Reading, Writing & Pondering

  I have enjoyed Day by Day: 100 Ways to Capture Memories & Create Your Own Story by Jess Conte for awhile now this month. This guided  journal is so pretty and enjoyable to use. Day by Day invites journal users to go at their own pace from the beginning in the How to Use This Journal section. There are four different types of activities to choose from--and they are color coded with a stripe.  Check-In offers opportunities to document your day, choose gratitude and to take care of yourself. These entries offer moments of quiet reflections and time to re-set your mind, body and heart when it is needed. Capture activities are fun prompts to take light-hearted polls, tackle trivia, and to really create your own personal time-capsule of answers from this time to look back on. Create spaces invites journalers to relax, maybe put on your favorite music, and to create something artistic. There are coloring pages, pages to make a collage and more. Reflect and Grow activi...

  Orphaned Believers: How a Generation of Christian Exiles Can Find the Way Home by Sara Billups is a mix of modern history and memoir that I enjoyed reading. Orphaned Believers is divided into three sections: The End Times, Culture Wars, and Consumerism. Billups tells some of her story throughout the book, sharing how her parents' evangelical faith and belief that the end times/rapture could happen any day affected her growing up years. She also talks about the culture throughout the past forty years as it relates to both the church and our society as well as the changes that have happened--and some changes that should have happened but haven't happened yet related to race and gender equality. I also found it interesting that she brought consumerism and the church into the book as that wasn't something I really thought about as part of everything. However, with all that she shared, and so much that I could relate to, I could see that it is.  Orphaned Believers was such a...

  My First Veggie Bible Stories is a great first Bible story book for those who enjoy VeggieTales. This book measures a little over six by seven inches in size and there are 24 pages. This book is aimed at children ages two to five but of course that can depend on the child either way. My First Veggie Bible Stories includes Bible stories from both the Old and the New Testaments. It would be good for early devotional times, be times or any other time the little ones want to read. The nice thing about the board books is that the thick pages make it easy for little ones to turn pages and look at books on their own. Each Bible story includes the Bible book and chapter where it is located in an actual Bible. Stories in this book include: Noah's Ark, David and Goliath, Queen Esther saves her people, Mary and the Birth of Jesus, The Good Samaritan, and Jesus is Alive. Each story includes VeggieTale illustrations and a brief children's condensed version of each story to give little o...

  Somebunny Love You! by Melinda Lee Rathjen is such a cute book--both in verse and in the pictures. This book would make a great gift for Easter or any other time this spring. Somebunny Loves You! is an 18-page board book measuring approximately 7 inches almost square. These thick card board pages make it so easy to the two to four year old age group the book is aimed at to turn the pages themselves. However, this adorable book is a fun one to read to little ones before bed or any time of day to remind them of how much they are loved. I don't think we can give kids too much of that. I received a copy of this book from the publisher. All opinions within this review are my own.  

  Do you remember reading The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett? I do. It was an enjoyable read as a young person and I read it again while homeschooling my child a few years ago. Now Rachel Dodge has written a devotional to go along with this book.  The Secret Garden Devotional is a small hardcover book that is beautifully written and illustrated. There are 30 days worth of readings that go along with the book. (There is also a ribbon marker to keep your page so you know where you left off.) Each Day's reading includes a Bible verse, a short reading that invites the reader to see how God could be working through the book. Then there is a personal application to relate the book, the Bible and the day's reading to your own life. A prayer concludes each day's reading.  The Secret Garden Devotional is truly lovely in many ways. I like how thoughtful the readings are. Dodge clearly puts a lot of time and effort into writing a book that Christians can relate to and also...

  I have followed Sean Dietrich on Instagram for a couple of years. I wanted to read You Are My Sunshine since it came out last fall. I am glad I started my year with this couple's adventure. In You Are My Sunshine , I followed Sean and his wife, Jamie, as they went on a big adventure--riding their bike and recumbent trike on the Great Allegheny Passage and C & O Canal Towpath Trail. The book starts out with a bit of marital history so the reader knows how the couple decided to make this journey, then goes into the journey and ends with a bit of marital history to complete the story. I enjoy Sean's humor on his social media Instagram page. While this book isn't entirely humorous, there were a few places I laughed out loud. I mostly pulled for this couple to make it through this really long bike/trike ride. There were also some serious places in You Are My Sunshine where he shared stories about people they met on the trail who face life challenges and sti...

  One of my favorite high school courses was English Literature. I really enjoyed the sonnets and we tried our hand at writing them. So when given the chance to read and review Secret of the Sonnets by Samantha Hastings I was glad to read it. It did not disappoint. Secret of the Sonnets is a mix of history, mystery and romance. Miranda Hatch is a scholar looking for some lost Shakesperean papers. She inquires about them and ends up meeting a Marquess, Lord Robert Hamilton. Lord Hamilton is in need of money after his father left the estate in debt upon his passing. Together the two set out to find out if the historical papers they are searching for exist. Secret of the Sonnets is a slow burn romance and primarily a character driven novel. I enjoyed the verses of sonnets at the beginning of each chapter. Hastings writes with rich description of the era. I especially enjoyed her sense of humor and the witticisms among the characters. If you enjoy history and a slow burn romance, th...