Magic Tree House

Aria has a new love.  Magic Tree House books.  I had heard some friends talking about their kids' love for the books, so I thought we should check them out.  The first one I actually checked out for her was a set of four audio books.  She loves to listen to stories during her rest time, so it was a perfect introduction.  She was instantly hooked.  There are over 50 Magic Tree House books and in case you don't know what they are, each book involves an adventure for Jack and Annie, brother and sister who discover a magic tree house in the woods near their home in Frog Creek Pennsylvania.  The duo go all over the world and into all parts of history.  The stories are adventurous, mysterious, magical, and educational.  We've learned about penguins, polar bears, Abraham Lincoln, Leonardo da Vinci, the deep sea, dinosaurs, dingoes, China, Japan, and India. I actually really enjoy them, too.

Because I started with audio books, we didn't start from the beginning in our reading, but it didn't really matter.  I think the first books we listened to were 42-46.  Then we went to the library and decided to check out an actual book.  They are easy chapter books and can be read aloud in about an hour, at least the first few.  We have listened to or read at least 16 Magic Tree House books and if we keep going at this rate, it would not surprise me if I have read or heard them all by the end of the year.  But I am certainly not complaining.  If there was one thing I hoped Aria and I would share a love for, it was definitely reading!  And we are definitely there!

Artist Ted

One of Aria's favorite picture book series is Doctor Ted, Firefighter Ted, and Artist Ted, all by Andrea Beaty.  Ted is quite the character.  In the books he becomes a doctor, a firefighter, and an artist.  He "saves" the day with his new skills, while annoying his mom, teacher, and principal.  They are quite funny!  We can hardly go to the library without checking out one of them.

Most recently we have Artist Ted.  In the book, Ted can't find a paintbrush or paint, so he makes his own.  For paint he uses ketchup, mustard, chocolate syrup, toothpaste, and jam.

One day, as we were reading, I asked Aria if she would like to paint with those things.  What four-year-old would answer "no" to that?  Certainly not my kid!  So we got out some condiments and started a masterpiece.  We didn't have jam I was willing to use for painting, so we used some vanilla pudding with pink food coloring instead.  Otherwise, we used the same things Ted did.

Aria had a great time!  It was smelly and gooey, but oh so fun!  Unfortunately, I said we could not keep the picture forever because the mustard smelled pretty bad.  But, we do have a wonderful memory and an excellent connection to one of Aria's favorite books!

Reading Cats

I just can't get enough of listening to her read!  Especially when it is to her Daddy!

Bob Books

Aria has really enjoyed her new found ability to read.  She is still in the beginning stages and we still follow our "Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons" book, but we also have found some books she can read on her own.  They are called Bob Books for Beginning Readers and we have almost the whole first set checked out from the library.  Aria is able to sound out and read every word in the books and they are silly stories that make her laugh.  It is a win win situation!  The only difficult part is getting her to read for someone other than me.  We have finally accomplished reading to Daddy, but whenever we suggest doing it for anyone else, no way.  Aria doesn't like a big deal made about herself, which is a good thing, but it is hard to convince her to do something when she knows people will cheer or be excited for her after she does it.  I finally convinced her to let me record her reading a Bob Book.  This is not the first time she read the book, so we are in danger of some memorization, but it had been several days since she read the book.

I do try to be calm in my praising, but man it is so fun to hear her read!  I love her sense of accomplishment and the window of opportunity it opens for her to enjoy books even more.  She and I definitely have the same reader's gene, so I know we will be enjoying books together for a long time!

For the Love of Books

It has been awhile since I took this picture, but I still had to post it.  Aria doesn't take a nap every day and apparently some days even her own efforts to stay awake are thwarted.  I have actually found her this way multiple times during her rest time.  My other favorite I haven't been able to get a picture of because it is while she is still awake.  She often lays in her bed with one ankle propped up on the other knee and a book propped up on the little back rest it creates.  Sometimes she tells the stories to her stuffed animals.  Other times she looks at the books quietly.  And sometimes I can tell she is trying to read them to herself.  It is not uncommon to find 5 books in her bed once rest time is over.  Obviously she can still fall asleep when she really needs to. 

