{"id":523,"date":"2008-09-26T10:27:16","date_gmt":"2008-09-26T15:27:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.daysongreflections.com\/\/?p=523"},"modified":"2008-09-26T10:27:16","modified_gmt":"2008-09-26T15:27:16","slug":"sunset-by-karen-kingsbury","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.daysongreflections.com\/?p=523","title":{"rendered":"Sunset by Karen Kingsbury"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/a>\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

It is time to play a Wild Card<\/span>!<\/strong> <\/span>Every now and then, a book that I have chosen to read is going to pop up as a FIRST Wild Card Tour<\/a>. Get dealt into the game! (Just click the button!) Wild Card Tours feature an author and his\/her book’s FIRST chapter!<\/p>\n

You never know when I might play a wild card on you!<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

Today’s Wild Card author is: <\/strong><\/div>\n
Karen Kingsbury<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/div>\n

and her book:<\/span> <\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Sunset (Sunrise Series-Baxter 3, Book 4)<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Tyndale House Publishers (September 23, 2008)<\/strong><\/p>\n

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:<\/span> <\/span><\/strong><\/div>\n

\"\"<\/a>Karen Kingsbury is currently America’s best-selling inspirational author. She has written more than 30 of her Life-Changing Fiction titles and has nearly 5 million books in print. Dubbed by Time magazine as the Queen of Christian Fiction. Her fiction has made her one of the country’s favorite storytellers, and one of her novels-Gideon’s Gift-is under production for an upcoming major motion picture release. Her emotionally gripping titles include the popular Redemption series, the Firstborn series, Divine, One Tuesday Morning, Beyond Tuesday Morning, Oceans Apart, and A Thousand Tomorrows.Karen and her husband, Don, live in the Pacific Northwest and are parents to one girl and five boys, including three adopted from Haiti.<\/p>\n

Visit the author’s website<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Product Details:<\/p>\n

List Price: $13.99<\/p>\n

Paperback: 336 pages<\/p>\n

Publisher: Tyndale House Publishers (September 23, 2008)<\/p>\n

Language: English<\/p>\n

ISBN-10: 0842387587<\/p>\n

ISBN-13: 978-0842387583<\/p>\n

AND NOW…THE FIRST CHAPTER:<\/span> <\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

John Baxter had dreaded this day with everything in him, but the knock at the door told him the time had come. It was the last Tuesday in January, Christmas far behind them and long past time to take this step. He\u2019d made the decision more than a year ago, and now he needed to carry through with it.<\/p>\n

\u201cComing . . .\u201d He walked from the kitchen to the front door and opened it.<\/p>\n

\u201cJohn.\u201d Verne Pick nodded. He was a friend from church whose kids were involved with CKT, and he had a reputation for being one of the best, most thorough Realtors in Bloomington. His expression told John that he knew this was going to be a rough day. \u201cYou ready?\u201d<\/p>\n

He steeled himself. \u201cI am.\u201d He opened the heavy wooden door and welcomed the man inside. \u201cLet\u2019s move to the kitchen table.\u201d John had brewed a pot of coffee, and he poured cups for both of them.<\/p>\n

They made small talk, and after a few minutes, Verne pulled a folder from his briefcase. \u201cWe have a standard questionnaire we need to deal with first.\u201d<\/p>\n

John blinked, and a memory came over him. When Elizabeth died, it had taken every bit of his strength to walk through the planning of her service. But he remembered this one detail: The young woman from the funeral home who helped him with the process had presented every question couched in concern, as if she wanted to apologize for each step of the ordeal. That\u2019s exactly how Verne was now, his brow raised as he waited for a response.<\/p>\n

John motioned to the two closest chairs. \u201cLet\u2019s get the questions out of the way.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cOkay.\u201d Verne opened the folder and took out the document on top. He drew a long breath. \u201cI guess we better talk about the fire first. It\u2019s bound to come up.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cRight. Just a minute.\u201d John went to the next room and found a folder on the desk. He brought it back and set it on the table in front of his friend. \u201cThe garage has been completely redone, and all the repair work was signed off. Everything\u2019s in the folder.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cGood.\u201d Verne lifted his chin and sniffed a few times. \u201cNo smell of smoke?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNot at all.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe place is really something.\u201d Verne\u2019s smile was tentative. \u201cShould have it sold by summer, I\u2019m guessing.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYes.\u201d A bittersweet sense of pride welled in John\u2019s chest. \u201cIt\u2019s a great house. Held up well through the years even with the fire.\u201d<\/p>\n

