Review: A Cowboys Touch

Abigail was bored anyway, so no harm in helping out a neighbor. But her new charge is growing on her, to say nothing of her ruggedly handsome boss. Abigail may be mesmerized by Wade’s denim blue eyes, but can she really trust him? She is the truthseeker, after all, so shouldn’t she be able to stay objective and discover the truth about Wade? But what if she is missing the truth altogether? What if her past mistakes prevent her from finding the love of her future? Or, perhaps her relationship with Christ could give her the answers she is seeking. But “instead of pursuing Him, she’d been pursuing her career. Chasing story after story as if finding the next truth would somehow scratch an itch that never went away,” she thought

As the first book in the Big Sky Romance series, A Cowboy’s Touch is the story about a truthseeker who ends up discovering the real truth and a cowboy who learns to let go of his past. . This heartwarming romance is a story of love, pain and forgiveness. It has also been named a Women of Faith novel for 2011.

A Cowboy's Touch was a pretty good read with some great characters. My big pet peeves with Christian romance novels are the lack of Christian and too much romance. This book held a fairly good balance. Nothing makes me madder than a Christian novel that only calls itself Christian because of a paragraph or two of preaching that takes place at some point. A Cowboy's Touch does a good job of presenting some characters with a Christian worldview and some actual decision making based on faith. Overall I would recommend this book.

You can find it at http://www.thomasnelson.com/ for $14.99 - and you can check out Denise Hunter's website at http://www.denisehunterbooks.com/ you can even read a sample chapter on her site and see pictures of the Montana scenery that inspired the book.

What We've Been Up To...

Life has been kind of crazy lately! Our living room has looked like THIS for far too long. Our closing on our house was put off - the whole process has been kinda stressful. But, we are set to close on our wonderful new house tomorrow! God is good! These boxes are actually mostly empty, so there is still much to do! We spent a few hours in the hallway last night while tornado threats surrounded us. The dog enjoyed it.
Coach pitch is in full swing!

Spending time with Besties!

Byron has been driving an hour each Wednesday night to work with the students in our new church. It'll be so much easier when we are living there.

School is creeping on at a snails pace. My boy has become difficultly reluctant and highly distracted. We are all kind of distracted, I guess. We will finish many of our subjects this week, which will be nice.

Our dog is on a diet & exercise plan - the vet said she is too fat - which doesn't help her hips.

We've had some fun times with cousins and grandparents.

We found a few Easter eggs. The biggest joy of Easter for us is that our debt is paid! I mean that spiritually and financially! Our IRS debt is paid! Yae! This was a huge Easter blessing to us! We've struggled with this for years - thank you Lord for your MANY blessings!

And we have a crazy schedule of plays, projects, end of the year stuff, sports, church, and ... too much. I am ready for the summer! I almost bought a 1000 piece puzzle last week kind of as a symbol of the slow pace I desire for the summer. Puzzles are for lazy days when there is NOTHING better to do. The town we are moving to is notorious for crazy long trains trapping you for long periods of time. If you are in a hurry - too bad. We have talked a lot about life slowing down to the speed of one of those slow moving trains. It's a good thing! Slow speeds ahead!

Dog Tired

I'll be taking a little break from blogging! I hope you have a blessed Easter with your family!

Misunderstood

Smart people sometimes have a problem being understood. My sometimes jumbed, creative mind doesn't always function on the same plane as everyone elses. No one knows this better than my husband, who sometimes says, "You know you just said that out loud, right?"

It's a terrible feeling to be misunderstood. When you meant something one way, and people don't take it that way? When you say something with a different meaning, and no one gets it? It's got to be one of the worst feelings in the world. It was one of the most frustrating things for me teaching high school - it seems like you are all day facing these blank stares of lost confusion.

In addition to all the other physical pains and emotions going through his head, Jesus experienced the frustrating feeling of being misunderstood as he hung on the cross. In Mark 15:29, people were shouting at Jesus, they yelled at him, "You said you were going to destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days. Well then, save yourself and come down from the cross." This chapter goes on and mentioned other comments made by priests, "he can't save himself!" and even his last words, as it says in Mark 15:35 - "Some of the bystanders misunderstood and thought he was calling for the prophet Elijah." Being misunderstood is so frustrating especially when you are tired and cranky. I would just want to lash out in anger - You people don't get it! Why are you so dumb? Or at least rolling my eyes in frustration and thinking, "I can't wait to get back to Heaven."

Jesus didn't feel those things I would feel. Jesus just looked at those people with love and kindness, even though they were ridiculous and wrong. Among other reasons for this attitude, Jesus didn't have my pride. That is the root cause of the kind of frustration with people I am talking about. It just brings home to me a whole new level of being like Jesus - it makes me aware of a level of patience I need to have. It gives me a whole new awareness of "dying to myself" and denying my own feelings.

I hope you make the time this week to really dig into the story of Jesus and his last days on Earth!

FFH Song - Lord Move

This is such a great song by FFH - You've got to read the words!

