Reading, Writing & Pondering

The Juice Lady's Big Book of Juices and Green Smoothies by Cherie Calbom is one of the most beautifully illustrated health books I think I've seen. This colorful book offers a large variety of juice recipes and one large chapter of smoothie recipes. I have a Vitamix so I was hoping for a few more smoothie recipes when I set out to read it. . .but in the end Cherie helped me see that a juicer would also be beneficial to my health. I appreciate that she offers hints on buying a juicer so I  better know what to look for as I look to buy one. With my Vitamix, I was able to try the Blueberry Jazz and the Berries and Cream smoothie recipes in this book. Both were quite good and I liked them for my tastes. Some of the other recipes that I might have tried I did not because she calls for juice as a part of them. . .I think one could use store bought juice but I also realize I wouldn't get the health benefits of juicing my own produce fresh first.  I also plan to read more ...

For our homeschool art class we recently completed an art project with Master Artist Pat Knepley called Poppy Collage. . .with the intent to make a flower collage in the style of artist Georgia O'Keeffe. This is a DVD in the series from See The Light: http://www.seethelightshine.com/art-projects/ There are 4 complete step-by-step lessons on the DVD, with each lesson lasting around 20 minutes per session. At the end of the DVD, we had a completed project and we knew about the artist whose style we used as an example for our project. In our case, Georgia O'Keeffe. In each lesson we learned some of the history of how Georgia started painting, where she studies, what her paintings were like and more. The lessons were interesting and Pat is an enthusiastic teacher. As a Christian, it was great to see her tie in a bit of Scripture with each lesson. The recommended age is over 10. . .My 11-year old son enjoyed the project and learning about the artist. It seemed to be rig...

Lisa T. Bergren's Grand Tour series begins with Glamorous Illusions.  In the first book, main character Cora Diehl Kensington starts the trip of a lifetime as she travels to Europe with family members she just learned she had. . .and lots of added stress for that country girl as finding out about this situation was a shock for her. In this second book, Cora continues to travel on the tour with adventures in France, Austria and Italy. Two men add romance to her life. . .Pierre, an extremely wealthy businessman, and Will, one of the guides who take them on their European journey. The story weaves Cora's romantic encounters amidst a backdrop of international intrigue along with travels to beautiful castles and historical sites. As the book progresses, Cora continues to work to decide which suitor choice to make--because, as the back cover says, "each one has grave consequences." I enjoyed the travels and following the life of Cora. . .I personally enjoyed the...

The past couple of years in my life have left me feeling like I am a victim of life's circumstances. Difficulties came to me that were not of my own making and I felt lost and abandoned by God. If we are honest, I think we have all felt that way at one time or another in life. Life is full of ups and down. In Robin Jones Gunn's new book, Victim of Grace, she shares how God is with us in all of our circumstances accomplishing His purposes in us and through us. This is Robin's personal story of how God has used her and worked through her life--even when it didn't seem like God was working anything out. She shares how God used her writing gifts and how she got started writing. . .and how she continues to write today. She truly shows through her life's story how God is able to do exceedingly and abundantly above all that we ask or imagine. (Eph. 3:20) Robin's memoir moved me to smiles and moved me to tears. Along with her story, Robin weaves in the stories fr...