Book Review: Money Secrets of the Amish by Lorilee Craker

The Amish community is known for being frugal and for being simple and sharing what they have witabsolutely anyone, whether they need it or not.  They work together to provide health insurance and to pay medical bills for anyone in their community.  They are perfectly content with what they have and don't need a lot of materialistic things to make them happy.  In fact, they constantly fight against it in all areas of their life, which is something I need to be more careful about doing.

This book talks about despoiling children, buying in bulk, making more things for yourself, and many other topics.  It's a great guide to a start of a more frugal and rewarding lifestyle that is more simple.  I'm looking forward to applying some of the principles mentioned in this book into our own family.

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I received this book free from the publisher through the 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

Book Review: When You Can't Find God by Linda Evans Shepherd

It's easy to ask the question "Where is God when...?"  When a mom is diagnosed with cancer and only has 2 months or less to live and has to leave behind her 2 young children, where is God?  Where is God when a mother looses her firstborn child before she is even able to hold her in her arms?  I think all of us are full of these questions.  However, we forget that God is still there.  He's still with us, drawing us closer to Him, if we will only choose to let Him come closer to us.

This book is an encouraging book that reminds us to pray through those tough times and to find the peace and hope that only God alone can give, which also produces the joy that we find when we are resting in Him.  Linda Shepherd knows this first-hand as she has walked this path in her own personal life.  Her now adult daughter was in a car wreck 20 years ago and suffered severe brain damage.  Linda learned that the only way to find that peace she so desperately needed was not to put aside the hard questions, but to ask them and have faith and cling to what God has said and know that He alone is in control even when we don't understand.  How encouraging! 

If you've ever asked the questions "Where's God when...?" then this book's for you!

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This book is available in May 2011 at your favorite bookseller, from Revell, a division of Baker Publishing Group.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from Revell Publishers. 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."

Book Review: A Great Catch by Lorna Seilstad

If you're looking for a fun summer read, I definitely recommend this book.  I found myself laughing in some spot and just thoroughly enjoying this book.  This is the second book in the Lake Manawa Summers Series.  I haven't read Making Waves but I had no difficulty following along and am now looking forward to reading the first book in this series.

Emily Graham is a 22-year-old woman who is independent and in some ways, headstrong.  While at a resort, her aunts and grandmother decide that she it's time for her to settle down and find a man to marry.  Each person brought before her was turned down.  She just couldn't find a need for a man in her life, not to mention that she had no time at all for one in her life.  When she goes roller skating, she accidentally runs into a man, Carter Stockton, who is a pitcher for the Manawa Owls.   While Carter is trying to prove that he's meant to play baseball instead of working in a family business, will Emily decide that perhaps it's time for her to allow a man into her life?  Perhaps Carter will decide that Emily is a great catch for him in his life.

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This book is available in May 2011 at your favorite bookseller, from Revell, a division of Baker Publishing Group.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from Revell Publishers. 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."

Corduroy Lesson #8

Corduroy is now completed!  We had a lot of fun with this book.  We did many things besides what I posted here, such as collecting money in our piggy bank for small tasks that could be completed around the house.  We also went to the mall to ride the escalator (which those of you who know me know just how much I hated that!  For those who don't know me as well, I love escalators for some odd reason...perhaps because the country doesn't have escalators).

On this particular day, we sorted buttons.  Poor Corduroy was missing a button, so we did one day of sorting buttons by colors and by sizes.  He stayed focused on the task at hand and really enjoyed doing it.  We repeated this activity later when Daddy T got home because he was so proud of what he could do.

 And the completed task looked like this...

Can you tell he's one proud boy?!

To satisfy...

This can't help but make you smile!

I'll update more hopefully later today or tomorrow.  Hopefully.  No promises, though!

Beautiful

I love taking my kids to work with me when I do therapy at the nursing home.  I don't do it all of the time, but I do it when I have to.  B does really well there and he can get them to do things for him that they won't do for me.  He likes to give them all hugs and talk with them and he always picks one person to empty my entire music bag to so that poor person is left with a lap full of instruments! 

Most of the patients I work with have Alzheimer's.  It's very important to me that B and Baby M grow up enjoying these patients and not being afraid of them.  I want them to respect the elderly and to learn from them instead of being scared to be around them.  You should see the smiles on their faces!  Well, that is, until he thinks they need to go for a ride.  They are grateful to me when I put a stop to that before they are sent into the table.  Many have learned to put their brakes on when they see him. 

The funny thing is, though, that they ask about my kids.  They can't remember their own families, but somehow between the music and my kids together, they remember mine and ask me all the time when I'm going to be bringing them.  The nurses love to take Baby M and show her off and there's one wife of a man that has become a babysitter for me.  She doesn't have children but she gets so excited when I bring Baby M because it breaks up her day from having to focus on the sadness with her husband and best friend.  (B is good at getting her husband to talk, though!)