I love that we share a love for books.  We both could sit on the couch for hours and read.  I love reading to her and I love to see her learn and imagine and delight in a story.  I am excited for the day when we can read the same books and discuss them with each other like I get to do with my mom.  The love for reading has easily been passed down through three generations in this family.  However, while I have caught Papa asleep on a book and Aria asleep with a book on her lap, once I am reading, it is awfully hard for me to put it down.  Justin can attest to some 4 am Harry Potter reading sessions from me.  But I can wait for those days to come for Aria.  Right now she can get her rest when she needs it!

The Eyes of E'veria

I just finished reading the first two books of The Eyes of E'veria series and a week later I am still wishing I was reading them!  They were that good!  First of all, the author, Serena Chase, is from Iowa and is related to the longest friend I've had.  Serena is my friend's cousin's sister-in-law.  Follow that?  Anyway, I think it is just a matter of time before these books take off.  They were only just released in March and April.  I hadn't been able to put the correct reference on the books, but when I passed them on to a friend, she described it as part fairy tale, part Lord of the Rings, and part Chronicles of Narnia.  That just about sums it up.  I won't give a synopsis because I will end up giving too much away, but here is a link to Serena Chase's website and you can read hear summary. 

I really love books such as The Lord of the Rings and the Chronicles of Narnia where you are taken to a totally new fantasy world.  In this series, E'veria is the fantasy world.  The main character is instantly easy to love, a teenage girl who has no idea who she really is.  Okay, so all teen girls don't know who they really are, so maybe that was why it was easy to relate.  But, I was drawn to the mystery of her identity right away and of course there is also the whole good versus evil battle, which even though good always wins, I have to know how.  I have to say I was surprisingly drawn to the whole fairy tale with chivalry and knights and such.  Normally I don't consider myself much into "girly" things, but this story seemed so natural and not so girly.  I think dating today could take some great lessons from the chivalry of the knights in this story.  I digress.  Probably my favorite part of the book was all the references to God.  He is never mentioned specifically by name, but it is obvious who He is.  He is often referred to as The First in the book.  I thought the whole story weaved around how important it is to trust God and know He will provide.  It also emphasized how we belong to Him first. 

There are two books out right now, The Ryn and The Remedy.  In a way, the story is complete in these two books, but she leaves a window open to a promise of more books.  I'm so glad these first two books came out so close together.  I couldn't put either of them down.  I spent too many nights up late reading and reading and reading.  I read for about 3 hours straight to finish The Remedy one night because I just wanted to know the whole story.  The excitement, suspense, and flow of the story are so well done.  They easily soared into my top five favorite series.  So if you like the fantasy world type of stories, I highly recommend these books.  Just be careful, you may not be able to put them down!

Frog Wars

Aria has a Veggie Tales Treasury book with eight different stories in it.  Aria is very much the kind of kid who likes to read the same story over and over and over and over and over and over.  And over.  So I don't think we've actually read all eight of the stories in the book, yet.  Yesterday she finally picked a new one, Frog Wars.  I can't even tell you how many times I laughed out loud. 

Now, if you don't know much about Veggie Tales, they are walking, talking vegetables that tell Bible stories and give character trait lessons.  They are very humorous in their parodies.  We have a few of the movies and they are good for a chuckle, even for moms and dads.  The main characters are Bob the Tomato and Larry the Cucumber.  There is also Junior Asparagus, who happens to be the main veggie in all eight of the stories in Aria's Treasury book.

