A Billion Reasons Why Review

I don't like most Christian romance novels. It seems like most of the time the "Christian" part is an after thought and they just add in a section where someone shares Christ with someone and other than that it is basically the same as any other old novel. I was recently asked to review A Billion Reasons Why by Kristin Billerbeck and I actually liked it! The main character Katie McKenna is actually making decisions from a Christian viewpoint that seems real - weighing real situations. And although the novel refers to Katie's past mistakes in a tasteful way, there isn't any sex - even by minor characters! I like that! I always gauge things by whether or not I'd let my 13 year old daughter read it - and I totally would - though thankfully she tells me she is not into "lovey" books. I liked this book and I'd like to read more by this author.

Here's what the press release says about A Billion Reasons Why:
Katie McKenna had resolved to live a quiet life, marry a practical Christian man, and leave all her “worldly” desires behind. Since moving to California, she’d made it her goal to live life logically and for the Lord. She has the perfect life—a fulfilling job, a cute apartment, and a wedding to plan with her soon-to-be fiancé, Dexter.

But then in walks Luc DeForges, the handsome ex-boyfriend who’d broken her heart. After graduating college and rejecting Katie, Luc cornered the organic food market and became one of the most eligible multi-millionaire bachelors. But now he’s back and asking her to go home to New Orleans to sing at his brother’s wedding. She hasn’t fallen victim to her emotions since leaving New Orleans, and she’s invested too much to give into them now.

When Luc was in his element, there was nothing like it. His excitement was contagious and spread like a classroom virus, infecting those around him with a false sense of security. Katie inhales deeply and reminds herself that the man sold inspiration by the pound. His power over her was universal. It did not make her special.

Katie’s boyfriend, Dexter, is a practical man. As Katie’s roommate Eileen offers, “Katie, no matter how many entries you put in that book, Dexter is not going to be a romantic. I mean, fine, you’re going to marry him. He’s a good man. I just don’t want you to be disappointed. No matter how many junior high school hearts you draw next to his name, Dexter is going to order you what the Internet says is the proper gift for each anniversary. He’ll probably have a program created that does it for him.” But Dexter is safe. He’ll be a good dad. He’s very intellectual. He’s punctual. He’s everything she needs in a husband.

And Dexter will propose as soon as she gets her grandmother’s ring from her mom. And Luc will provide her with a free trip home for just that purpose. Plus, she needs to go home to New Orleans. It’s her last chance to find out why Luc tossed her from his life like a banana peel off the back of her father’s pickup. Love is a decision. A choice. All the leading experts said so, and she’d decided she would love Dexter in a way that honored and respected him. The way she’d loved Luc left her worn out and depleted, like an empty air mattress. Then what use was she? She’d get her ring and closure as well. Then nothing would stand in the way of her life with Dexter.

But what if God has more in store for her? What if God’s desire for her is a heart full of life? Can the passions she had as a young woman, which led to many of her past mistakes, still have a place in her life?

Kristin Billerbeck is a successful novelist from northern California. She has authored more than 30 novels, including the Ashley Stockingdale series and the Spa Girls series. She is a leader in the Chick Lit movement, a Christy Award finalist, and a two-time winner of the American Christian Fiction Writers Book of the Year Award. She has appeared on The Today Show and has been featured in the New York Times.

I'd highly recommend this book. You can purchase A Billion Reasons Why HERE from Thomas Nelson for $14.99

I was given a copy of A Billion Reasons Why by B&B Media group and Thomas Nelson for the purposes of review only.

Flight Plan

Flight Plan is an amazing book to guide boys into manhood. It is really well done. Boys are going to think this book is cool and really enjoy going through it. I think it would be appropriate for 5th -9th graders. There is a chapter on sex, but it is well done and certainly something that needs to be discussed! Every chapter is written with an element of preparing a warrior for battle, with excitement, preparing boys to be powerful men of God; not men of a weak, whipped faith! Love that! Here are some of the topics covered in this book:

Make smart choices today that will impact their future
· Become responsible and accountable
· Handle changes in both their body and their relationships
· Understand the risks of drugs and alcohol
· Develop a God-centered life

I would highly recommend this book to go through as a one-on-one discipleship or with a church or school group of boys. There's even a new 13 session DVD that goes along with it! You can visit the website and see a trailer and interviews with the author HERE. The website even has a preview of the book and lots of other great resources. You can purchase the book for $14.99 HERE

I have one tiny complaint about this otherwise ideal book. The print was really small and my almost 40 year old old husband refused to read it. He'd have loved it, too. Maybe I'll buy him some bifocals or a big magnifying glass or something so he can read it with Daniel.

I was given Flight Plan by B&B Media Group for the purposes of review only.

Good morning, Lord

What an awesome verse!

"Cause me to hear your loving-kindness in the morning, for on You do I lean and in You do I trust. Cause me to know the way wherein I should walk, for I lift up my inner self to You." Psalms 143:8

In the Message: "If you wake me each morning with the sound of your loving voice, I'll go to sleep each night trusting in you. Point out the road I must travel; I'm all ears, all eyes before you."

