Oh my goodness. What great reading this past month. So thankful for a few days of rest and relaxation with some fantastic books over furlough!

Finished this gem. This heartbreaking, bittersweet gem. I could hardly put Before We Were Yours down, although at times I wanted to since this fictional story was based on true events that happened in American history. It’s insane to think that children were carried away from their families even as they walked home from school, just to be “sold” to others. I knew nothing about Georgia Tann or her adoption schemes that took place between the 20’s and 50’s. I’m interested to read more, so I put The Baby Thief by Barbara Raymond on my “To Read” list. Whew!

A few of my favorite quotes from my May reading are below. I’d recommend reading the books instead of just catching the Cliff notes version below – they’re worth the journey!

I shush my mind, because your mind can ruin you if you let it. ¹

It’s funny how what you’re used to seems like it’s right even if it’s bad. ¹

Life is not unlike cinema. Each scene has its own music…. No matter how much we may love the melody of a bygone day or imagine the song of a future one, we must dance within the music of today, or we will always be out of step, stumbling around in something that doesn’t suit the moment. ¹

It’s not a question of whether you will hurt, or of how much you will hurt; it’s a question of what you will do, and how well you will do it, while pain has her wanton way with you. ²

“The only time you don’t find a four-leaf clover,” he liked to say, “is when you stop looking for one.” ²

No wonder the devil was so still; for his goods were in peace. ³

¹ Before We Were Yours, Lisa Wingate
² The Boys in the Boat, Daniel James Brown
³ The Journal of John Wesley