Back to Frog Wars.  As you might have guessed, Frog Wars is a parody of Star Wars and also of Moses and the Exodus from Egypt.  For starters, let me just list the characters:

Dark Visor
Cuke Sandwalker
Princess Hair-Spraya (who has cinnamon buns on her ears)
Sweet-Pea-3-Oh
Achoo Bless-U (Aria's favorite and mine, too, I think)
Mo

Every time a new character was introduced, I laughed out loud.  I mean, Achoo Bless-U, that is hilarious!  Not only are the character names funny, but the "plagues" God places on Dark Visor are:

days and days of doing the Hokey Pokey
swarms of dust bunnies
a drought of pizza and ice cream
and the invasion of frogs

Oh my.  There is also some more humor in the story that I know is related to Star Wars, but I'm not a big enough fan to know the connection for sure.  On a side note, my favorite Star Wars-type memory is when my laid back, quiet dad had to act out Darth Vader in a game we were playing with another family.  He ran into the kitchen, put a cooking pot on his head and breathed rather loudly like Darth.  One of the funniest things I've ever seen.

Besides Frog Wars being a hilarious read for Aria, Justin and me, Aria was also able to connect the Veggie Tales version to the real Bible story.  Today, I stopped reading when we got to the point where Mo was introduced and asked Aria if she knew which Bible story this was like.  She thought for a minute and said the mean king and Moses.  Spot on!  I was thrilled she could make the connection.  Immediately after reading the Veggie Tales version, I grabbed a book off our shelf that tells the story of Moses and the mean king and we compared the stories.  It was a great, unexpected lesson!  It feels great to know all our morning Bible reading is really helping Aria become very familiar with Bible stories.  And it is sure fun to laugh together as a family!

When I Grow Up

One of my new favorite children's books is The Three Trees by Elena Pasquali.  There are actually many different versions, but the link is the one we have checked out from the library.  I heard about it from a friend and I sort of copied her idea.  A little.  In the book, each tree has a dream of what it wants to become someday.  A very natural question to ask your child while reading is, "what do you want to be when you grow up?"  I thought I might have to explain the question a bit more to Aria, but she had an answer right away.

"I want to be a teacher."  A girl after her mom's heart!

"What would you like to teach?"

"I want to teach about songs and how to dance and be silly."

"So, kind of like a music teacher?"

"Yeah!!" (with enthusiasm)

Honestly, knowing my daughter and her character and personality at three, I couldn't think of a better occupation for her.  I imagine she was describing her music class teacher from our Music Together classes.  We learn songs, fun hand motions, and silly dances.  She loves the class and really admires her teacher.  I could totally see her doing that someday!  Of course, we've got a few years and I'm sure many mind changes ahead of us.  But I love seeing how Aria pictures herself in the future.  It gave me even more insight into the music-loving child I already knew.

Also, back to the book, it is incredible!  The three trees are chopped down.  One becomes the manger for Jesus, one becomes the ship Jesus was on when he told the storm to "Be still," and the last becomes the cross.  It is a fabulous book!  Check it out and read it to your kids!!!!!!!!!

Sum It Up

I recently finished Sum It Up: A Thousand and Ninety-Eight Victories, a Couple of Irrelevant Losses, and a Life in Perspective by Pat Summitt and Sally Jenkins.  Pat Summitt is the former head coach of Tennessee women's basketball and is the all-time winningest NCAA basketball coach.  She is also my favorite coach of all time and she held Aria when she was just two and half weeks old! 

I still can't believe I was standing next to the lady and she held my daughter!  (Thanks, Kiah for being so good at basketball to be recruited by her!  Thanks, mom, for being bold enough to ask her for a picture!)

In 2011, Pat Summitt was diagnosed with early-onset dementia, Alzheimer's type.  She coached one more season after her diagnosis and then stepped down.  We actually got to watch the last game she coached last year at the regional final in Des Moines. 

