Book Review and First Ever Give Away!

Isn't it interesting how a string of events can bring you to a certain place in time? I remember the day last winter when I looked up a blog my sister told me about. I spent hours reading back in the archives and the name of an author, Dorcas Smucker, caught my attention. The name sounded familiar and I soon hopped over to Life in the Shoe and started reading. I fell in love quickly and when, many months later, Dorcas offered a chance at a spot on the blog tour for her newest book, Tea and Trouble Brewing, I jumped at the chance. Of course, in true "Bethany" fashion, as the day drew closer I fought the urge to jump back out of the chance :) but here we are! It's amazing to me how you can feel like you "click" with a person you've never met. Maybe it's because Dorcas and I share some things in common...we're both Mennonite, after all and, while she is mother to six, I'm expecting my fifth :)  We also share a love for writing - a compeling urge to capture lessons, memories, events - with written words. The day my package with Tea and Trouble Brewing arrived in the mail, I rushed through my work so I could curl up in a chair and read! When I reached page 121 and read the chapter titled "Paul and the Vacuum Cleaner", I discovered we shared yet one more thing in common, perhaps the most significant one of all! I laughed aloud as I read how Paul refused to cooperate with the portrait potographer and Dorcas' description of his "wolf-with-fresh-caribou repair methods". When I read the chapter aloud to Chris and received a hearty "Thank you!!" on the line "...he still doesn't do what he's told if he thinks it's stupid." I knew I was correct. We share husbands with many of the same personality traits!

Tea and Trouble Brewing is full of delightful stories about Dorcas and Paul Smucker who, with their 6 children, live in a farm house in Oregon.  Each chapter is taken from one of Dorcas' monthly columns published in their local paper, The Register Guard. Dorcas' candid honesty and insight as she relates personal triumphs and failures has the potential for producing laughter and tears, deep pondering, and reminiscing of your own. It's just the sort of book to make me look forward to a 14 hour trip to Arkansas at Christmas time so I can read chapters aloud and share the goodness with the rest of my family!

The best part of all? Because of an innocent little string of events, today I get to offer you a chance to win a copy of Tea and Trouble Brewing! All you have to do is leave a comment on  A) this blog post  B) facebook  C) send me an email at christopherbethany@juno.com  Tell me what book you are currently reading or the last book you have enjoyed (if it's Saggy Baggy Elephant that counts! :)) I'll gather the names from all the comments on December 6 and draw a lucky winner. I will then announce the winner and as soon as I receive their email address, a signed copy of Tea and Trouble Brewing will be on it's way!

Of course, only one of you will be lucky enough to win, but that doesn't mean you have to stay left out. Tea and Trouble Brewing is available here  or, you can send a check for $15 to: Dorcas Smucker  31148 Substation Drive, Harrisburg, OR 97446.  And there's more! Since one book of Dorcas' writing will probably make you wish for more, she has three more books for you to enjoy - Ordinary Days, Upstairs the Peasants Are Revolting, Downstairs the Queen Is Knitting - and now's the time to get them! She's offering the complete set of 4 books for $40. Just send a check to the above address and you'll have lots of stories to enjoy :)

So...don't forget to leave your comment and check back for a winner on December 6!