Book Review - a new flavor

Hi all!

I'm coming at you today with a very different sort of book review. Normally, I'm a fiction hound. I mean, if there's a story to disappear into, why would I stay in reality? OK, maybe that's a little extreme, but you understand.

Today I'm writing to tell you about an amazing book about to hit the shelves. Memory Making Mom by Jessica Smartt. (Yes, that's how she spells it, not a typo). Before you tune out because you don't have little kids, hear me out. This stuff matters even if you don't have kids. It matters for adult kids. It matters for grand kids. Yes, this author writes as a mother of young children, but she talks about making memories because memories hold the power to bind us together as families, friends, and neighbors. 

The prose is easy to read and the author is super vulnerable, describing her failures right along with her victories. And she's funny too. (You have to read about the Christmas tree, PVC pipe, and fishline. She does not make the reader feel like her life should be pinterest-y, but she does give us small things we can do to make a large impact on the people we love.

I hope you'll check this book out and scoot over to Amazon for preorder (here). Yes, it's not quite available (Mar 5! Less than 2 weeks!), but the pre-order is genius. It actually arrives at your door the day of release or sometimes a day early. :-)

This book is the PERFECT gift for any young mother you know . . . especially with Mother's Day coming up quicker than you think! It's an amazing gift for a grandmother of young kids. It's also a great book for anyone wanting to make memories with the ones they love, chock full of ideas, and backed up with the reasons why going the extra mile is worthwhile. For more info and pre-order bonuses, check out the website here.

So there you go. It's not fiction. But this book addresses the story you are living. What's your favorite family memory from the last year? Mine? Grilling pizzas on the back porch in the cold, with a fire going to keep us warm, with all my kids home, laughing our heads off together. 

Jennifer Fromke writes from North Carolina, where she pines for colder temperatures all year long. Northerners by upbringing, she and her husband of 26 years have raised three Southern-ish children despite their best efforts. Jennifer reviews books at www.Shetalksbooks.com and she offers a free story download on her website: https://www.jenniferfromke.com/contact/.

Harvesting Fruit from the Family Tree

No-no-no ... not the crazy kind of fruit! (Although my family tree has plenty of that.) The helpful kind. The kind that leads you to use an ancestor in your story. 

Pictured here are Ellen and John Lewis, my great-great-grandparents. The photo was taken in 1908 on their 40th wedding anniversary and is still in our family 110 years later.

John was a Civil War vet who mustered into the Union forces as part of the Michigan 7th Cavalry (Yup! Custer's bunch.) on March 2, 1865. He was 18 years old. 

The Michigan 7th Cavalry was engaged a few times after John mustered in, including:
Five Fork, VA, March 30 - April 1, 1865
Duck Pond Mills, VA, April 4, 1865
Sailor's Creek, VA, April 6, 1865
Appomattox Court House, VA, April 8-9, 1865
Even though we don't have any direct evidence that he was or wasn't involved in any of these engagements.

However, he was transferred west at the close of the Civil War to serve during the Plains Indian Wars. He survived, returned to Michigan, and sired the crop of ancestors that leads down to me.

My current work in progress involves a Civil War vet who I've decided knew my great-great-grandfather. How fun is that?!

Pegg Thomas lives on a hobby farm in Northern Michigan with Michael, her husband of *mumble* years. A life-long history geek, she writes “History with a Touch of Humor.” When not working or writing, Pegg can be found in her barn, her garden, her kitchen, or sitting at her spinning wheel creating yarn to turn into her signature wool shawls.

Follow her on Facebook or visit her at PeggThomas.com.

My Family's Connection to the Titanic

It’s been over 100 years since the Titanic met its watery grave. Interestingly enough, my family has a connection to that famous, but ill-fated ship.

In 1911, my great-grandfather Tom Cadreanu left Romania to come to Canada, seeking a better life. He decided to brave the journey on his own to explore opportunities, find shelter and land. Once he was established, he sent word to his young wife, Amelia, to come to Canada with their daughter, Flora.

Passage was arranged for the two young travelers aboard the Titanic.

Given their economic condition, it was very likely that Amelia would’ve traveled third-class. And as everyone knows (thanks to James Cameron), the passengers at this level were not offered life boats. The third-class passengers sank with the ship. And so would’ve my great-grandmother…had she boarded that Titanic as planned.

 

Crowd awaiting survivors.

 

The saving grace was Amelia’s mother. She cried and begged her daughter to stay a little longer in Romania since she’d never see her again. Once they said good-bye, it would be forever. Handwritten letters that would take months to reach its destination would be their only connection. Amelia relented and delayed her departure an entire month.

You can imagine when Tom heard the news of the Titanic’s demise, he was devastated. He went months not knowing whether his wife and daughter lived or perished. I can only imagine that warm, Canadian spring day when they were reunited once again.

Tom and Amelia lived in the Niagara region and had 15 more children with 12 surviving.

I shudder to think the rippling effect of that one decision of a teenage girl to remain in her home country for four additional weeks. If she hadn’t, I wouldn’t be sitting at my computer writing this story now.

It also makes me pause to think about the moments when I feel that situations are out of control, that maybe they’re not. Perhaps God is working things out for a greater purpose than I can see or even know in the moment. Maybe that wrong turn that caused a 10-minute detour protected me from an accident. Maybe that rejection letter from an editor was meant to push me to be the better writer I can be. Maybe not getting a particular job spared me from a bad work situation. It’s learning to walk each day in faith, knowing my life is in His loving hands.

As Nazi Holocaust survivor, Corrie Ten Boom, once said, “Never be afraid to trust your unknown future, to a known God.”