Book Rant

Okay, you are used to me doing book reviews here on the blog and this is not one of those!

I have a Nook and I pretty much love it. If I have a really great book I like to have the book in real life (not digital life) dog-ear the pages and underline and stuff, loan it out to friends, so it's okay for some books, but not all. I love the fact that I can occasionally get free books on my Nook. I chose the Nook because the Kindle doesn't allow you the mp3 downloads (audio or digital) from libraries or other sites. My dad chose the Kindle on the other hand because there are more free books to access off the Amazon site AND the Kindle has the feature of turning almost any book into an audiobook. What am I talking about features anyway? There are so many upgrades and new versions out just in the 6 months I've had mine I probably don't know what I am talking about anymore.

Anyway, I love my Nook. Barnes and Noble has this thing called Free Friday were you can get occasionally pretty good books for Free. I have cautiously downloaded a couple, and avoided or deleted many of the more questionable ones. A couple of times the free book has claimed to be Christian. Such was the case with For Time and Eternity by Allison Pittman. I was wary because it seemed to be about Mormanism and I didn't want to read a book that would be attempting to convert me or something. BUT this was a great book! Just a quick overview; girl from a harsh Christian home falls in love with a Morman boy and is sucked into his beliefs. Later she realizes the truth of the Bible and sees that she can not accept his beliefs. I LOVED the way the author revealed the truth of the Morman faith in light of the Bible. LOVED a lot of things. I have tried to read non-fiction about the Morman faith and it was mind-numbing - confusing. This book made it very clear. So, for that reason I would highly recommend it to someone trying to understand the Morman faith. But...

Sorry, Allison Pittman, but no self respecting author would leave a book so unresolved. There's a major part of the plot called the resolution, the conclusion and you left off that part. I understand a cliffhanger ending, but you didn't even reach the cliff yet.

I have experienced this about 3 times with these "free" books offered on the e-readers. The author writes a 1/2 finished book and you have to buy the sequel for $9.99 to get the rest of the story. I understand sequels. I get that. But a sequel is supposed to continue the main character's story not finish it. Is this a new trend in book writing? If so, I think I'll go back to the classics.

I did buy the sequel for $9.99 by the way, I had to, I hate an unfinished story! But it made me mad. It was good. She's a good writer, but I think it's trickery just to make a buck. I think I'll avoid free Fridays.

Monday Musings

There is just something about the house all cozy with a Christmas tree. I just love it. I've been meaning to replace this tree every year for about 3 years. It is really a mass of dead lights. A pre-lit tree that doesn't pre-light. But every year I pack it up at the end of the season and every year I get it out at the beginning of the next and I don't have the heart to make the kids (or me) put off decorating until I go find a replacement. Plus, I always promise myself I'll hit the after Christmas sales. This year I resolve to throw it away and not pack it up so that I will be forced to replace it!

We enjoyed our relaxing little Thanksgiving meal at home. The food was wonderful and we actually still have a few leftovers. We used the good china, we had conversation starter questions everyone had to answer, and Gracie made placecards where we would all know where to sit.

Second to the big guy upstairs, I gotta say I give thanks for that guy over in that chair most of all. Wednesday will be 20 years of amazing marriage to an amazing guy. I'm still so crazy about him, he makes my heart all a-flutter.

We spent some time crafting and playing around with some Christmas craft ideas. We have a huge trashbag full of fabric scraps and the girls and I were trying to figure out how to use it.

We got to spend some time with good friends and play outside ALOT all week. We had some wonderful weather. It has dropped down to the 30's this morning though. It is beginning to feel a lot like Christmas. I have truly never been this behind on Christmas shopping, so I am hoping to get after some of that soon. Meanwhile, I hope you have a blessed week as we move into December already! Wow! We have to really be intentional not to get overwhelmed during December as we hit not only the normal church, work, family, and holiday activities, but also 2 kid's birthdays and the final one just a few days into January. I'll be praying for grace and peace!

Thanksgiving Menu

"Come, let's sing out loud to the LORD! Let's raise a joyful shout to the rock of our salvation! Let's come before him with thanks! Let's shout songs of joy to him!" Psalm 95:1-2 (Common English Bible)

For us Thanksgiving looks alot like that verse! Shouting songs of joy to God is how we roll. It's loud, but we like it. Daddy and Gracie will be up early in the kitchen on Thanksgiving, Ipod jammin' with some great Christian music and lots of singing and cooking. The rest of us wander in and out and pretty much watch them work and take it easy. We'll be jammin' to our new favorite song, Halo by Manic Drive about not being ashamed of who you are in Christ, "Rockin' your halo" instead of hiding it! Love that. See our new favorite song on YouTube - Halo

We are going to be home with just our family for Thanksgiving it appears, although party crashers are certainly welcome. Byron's cooking and there should be plenty! We were talking with the kids and I was writing down what we are cooking, and the kids kept saying, "but we don't like that," "but, Daddy, your the only one that eats that." But, Daddy doesn't care. It's Thanksgiving and we are having Thanksgiving food, like it or not!