Review: The Grandfather's DVD

I was given the opportunity to review the new movie, The Grandfathers. You have probably heard of The End of the Spear -the powerful story of 5 missionaries killed in Ecuador, most widely known of whom were Jim Elliot and Nate Saint. The Grandfathers is kind of a follow up on the story from the point of view of the grandson of Nate Saint, Jesse Saint. This is an amazing movie which was an interesting narration of many clips, photos, and movies, actually you'd probably classify it as a documentary, but it was too interesting to be called that. :) In the movie Jesse Saint tells the story of really the burden of his family legacy and how he eventually adopted the men who killed his grandfather as his own grandfathers. It is a great story of forgiveness and God's grace and redemption.

This movie is actually being called the last of a trilogy including The End of the Spear and the documentary -Beyond the Gates of Splendor. I have never seen the second movie in this series, so I am anxious to get it on Netflix. I really enjoyed this movie and I would highly recommend it for your family! It is rated PG for some violence, there are some images and discussion of spearing, maybe some slight glimpses of some underdressed natives, but nothing at all graphic. It has been awarded the Dove Foundation seal of approval. If you go to THIS SITE you can see the movie trailer as well as purchase the movie for $19.95.

I was sent The Grandfathers by B&B Media group and EGM Films for review purposes only.

Sinful

I made a rare trip to the mall to get my hair cut last weekend. I hate taking the kids to the mall - mainly because there are shops like Victoria Secret or Abecrombe with pictures and mannequins of people that are practically naked. As a family, we have a pretty long list of stores and brands we won't buy from because of various reasons. If my kids ever feel the need to keep up with the latest fashions - they'll be out of luck! I got a good look at some pretty terrible subtle sexual references on American Eagle shirts as a teacher and that's just one example.

But what I saw Saturday really surprised me. The Buckle had a huge display in the window of pretty, rhinestone shirts that all said "sinful." Wow. I did a doubletake. Did those shirts really say that? Now, we've seen shirts that say "naughty" or "bad girl" but, sinful - that's a religious word that implies, "I am full of everything God hates." And to flaunt it in rhinestones on your chest. Apparently Sinful is a whole brand name they carry - all of the Sinful line has the word written in large letters across the front.

Now, I am certainly not without sin myself. And we all need to realize our sinfulness; with conviction and humility - but realization of the cost of that sinfulness is what our generation needs to know. The consequences are huge - death and eternal separation from God. Like it says in Mark 8:38, "For whoever is ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him will the Son of Man also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.” That should be a scary thought!

Thankfully, there is a solution. Being sinful isn't a permanent condition. God loves us even when we are sinful and it says in I John 1:9, "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness."

What a terrible thing for a shirt to promote! But, I would love to run into someone wearing one. I would ask, "Are you sinful?" And I think it would be a great opening into an important discussion.

Painting Like Pollock

We had a good time in Art Class making messy Jackson Pollock splattery, drippy paintings. We are learning about abstract art this month. The wind made this a tough project, but it was fun.

Bird Watching

Last year we had so much fun learning about owls as we watched a nest of owlets on a live webcam from California. Now we are watching a cool webcam of an eagle family in Iowa. The babies have all not quite hatched - 1 egg is remaining - it should be hatching any day. The video footage is really great and it is so neat to watch the parents feeding and taking care of the babies. We have it on full screen as we go about our day.

Daniel is doing Apologia Flying Creatures of the Fifth Day so he has really learned a lot about birds this year.

Because Easter should be more important than Christmas

Easter really should be more important than Christmas. Jesus' resurrection should be the most important thing we celebrate all year. I've tried to give all the egg-stuff a meaningful, devotional spin, but it's a far reach by any means. My kids feel a deep reverence for Easter and its meanings, they resent the Easter Bunny's attempts to take us from the real meaning of it. We did some egg painting and hunting when they were younger, we have several other traditions that are important to us.

I don't want Easter to be a day I force them into nice clothes that they say are itchy and we have a big lunch with family after church. My husband and I have always struggled with really making Easter a time of importance and spiritual significance. For us, the best way to do this is with several weeks of Bible lessons or special devotional times together.

We've done several neat Easter devotionals in the past - We've done an extended RESURECTION EGG devotional, and various other things. I love Benjamin's Box - there are tons of really great children's books available.

I like this 17 Day EASTER DEVOTIONAL available as a free download from A Holy Experience.

Just reading through the life of Jesus in Children's Bible and discussing it is a great option.

I've shared on the blog before my VERY FAVORITE special Easter breakfast - which is a big family tradition for us. I've made these as an Easter lesson in Sunday School with groups as large as 100.

Today marks 20 days 'till Easter. As my children have gotten older, they have gained an understanding of the importance of sacrifice. They have really gained a lot from some experiences with fasting, not from food generally, but from some activities or extras. We will discuss as a family how we can best honor God in this season, and allow the kids to make recommendations based on their own convictions. I am wanting to go through The Sparking Gems from the Greek devotions for March & April as a family. I love these! This is an adult devotional, but it has some really great insights into the Easter story. We'll go through and pick out some of our favorite "gems." How can YOU make Easter more meaningful for your family? I'd love to hear some of your ideas!