Leigh's Views

So the other day I was chatting with someone from another country. I mentioned something about chicken fried steak. And her response was 'Wait, what? Is it chicken or steak, because it can't be both!' Well, that threw me. To me, chicken fried steak is a normal Thursday night meal. Nothing special, nothing unique about it at all. How does she not know what that is? But as I reflected on this a moment, I realized that when I travel a lot of foods I eat I have no idea what they are. To me, they seem so exotic, fun, extraordinary. Like this plate of grilled sausage-like something, I had in Greece a few years back. This meat concoction was divine, sweet, spicy, with a yogurt dip and veggies on the side. So many flavors hitting my tastebuds all at once, I was in heaven. However, to those who live in the area, I'm sure it's nothing to write home about at all. Like my chicken fried steak - this was a normal Thursday night meal in Greece. And this is why I hate the word ...

There I was a few weeks ago, standing in my booth space, waiting for customers. It was late afternoon, the rush long gone and almost none remained at the event anymore. An elderly woman the sole person walking the aisle. I watched as her slow,  measured steps took her the length of the building, never stopping to look at anything. Until she got to me. Dressed in dark grey slacks, cream twin set sweater with her short white hair elegantly poofed just right, she had this air of elegance.  As she entered my space, she patted my arm and said something about not wanting a book. But she would like to chat for a moment because she loved my curly hair as it reminded her of her daughter. Of course, I told her 'No problem'. I realize how lonely it can be when you're older, especially if you live alone. Which may or may not have been the case with this woman, I'm well aware. I let her ramble on for a while, about her life in this small town. How she'd never been much farther t...

 Okay, I know. I'm an author. I do reviews of books, not movies. But today, I'm making an exception. First, let me explain, why this movie out of all of the movies in the world. It's about adoption, finding one's birth family, and every emotional twist and turn involved. And I went with my sister. Which in itself is a rather big deal. We've known each other for less than a year, yeah, I know that sounds odd. However, I was adopted, thus, it's only recently I've connected with a small part of my birth family. So I could relate to this movie, it felt like the storyline was my life in a way. There were so many places I found myself muttering, "I feel that way", "I've done that", "I've said that", or "I've heard that from so and so". And being there with my sister made the movie even more special. Having a few more moments with her are always a blessing since we've missed out on so much. Beyond that, I feel...

I've been working on my schedule for fall events for the last week or so. Various places I'm headed to over the next few months so I can sell my books. And as I've been going over the emails from the various organizers, I realized something. Almost all of them are requesting I have holiday decorations for my booth/table. Uhm, okay. Not something I've been asked to provide in previous years. However, I'm game. Well, I was until I pulled my rather meager collection of decorations out of my attic. There I was, sitting in a pile of mish-mashed weirdness, and knew there was nothing in the bunch which would be presentable to the world. Yup, since I moved into my home, not a single Christmas has been spent in it. And my plans this year are to be somewhere other than my house as well. They say home is where the heart is. And I guess my home is somewhere down the road since I'm always traveling. And as I continued to stare at those decorations various thoughts popped int...

  Okay, I haven't been home for most of May and June. And the other day I was standing in my yard and realized things were different. It took me a few minutes to figure out what was odd. There wasn't a sound coming from anywhere. As I pondered on this, it dawned on me that things had been rather quiet since I'd been back home. Turning around, I looked at the neighbor to my left. The house now stands empty - the dogs, cars, trash, and whatnot from the yard are gone. Ah, yup, I'll never have to listen to them yelling and screaming at each other for hours on end. Nor will I ever enjoy the sounds of him playing the drums at two in the morning again. Shifting a little, I took a peep at the neighbor in the front. All the toys, broken lawn mowers, cars, junk, etc. in that yard were gone as well. Hmm, no more kids yelling or jumping over the fence into my yard for no reason. Spinning around, I gazed over at the neighbor to the right, that yard was empty as well. The older-than-...

When I was asked to look at this book, well, I was intrigued because this is such a timely subject. Almost everyone is struggling to make ends meet right now. What was more interesting as I got into this book was that it was more of a 'Why to' instead of a 'How to' book. By this I mean, the focus was more on changing how people view money and financial matters rather than saying 'do this' or 'do that' and all of your problems would be solved.  This book is filled with Scripture and a few personal examples enabling the reader to reexamine how they handle money. Now, I found myself agreeing with the author on many points. Things I've been saying for years are pointed out in this book, like not getting into debt. And I must say one of my favorite parts of the book was when he called out churches for going into debt just for a building. So if you've tried everything to get your financial house in order and nothing has worked, you might want to check ...

There's something about us that craves connection. A need to be with others like us. And family often plays a big role in this. For people who were adopted, this gets complicated. Sure, they usually love and accept their adoptive parents as parents. But, still many end up thinking about finding their birth parents. Because there's this pull to look into the eyes of someone who looks like you, has the same nose as you, the same hands as you, the same hair as you, shares your DNA. However, not all end up taking the steps to follow up on those thoughts. And what happens when an adult adoptee finds his/her birth family and then has to introduce his/her children to a family they never knew existed? See - complicated. A while ago, I had the opportunity to witness two cousins meet for the first time. These college-age young men were the children of an adoptee and her newly found half-sister. I'm not sure how either was told the news - "surprise, you've got a new cousin!...