More Motivation

We seem to need LOTS of extra motivation to do our schoolwork lately! So today I said if we could get all our work done we'd go to the zoo. We love to take lingering walks through the zoo and sketch the animals. So - here's some pictures of our fun afternoon at the zoo.

The zoo's more fun with friends so we brought some great ones along!

Ally's sweet friend is about to be livin' with these jungle animals in Africa in a few months as her family follows God call to Uganda!

The otters were so playful! They acted like they wanted to get to the kids to play, laying on top of the glass tunnel.

No Motivation Monday

We didn't take President's Day off - I'd like to finish all our curriculum by June so we can't celebrate everything! We are all kinda tired and the laundry is piled to the moon. School work is right up there with getting teeth pulled on the enjoyable scale today. PLUS the weather is BEAUTIFUL and that doesn't help matters either.

So we took a spontaneous picnic lunch to the arboretum today. We walked through the trails pretty quick and just enjoyed the weather - and we came back home to get back to work.

My hope was a little exercise and some fresh air and get back to school with renewed energy. Ya, it didn't exactly turn out that way - it made the desire to blow off the rest of the day even stronger if that was possible.

It was fun anyway just to walk in the woods! You can't go wrong with a nature trail.

Science Fair

Science Fair time. The kids made some surprising choices for their projects this year. As much as Gracie has complained about her Anatomy work, she chose Dog Anatomy.

Daniel made an interesting choice - although I don't know how much science there was to it. He basically wanted an excuse to use tools and take things apart. He says he wants to be an inventor so maybe that is a worthy project - to learn to DEstruct before you CONstruct. 'Course how these things work or how to put them back together again? Or what all these pieces we took apart do - we have no clue. The title for his project was: What's Inside It? It was a pretty big hit with 2nd grade boys who like to destroy things with screwdrivers.

Miss. Ally got off scott-free. She had planned to do a project on Solar Energy with her Dad, but somehow those plans kinda fizzeled, and I let her off the hook. She whined alot about how science fairs aren't cool and she didn't want to be included with the "younger" kids. I think I'll make her do a special project just for me - and make it a killer of an assignment.

Signs

I love sitting in the middle of the kids while they do school - fielding questions and doing my thing. They let me focus for around 1 minute intervals sometimes.

My version of the "Keep Calm and Carry On" sign. Still in progress - the corners need work and it needs some more bling.

Things that make me happy

I'm such a simple girl. Even though he knows me better than anyone, my husband forgets this every now and then when he walks into the Valentine frenzy or some occasion warrants a gift and he thinks he's got to be all elaborate, romantic, or expensive. It doesn't take much to just thrill my heart. The easiest way to make my day wonderful? A large Coke Icee. Ah. I like 'em from Burger King. Only a $1 too.

A good, quiet, uninterrupted quiet time with Jesus DEFINITELY tops the list of the #1 daymakers in my book. I am loving my favorite song this week by Addison Road. I have been into some awesome praise lately!



Vanilla Caramel Latte. I'm not a coffee drinker, but this I like.

Fuzzy pajamas - when it's cold - it's 78 degrees today and we are wearing shorts. Sadly, we might be ready to pack up the fuzzy pj's and sweaters.

New Books. Or a new CD like THIS ONE - I just ordered it off CBD just so we could have the Deep Cries out to Deep Song. You can hear a sample at CBD HERE
Soup. Potato & cheese. No tortilla. Delis. Homemade bread just out of the oven. I think I'm hungry.

A family walk in the woods. We should do that more.

Have a Happy Day!

Valentine's Day

Our Valentine's traditions? Sweet notes and heart shaped pancakes for breakfast. For the last few years we have drawn names just from among our family and made homemade cards and little notes for several days and put them in our Valentine mailbox. We pretend it is a secret thing, but it doesn't take much to figure out who has who. It's a good tradition to take the focus away from GIFTS and put it back on sweet notes! I like the simple holidays like that. What happened to Easters where you only got a couple of hard-boiled eggs? Mercy, have our local stores been taken over by the Valentine mess! I think Walmart dedicated about 8 aisles! It's just too much! They'll be pulling out the Easter baskets and bunnies by the weekend!

We sure did have some awesome Valentine's weather - in the mid 70's! We played outside in shorts! The great weather should continue all week! We are starting to get some hiking fever around here! The weather means a change of sports. Only two more basketball games and we'll be done with winter sports for a while. Ally is working hard in her daily routine of pitching and batting off the tee everyday. She enjoys listening to audiobooks on her Ipod while she is at it.

Since Daniel is about to start baseball again, he is practicing too. He is listening to Stuart Little on a Playaway. They each have a bucket of balls and they switch off batting and throwing.

I hope you had a great Valentine's Day!

