyond bleak.

A frequent thought that came to mind throughout my reading was, what did my Grandma experience in Germany?  She would have been born just after the start of the war, but some time into Hitler's reign.  What did my family in England experience?  They (well, my Grampaw) were in London.  I want to ask questions.  Does he remember the bombing?  So, yes, Grampaw if you are reading this, I want to ask you questions.

Anyway, this has been long enough, for the time being.
Perhaps more later.