Naomi and Her Daughters

From the cover:
From master storyteller Walter Wangerin, Jr. comes this familiar biblical saga told in a fresh, transfixing way. You’ll feel you’ve never heard it before! Melding historical accuracy with imaginative detail, Wangerin uses the biblical books of Judges and Ruth to explore themes of love, faith, grief and community set against a backdrop of war and political instability.The widow Naomi grieves the deaths of her two adult sons after the shocking murder of a beloved adopted daughter, while pondering her responsibilities toward her Moabite daughters-in-law. Ancient Israel is in chaos. When her daughter-in-law, Ruth, begs to return to Israel with Naomi, events are set in motion that will change the course of history.But wait…this isn’t the tame, flannel graph story you heard in Sunday School. In the tradition of Anita Diamant’s The Red Tent and Elissa Elliott’s Eve: A Novel of the First Woman, Wangerin imbues his tale with strong female characters and an earthy realism that gives the timeless Old Testament narrative so much power. You’ll find echoes of contemporary issues throughout: deceit, heartbreak, loss, war, and, of course, the power of love. Naomi’s combined strength and tenderness becomes the pivot upon which a nation turns; her decisions ultimately lead to the founding of the family lineage of Jesus Christ.Breathtaking descriptions, shocking violence, and inspirational courage make this spellbinding novel by a beloved award-winning author a story you won’t soon forget. It’s the perfect novel for your book group, and a satisfying read for those who love thoughtful biblical fiction.

My thoughts:
First let me tell you two things: 1) I didn’t read the description above very well the first time, just skimmed it, and was excited about hearing a good story about Naomi,Ruth, and Boaz. 2) I didn’t finish the book, and I’ll tell you why.
1. The story was very ‘broken’ in my opinion, most scenes jumped very quickly, making it hard to keep track of what time frame you are in, and who you are with.
2. There were some very vivid descriptions from a birthing room. . . (Naomi “checking” the mother is given in detail-if you don’t understand that, ask a mom what I mean)
3. Boaz is portrayed as a hotheaded teen (in earlier mentioned birthing scene). Let me explain why this bothered me. It has nothing to do with expecting bible characters to be perfect, because we all know that Christ was the only perfect human. But, Boaz is called the kinsman redeemer (an example to the old testament people of what our kinsman redeemer would be like) and because the Bible doesn’t give us anymore details on Boaz’s character, I think it would be best to leave his image a positive one, not perfect, but positive, because he is an old testament example of Christ.

So, my main reason for not finishing this book was his ‘vivid descriptions’, but the artistic license that the author took cemented my lack of desire to finish this book.

*Note- this book was provided free from Zondervan, and I was not asked to write a positive or negative review.

Adventures in Odyssey is a kids program that teaches biblical lessons in a fun and adventurous setting!! Geared to young school aged children it teaches lessons it teaches real life lessons.
Each of the 12 25 min stories has a different twist.
1-2 The Mystery of the Clock Tower
Why is the Clock tower counting down?? A reminder that your actions will effect the future, one way or the other.
3 Wooton’s Broken Pencil Show
When Connie has to leave the air, Wooton takes over for her. Wooton helps show that ‘entertainment should have a point’
4 Stage Fright
Everyone is excited about the newest play, but all of a sudden everyone is unreasonably scared.
5 Fast as I can
A description on fasting, its uses and the types of things you might fast from.
6 Opposite Day
Even opposites can be friends, their friendships just might look different
7 The Owlnapping
When you believe in something more than Someone
8 Square One
What to do when you break someones trust.
9 A Thankstaking Story
Think A Christmas Story only at Thanksgiving
10 An Agreeable Nanny
When presented with a new nanny, the Parker kids decide to take advantage of the situation. Listen to find out what they learn.
11 The Malted Milkball Falcon
When Milkballs go missing from a fundraiser, the kids at Whits End try to solve the case, and are surprised by the truth.
12 Grandma’s Christmas Wish
A busy episode about the busyness of Christmas.

My kids hadn’t really heard Adventures in Odyssey a whole lot before, but now they are very excited to hear even more.  They love the excitement and suspense of the episodes, with out being too scary.
This new CD came out in October and would make a great addition to any traveling this holiday season!! or even as a fun stocking stuffer or Christmas gift!!