The book was phenomenal!  It is written in first person as she describes her whole life, from childhood to the present.  She describes her hard life growing up on a farm with three older brothers.  She describes her basketball playing days in high school, college, and the Olympics.  But most of all she describes all her seasons coaching at Tennessee.  She was hired directly out of college as the head coach at the age of 21.  Pat Summitt is largely responsible for the many breakthroughs in women's college basketball.  She is a huge part of why the game has become more popular.  It breaks my heart her career had to be cut short because of a disease for which there is no cure.

But she certainly would not want me to feel sorry for her.  She is determined to keep her mind sharp for as long as possible and she doesn't want a pity party.  In the book she is very honest and real about some pretty personal aspects of her life.  I felt like she really laid it all out there for people to get to know her.  I'm impressed with her willingness to share so much of herself with the world and the care and love that pours out of her for her former players and coaches.  Pat had a reputation for being extremely strict with a vicious glare that pierced her players, but man did she do it out of love and a desire to help the young women grow up into incredible human beings.

I thoroughly enjoyed reading the book.  It is very much a specific interest book, so if you are not interested in Tennessee women's basketball, you may not enjoy it so much.  But for me it was just perfect.  Thank you, Pat Summitt for sharing so much of yourself and for making women's basketball what it is today!  I have benefitted from it greatly!

Dark River Road

Dark River Road is a novel by Virginia Brown.  It was a Kindle Daily Deal and really caught my eye by being set in Mississippi.  I thought it was set in the Civil Rights Era (my favorite), but I misunderstood and it actually was in two parts; one in the 1980s and one in the present.  However, that didn't take away from my interest and liking of the book. 

It is the story of Chantry, a young teen at the beginning of the book, trying to navigate life as an adolescent with several strikes against him.  Chantry has a drunken step-father and lives in Mississippi, which even in 1980 was still very segregated by socio-economic class and race.  Chantry is white, but his neighbor and best friend is black.  The town Chantry lives in is dominated by a rich white man.  He pretty much controls everything in the town with his money and everyone is afraid of him, except Chantry.  There are many secrets revolving around Bert Quinton and Chantry is determined to learn the truth.  Unfortunately, sometimes the truth hurts.  Chantry is a troubled young man and has many run-ins with the law, but you can't help but root for him in this story. 

It is a long book with some language and teenage sexual promiscuity, but definitely worth the read.  It has two parts, one when Chantry is a teenager and one fourteen years later when he returns to his hometown as a grown man.  I couldn't put it down because I was never really sure what would happen next.  It also tugged at my heart strings that so much could happen to such a young kid.  It was a realistic story that I could lose myself in.  I highly recommend it!

The Books of Pellinor

For the past couple weeks I have been hooked on a four book series called The Books of Pellinor by Alison Croggon.  I like to call it an Eragon-Lord of the Rings-Harry Potter mix.  The author created her own world, Edil-Amarandh, set in medieval-type times.  There are not quite the variety of characters, as in Lord of the Rings, but there are some interesting ones.  The main characters are Bards, humans who can do magic.  There are Hulls, who are Bards on the dark side, Wers, like werewolves, Elementals, which are earth creatures like trees and mountains that take on human-like semblances, and regular humans.  There are also other non-human creatures developed by "The Nameless One" who is the dark lord of the story.

The four books are, The Naming, The Riddle, The Crow, and The Singing.  The story revolves around Maerad, a young girl found in slavery who knew nothing of her Bardic powers.  She is rescued by Cadvan and brought to a school for Bards.  They soon learn she has interesting powers and will play a large role in taking down The Nameless One, who is the dark power trying to take over the world.  Having read all four books, I don't want to give away too many details because I will probably ruin surprises at least in the first book for those who want to read them. 

