A Review of ‘Julia’s Gifts (Great War Great Love #1)’ by Ellen Gable

Ellen Gable, the award-winning Catholic author of eight books, has embarked on a new series that mothers will be happy to share with their daughters. In the first installment, Julia’s Gifts, we meet Julia just before Christmas 1917 in Philadelphia, during World War I. She is shopping for a Christmas present for her beloved, and praying for his safety. The reader soon finds that she has not yet met her ‘beloved’. She will be turning 21 soon, and she is hopeful that she will meet her future husband in the upcoming year. 

In March 1918, Julia’s friend encourages her to join the Red Cross, and they begin their service as nurses in France. Untrained, the innocent and naïve Julia is thrown into a world replete with the challenges of lice, flu, pain, sorrow, and blood. She not quite gotten her feet wet when she is told to prepare a German officer for interrogation by Major Peter Winslow, a Canadian who has become bitter and angry after receiving news of a personal tragedy. 

At this point, the reader may think the story will unfold in a predictable way. However, in the messy world of war, nothing happens in exactly the way we think – or hope – it will. The characters cope with their fears and anxieties while reshaping their perceptions of themselves, others, the world, and God. Where does love fit into the picture – if it all? Gable’s story explores that phase of young adulthood that is often defined by an initial disillusionment when confronted with reality. With faith and the grace of God, this stage can result in a blossoming and rediscovery of one’s true self and purpose.

Gable’s books are written in line with the Theology of the Body. She purposely wrote this book so that there are no sexual themes that might be deemed inappropriate for young adolescents. This book presents an opportunity for mothers and daughters to talk about how to prepare for future marriage. There are themes of war, including pestilence, severe injuries, illness, dying, and one suicide, but these are tempered by Gable’s gentle writing style.   

For more information see the author’s publication website Full Quiver Publishing. 

Or purchase the book at Amazon now: 

Paperback edition 

Kindle edition 

If you enjoyed this review you may enjoy my reviews of these books by Ellen Gable:

Emily’s Hope 

In Name Only 

A Subtle Grace 

Stealing Jenny 

Valentine’s Day: Slices of Life

St John The Evangelist Teaching The New Commandment 'That Ye Love One Another', 1861 Canvas Painting by Valentine Cameron Prinsep - Easyart.com

Valentine’s Day 1991. I was lifeguarding during the evening swim hours at a local public school with a couple of my guy friends. They sent me out to buy a pizza at a fancy Italian restaurant that just happened to have a good deal on takeout pizzas. Waiting for my pizza in the lobby, I watched couple after couple come in and sit down at a cozy table for two.

I’ll never meet anybody worth spending time on, I thought. Maybe I am supposed to be a nun. Such hopelessness from a usually-optimistic 18-year-old !

Valentine’s Day 1992. After dinner with my first boyfriend, he said to me, “I love you.” Other than my Daddy, he was the first man to ever speak those words to me. Taught not to ever take or speak those words lightly, I said, “Thank you.”

I don’t remember when I finally said it back to him, but it was after much long consideration. Once we both knew we were meant for each other, we didn’t wait long to marry. We tied the knot on July 23, 1993.

Valentine’s Day 2011. He’s working, and I’m taking the girls to their evening travel softball practices. There are homemade paper valentines and chocolates on the table for our four little valentines. There are no candles in the house. A left-over manicotti casserole is defrosting on the kitchen counter.

There will likely be valentines and small gifts exchanged later…but it’s all just icing on the cake of life. Every day is Valentine’s Day when there is love in a family.

I John 4:7
“ Beloved, let us love one another, because love is of God; everyone who loves is begotten by God and knows God.”

Forty-Three

Today we celebrated my husband’s forty-third birthday. On the schedule were the normal Saturday events. He went to my son’s baseball game and Ten’s softball game. I vacuumed the pool and went to Twelve’s softball game.

I had him take our toddler to Ten’s softball game, for the first time, while I got to sit and talk to the softball parents on Twelve’s team for the first time this season. When I stood up after two hours, I was all stiff; it was the first time I had sat that long in, like, forever.

“She was a pleasure! I don’t know what you always complain about,” my husband said about our toddler’s behavior. (Sure, I thought, she was just good because going to a game with Daddy was a novelty.)