The menu actually looks like an all-carb cookbook: turkey, dressing, mashed potatoes, rolls - why does a holiday meal that is so associated with the image of a pumpkin have so little to do with fruits and vegetables?

Byron makes really great dressing - my dad and his grandma make it just the same way, so all that experience can't be wrong. I always wonder why we don't eat dressing more often throughout the year. It will certainly be the cheapest food on the Thanksgiving table, and everybody loves it. Each kid in the family will be responsible for a different dish or dessert, and everyone enjoys gettin in the kitchen with daddy and making big messes for mom to clean up later. Hope you have a great Thanksgiving!

No fun Maifun

I had an epic fail cooking experiment this week. I forgot that I was supposed to bring a salad to a ladies event. So, I quickly scrambled -'cause you just can't bring lettuce, you gotta jazz it up or something, right? So I remembered this Maifun we had in the pantry. Basically freaky chinese rice sticks. I heard that you fry them and they puff up kinda cool in a neat, crispy bird's nest looking monstrosity. I, as a rule never fry ... though not for nutritional reasons, it's just too messy & stinky. So, I thought I'd make some Terriakki chicken, lettuce, chick peas, soy sauce, + weird noodles = cool, Asian salad. I combined the noodles just before serving so they'd be crispy and they just kind of turned to hard-rock twigs. Not sure what happened there, but it was pretty yucky. After time (the next day - there were lots of leftovers) they got soft and were edible, but the point is they should be crispy & crunchy. Oh well. I find it best to lower potluck expectations for myself. And on the plus side I find I am rarely asked to serve on church kitchen or hospitality committees. Golden rule of potluck: Never experiment on people other than your immediate family. My poor family.

My Gracie got braces this week. It's been pretty rough - they hurt, but I like the way the dentist is taking it in stages. I can't imagine her getting top and bottom at the same time. She chose blue rubber bands and requested that daddy take off work to go with her to get them. He is such an amazing daddy and just has the insight to stop and speak the Word or pray with our kids and help them find peace from God in scary situations. Love that about him. I tend to be too much of a, "it'll be okay...get over it" kind of parent and I SO appreciate his compassion with our kids.

We spent some time snuggled up and reading together. We've been giving Gracie some extra attention and TLC. And lots of soup and yogurt.

Backyard Campout

There's nothin better than a campout with the best of both worlds - roughing it close to the comforts of home!

Apparently, they would like to plan to stay outside the ENTIRE thanksgiving week and camp out every night. Not sure about that.

They - I say they because Ally and I were in the house in our cozy, soft beds - settled in by the fire to hear Gracie's latest story about a girl and a horse.

It's a chapter book of over 10 chapters so far, so it was a long story, but the boys enjoyed it. She is becoming a great writer.

Fire Pit

Well, I haven't been very good at blogging lately, but there's been plenty going on.

We started work on our super-cool fire pit. We love big marshmallow roasts and I look forward to some hobo stew suppers!

The kids worked hard filling the holes with dirt and helping dad.

Other than huge winds, it was a beautiful day for some hard work around the farm.

Of course, we always try to make time for some Sumo Wrestling with the cousins... :)

While the rest of the family worked on the fire pit, I baked 2 batches of chocolate chip banana bread, 2 batches of chocolate chip waffles, and a double batch of pumpkin muffins, an apple pie, and a big pot of stew and corn bread. I looked around and we didn't have any thing exciting for lunch, so I decided on hot dogs. Unfortunately, we didn't have any buns. So, I quickly made some yeast roll dough and shaped it into oblong little loafs. We cut a slit in each and slipped the hot dog in - you have never in your life seen people more excited about hot dogs than my crew! They loved it! They were voted best hot dogs ever!