I'm so thankful for these everyday opportunities to share with my kids some things that are important to me.

Oh...and I left out how I'm glad they are hard of hearing because when I play the piano, B does too.  Once I get him stopped, he dances for them.

Book Review: Hungry for God by Margaret Feinberg

Hungry for God by Margaret Feinberg was a book that I read at the perfect time.  I've been craving more and more of God and this book made me want to spend so much time with Him.  She pointed out how we can hear God in the everyday things of life, not just when we're in our quiet times.  However, we tend to be so busy and so focused on other things that we sometimes miss when God is trying to speak to us.  I loved her illustrations that she used in the book and how she showed how God can speak through art, music, nature, etc.  He can use anything to speak to us if we'll only listen. 

The opening of the book was about what it meant to have an appetite for God.  "What does it mean to hunger for You?"  Since most of us don't know what true hunger is, sometimes it's easy to forget what it's really like to hunger for God so much that nothing else can satisfy us.  So to help her get a perspective on hunger, she fasted.  She was honest about how the first day or two were awful and she was moody and anyone that came near her was fair game!  After that, though, her body adjusted and it was a little easier.

My favorite quote of the book was "If physical hunger is a set of feelings that leads a person to search for food, then spiritual hunger is a set of experiences and longings that compels a person to search for God.  My spiritual hunger grumbles loudest when I feel furthest from God."

I definitely recommend this book for everyone, whether you're in a calm season of your life or if you're in the midst of trials.  It's a great book to give as a gift to someone, too.

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I received this book free from Zondervan in exchange for my review of this book.  The opinions expressed are my own and was not required to write a positive review.

Corduroy Lesson #7

 I'm a little behind on posting our Corduroy activities, but we have completely finished it and I'm finishing up the stuff so we can start our next book.  I'm hoping to accomplish a lot of prep work this next weekend and week!

We used the animal classification cards and talked about each animal on the card and what they ate, where they lived, and how they sound.  He knew all of them from going to the zoo so much, but I wanted to have him find the animals in the book and match them with the card.  He did great matching a drawing with the live picture of the animal.  It was also a good self-control activity (leave it for the therapist to turn simple activities into behavioral goals) because he had to sit still for so long and tend to the task at hand.  He did great!  I was afraid he would be  bored after the first couple of pages but he wasn't.  Of course, Baby M liked to participate, so his job was made a bit more complicated trying to find which one she had picked up to put in her mouth this time! 

And this is how Baby M likes to spend her school days................................................

making messes for me to clean up!

Sometimes pictures say more...

I like to write about my days so that I will never forget them and so my kids can look back on my reflections and see why I have so many gray hairs but also why I tear up when the house is all quiet when they have moved on with their own lives as adults.

Since my kiddos have arrived on the scene, my house is rarely quiet.  In fact, sometimes I dream of kicking everyone out for a few hours so I have some quiet time.  However, when that does happen, it's too quiet.  I'm used to the constant noise and activity.  Not to say that it doesn't tire me out or frustrate me, but it's normal to me.  That's also why I can ignore my child when he's whining and the baby's crying while I'm trying to get dinner done.  That's also why I don't hear the dogs whining and barking at times.  I simply tune them out and go to my own happy place where it's quiet!

A few weeks ago we enjoyed some time outside after church.  Baby M is now the driver of the red car that B used to like so much.  So...the story?  I've displayed the story in pictures.  This is my typical day, except think of it through my eyes and consider how many times I must correct B and what actions have to be tamed indoors.  Then throw in Sissy and see if you can guess how many things I had to correct during these pictures!  And this is just an hour....

That morning....

B climbed on top of the red car for a ride on the roof...

Book Review: The Promise of An Angel by Ruth Reid

The first book in the Heaven on Earth series, The Promise of An Angel has me waiting for the next book to come out.  I was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed this book.  It was different from most of the Amish fiction I have read because the plot is completely different than most.

Judith Fischer wants nothing more than to be a wife, mother, and a Amish woman that follows hard after God.  She's waited so long to be married to an Amish man named Levi Plank.  All is well until her brother, Samuel, has a farm accident and his prognosis is grim: he may never walk again.  During this time, she sees an angel that has visited her brother and she meets this angel many times during this trial.  However, when she talks about it, no one believes her.  The church wants to discipline her and her family has to step in to help make mends with the church.  Levi wants her to stop the foolishness.  Only one person believes her...Andrew Lapp.

Will Judith listen to the angel and discover her dreams?  If so, where will that lead her?  Which path will she choose?  Will Samuel ever walk again?  Those are all answered in the book!  (You thought I'd tell you!)

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(Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher through the 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.)