Month: September 2016

Introverts Guide to Marrying a Mennonite

On By danielcooleyblogIn UncategorizedLeave a comment

As dad, i thought i was there. But after reading this, I’m not so sure.

LateToEveryParty

I often write about the hardships of being Jon’s wife but nothing compares to our wedding. On September 8, Jon and I celebrated 9 years of marriage. I remember saying to my husband “I just want to marry you. As long as we’re married at the end of the day, I don’t care if guests are eating pizza off paper plates on the floor.”

This almost came to fruition. Here’s what I learned.

Pick a Mantra and Stick to It
Repeat it over and over. It keeps you calm when you feel the world of cake and taffeta closing in. Mine was, “As long as I’m married at the end of the day…“
Small Wedding =  Destination Wedding

For me, minimal spotlight means minimal stress.  I’m a recluse and hate being the center of attention.  I wanted to get married in the church I grew up in. I thought…

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One of the Few: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

On By danielcooleyblogIn Book Reviews, UncategorizedLeave a comment

1-of-the-fewThe Good: I wasn’t sure what to expect with this book. I should have read the subtitle, “A Marine Fighter Pilot’s Reconnaissance of the Christian Worldview.” That is what this book is all about. If you enjoy military stories and difficult philosophical questions, you are weird. You’ll also enjoy this book.

The stories sucked me in, and the worldview issues Jason Ladd deals with are well-covered. In both instances he defines his terms well, so even without a military or college background you call follow along without any issues. Thankfully he also used Harry Potter illustrations, so I could relate. Jason is extremely well-studied; some terrific quotes are included. If you are wondering what to read next, simply going to his bibliography would be a good place to start looking.

He also has some great quotes of his own. One from early on, talking about growing up he said, “The wrecking ball of divorce has no less momentum when the children it smashes are grown.” He seems to me to write like I would expect a marine to write – in your face. It was refreshing.

The Bad: The only “bad” part of the book I could find was when some of the stories didn’t seem to fit the truth he was illustrating. Sometimes it felt like a stretch to me. I would enjoy the story – be convinced of the truth – but didn’t always see the connection.

In the book, our modern world, media, and culture come out looking foul. The emasculation of men, lies about religion, the promotion of porn – Jason helped me see through the fog and realize just how bad our culture really is.

The Ugly: Here is my only real complaint. 99% of the book is honest, clear, in-your-face marine stories and truth-telling. Then, just a few times, Jason switches into preaching mode. Leave out the sermons and it gets 5 stars. As it is, it gets 4.5, a high recommendation, but 20 fewer pages and it would be tops. I just hope Jason the Marine isn’t mad at me.

I received One of the Few for free, in exchange for my honest review. It did save me the $16.99 Amazon new price, but I still told the truth. It would have to be a free $20.00 book for me to lie about it.

danielcooley.com

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