Caught in the act

Saxie can take a lid off of a feed container in less than 30 seconds. After this picture, we had to move her feed into a shed. A few days ago someone left the shed door open and she opened the door, opened the feed containers and had herself a little snack before she was caught. She likes to open up dog food containers or trash can lids just to check to see if we might be hiding grain in there also. Just in case. :)

The Spirit Who Speaks

I really, really enjoyed reading this book. The Spirit who Speaks was a really interesting book. I loved the simplicity of Peter's story. As a vicar in the Church of England, Peter began to turn to the Bible in search of something more in his walk with God. He began to see in God's word and experience for himself that God really does speak to us today.

I enjoyed reading this book because I appreciated Peter's purity in his search, it wasn't a denominational thing, or a desire to become more in God's eyes, it was just a pure, simple search to hear from God. He shared his failures and concerns in such an open and honest way. This book really made me hungry for more of God and gave me a desire to hear Him speak to me more.

A great spiritual read, supported with lots of scripture study and insight, and I would highly recommend it! It is excellent for pastors as well as the later part of the book becomes almost like a guide with practical information and Biblical guidelines. It was published after Peter Lawrence's death, but he has written several other books I'd like to look into reading as well.

You can buy the book HERE from David C. Cook for $14.99. That David C. Cook has some great books!

The Spirit who Speaks was given to me by David C. Cook and B&B Media and for the purposes of review only.

Bible Study

God is always enough. No matter what the need. I know this. Yes, but ...sometimes I need a little extra help moving forward into my quiet time. Especially in the winter/fall! Something about colder weather makes me want to curl up and sleep later, just curl up under the covers and not get going! Cloudy, rainy days do that to me too. So... today it was a cappuccino with whipped cream and a drizzle of chocolate. Smile. Yes, sir, that'll take your quiet time to a whole 'nother level!

God's messin' with my quiet time ... I guess I'll let him. I have always liked deep, digging studies like a good old Beth Moore, or deep Greek lexicon based something. Something that really breaks it down, challenging, makes me answer questions, analyze, test my knowledge, brain deep, but speaking to my spirit at the same time.

It was where God had me for a season, but lately it seems like God is asking me to listen more. It's not a brain thing, Tara, it's a heart thing. Meditate on the Word. Go deep, but not brain deep, heart deep. Be still and know.

I am part of a neat online mom's accountability group from Inspired to Action. My Waco friend Kat challenged moms to get up before their kids and do their quiet times, to be ready to face the day with God before you face your family. It is unique in that I check in daily with a Facebook group (it's a closed group so only that group sees our posts). We are supposed to check in done with our study before 7am. The group offered a super simple way to get started in a little e-book with a weekly scripture that you focus on each day in different ways and some basic things to journal. When I first saw it I thought, "this is for 'beginners.'" But, God really convicted me about interacting with His word differently, simply, and with my heart not my prideful head. There is no "beginners" reading of the Bible. Every time you open it, you are interacting with a living, Holy God and His word is active, and in you. Being quiet and listening are always difficult, for some of us more than others! But, I get it God, and I'm working on it!

40 Days to Better Living: Hypertension

My mama should be given an honorary nursing degree. She has overseen the medical care of my sister, dad and grandmother and has learned by trial all about lots of things, especially livers and high blood pressure. My dad and sister have both had some pretty major blood pressure issues just recently. So, I gave her this book - and she told me what she thought of it. Here's what she said about it:

40 Days to Better Living: Hypertension would be good for ANYONE....not just people with hypertension (high blood pressure)...It is actually a workbook and takes you thru 40 days to manage your health...The problem with most people who may possibly have high blood pressure, is that there are never any symptoms to alert you or your Physician. It can only be detected by regular checkups, or by checking with a blood pressure machine, found in most pharmacies. IF you are diagnosed and put on blood pressure medication, it must be taken every day without fail to maintain proper levels.
"40 Days to Better Living..Hypertension" is written to be read daily, and follow the guidelines based on SEVEN STEPS , faith, medical, movement, work, emotional, family, and nutrition. The book follows through giving encouragement, and using real life stories of people who have made the journey to improve their lives and health. At the end of each day, there is a time for meditation, and prayer giving select scriptures to boost the spirit and enable you to continue the path to total wellness. This particular book was helpful to me, because my husband has been thru many "bad" episodes of high blood pressure mis-management, to the point that I rushed him to the emergency room with what we thought was a heart attack on two or three occasions, to only find out that his medication was not what he needed.

There are other books in this series, published by the Church Health Center in Memphis, Tenn, with founder, Dr. Scott Morris. They all address "40 Days to Better Living" and topics include Stress, Caregiving, Addiction, Depression, Weight Management, Diabetes, and others.

You can get a copy of 40 Days to Better Living: Hypertension HERE for $7.99

I was given this book for the purposes of review only.