I call it the Eragon-Lord of the Rings-Harry Potter mix because those are my three favorite series and I can see elements of each one in these books.  This has easily become a part of my top five series (throwing The Hunger Games in to make five).  There is the strange, fantasy world with different creatures like Eragon and LotR.  There is good versus evil and a young "chosen one" character like all three.  The main characters are teens, which fills my love of young adult lit, and is much like Eragon and Harry.  I also really enjoyed that there was not really any romance.  I'm always glad to recommend books like this to young teens to read because I know their parents won't have to worry about any star-crossed lovers.  There is a ton of adventure, surprises around every corner, mystery in wondering how the characters will ever accomplish their goals, friendship, sorrow and death, joy, and growing up.  The characters really came to life for me and I couldn't wait to read on and on. 

If you enjoyed any of the series I mentioned above, I'm sure you would enjoy this, too.  I am thankful for Amazon's Daily Deals for having The Naming for $0.99 one day, otherwise I never would have known about them.  If you have a Kindle, I can loan them to you because they are a must read!

Reading Reading Reading

I am in full summer read my life away mode and can't keep the reviews coming fast enough on my blog.  I'm going to cheat and use Amazon to give a synopsis and then tell my opinion of the books I've zoomed through recently. 

Defending Jacob by William Landay

Andy Barber has been an assistant district attorney in his suburban Massachusetts county for more than twenty years. He is respected in his community, tenacious in the courtroom, and happy at home with his wife, Laurie, and son, Jacob. But when a shocking crime shatters their New England town, Andy is blindsided by what happens next: His fourteen-year-old son is charged with the murder of a fellow student.

Every parental instinct Andy has rallies to protect his boy. Jacob insists that he is innocent, and Andy believes him. Andy must. He’s his father. But as damning facts and shocking revelations surface, as a marriage threatens to crumble and the trial intensifies, as the crisis reveals how little a father knows about his son, Andy will face a trial of his own—between loyalty and justice, between truth and allegation, between a past he’s tried to bury and a future he cannot conceive.
This was an excellent, suspenseful gut-wrenching book.  I was on the edge of my seat constantly trying to figure out the murder mystery the entire time.  And the end absolutely blew me away!  A must read if you like mysteries! 

Sarah's Key by Tatiana de Rosnay

A young girl.  A fateful key.  A woman searching for the truth…

Paris, July 1942: Sarah, a ten-year-old girl, is taken with her parents by the French police as they go door to door arresting Jewish families in the middle of the night. Desperate to protect her younger brother, Sarah locks him in a bedroom cupboard—their secret hiding place—and promises to come back for him as soon as they are released.

Sixty Years Later: Sarah’s story intertwines with that of Julia Jarmond, an American journalist investigating the roundup. In her research, Julia stumbles onto a trail of secrets that link her to Sarah, and to questions about her own future.

I have mentioned how I love historical fiction and this is no exception.  I really enjoyed how the book moved back and forth between 1942 and 2002.  The small piece of the Holocaust I had not previously heard of was also a great history lesson.  Not quite the page-turner variety, but excellent story that I would highly recommend!

Shell Games by Kirk Russell

The discovery of thousands of empty abalone shells and two murdered divers sends Lieutenant John Marquez's poaching investigation in a new and very risky direction. Former DEA agent and now head of a special operations unit of the California Department of Fish and Game, Marquez learns he himself has been targeted as the next victim. Stalking him is Kline, a vicious drug smuggler turned abalone poacher who has a vendetta against Marquez. John Marquez is supposed to protect wildlife, not solve murders, but the only way he can break the multi-million-dollar abalone-smuggling ring, as well as save his own life, is to find and stop Kline. A fast-paced crime novel set along the majestic Northern California coastline, Shell Games introduces a tough, complex, and appealing hero and a masterful new series.

The setting was a little strange to me.  I felt it a bit strange that abalone poaching would be a serious, crime-filled problem.  I didn't do any research to see if it truly is, but I guess anything is possible these days.  The mystery of the crimes kept me going in this book.  I enjoy suspense and trying to figure out whodunnit, but different setting would have got me into the book a bit more.  I don't write it off completely.  It was a good read, just nothing like the above two or the series I'm reading now.

Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen

Jacob Jankowski says: "I am ninety. Or ninety-three. One or the other." At the beginning of Water for Elephants, he is living out his days in a nursing home, hating every second of it. His life wasn't always like this, however, because Jacob ran away and joined the circus when he was twenty-one. It wasn't a romantic, carefree decision, to be sure. His parents were killed in an auto accident one week before he was to sit for his veterinary medicine exams at Cornell. He buried his parents, learned that they left him nothing because they had mortgaged everything to pay his tuition, returned to school, went to the exams, and didn't write a single word. He walked out without completing the test and wound up on a circus train. The circus he joins, in Depression-era America, is second-rate at best. With Ringling Brothers as the standard, Benzini Brothers is far down the scale and pale by comparison.

Water for Elephants is the story of Jacob's life with this circus. Sara Gruen spares no detail in chronicling the squalid, filthy, brutish circumstances in which he finds himself. The animals are mangy, underfed or fed rotten food, and abused. Jacob, once it becomes known that he has veterinary skills, is put in charge of the "menagerie" and all its ills. Uncle Al, the circus impresario, is a self-serving, venal creep who slaps people around because he can. August, the animal trainer, is a certified paranoid schizophrenic whose occasional flights into madness and brutality often have Jacob as their object. Jacob is the only person in the book who has a handle on a moral compass and as his reward he spends most of the novel beaten, broken, concussed, bleeding, swollen and hungover. He is the self-appointed Protector of the Downtrodden, and... he falls in love with Marlena, crazy August's wife. Not his best idea.

I feel like I already blogged about this one, but I can't find it, so sorry if it is a repeat.  Both of my parents recommended this book.  The description didn't have me hooked, but the story sure did.  What a life on the circus!  All the details of the big top were very interesting and the story line was fantastic, too.  I love animals and could really related to Jacob's love for them, too.  Excellent, quick read!

11/22/63 by Stephen King

Talk about a book right up my alley!  For those of you who don't know, 11/22/63 is the day President John F Kennedy was assassinated.  I am a history kind of girl and I especially enjoy historical fiction novels.  There's the first thumb up.  The other piece of this book involves time travel from the present back to the late 1950s, which fulfills my other love of fantasy/sci-fi.  Two gigantic thumbs up! 

When I first saw the book was by Stephen King, I was a little hesitant because I associate him with horror, but that is not all he writes.  And this was definitely not horror.  Sure, there were some horrible things, specifically an assassination, but not the horror genre.  It was very well written, which I thought was to be expected given King's long record of best-selling novels.  The thing I like best about a book is when I can put myself in the character's shoes and feel like I am a part of the plot.  I love it when I get so wrapped up in a book, I have to give myself a big reality check when I come up from reading it.  Even after I finished this book, I still found myself thinking about the main character and hoping things for him.  Man I love it when a story grips me like that...as long as I remember to come back to reality!  Oh, and the icing on the cake, the main character is a teacher.  Nothing like my two favorite genres and the calling of my heart all thrown into one book!

The book starts in 2011, at the end of a school year in Maine.  Jake Epping is a divorced man in his mid-thirties.  He is friends with a local diner owner who asks him to come see something.  Al shows him a time travel portal that will take him back to 1958.  Al has this grand idea to use the portal to stop JFK's assassination.  He tried to do it himself, but acquired lung cancer and wasn't going to make it from 1958 to 1963 to be able to stop it.  So, he convinces Jake to do it.  The portal always takes the person to the same moment in time in 1958.  A person can go in, change history, and come back to 2011 just two minutes later, 2011 time.  Of course, the person ages and changes during the time spent in the past.  However, every time someone enters the portal, all the history is reset.  So, if you go in once, change a few things, come back to 2011, then decide to go in again, all the things you previously changed reset. 

