Reading, Writing & Pondering

The Marvelous Mud House is a beautifully illustrated and well told story of children in two cultures and how they came together to create a lesson in joy and contentment. Ben and his family live in America. Like many American children, Ben is always wanting more and better things. Then Ben and his family visit George and his Mama in Kenya. Mama George is often telling her son that God will provide and He cares for them in their small grass hut limited mainly to essentials. The Marvelous Mud House is a story of two different cultures and how change can happen with those cultures collide. The Marvelous Mud House has fun, bright illustrations. The writing is well done and the story is one that should be easy for children to relate to. It is recommended for ages 4 to 8 years, but it would make for rich discussions in families with a variety of ages. I like how there is a Parent Connection page in the back with Bible verses to read and questions to ask. This is a good book t...

Sarah Thebarge is a Yale-trained physician assistant. Well is her story of her spiritual and vocational calling to medical missions work in Togo, West Africa. Well is a different book than most books that I have read. This book is not divided into chapters. Well is Thebarge's story told pretty much cover to cover of her trip to Togo to work at the Hospital of Hope, a conservative Baptist missions-run hospital in Mango, Togo. Thebarge shares her medical challenges in treating the local people in great detail. She also shares her spiritual challenges and takeaways from the experience, along with the physical toll on her body and mind from the experience. Love Looks Around was my big takeaway from Well . I may not be able to go to a missions hospital and work in my lifetime, but I am able to look around with a love that comes from God and see what I can do to love those around me as I believe God would want me to. I am glad I read the book for the spiritual takeaways. I also...

Katie Davis Majors moved to Uganda more than ten years ago. She founded Amazima Ministries, which helps children and families in Uganda, and she adopted several girls as she sought to serve and minister to the Ugandan people. Her first book, Kisses from Katie , was a New York Times Bestseller and shares how she came to live in Uganda and adopt her girls. In her new book, Daring to Hope , Majors shares new stories from Uganda intermingled with Scripture and how God spoke to her through those experiences. She shares her heartaches and her dreams in the midst of caring for many who have needed her. This book touched my heart in so many places. I could feel her pain, her sorrows and her questions for God as she worked to help those around her with their disease and desperate circumstances. Then I felt her joy as she shared God's goodness and His presence where she least expected it. She shares so vividly that you feel like you are there with her living these experiences. While Ma...