Reading, Writing & Pondering

Tricia Goyer is both an author and a homeschool mom. I thought this book would be a great compliment to our homeschool history lessons. . .and it is. We have read 2 or 3 along with our study on World War 2. They help us see the Christian leaders and how they changed the world alongside the history presented in our regular history book. Prayers That Changed History shares the stories of 25 historical people throughout history including: Christopher Columbus, John Newton, Billy Sunday, Helen Keller, Corrie ten Boom and Dietrich Bonhoeffer. Goyer encourages readers to ask themselves some questions as they read through each person's story, such as, "What would have happened if this person hadn't prayed and acted on their calling?" Each chapter includes historical information on each person featured along with a prayer that they prayed that changed history. As the chapter nears the end, Goyer encourages readers to answer some questions related to that featured histo...

  My 14 year old son loves to read cartoons and he likes to doodle. This book sounded like an irresistible combination for him. It is great for helping someone learn to draw and design cartoons. From our perspective, this book didn't look as intimidating as some of the more formal drawing books and it looked fun to use. Christopher Hart's book on drawing cartoons is a fun book to help you get more creative in making cartoons. This book goes through several stages to help the aspiring cartoonist create funny pictures beginning with a silhouette of the character, then drawing expressions, drawing animals, drawing the clothes on your characters, and different ways to share the dialogue or caption for your cartoons. The last chapter has ideas for making funny inventions. Each page offers detailed instructions that are easy to follow. . .and each page shares a bit of the author's humor, getting you into a humorous cartoon frame of mind. Hart says in the introduction that he...

I just finished reading The Five Times I Met Myself by James Rubart. Wow. Just wow. I have never read a book by this author before but I plan to read his other books soon. I had a hard time putting this book down and finished it within a couple of days. In The Five Times I Met Myself, I read about Brock Matthews and his life. His life wasn't going so good with his coffee company, his marriage, his other relationships, and most importantly with God. Then Brock starts having dreams, vivid dreams where he talks to his younger self about making changes earlier in his life. . .about "fixing" mistakes and making his life "better." Only maybe making those changes doesn't "work." Life may not all be better. The biggest change Brock needs to make, he may make too late. You will have to read this book and find out whether Brock made the "right" changes or not. I encourage you to do just that. I don't want to spoil the plot on this book a...

I have watched Giada on Food Network and enjoyed seeing her, but this is my first Giada cookbook. I want to share that up front in case you are a huge fan and have every cookbook. However, that being said, I totally enjoyed this cookbook. According to the back cover, this is Giada's most comprehensive cookbook to date. I have to say it is packed with delicious recipes and gorgeous food pictures. There is also a bunch of healthy eating tidbits, such as "Know Your Grains" where Giada tells all about different grains like quinoa, amaranth and Freekah and shares how to best use them in recipes. Her Fiesta Quinoa Salad looks delicious and is on my list to try. I also like that each recipe has symbols indicating if they are vegetarian, vegan or gluten free. Since some family members need to eat gluten free, I especially found that helpful. There is a delicious cookie recipe for chocolate amaretti cookies that is gluten free that I also want to try but I need to get a p...

Many moms want to be a money making mom. Crystal Paine tells how moms, and really anyone reading her book, could earn more money. Money Making Mom offers solid advice on how to come up with a long term plan to earn extra money, ways to go about making extra money, and how to manage any business ventures wisely. She also offers plenty of down-to-earth stories from herself and other women who started businesses and money making ventures in a way that is both encouraging and inspiring to someone looking within. . .and around. . .for ideas to better both their budget and their life. I am a middle-aged woman so some of these ideas are ones I have tried in the past. Even so, I found plenty of new ideas to give me food for thought as I consider ways to make extra money after our move as I homeschool our son. This is a practical book for any woman of any age to use who is looking for new ideas and encouragement at any stage of life for entrepreneurial ventures or ideas for working for ...