love to paint

A while back, I began to read a new book that's just been published.  It's titled different: The Story of an Outside-the-box Kid and the Mom Who Loved Him by Nathan and Sally Clarkson.  When I had seen the description of this book, I had been very curious about it.  One of my very favorite parenting books is The Journey of the Strong Willed Child by Kendra Smiley.  One of the things I love most about that book is that it includes both her perspective, her husband's perspective, and her son's.  I learned so much from seeing their different sides.  This book by Nathan and Sally Clarkson is very helpful in that same way--it is written by both Sally Clarkson, the mom, and Nathan Clarkson, her son. This book tackles many issues parents struggle with today: anxiety, depression, ADHD, and mental illness.  Nathan lives with OCD, anxiety, and depression.  Sally homeschooled Nathan and his siblings throughout their growing up years, so she lived with ...

I grew up in a Quaker church.  I didn't hear a lot about Jesus, but I did hear a lot about God and "that of God in every man."  I didn't understand it at the time, but I just finished reading a Christian fiction book who's main character was a Quaker woman in Cincinnati, Ohio. The book was titled Blessing by Lyn Cote.  The story focuses on Blessing, Brightman.  A young widow of means who is very active in the underground railroad and in helping orphans and widows in Cincinatti, while advocating women's rights and abolition.  Blessing is a very strong woman shaped by her past.  Enter into the picture her best friend Tippy, her friend's beau--Stoddard, and Stoddard's cousin--Gerard Ramsay.  Ramsay is determined that his cousin should stay single, but you can guess what happens in that regard.  Ramsay sees something in Blessing and she in him.  Blessing sees him as having the potential to be more than he is.  Ramsay doesn't see a point ...

A few years ago, my girls came upon Adventures in Odyssey's Imagination Station series of books.  This series is similar to the Magic Treehouse Books.   I haven't read one in quite some time.  A month or two ago, the most recent addition to the series arrived, Captured on the High Seas .  My girls quickly read it and seemed to enjoy it. Amidst the busyness, I did not get a review posted of this book.  Now that the kids' bedrooms are painted I realize that the time has come to catch up!  So, I'm starting with this book. The Imagination Station series focuses on cousins Patrick and Beth.   Captured on the High Seas is the second of a 3 adventure series set in the American Revolutionary War.  The first book, The Red Coats are Coming , found them at the battle of Concord.  This book finds Patrick and Beth on an American Ship that is captured by the British.  They become friends with a boy named James.  He helps them and they help...

I found it a bit ironic that one of the books I had the opportunity to read (and of course review) this past month is The Christian Writer's Market Guide 2012 .  Reviewing books on this blog and Amazon for over the past 3 years has been an interesting experience.  In some ways, it has opened my eyes and cut through my cynicism that there are good, solid Christian books being published.  In other ways, my cynicism about the publishing industry has grown.  In those ways, I have been quite discouraged. Last January, I attempted to contact several magazines to get more publicity for the great books I come across.  I was trying to find out if there might be an opportunity to review for any of these homeschooling magazines.  One of the first two magazines said yes and I've had several of my reviews published this year in that online magazine.  I thought I'd try my hand and contact a few more.  Every single one said "no."  I learned that rejectio...

I am one of those people who only reads a book once.  Most of the time.  Every once in a while I come across a book that I want to read again.  Covenant Child by Terri Blackstock, The Awakening by Angela Hunt, and The Atonement Child by Francine Rivers are three such books.  Right now I'm reading another one that falls into this category:  Safely Home by Randy Alcorn I remember reading Safely Home when my husband and I first got married ten  years ago.  We found it at a bargain Christian bookstore and it sounded interesting.  We had been reading Voice of the Martyrs at the time and were interested in learning more about the persecuted church worldwide.   Safely Home is the story of two characters--Ben Fielding, an American, and Li Quan, a Chinese man.  The story centers upon Ben's visit to China and his renewal of his friendship with Li Quan.  Ben has walked away from his faith that he lived out during his college years when...