Reading, Writing & Pondering

  Jody Hedlund hooked me in the first Waters of Time book, Come Back to Me . It was one of my favorite reads of 2021 and I have been anxiously awaiting this one. For me, Never Leave Me did not disappoint. Ellen Creighton is in the later stages of a genetic disease and is living out what she believes are her last days at the estate of Harrison Burlington. Harrison is in a wheel chair with paralysis. As this book begins, Harrison finds the holy water that Marion has left for both him and Ellen so that they can be healed--and they are. But what happens next? Do they let people know they have been healed? Can they find more holy water to help others that need healing? Before they can figure things out, after a brief vacation, Ellen is kidnapped and forced to go back in time. I enjoyed Never Leave Me . I liked that we got to go back in time and visit Marian and her husband, William, from the first book. I enjoyed the time travel adventures as well as the mystery as they try

  I absolutely adore The Snuggle is Real by Melinda Lee Rathjen. This sweet toddler book helps teach little ones the value of empathy and helping others through the rough days. I absolutely love that. I haven't found many books for little ones to do that.  The Snuggle is Real covers some of the difficult feelings and emotions that toddlers are just learning about as well as the good ones too. All of the feelings of the day can end with bedtime snuggles whether it is loneliness (no one to play with), or struggling with not feeling good or happy because of all the fun that they have had that day, this 20-page board book gives children a glimpse in to feelings. The verses are cute and the rhythm is great. I also love the adorable illustrations. I received a copy of this book from the publisher. All opinions within this review are my own.

    Alphabet Love by Rachel Tawil Kenyon is an adorable way to teach your toddlers their ABCs. This chunky board book has 27 pages and measures about 7 by 8 inches, which is a great size for them to hold too. Alphabet Love, of course, starts with A and ends with Z, teaching all sorts of fun things for toddlers to do all day. Q is for quiet time reading a book. . .X is for eXtra kisses for you. . .With lines like these, even the difficult letters in this sweet rhyming book, teach toddlers that they can have special moments throughout the day with their friends and loved ones. There are some bedtime lines making it a great book to read before bed. V is for Valentine, making this a really cute book to give for Valentine's Day too. I received a copy of this book from the publisher. All opinions within this review are my own.

    Revived and Renovated: Real Life Conversations on the intersection of Home, Faith and Everything in Between by Victoria Duerstock and Paige Rien uses home renovation words to describe work both in our houses and in our personal faith lives. Revived and Renovated is written as a conversation between Victoria and Paige. At first it took a few pages to get in to the rhythm of their conversation but once I did, it was easy to understand and follow. These two women both work with houses in real life. They are also are Christian women who can easily relate all of the words used to make houses better and apply them to their Christian lives as they seek to revive, renovate, restore , repurpose and recover with some other re words in between.  I thought Paige and Victoria did a good job of both sharing the information related to making our houses and our home life better and making our spiritual lives better. Both women come from different spiritual backgrounds so most readers should be a

  Are you looking for a fun Christmas book for this year? Once Upon a Christmas by Dawn Young is a lot of fun to read with the family. There are all of your favorite "Once upon a time" characters like Goldilocks, the three bears, Rapunzel, and even Jack Frost. Toss in a few dragons and some unicorns and you've got the makings of a fun story with a lot of silly twist and turns. With all of the silliness going on, will Santa be able to get his sleigh out to deliver all the children amidst a massive winter storm? You'll have to read this one to find out. Once Upon a Christmas is a fun read with young children and is aimed at early elementary children. It is fairly large book, about 10 inches by 12 inches with slick, brightly colored illustrations.   I received a copy of this book from the publisher. All opinions within this review are my own.

  The Story of the Wise Men by Patricia A. Pingry is a wonderful board book to share with pre-school age children about the Christmas story. I found this book to tell the Christmas story from the Bible in a way that young children can understand it and yet it retains the accuracy from the Bible. I was impressed with this book, both for the quality of the story-telling and for the lovely illustrations. This 24 page book has brightly colored eye-catching illustrations. It is also a good size, about 6 inches square for young children to hold in their hands and turn the thick pages themselves.The Story of the Wise Men would be a good book to read every year with the young children in your family or at church activities. I received a copy of this book from the publisher. All opinions within this review are my own.

I previously read and reviewed Love Heals by Becca Stevens so I was already familiar with this author so happy to read her latest book. In Practically Divine, she invites readers to see the divine in everyday life. She shares how love can heal and how seeing the divine in our lives can help us to better connect and improve our lives and the lives around us, even in the midst of a pandemic, disagreements and strife. It was an uplifting book overall but there are places where she shares some stories about the abuse. While I didn’t find it triggering, some people might. One of the aspects that I like about this book is how down-to-earth and real the author is. There is, however, a few minor cuss words. The overall tone of the book is encouraging and uplifting in the midst of her realness. I received a copy of this book from Harper Horizon through TLC Tours. All opinions within this review are my own.