From the Cover:
Before You Take a Stand … You Got to Take a Chance. Holden Harris is an eighteen-year-old locked in a prison of autism. Despite his quiet ways and quirky behaviors, Holden is very happy and socially normal—on the inside, in a private world all his own. In reality, he is bullied at school by kids who only see that he is very different. Ella Reynolds is part of the ‘in’ crowd. A cheerleader and star of the high school drama production, her life seems perfect. When she catches Holden listening to her rehearse for the school play, she is drawn to him … the way he is drawn to the music. Then, Ella makes a dramatic discovery—she and Holden were best friends as children. Frustrated by the way Holden is bullied, and horrified at the indifference of her peers, Ella decides to take a stand against the most privileged and popular kids at school. Including her boyfriend, Jake. Ella believes miracles can happen in the unlikeliest places, and that just maybe an entire community might celebrate from the sidelines. But will Holden’s praying mother and the efforts of Ella and a cast of theater kids be enough to unlock the prison that contains Holden? This time, friendship, faith, and the power of a song must be strong enough to open the doors to the miracle Holden needs.

My Thoughts
Autism is such a sensitive topic, and Karen showed all sides of it. The side of Holden’s mom, his dad, their best friends (and daughter), the school mates, and Holden. Karen showed each person’s struggles and pain and joy.
Unlocked covered many more topics than just Autism too, it included bulling, lost friendships, separation of spouses, prejudice, and a very unexpected twist.
An emotionally packed book with lots of sadness and lots of triumphs.

At first I felt like Unlocked was a little unrealistic, but if you read the authors notes at the end of the book, you will find out that Karen knew a young man who was ‘unlocked’, the real young man was much younger, and his unlocking took longer than Holden, but the situation had many similarities.
This book was another great book by Karen, and handled yet another delicate topic tactfully.

*Note, this book was provided by my mom Who also loves to read these books (thanks mom), Zondervan, Karen Kingsbury, nor my mom have asked me to write this review, and I have not been paid to write a positive or negative review

A movie review

Randy Simpkins (Dean Cain “Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman”) and his family are packing for vacation, when Randy leaves his two-year old son outside playing while he ‘checks his work email real fast’  When he returns Joe is gone.   But where?  As a workaholic, Randy is often busy, and his wife is sick of t, and fully blames Randy for Joe’s disappearance!!

When the Simpkins pastor puts out a prayer chain the entire community pulls together to look for the little boy.   The community unites in prayer, love and searching.

My Thoughts:  Wow, an emotional powerful movie!!  The producers did a fabulous job of showing the gaumant of emotions that the parents would be feeling, and all of the friends/family and how they would also feel.  I also gained more appreciation for the technical trials of searching for someone, and the complications and procedures that would need to be followed.  It had enough details to make it feel accurate (movie based on a true story), but not so much that it was bogged down.

This movie is a clean movie, and safe for the whole family if mom and dad are willing to answer questions.  *note, I always recommend pre-watching all movies, but especially with this one, you want to know if you really want the questions (I won’t personally be letting our little people watch it yet).  The Sheriff and other a few other people talk about the possibilities, ie: ‘two year old body floating face down’ etc.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from Thomas Nelson Publishers as part of their BookSneeze.com book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

Andy Andrews

Released Aug 31,2010

I first heard this story in Andy Andrew’s book The Noticer (well actually at Women of Faith, so I first read it in The Noticer).  It is a story about a boy who grows up and saves thousands, but was it him who changed the world, or the one who taught him to love learning and who taught him to want to help people.  or maybe it was the person who. . .  well, I don’t want to give the story away, so I’ll just say that the ideas behind this story is that old saying about butterflies and how they can make changes to the weather on the other side of the world.  Your little bit does make a difference.

The drawings are simple, and cute. I love the ‘hidden’ butterflies that are on most of the pages (look for them!!).  The story line is neat, but might need to be explained to children.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from Thomas Nelson Publishers as part of their BookSneeze.com book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

Carol Barnier gives ideas on how to make writing less painful for your active child.  Explaining that active children (with active imaginations) can often get bogged down with the difficulty in producing written words.
I read this guide without knowing how applicable it would be to my family.  We are in our 4th week of school, and I can’t tell you how many times I’ve said, just write it down and you will be done.  I’ve called friends to see if they had ideas, and then I came across this, and thought, well my seven-year old isn’t writing stories yet, so this probably won’t help.  But it can!!  She gives great ideas that I can’t wait to try.  Hopefully tomorrows lessons won’t be so much of a chore!!

Note:  This eBook was provided free from TOS, I was not asked to write a positive or negative review, nor was I compensated for this review, all opinions are my own.

Karen Kingsbury

Brad and Emma made a bad decision followed by an even worse one.  Now 10 years later, and only weeks before his marriage, Brad decides he must go back.  Back to Emma and apologize for his part in their decisions.  But will this ruin his relationship with Laura?? Will Brad fall in love with Emma again??  Will Brad and Emma be able to put the past behind them??