Verne settled in over the paperwork. \u201cI\u2019ve got some of this filled out already. Let\u2019s do the basics first.\u201d He lifted his gaze, pen poised over the top sheet. \u201cNumber of bedrooms?\u201d<\/p>\n

John pictured them the way they\u2019d looked twenty years ago. He and Elizabeth in the large room at one side of the house upstairs. Brooke and Kari across from each other at the south end of the hall, Luke in the next bedroom on the left, and Ashley and Erin sharing a room at the north end. He pushed away the memory. \u201cFive.\u201d He took a quick sip of coffee. \u201cFive bedrooms.\u201d<\/p>\n

The interview wore on, each question stirring another set of memories and reasons why he couldn\u2019t believe he was selling the place. When they reached the end of the document, Verne bit his lower lip. \u201cThe tour comes next. I need to measure each room, get an official square footage.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe tour?\u201d John looked toward the stove, and he could almost see Elizabeth standing near the kettle. \u201cJohn\u2019ll give you the tour,\u201d she would say when company came over. \u201cHe\u2019s so proud of the place\u2014I like to let him do it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cSure.\u201d John gave his friend a smile. \u201cLet\u2019s start in the living room.\u201d<\/p>\n

They worked their way from one part of the house to the next, and as they went, Verne pulled out his measuring tape and captured the length of the walls.<\/p>\n

John remained quiet. He wasn\u2019t seeing his friend taking matter-of-fact measurements of the house he so loved. He was seeing Elizabeth, rocking their babies, Ashley learning to walk, Brooke bringing in a bird with a broken wing, and Kari screaming because she thought it might attack her. He could hear the piano, filling the house with hour after hour of not-quite-perfect songs during the years when the kids took lessons, and he could see the grandkids gathered around their tree each Christmas.<\/p>\n

Whatever the square footage of the house, it couldn\u2019t possibly measure what these walls had seen or the memories housed here.<\/p>\n

They finished the final room, and Verne closed the folder. \u201cWell, that\u2019s about it. Just one more thing and I can get back to the office and list it.\u201d He walked toward the front of the house. \u201cI\u2019ll get what I need from the car.\u201d<\/p>\n

John followed him into the entryway, and when he was alone, he slumped against the doorframe. For a heartbeat, he felt like he was no longer attached to his body. What was he doing, selling the house? Certainly one of his kids should\u2019ve wanted it, right? He had six of them in the area, after all. But John had already asked each of them. Brooke and Peter liked the house they lived in because it was easy for Hayley and comfortable. \u201cWe have our own memories here,\u201d Brooke had told him. \u201cThe Baxter place would be much too big for us.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kari had felt the same way about having her own memories. Ryan had designed the log house they lived in, and it had a sort of rugged lodge feel both Kari and Ryan loved.<\/p>\n

Ashley had been a possibility at first. She had told him a number of times that she would love to raise the boys here, where she\u2019d grown up. But she wasn\u2019t painting enough to bring in regular money, and the mortgage on the house would be far beyond what Landon could afford, especially with their growing boys.<\/p>\n

Once John had even considered calling Dayne, because it would\u2019ve been nothing for him to loan Ashley and Landon the money\u2014maybe at a lower rate or for a longer period of time.<\/p>\n

But Ashley had begged him not to. \u201cI don\u2019t want Dayne to think of us like that, using him for his money.\u201d<\/p>\n

John could\u2019ve argued with her, but there was no point, really. Ashley was right; the situation would have been awkward.<\/p>\n

As for his other kids, Luke and Reagan needed to be close to Indianapolis for Luke\u2019s job, and things were still very shaky between them. They\u2019d found a nearby church, and John was encouraging them to get counseling at a local center. There was no way they\u2019d be interested in moving again.<\/p>\n

Last there were Erin and Sam. At first, when Erin called to announce that they were moving back to Indiana, John thought he had his answer, a way to keep the house in the family. But Sam worked long days, and Erin was busy with the kids. Upkeep on a house with acreage was more than they were willing to take on even for the sake of nostalgia. So they were out.<\/p>\n

