conversations.from: human
conversations.value: Do you know a description for a book titled The Gift of Friendship about Reed, Grade, Esther with the genre: Children's Books, Literature & Fiction?
conversations.from: assistant
conversations.value: Grade 3&ndash;5&mdash;Ten-year-old Esther makes friends with an elderly neighbor and learns much about life through Mrs. Kleinman's sage advice. She puts those lessons into action, giving back to friends, schoolmates, and the woman herself. The minor conflict in each chapter is quickly and easily resolved, the characters are boringly nice, and the writing is so businesslike that storytelling details seem to have been cut for the sake of efficiency. This pleasantly bland story with its extreme wholesomeness may be enjoyed by Orthodox Jewish children for its depiction of their familiar lifestyle. However, the book holds little interest for readers outside of that community.&mdash;<I>Heidi Estrin, Feldman Children's Library at Congregation B'nai Israel, Boca Raton, FL</I> <BR>Copyright &copy; Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
conversations.from: human
conversations.value: What could be a title for a book about Amish, Pennsylvania, January with the genre: History, Americas?
conversations.from: assistant
conversations.value: A title for this book could be 'The Gift of Friendship'
conversations.from: human
conversations.value: Do you know the first five paragraphs for this book?
conversations.from: assistant
conversations.value: The Gift of Friendship
  And then we decided we didn't have to. The season had ended, but why must our friendships? We hastily scheduled a moms' night out at a new Mexican restaurant, because less-than-concrete plans often amount to nothing more than good intentions. Next time we plan to go bowling.
  TYou may be in a season where friendships seem scarce. Maybe you're new to your area, tangled in toddlers, or working long hours outside the home. Maybe you're self-sufficient and tend to keep to yourself. Even the most independent—and certainly the most isolated—among us need friends. We worship a relational God Who calls us to serve one another. He endows us with gifts—encouragement, hospitality, giving, wisdom—which can be fully expressed within the bounds of friendship.
  While building long-term friendships is always a goal, I think sometimes God places people in our paths for a few moments, an hour, a day. Maybe it's the new mom sitting next to you in the pediatrician's office or the older woman in front of you in the checkout line or the twenty-something beside you in the conference hall. Conversations evolve in which words ring so true, so necessary, that a chance meeting feels anything but accidental. I feel like God grants us micro friendships—together for a reason in a season—when we connect briefly but meaningfully.
  In mid-December a woman waved me to her table in a crowded mall food court when she saw I couldn't find a place to sit. I enjoyed forty-five minutes of conversation with her and her friend. We talked about motherhood, education, how our families celebrate Christmas. I heard words that I needed to hear and shared a lovely lunch with two ladies I'll probably never meet again. God moved in the middle, aware that I needed connection more than solitude. Don't miss small opportunities to speak a friendly word or provide a listening ear.
  Often it's the little things that keep us connected. It might be as simple as a timely text, a card in the mail, a phone call while running errands. Be the one to initiate a girls' night out. Just don't fail to express the simple but powerful message: I'm thinking of you. "A man that hath friends must shew himself friendly" (Prov. 18:24).
conversations.from: human
conversations.value: Do you know three more paragraphs?
conversations.from: assistant
conversations.value: And think about how my mom used to burn the beans because she wasn't paying attention, or run out of mashed potatoes because the kids helped themselves to too much, or flip the brown sofa cushion over to hide where it had split its guts right open.
  Our relationship reminds me a bit of my fourth grade science project. Two cups propped up against a winter's kitchen window, connected by a single string. Simple, really. Those two cups, each containing their own drops of coloring, standing side by side waiting for change, as life continued around them. Ups and downs. Breakfasts, lunches, dinners. Almost-spills. Worry and work and play. No kitchen windowsill is immune, because everywhere seconds become minutes and minutes become hours and things happen and things always change. And I watched the space in between on that windowsill, the blending of colors and the growing and the string becoming more than just fibers but something crystalizing into something else entirely. The in-between was mysterious and surprising and exactly what it was meant to be. Connected by a string—those cups—day after day, something beautiful was becoming.
  Her name, Crystal, reminds me of that windowsill project and of our friendship. It reminds me of how God grew us together in our own in-betweens by drawing on our individual colors and time. He grew something beautiful from two women connected by the One who knew exactly what would become of our string as the seconds became minutes became soul-sister friendship.
conversations.from: human
conversations.value: Do you know the last three paragraphs?
conversations.from: assistant
conversations.value: Edie Wadsworth is a momma, writer, blogger, foodie, cowboy boot–wearer, and hospitality fiend. She's a lover of truth, beauty, and goodness and seeks to inspire women in their love and service of others at the lifestyle blog www.lifeingraceblog.com.
  Amanda Williams is a writer in love with honest words and the way they make us feel less alone. She lives in a loud farmhouse outside Nashville, Tennessee, with her husband, David, and their three children.
  Francie Winslow lives in the Washington, DC, area with her husband and four kids. Francie's passion is to see women and families made whole in Christ. Specifically, she speaks and writes on the power of married sex to equip couples for abundant life in God's kingdom. Find her at franciewinslow.com.