This book is  about abortion, and post abortion syndrome.  I am very prolife I think Karen did a wonderful job of showing how easy it would be for a young woman and her partner to feel like they ‘had’ to have an abortion, even with both of their hearts crying NO.  Because it is such an emotional topic (Karen Kingsbury is the author) it was without a doubt a very emotional book.   This book opened my eyes a bit wider to the hurt others have suffered after having had an abortion.

I am going to give away my copy of this book, I know that I won’t be reading it again, but I know that it might be something that someone else needs to read, or you know someone who might need to read it.  Leave a message telling me your favorite Karen Kingsbury book (or that you would like to read this) and your name will be entered to win this book.  (make sure you leave me a way to contact you!!)

*Opps, I forgot to tell you when, I will draw for this on Friday September 10th, and notify the winner on Saturday the 11th.

* NOTE – This book was provided to me by Zondervan free for review purposes.  I was not asked to write a positive or negative review, all opinions are my own.

Sandi Patty

The Edge of the Divine is Sandi Patty’s story.  The story of how she allowed God to change her life.  She was overweight, and stressed out with so much going on in her life.  She was having health problems, and knew that her life must change.  After seeking council from her family and her Dr, Sandi decided to make a life change.  Diet, exercise, forgiveness, and the lap band all played into the changes made in Sandi’s life.

Sandi is very open in her book about her past, and the things going on in her life right now (or when the book was written).  She tells of some sin issues the Lord has helped her with and given her strength to overcome.

The book is all about keeping your eyes open for the times where the Lord is going to make a change in your life (kinda like a threshold to a door way).  Sometimes you can see it before, sometimes after.  About how we are moving and allowing the Lord to work in our lives!

Congratulations Sandi, on your hard work!!  I know that you put a lot of work into your weight loss!!

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from Thomas Nelson Publishers as part of their BookSneeze.com book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

Neta Jackson

From the back cover :

What do an ex-con, a former drug addict, a real estate broker, a college student, and a married mother of two have in common?

Nothing, or so I thought. Who would have imagined that God would make a group as mismatched as ours the closest of friends?

I almost didn’t even go to the Chicago Women’s Conference–after all, being thrown together with five hundred strangers wasn’t exactly my “comfort zone.” And being placed in a prayer group of twelve women from such diverse backgrounds seemed completely awkward.

But something happened that weekend to make us realize we had to hang together. The “Yada Yada Prayer Group” was born, and we decided to meet regularly to pray for each other: knocking off each other’s rough edges and learning to laugh and cry along the way! And when I faced the biggest crisis of my life, God used my newfound girlfriends to help teach me–Jodi Baxter, longtime Christian “good girl”–what it means to be just a sinner saved by grace.

My thoughts:

Ok, I have to admit (I didn’t really want to read this book, cough).  Don’t get me wrong, it has a super cute cover, and looked like a lot of fun. . .  but I just could NOT get into it.  I think it took me two weeks to get past the first 3 chapters. . . BUT then in the last day and a half I finished it, and I can’t wait to see if the library has the second book.  I think the part that was the hardest part for me is that there are soo many distinct personalities, and I have a hard time keeping up.  There were a lot of surprises, and it was a lot of fun.  I’m glad I stuck with it. (p.s. I am very conservative, so the way some of the gals worship was a bit much for me, but not wrong in my opinion, just more than I’m used to )

Note:  The author, publisher, and amazon.com have no clue who I am, and have not asked me to write this review.  I wrote it because a friend loaned it to me Thanks!

Toward the Goal

                *  The Kaka Story

Jeremy V Jones

Kaka is a young Football (Soccer if you’re from America) player from Brazil.  He loves sports & he loves God.  When he is seriously injured as a young teen,  the doctors were surprised he wasn’t paralysed, and were sure that he would never play sports again.  But God is bigger than injuries, and Kaka went on to play football, in fact playing football very well!!

This book is written for preteens(9-12), with a great message of faith.  It also talks about working hard for your goals.  I like how the book is set up with story and background information.  Without seeming like a ‘school book’ the author adds a few paragraphs at the end of each chapter about different topics (Brazil, history of soccer, world cup records ect), so you learn something new!! It was very fun.  I also like how the author added the first round info for the 2010 World Cup, letting you know that Kaka’s story isn’t finished yet!!  If you have a preteen that likes sports, check out this book!! (I actually checked into it because I have friends who have a preteen, and they are missionaries in Brazil!!, makes me feel a bit closer to them ) 

* NOTE – This book was provided to me by Zondervan free for review purposes.  I was not asked to write a positive or negative review, all opinions are my own.