I made dinner while he mowed the lawn. After dinner we had carrot cake and gave him his cards and presents.

We have known each other for about sixteen years now. It makes me think about the meaning of true love. When we are younger and starting out in dating, we often wonder when we’ll know when we’ve found the real thing.

I wonder if it’s something you don’t really know for sure until you are still together years down the road…

…and you see streaks of grey grow through each other’s hair…

…and you still remember what the other one looked like when you first met…

…but you wouldn’t have them be any other way…

…and you can’t imagine what life would be like without that person…

…and you look forward to those days when your hair is all silver and you can watch the sun set on your days together.

“The Test of Faith: 1896-1897”: Chapter Ten of “The Story of a Soul”*

I have been reading “The Story of a Soul”, by St. Therese of Lisieux. (See below for links to my previous posts on this book.) Chapters 10 and 11 contain the writings from what had been known as “Manuscript C”, which was written in the form of a letter to her prioress, Sister Marie de Gonzague.

I had a great deal of difficulty reading and relating to this section. At this time, Therese was very ill and near to death. Her writing becomes very lofty and general, and goes off in tangents, so that it is difficult to follow at times. Then she comes back with specific stories that are very relatable. Part of this is because of the way she was forced to write, with many interruptions throughout the day.

She writes of hoping to arrive at sainthood by staying “little”, or simple. She believes she is about to die, and is joyful at the idea, only to find that she has more time. Then she writes at great length about the trials she has with dealing with all of the sisters she lives with.

We can all relate to what she writes about loving our sisters, complete with all of their faults. We must look for their virtues so that we can love them better. We also must never judge. When we consider how our own actions have been misinterpreted by others, we must also see that we might possibly be misjudging others. The best thing is to assume the best intentions on their part.

I once had a good friendship go terribly awry due to misinterpretations on both sides. My very best girlfriend was going to move far away and told me that it really bothered her when people got all emotional about the news. So I pretended that her move didn’t make me sad. I carried on this charade for a whole month. It was one of the hardest things I ever did! On her part, she thought that I was glad to see her go; that I disliked her and was happy to get rid of her. And I was horrified that she would think I would think that. The move was postponed; but, sadly, our friendship was never quite the same after that.

It is very funny how Therese writes of a sister whose character seems to be “very displeasing”. Therese goes out of her way to smile at this sister, trying her best to see within the depths of her soul whatever it must be that God must find pleasing there. The sister thinks that Therese has favored her and Therese lets her believe it to be so.

I was able to use this idea in a conversation I had with my daughter about her upcoming birthday. She is turning twelve next week, and we were discussing ideas about how to celebrate with her friends. “How many friends are important to you?” I asked her.

“Ten,” she said.

“Is that all the girls that are in your class?”

“No, there is one that I don’t like.”

“So you would exclude her and invite everyone else?”

“No one else likes her either. She doesn’t get along with anyone.”

“So she has no friends in the class?”

“She’s really annoying.”

“Maybe if she had a friend she wouldn’t be so annoying. She is the one that is most need of being loved.”

“But what if nobody else comes because they don’t want to hang out with her?”

“Well, that would be really wrong.”

We agreed in the end that she would include the girl in the invitations, with some reservations on my daughter’s part.

Therese ends this chapter with a discussion of true charity. We are to give without expecting anything in return. But in that sort of giving we do receive the most joy. I hope that in giving this invitation (even reluctantly) my daughter receives a special grace that she will never forget.

*The chapter divisions differ from translation to translation. The one I am reading is translated and edited by Robert J. Edmonson, Paraclete Press, 2006. The writings that have come down as “Manuscript C” comprise chapters 10-11 of this book.

For my reflections on the first nine chapters, please see my previous posts:
Manuscript A
Chapters 1-4
Chapters 5-8
Manuscript B
Chapter 9

The Longsuffering Love of Motherhood

“Charity suffereth long, and is kind. . .
Beareth all things,
believeth all things,
hopeth all things,
endureth all things.”
1 Corinthians 13:4, 7

This scripture speaks to this wife of almost fifteen years and mother of four children. . .

Beareth all things.
I think of my fourth baby, who would not stop crying through the “witching hours”. She would finally fell asleep while nursing in my arms. My arms would fall asleep with her, but I bore it because I knew if I put her down she would wake up and start crying again. At times I was so tired that I felt all used up. Her daytime joyfulness was my reward for these nightly pains.