Radical Prayer

We had such a great time this week celebrating prayer. We had a 3 day fast with lots of great corporate worship, a boiler room, and we ended it all with an incredible prayer rally Friday.

A boiler room is a room set up with creative ideas for personal prayer time, basically stations for people to go to for specific prayer focus. The church boiler room was amazing for kids - just to focus on a single prayer need in a creative way. Most of the stations included, drawing, writing out a prayer, or doing some sort of activity - very interactive.

My children have really enjoyed these great "different" ways to encounter God! Kids need to be able to express themselves to God by drawing, action, writing, or other creative ways! My kids are learning that prayer and praise are not PASSIVE activities! Maybe even more importantly they are learning to listen for God's voice.

Our prayer rally was such an amazing experience! We prayed for the nations mapped out on the floor and among other things we bounced around 100 beach balls around and when the music stopped gathered up to pray for a need written on each. Such a creative time of praying for kids and adults! My kids are most blessed by having college students gather around and pray for them. Daniel said, "I felt like I was famous!" Their passion for God is so intense and contagious - I'm so blessed to have them pouring into my kids!

All 3 kids decided to fast this week from something. We let them seek God about what to fast from. It was surely a challenge! 1 chose to fast from media (which actually meant everyone fasted from media). 1 chose to do a Daniel fast, although some members of the family thought that meant fasting from a certain little brother, it was actually a fruit and vegetable fast. And 1 chose to fast from snacks and sweets. I am amazed at how greatly they were affected by this fast. At the very least it brought greater appreciation for the right things in life. We were careful to replace the thing fasted from with more time with God and prayer too!

100th day of school

Today was our 100th day of school - probably - okay I kinda guessed. Shh. Don't tell the kids - its around here sometime. We did Daniel's favorite 100th day activitiy - a Lego competition where you must build something with 100 poeces.

Everyone brought a collection of 100 things. Gracie brought 100 horse items.

Daniel brought 100 cars.

Ally brought 100 markers - I can't get her picture to turn around right!

Other 100 day activities - there are so many!:

• Draw a self portrait and crumple it to make a 100 year old portrait of themselves.


• 100 piece mosaic using construction paper pieces or squares


• Make 100 cents using different coins


• clip together 100 paper clips and measure things with them


• Make graphs from 100 candies - m&m's, gummies, (graph by color)


• Estimating activities: Put out 4-5 items in various bowls and have kids estimate how many - only one has 100 in it.


• How much water is in 100 ice cubes? How long does it take for 100 ice cubes to melt?\


• 100 items snack mix is always fun.


• make a book of 100 things we love - with pictures or magazine cut outs


• take a 100 step walk and let each child estimate where you will be before


• 100 exercises, bounce a ball 100 times


• String 100 fruit loops (put a cut straw between each group of 10)


• We always do some fun writing assignments -or just lunch conversations - What would you do with $100? I wish I had 100 _____. I can eat 100 ____. I would not want 100 ____.


• Think of 100 action verbs, nouns, math problems

So many ideas. So little time. A few years ago we celebrated Ally's 1000th day of school, (5th graders). We had lots of fun with that one, too!

Art In the Snow

Make some snowy art today while you still can! It's a great big blank canvas!

Sledding For Texans

REAL Snow Day

After a week of really cold temperatures (low 20's) we finally got some real snow, about 3 inches. The weatherman says this is all we are getting, so the kids got an early start enjoying it.

Friday is our Homeschool Co-op day, and with everything cancelled this truly is a real snow day. We are making hot chocolate, daddy's working from home, and we are working our way through soaking every article of warm clothing we own. Fun, fun! I predict by the end of the day we'll have 3 very large piles of wet socks, pants, gloves, hats, and sweaters. But that's okay, we only get this maybe 3 times a year at most!

When I was a kid my family moved from Texas to Illinois. When the first snow came, the whole family ran out acting like crazy Texans, playing like lunatics. Neighbors thought we were crazy. Then somone told us it was going to be around a couple of months. I love to see the snow, but I'm kinda glad this will only be around a couple of days - if that.

Dud Snow Day

Well all the local schools cancelled today because of... well I'm not sure. We just do that in Texas when it gets cold. It was 80 degrees just 3 days ago. So, anyway, theres no snow or ice and just cold -around 20 degrees. I am always torn about snow days. It's a great memory and so fun to declare a snow day and I want my kids to have that, but I also want them to get done with their courses before June. So, we generally kind of do a little school - the REALLY big things like math and reading.
We were highly disappointed when the weather was just boring. So, I got out the Instant Snow I had been saving and we made our own. Oh, well - not exactly snowman worthy or too fabulous but we sprinkled it around a bit. We did actually see 2 or 3 flurries that caused some excitement and it was fun to find some icicles. We'll see what the evening holds.
I am fully recovered from a monster virus that almost killed me Sunday, but all these major disruptions have gotten us so off track in our school schedule. Oh well, go with the flow.