  The Little Man Whose Heart Grew Big by Steph Williams is the story of Zacchaeus from the Bible. This little book, measuring about 6 1/2 inches square, is paperback and a fun retelling of Zacchaeus so young ones can understand and relate to the story. I liked how the word little was in smaller type in the story too. Then at the back of the book, there is a short section for grown-ups to help them help little ones learn and there is the NIV version of the story from Luke to read for the original Bible version. The illustrations are cute and I especially love how the artist captures facial expressions. Both the story and the illustrations work together to make a wonderful retelling of Zacchaeus in The Little Man Whose Heart Grew Big .   I received a copy of this book from the publisher. All opinions within this review are my own.

  The Dad Who Never Gave Up by Steph Williams is a wonderful retelling of the prodigal son story. The Dad Who Never Gave Up is told in such a good way that young children today can clearly understand the story. I like that the back of the book has a short section to help grown-ups to help the children better understand the story. I also like that the complete text from the New International Version of the story from Luke is included at the end of the book so you can read the original Bible story and talk about it all together. This book is about 6 1/2 inches square and is paperback so would make a great Sunday School gift from the teacher and it would also be great to put in the book bag to read away from home.  I received a copy of this book from the publisher. All opinions within this review are my own.

  Seek and Find New Testament Bible Stories by Sarah Parker and Andre Parker is a large 8 1/2 by 10 inch book with thick sturdy pages for little ones to look and learn. There are several favorite New Testament Bible stories featured including the birth of Jesus, Zacchaeus Meets Jesus and A Paralyzed Man is Healed. Each of these stories also has a picture with more than 50 things to find on each spread. There are about 450 things to find throughout the book. This could be a fun way to learn for many children. They not only learn the stories but they also learn to find things on the pages. The illustrations are fun and the items to find are clear and easy to understand. I highly recommend Seek and Find New Testament Bible Stories for preschool children but it is also fun for older kids and adults who enjoy seek and find style books. I received a copy of this book from the publisher. All opinions within this review are my own.

  Prepare Him Room by Susie Larson is a beautiful devotional book for Advent. I really enjoyed the readings and the cover makes this beautiful book a lovely gift too. Prepare Him Room contains 24 readings centered around the birth of Christ. In the introduction, Larson also shares that she based the fasts at the end of each reading on Dr. Alicia Britt Chole's book, 40 Days of Decrease, in which she invites the reader to a different fast each day. She recommends that book for the Lenton season but she draws on it to help the reader draw closer to God through the Christmas season. I liked that idea. Each day starts with a Scripture reading, then goes into a devotional reading that offers some good substance for those who wish to reflect on the meaning of the season. At the end of each reading, there is a prayer called Prepare Him Room followed by a brief section called Look Up with something to fast each day. I found this book to be helpful in drawing me in to the true meaning of th

  3-Minute Devotions to Laugh and Reflect by Christopher D. Hudson and Stan Campbell includes 90 one-page devotional readings with a comic and a Scripture verse.  3-Minute Devotions to Laugh and Reflect sounds like a light-hearted book. I love to laugh and I enjoy reading comics so I thought this book might be a good one for me. It has been a challenging year in many ways and I thought I could use something light. However, I didn't find much to make me chuckle in this book. Humor is subjective so maybe you will. However, I did find the daily readings to offer some good thoughts on living the Christian life. While the comic may be light, in several instances I found the topic to be more serious for the devotional--gossip, pastor appreciation, church attendance, spiritual growth, and many more. I expected that the readings would be lighter like the comics and I didn't find that. I would still recommend 3-Minute Devotions to Laugh and Reflect because I thought the short readings

  Dear Hartley by Jedediah Bila is a compilation of heartfelt letters from a mother to her son. There are a total of 52 letters in this nicely bound hardcover book that touch on a variety of topics from character and friendship to healthy eating, studying in school and fitness.  Each letter in Dear Hartley is written for her son, Hartley, when he gets older. She shares her heart with some of her life experiences with both things she is proud of and things she would do differently if she could. She is also open and honest about mistakes she has made and her wishes for her son. She shares how she hopes his generation can make some positive changes in this world. The letters are of various length, depending on the topic.  I think some of the letters in Dear Hartley are more personal than others. Through part of them, I felt like she was writing to her son and in others, I did feel like she was writing to the reader so they were more of an essay to me than a letter. Still, I like memoir