Stones That Speak: Mountains, Boulders, and Pebbles: I Never Saw Them Coming by Ray Vander Weele

Author Ray Vander Weele unfolds his life story through vignettes, personal reflections, brief history lessons about the church and several countries, how-to lists for managing households and finances, exclamations of praise and gratitude to God, and more. His memoir shines a light on the vast cultural changes that the world has undergone in the past century, and, more importantly, it highlights the providential guidance of God.

Vander Weele writes, “Life is like a series of mountains, boulders, and pebbles. Each has a place in your life and in mine. ... Mountains for me were the Great Depression, World War II, the Korean War, Vietnam, scarlet fever, and polio. I also had to contend with the death of a son, a wife who succumbed to Alzheimer’s, cancer and heart disease that came my way, and coronavirus, to name a few.”

Particularly meaningful are Vander Weele’s chapters about his family’s immigrant experience—he was born in 1936 and his family immigrated to the United States when he was an infant—the death of his 21-year-old son, being a caregiver for eight years for his wife suffering from Alzheimer’s, and remarrying when he was 80 years old. However, the narration and format of Stones That Speak is somewhat fragmented and at times seems to view the past through rose-tinted glasses, calling on today’s youth and young families to embrace the habits of his generation. (WestBow Press)