John wandered into the front room and peered through the window at Verne out front. Way down at the end of his driveway, his friend had taken a large For Sale sign from the back of his car. John\u2019s heart swelled with frustration and futility as he watched Verne position the sign not far from the road. The Baxter house . . . for sale. John gritted his teeth and looked away. This was where he\u2019d wanted to live out the rest of his days, so maybe he was wrong. Maybe this was all a mistake. He looked out the window again and narrowed his eyes.<\/p>\n

No, there was no mistake in what he was doing. Living in this house into his twilight years meant sharing it with Elizabeth, and since she wasn\u2019t here, the house could go. It had to. He and Elaine Denning were moving ahead with their plans to marry, and they needed a new place to begin their life together and\u2014<\/p>\n

The echo of a mallet against a stake resonated deep within him. It was barely loud enough to hear, but John knew the sound. He took a few steps closer to the window as Verne hammered the sign into the ground.<\/p>\n

Why, God? Isn\u2019t there some way to save the place?<\/p>\n

In response there was only the sound of another blow, another strike of the mallet.<\/p>\n

John winced as Verne finished the job. Yes, his years in the Baxter house were over. The time had come to move on, and with God\u2019s help that\u2019s what John would do. He gripped the windowsill and breathed in deeply the familiar smell of his home. He would survive letting go of this place, because he had no other choice.<\/p>\n

Even if it all but killed him to say good-bye.<\/p>\n

***<\/p>\n

Ashley Baxter Blake flung open the bathroom window, braced herself against the sink, and stared at the mirror. Her hands trembled and her heart raced as she glanced at the clock on the bathroom counter\u20149:31 a.m. Okay, here goes. . . . She marked the second hand and stared at the mirror again. The next minute was bound to drag, and Ashley couldn\u2019t make it go faster by watching the clock.<\/p>\n

How could she have lied to herself for so long? She leaned closer, studying her look. Her makeup didn\u2019t cover the dark circles under her eyes. She was dizzy and weary, drained from another morning of dry heaves, and no amount of fresh air staved off the nausea.<\/p>\n

Through Christmas she had given herself a dozen reasons why she might be late\u2014busyness and excitement during the holidays, running after Cole and Devin almost constantly, and the heartache of missing baby Sarah. It could take a year after losing a baby before her body found its normal routine of cycles. That\u2019s what her doctor had told her. A year. It hadn\u2019t been nearly that.<\/p>\n

But she\u2019d had just one period in the last four months, and finally Ashley had done what she thought about doing weeks ago. She bought a test, and now in less than a minute she\u2019d know the truth. Not that she needed the test at this point. She touched her fingers gently to her abdomen. It wasn\u2019t exactly bulging, but it was slightly rounded and firm, the way she\u2019d always felt when she was in her first few months of pregnancy.<\/p>\n

The difference was that every other time she had been ecstatic about maybe being pregnant, ready to rush to the drugstore for a test the moment she suspected she was a day or so late. Even in the weeks after losing Sarah, she and Landon had wanted nothing more than to try for another child. But somewhere along the journey of letting go of her daughter, Ashley had realized something deep within her.<\/p>\n

She couldn\u2019t lose another baby.<\/p>\n

By God\u2019s grace and with Landon by her side she\u2019d survived losing Sarah, but another child? Ashley wasn\u2019t sure she\u2019d survive. The sound of her too fast heartbeat echoed against her temples, and she blinked at her image in the mirror. Standing here on the verge of having her answer, there was only one way to explain the way Ashley felt. She was terrified.<\/p>\n

Her strange and new fears were impacting every area of her life\u2014even her relationship with Landon. By now she should\u2019ve told him about her suspicions, but she\u2019d kept the possibility to herself. Every time she considered telling him, she stopped herself. If she told Landon, then she\u2019d need to visit a doctor and go through the same steps as last time\u2014the tests and ultimately the ultrasound. And that meant she had to be ready to handle the news that something could be wrong again. News she couldn\u2019t face. Not yet anyway.<\/p>\n

Besides if she told Landon too soon, he\u2019d get his hopes up and then if . . . if something was wrong, they\u2019d both be crushed. Almost as if by saying something she would instantly open the two of them to all the grim possibilities. Whereas by keeping her concerns to herself, she could avoid giving Landon a false sense of hope, avoid the doctor appointments, and most of all the dreaded ultrasound.<\/p>\n

