love to paint

After the last novel I read by Jen Turano, I discovered that she'd written a novella as the start of her new series.  I read the first novel first.  When I discovered the novella, I enjoyed reading it, but wished that I had read it first.  I've noticed that several authors have started to do this.  So, when a new novel arrived in the mail recently for me to read, I first went online to see if the author had written a novella to kick off the series.  And... she had! The series is the Orphan Train by Jody Hedlund.  The novella that begins the series is An Awakened Heart .  It can be found on Amazon to download for free to read on your kindle or kindle app on your tablet.  The novella tells the story of Miss Pendleton and the Reverend Bedell.  Miss Pendleton is only thirty years old, yet already considered a spinster in the times she lived in--New  York City during the 1850s.  That novella tells her story of finding purpose and not ...

When my oldest daughter was in kindergarten, I remember a mom telling me that she had to use different curriculum with each of her children.  I also clearly remember my reaction!  Inside I recoiled at the thought of having to buy new curriculum for each of my children--I had no idea how I would afford to do that!  It was also hard for me to imagine that my children wouldn't be able to use the same curriculum.  I had been a classroom teacher and I used the same curriculum for all of the students in my class. But, in time, I found the other mom's statement to be partially true, but only partially.  Many homeschooling materials appeal to one style of learner more than another or they aren't easily leveled to different abilities levels within the same grade level.  So, often when kids learn differently, parents have to buy different curriculum for each one.  This is one reason why I've gravitated to public school textbooks over the years.  Public sc...

Getting back on Facebook this year after being off of it for five years has been an interesting experience for me.  Some things have changed and some have stayed the same...  One thing that is the same is the cornucopia of comments on any given holiday.  Today there are many, many loving and positive comments posted by people about their fathers. I posted about the dessert I made about my husband.  I rejoiced that I successfully made the custard for creme brulee and that my husband used the kitchen torch I bought a few months ago to carmelize sugar on top to make the key crusty topping that it needs! I didn't say anything about my husband, though I am very grateful (as are my kids) for who he is and the piece of the puzzle he is in our family.  He is one of kind--always saying something off the wall to make us laugh or think.  He balances me as a parent and as my husband.  He tells me that I balance him, too. Many of the comments were made by peo...

Over the past few years, I've read several books about homosexuality and Christianity as I have sought to sort out how I feel about this issue that has become a difficult point of contention for many Christians.  There are Christians who say that it is not sinful to be homosexual and live an active homosexual lifestyle.  There are other Christians who disagree with these claims and say that it is unbiblical. I have watched as our society has been grappling with this issue.  Periodically I have reviewed different books about homosexuality written by Christians.  These books include Washed and Waiting by Wesley Hill, Rosario Butterfield's books The Secret Thoughts of an Unlikely Convert and Openness Unhindered , and I read a book last year in which the author, a father of a lesbian daughter, justified that homosexuality is not a sin, nor is it a sin to be in a homosexual relationship because God wants us to be happy. Reviewing Washed and Waiting was a learning ex...

Last week, I read Dee Henderson's new suspense novel, Threads of Suspicion .  It is the second book in her series about Evie Blackwell.  Before I read this novel, I went back and read the first book in the series, Traces of Guilt .  I really enjoyed Traces of Guilt.     I started with the first one because I was curious about how the main character of this series, Evie Blackwell, would be introduced and described.  Traces of Guilt introduces the idea of a group of detectives in Illinois tasked with solving cold cases.  Evie Blackwell is a test case in the first novel. This second novel does not depend at all on the first one, so you can jump into this series in the middle.  Evie and several other detectives are announced at the beginning as a new task force by the governor and they decide on the cases they are going to tackle.  Evie picks a case involving a missing college student and her partner picks a missing private investigator. ...