love to paint

So, I read one last week.  I'd seen the author's name come up on the book lists numerous times so I was curious.  After the first three pages, I almost didn't pick it up again.  This past week I had been talking to my writing students about how important it is for a book to be realistic, authentic.  Well, this book wasn't!  Not at all!  But, there was a special reason that the book's story struck me. The book is titled On Lone Star Trail by Amanda Cabot.  The story follows TJ and Gillian as their paths intersect at the Rainbow's End Resort, owned by Gillian's best friend.  At the very beginning of the story, there is a sudden rainstorm, and TJ hydroplanes on his motorcycle.  He hits a guardrail--enough to completely bend his front wheel, flips over the handle bars, and stands up with only a few bruises to show for it.  Really?  I laughed out loud.  The man was wearing a helmet and a leather jacket (good protection), but it d...

Yesterday, I discovered that I could read the novelization of the movie Old Fashioned by Rene Gutteridge on my phone by checking it out from the library.  So, I began reading. I realized one of the reasons I like it, but don't like A Courtship .  A Courtship is a documentary, something I usually don't gravitate to.  Because there were real people in it, I found myself concerned for those people, caring about how their opinions affected their lives and the fear that was directing it.   Old Fashioned , on the other hand, is fictional, so I am able to focus on the ideas, questions, and thoughts that the story provokes in my mind, rather than focusing on the people. There are many aspects of Old Fashioned that raise alarms in me, but what I like is that the story shows the processing through of the characters' emotional baggage.  How does healing take place when you have damaged ideas of love?  Can healing take place?  Is there hope?  Where does...

Last night, I noticed a movie new to Hoopla, "A Courtship".  I was curious about how it ended, so I checked it out and skipped to the last quarter of the movie.  I jumped in where the guy is telling the woman's "spiritual father" that he and the girl have different theological differences.  Spoiler: the girl and guy don't end up together.  I watched through to the end and noted that she continues to live with them for ten years more (and possibly beyond) with no more suitors.  The gal's reasoning is interesting.  She doesn't want to focus on appearances to please others and she feels that it's biblical for parents to arrange marriage.  The spiritual father says something very interesting about a third of the way into the movie, which I suspected from the beginning.  He explains that he and his wife (who do not have older children of their own--only one 8 or 9 year old daughter) dated and did find each other, but that they experienced a lot of pai...

Just the facts, Ma'am!  I can picture a policeman on a tv show from the 1950s saying that to a woman in an a-line dress at the front door with a pad of paper in his hands. If it were only so easy!  Knowing the facts, that is. As a kid, the kinds of facts I learned were my math facts.  I don't remember ever having a hard time learning them.  I just learned them.  I can't remember not knowing them.  I also don't remember my mom quizzing me on them.  At times, I've wondered if my teachers all just gave us a magic pill that gave us the gift of knowing our math facts.  No, not really.  I know they didn't really do that.  But, I do wonder how I learned them. For my kids, learning there math facts has not been easy.  My children are all much more language oriented than number oriented.  As a result, I have been on a quest for several years seeking keys to help unlock this box of knowledge for my kids so that they could acquire a...

After the last time that I read a Christian historical romance, I really wondered where I should turn for light reading.  Admittedly, I often read so that I can turn off my brain.  It just doesn't like to stop!  So, I decided to read a Christian suspense novel.  I have found there are two veins of these books.  One heads off in a darker direction--like Erin Healy, Ted Dekker, and ND Wilson's novels.  The other direction is the crime drama type-- written by authors like Lynette Eason, Terri Blackstock, and Irene Hannon.  I've enjoyed Erin Healy's novels over the years.  She's a good writer and builds suspense in a way that draws me in as the reader.  A few years ago, I read books by Lynette Eason and Irene Hannon.   But, I stopped.  I was faced with the question of whether it was okay to be intrigued by crime.  These questions have come up again from my daughters as they've been asking what's okay for them to read and what isn...

Last week, I was talking with some friends of ours who are at the crossroads every parent faces--what education is right for their child entering kindergarten next year?  I have several friends who are deciding this same complicated question.  Public school?  Private school?  Homeschool? Admittedly, it can be a very difficult question to answer.  I'm going to attempt to answer it from my perspective--as a former public and private school teacher, and a homeschool teacher of ten years.  I have a master's degree in education and I love to understand how and what children need to learn. I think this broad question can be broken down to two less broad questions:                                A) What education option is best for the child?                                B) What education option is ...