Ashley squinted at the test window. Was it her imagination or was a line forming down the center? The line that would confirm she was carrying another child? She closed her eyes and breathed in sharp through her nose. I can\u2019t do it again, God. I can\u2019t lose another baby. Please walk me through this.<\/p>\n

Losing Sarah was the most wrenching pain she\u2019d ever been through. Yes, she and Landon had found the miracle in Sarah\u2019s brief life, and they would treasure forever the few hours they shared with her. But since then, she couldn\u2019t walk past Sarah\u2019s nursery without aching from the loss, couldn\u2019t drive in the direction of the cemetery without seeing her painting, the one of her mother holding Sarah in a field of flowers in heaven.<\/p>\n

She leaned hard against the bathroom countertop, her arms shaking. The doctor had said a repeat diagnosis of anencephaly wasn\u2019t likely, but it was possible.<\/p>\n

Landon must\u2019ve known she was worried about having future children, because he\u2019d brought up the subject only once since Christmas. \u201cDo you think about it, Ash . . . having another baby?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAt first. But lately I try not to.\u201d Her voice had been kind, gentle. But fear put a sudden grip on her throat. \u201cI couldn\u2019t do it again. Go through what we went through with Sarah.\u201d<\/p>\n

Landon touched her cheek, her forehead. \u201cMy grandpa always told me God never gives us more than we can handle.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI know.\u201d Ashley smiled, and in that instant she could see Sarah in her arms, feel that warm little body against her chest. She swallowed, trying to find the words. But they both dropped the subject.<\/p>\n

Since then she\u2019d talked briefly with Landon about her fears of having more children. But the truth was, somewhere along the days of pain and grief Ashley had formed a mind-set: better not to have more children than to face the possibility of losing another baby.<\/p>\n

The thing was, in her life God had sometimes given her things that He must\u2019ve known she\u2019d survive, and she had indeed come through on the other side. God had always brought her closer to Himself through the process. But she was weary of the heartache, tired of the path of pain God sometimes led her down. If she were pregnant now, she would fight the fear of loss every morning, every hour between now and the birth of her baby. So maybe she hadn\u2019t been crazy to deny the evidence of her body for this long. She simply wasn\u2019t ready to face the sorrow that might be around the next corner.<\/p>\n

More than a minute had passed, so whatever was in the test window would be visible by now. Ashley picked up the stick and looked at the two straight lines, both dark and pronounced, and the answer was instantly in front of her. No doubt whatsoever\u2014she was pregnant. Fear tap-danced across the moment, but it was joined by an unexpected partner: the flicker of hope and joy. She was pregnant, and for now, no matter what might lay ahead, a brand-new life was growing inside her. The news was terrifying and thrilling at the same time.<\/p>\n

Now it was merely a matter of finding the courage to tell Landon.<\/p>\n

Copyright\u00a9 2008 by Karen Kingsbury. All rights reserved.<\/p><\/div>\n

MY REVIEW:<\/h3>\n

Sunset<\/a> is the final installment of Karen Kingsbury’s Sunrise Series as well as the last of the well-loved Baxter series. As with all the other thirteen books in the three series (Redemption Series, Firstborn Series, and Sunrise Series), the book focuses on members of the Baxter family as well as other recurrent characters in Bloomington, especially the Flanigans.<\/p>\n

Once again Kingsbury’s characters experience conflict and harmony, tragedy and triumph, sorrow and joy. They are portrayed so realistically that the reader is able to identify with their experiences. Throughout Sunset<\/a> and the other books in the series is the underlying message of the importance of family, friends, and faith.<\/p>\n

I would heartily recommend Sunset<\/a> to all. If you have not already read the previous books of the series, I would encourage you to do so. Sunset<\/a> is enjoyable as a stand-alone but the reader would gain more insight into the story with the background from the earlier volumes.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It is time to play a Wild Card! Every now and then, a book that I have chosen to read is going to pop up as a FIRST Wild Card Tour. Get dealt into the game! (Just click the button!) Wild Card Tours feature an author and his\/her book’s FIRST chapter! You never know when […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-523","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-books"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.daysongreflections.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/523","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.daysongreflections.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.daysongreflections.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.daysongreflections.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.daysongreflections.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=523"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.daysongreflections.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/523\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":535,"href":"https:\/\/www.daysongreflections.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/523\/revisions\/535"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.daysongreflections.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=523"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.daysongreflections.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=523"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.daysongreflections.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=523"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}