Believeth all things.
When my seven-year-old daughter started school, she had trouble reading, and was so quiet the teacher thought she had a speech disorder. I believed in her, worked with her, and within a few months both her reading and speaking had turned around so that she was above average for her grade level.

Hopeth all things.
When my six-year-old son was diagnosed with a visual disorder, we did vision therapy together every day after school for a year. I research and prayed and took him for a second opinion. The second doctor found his depth vision to be above normal! He continues his eye exercises nightly but is no longer under the threat of the need for surgery.

Endureth all things.
A recent episode comes to mind in which my almost-eleven-year daughter got angry with me, stomped up the stairs, and put a hole in her wall. She was so upset when she saw what she had done that she was not punished for it. The slightly discolored section of the now-repaired wall will serve as a constant reminder to not act rashly. This is what caused my heightened interest in the season of “Volcano Dwellers”, as described in “The Eight Seasons of Parenthood”.

As I go through the seasons that are ahead of me, I know I will be challenged to apply this scripture through many different situations. I pray for the grace to do so.

Painting by Pierre-Auguste Renoire, 1892, Mother and Child.

Strawberries and Cream

The baby was in her high chair having strawberries and a bowlful of plain vanilla yogurt. The bus stopped in front of our house and she turned excitedly, knowing her siblings were due to come in the door.

“Ooh! Strawberries and cream!” exclaimed my ten-year-old daughter. “Can we have some?”

So they all sat down with a bowlful of strawberries and “cream”.

Feeding herself, alternating between fingers and spoon, the baby managed to eat quite a bit, but needed a bath afterward.

The kids love to participate in her bath time, rinsing her hair, sudsing her up, brushing her hair, and encouraging her to splash and play. The bathroom can get a bit crowded this way, so I have to ask them to take turns.

While I was dressing her, the other kids played downstairs on-and-off with doing homework. Three times they came to me, tattling. This one poked that one, and that one pinched this one. “Go back downstairs and I’ll talk to you about this in a minute,” I answered.

How was I going to deal with this, this time?

An answer quickly came to me.

I went to my eight-year-old’s room and grabbed her Precious Moments Bible.

“All of you sit down on the couch, right now,” I commanded.

They did so, and I opened up the Bible to I Corinthians 13.

“Who knows what I Corinthians 13 is about?”

“Love,” answered both my 8- and 10- year old daughters. My 6-year-old son was silent.

“Good,” I responded, and read aloud the entire chapter, stressing the verses that especially pertained to the behavior that was expected among them.

Here and there, they requested that I define a word, such as "provoked".

“And who are we supposed to love?” I asked.

“Everyone,” came the correct answer.

“And where are we supposed to start?”

No answer.

“Our family. This is where it all starts. You have to learn to love your own family before you can love all of the human family. Now hug and kiss each other.”

Genuine hugs and kisses went around.

If I had scolded them, there would have been a stiff hug and a muttered, begrudging “Sorry”.

I am looking in my concordance, preparing another passage for tomorrow.

Fifty-Seven Happy Years Together

Happy 57th Wedding Anniversary to my “Nanna and Poppop”, Mr. And Mrs. John S. Nagy! Dale is a registered nurse and John is a retired detective of the New York City Police Department. Nanna and Poppop enjoy golfing, dancing, bicycling, and spending time with their grandchildren.

“Set me as a seal on your heart,
As a seal on your arm;
For stern as death is love,
Relentless as the nether world is devotion;
Its flames are a blazing fire.
Deep waters cannot quench love,
Nor floods sweep it away.
Were one to offer all he owns to purchase love,
He would be roundly mocked.”
Song of Songs 8:6-7

Picture of Mr. and Mrs. John S. Nagy at picnic, October 2006

KISS (Keep it Simple, Stupid!) : Love One Another

Today is my fourteenth wedding anniversary. Last week, my sister, was engaged. Oh, I am so happy for her! I wish we weren’t geographically so far apart. Then I could fling my arms around her and wish her the same happiness that I have known. Follow St. Paul’s advice and you can’t go wrong. Love one another, honor God’s commandments, and you will have a beautiful marriage.

See Joanna's beautiful engagement story at her blog: http://part-of-something.blogspot.com/