love to paint

The other day I was discussing a book with my mom and explaining to her my concern about how "blame" is cast upon the child in the story.  My mom commented about how deeply I read and consider what is written. Sometimes I wonder if I go overboard.  Am I questioning too much?  Am I overreacting? Why am I reacting this way? I come back to knowing that God wired me this way.  But, I also reflect on how God has guided my path through the maze of books I've read over the past few years and what I've learned from the books themselves and from reading them.   Recently, I read a book that troubled me.  The book I finished reading was  Guiltless Living  by Ginger Hubbard.  When I began reading it, I found myself puzzled and then disconcerted. And in the end, I cried. But, I cried for a different reason than one might suspect. I'd like to explain. I did not read Ms. Hubbard's previous book “ Don't Make Me Count to Three ”, but I knew from f...

I have two reviews I need to write.  I'm going to start with the easier one, but it's actually the book that I enjoyed less of the two.  Both were good books and both are ones I'd recommend.  But the first comes with a caveat.  It is not what I'd call Christian fiction.  It is labeled "Christian fiction" and it is published by  "Christian" publisher that is owned by a big, secular publisher.  But, in my opinion, it is not Christian fiction.  It is simply fiction.  In my mind, I define Christian fiction as a book that is encouraging and points people to God.  God is a primary player and events are attributed to be caused by him.  Often books that are Christian fiction don't stack up to secular fiction in how good the writing is and how well developed the plots and characters of the stories are if compared to one another.  It is also important to me that if there is twisted theology in it, that there is the counterbalance presenc...

I started reading a new book yesterday and it's not one of those that I just can't put down.  It's very well written, but there's a character that grates on me.  What the character says is thought provoking for me because I disagree with the character so much!   As I was reading yesterday while my husband was driving, I came across one quote that particularly struck me.  I'm reading the book on my Kindle so it's difficult to get back to the quote.  But, basically, the character said that contentment is when people settle for their lives because they're unhappy.  It's resignation.  They don't want to change and are actually miserable so people justify it by saying they are content.  People who change and progress with the times are actually the happy ones.  So, the character says... What I read made me think about contentment.  As a Christian, I seek contentment.  Because contentment means something different to me.  It mean...

I have to admit that this has been a weakness of mine.  For the past few years, I have struggled to get going in the morning.  Then, by the time we get started, I feel a great sense of pressure to get all our academic work done.  So, I've skipped devotions.  We have always prayed before all of our meals and have family devotions many nights.  So, I let the practice go by the wayside for a bit. When my kids were little (ages 2-5), reading a Bible Story was a daily practice in our schooling.  We read through the Read Aloud Bible Stories (all 4 volumes) plus Ms. Lindvall's Tell-Me Stories (from the same set, but about Jesus' parables) when they were 2 and 3 years old.  Then, we read through Ms. Lindvall's little storybook, Bible Stories for Little Children when they are 4 and 5 years old.  It's out of print and it's one of my favorite books! After each short story, they get to answer a few short questions that are right at their level.  Eli ju...

Two years ago, I deleted my facebook account.  Wow.  It's surprising to me that it's been two years already.  Mostly, I don't miss it. Facebook is like internet's version of high school for adults.  It can make you feel like you're "in" or that you're "out".  Oh, the travails of high school life! Two months ago, I went from an old Nokia prepaid phone--an ancient phone like the ones most people had fifteen years ago.  Except that I had it up until just two months ago.  I texted for the first time last June when we went with a group of junior high kids from church to camp.  For the first time, I actually found it handy to text and found a reason to. But, recently, I learned that texting can be just like Facebook.  It's an a-emotional form of communication.  You can't get someone's attention by speaking up.  People can choose to ignore you.   You can't always convey the feeling with the words you're saying (even with emot...

I've been reading more about how to help my children with their handwriting.  I found this document online HERE .  Pages 11-14 talk about identifying the difficulties children are having (good questions!) and then a brief description of how to help each one. Here's a second document I found online that has more helps and tackles other issues that might come up in greater detail.

This morning I finished reading Caught in the Middle , a new Christian historical fiction story by Regina Jennings.  My husband asked me last night what I was reading and I replied that it was just a typical Christian fiction book.  It is just that.  I often read what looks like typical Christian fiction, hoping for something different.  The last one I read by Ann Gabhart was.  But, this one by Regina Jennings is pretty typical. The story centers around Anne, aka Mrs. Tillerton, a young woman who has endured great suffering in her life.  Nick Lovelace enters the story as a businessman who knew her a long time ago, but only through his sister.  He owns a lumber company that is providing ties and materials needed to the railroads being built.  Ms. Tillerton gets stuck taking care of a baby whose mother has skipped town.  Her only connection is Mr. Lovelace.  And so the story goes... what will come of the baby?  Nick has seeds of...