First Wild Card Tour ~ Changing Zip Codes: Finding Community Wherever You’re Transplanted

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It is time for a FIRST Wild Card Tour book review! If you wish to join the FIRST blog alliance, just click the button. We are a group of reviewers who tour Christian books. A Wild Card post includes a brief bio of the author and a full chapter from each book toured. The reason it is called a FIRST Wild Card Tour is that you never know if the book will be fiction, non~fiction, for young, or for old…or for somewhere in between! Enjoy your free peek into the book!

You never know when I might play a wild card on you!

Today’s Wild Card author is:

Carol G. Stratton

and the book:

Changing Zip Codes: Finding Community Wherever You’re Transplanted

Lighthouse Publishing (March 21, 2012)

***Special thanks to Carol Stratton for sending me a review copy.***

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Carol Stratton has written for several publications, including InTouch magazine and Kyria. She is a contributing writer for Forsyth Woman magazine and has been published in two anthologies, Writing so Heaven Will be Different and Extraordinary Answers to Prayers. She speaks to women’s groups such as MOPS (Mothers of Preschoolers), and at national writers’ conferences. She attended Capenwray Bible School in New Zealand. Carol and her husband live in North Carolina and have four children and two grandchildren. Her website,www.ChangingZipCodes.com, helps women who are relocating.

SHORT BOOK DESCRIPTION:

When your entire life drives off in a moving van, it’s easy for doubts to flood your mind. Will I ever be organized again? Will I find good friends? Will my children like their new school? Carol Stratton has experienced twenty-two moves and counsels others seeking stability in a culture of change. In Changing Zip Codes, Carol helps readers explore the fun of new possibilities, the magic of new friendships, and the excitement of fresh starts. With humorous stories and biblical insights, Carol reminds us God is in the midst of every move, leading us to new beginnings.

FROM THE BACK COVER:

As the moving van drives off, you have a knot in your stomach. You ask yourself, “Are we moving to a better place? Will my children like their new school? Will I ever make friends?” As a twenty- time mover, I understand the fears and excitements of relocating and have grown a passion to help families who need to change their zip code. My new book, Changing Zip Codes: Finding Community Wherever You’re Transplanted is a forty-day devotional to encourage anyone who need to change addresses or find community.

Product Details:
List Price: $11.95/ $4.95 Kindle Edition
Paperback: 108 pages
Publisher: Lighthouse Publishing (March 21, 2012)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0984765557
ISBN-13: 978-0984765553

My Review:

I’ve moved a lot in my lifetime, for the most part always within the same city, so my community never really changed. Until the BIG move happened. We knew that a move would be best for our family, but little did we know that it would be to another country!

So when my husband took a job in the United States – we packed up everything we had in Canada and headed south over the border. And for 12 years we’re still know as “the people from Canada.” We like it here, we’ve become American citizens, but honestly, when we first moved, it wasn’t at all what we expected. Canada isn’t that far, we speak the same language, are in the same time zones, but culturally – it came with a learning curve.

This was a big change for us, we knew no one, new job, new neighborhood, new church, well pretty much new EVERYTHING. I could have REALLY used this devotional book then as in those early days my husband often came home to a whimpering mess of a wife. But what do you know, it may not be too much longer and this book might serve its purpose in my life anyway, as another move to a new community may be on our horizon.

As I anticipate doing this move thing to another state where again we know no one, new neighborhoods and new churches, it doesn’t seem as isolating as it did the last time I moved. And that’s due in part to this devotional book.

I’ve already read through it once, and it opened my eyes to a whole new perspective on how to become part of a community and church body when you’re the new one in town. My family and I are going to benefit from this greatly when we are transplanted in our next zip code. I recommend it greatly to anyone who has recently moved and feels alone or to anyone that will be moving to a new community in their future. If you put into practice the wisdom this seasoned mover lays out in the pages of this book, you probably won’t feel lonely for long!

AND NOW…DAY 1 AND DAY 27:

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