During Al's time in 1958-1963 he took obsessive notes about Lee Harvey Oswald (JFK's assassin) and had a plan to stop him.  His health just didn't let him do it.  So, Jake could go in using all of Al's work and hopefully carry out the deed.  The catch is, there is a lot of down time between 1958 and 1963.  There are a few other lives the men try to save and help, there is a love story (of course), and there is a lot of detail about Oswald.  I was fascinated by the whole story.  It is long and there are a few parts where I got a little bored of the Oswald details, but not enough to make me put it down.  I stayed up many nights way too late because I just had to know what would happen next.  This easily ranks very high on my list of favorite books.  Of course, it hit the perfect niche for me, but it is so well written, I'm sure people who enjoy many different types of genres would like it.  I definitely recommend it! 

Toddler Book Review

Aria really loves to read books!  She'll listen to just about any story, at least for a little bit.  But she does have her favorites and gets stuck choosing the same book over and over and over and over and over.  Don't get me wrong, it is perfectly okay to read the same book again and again.  It is part of how kids learn to read.  Hey, she can already recite most of Goodnight Moon.  However, the other day I was kind of tired of reading the same book, so I encouraged her to check out a new one with me.  We've had Duck on a Bike on our shelf since before Aria was born, but we had never read it.  It was an instant favorite! 

SPOILER ALERT ;)
One day, Duck decides he is going to ride a bike.  He hops on and rides by all the other farm animals.  The animals all say, "moo" or "meow" or whatever their noise is, but they are really thinking a variety of thoughts of jealousy to awe to concern.  Then, a bunch of kids come to the farm on bikes and go in the house.  Next comes my favorite page...no words and all the animals with peculiar looks on their faces.  Then they all hop on the bikes and have a blast. 

It is such a cute book!  Aria likes to make the different animal noises on each page and laughs at the silly comments.  I like the "what happens next" of the picture page and discussing the different emotions.  If you have a 2-4ish kiddo, check it out!  We love it and read it over and over and over and over...

You Have to Read this Book!

At least that is what my three friends, whom I meet with every week, said.  And after reading it, they were exactly right!  I could not put it down!  'It' is Redeeming Love by Francine Rivers.  The story is set in the mid-1800s when everyone was rushing west for gold or fertile land.  It is a fictional retelling of the book of Hosea in the Bible.  It is about Angel, who was sold into prostitution at age eight.  Yep, I said eight.  Absolutely breaks your heart.  She grows up not knowing any other life and thinking all men are like the ones who use her.  But then she meets Michael, a farmer, who loves God and wants to help her learn to love Him and herself, too.  It is an amazing story of God's love for all of His creation and how he works in our hearts to bring us to Him.  The book was a page-turner that I couldn't put down once I began.  It was almost 500 pages and I read it in about three days.  It is extremely well written and real.  I appreciated the characters because I believed they could be real people.  Sometimes you read stories where a lost soul meets someone who introduces them to Jesus and then everyone lives happily ever after.  Life doesn't happen that way and it doesn't happen that way in Redeeming Love, either.  I loved the historical aspect, too.  California in the 1850s was an interesting time of gold and riches then desertion and famine.  This story has all of that plus the story of Michael and Angel.  I am quite thankful for the suggestion from my friends and I highly recommend it to others!

Learning to Trust God Completely

If you are interested in learning how to trust God completely, read The Cure by John Lynch, Bruce McNicol, and Bill Thrall.  This book was recommended by our pastor at church and I recently read it with my three of my bestest buddies.  It is a pretty short book, but it has a powerful message.  When I first began reading it, I was hooked because it isn't like most non-fiction books.  There is a man telling his story on the path of life.  He comes to a 'y' in the road and can go either towards the Room of Good Intentions or to the Room of Grace.  I really like the story format of this man telling about his life and his struggles with trusting God.  The whole book isn't his story.  There are parts where it is text explaining the symbolism further, but the balance between the two is nice.

In the room of Good Intentions, people hide behind masks and declare that everything is just fine.  Do you ever have that problem?  I sure do.  I try to put on a happy face and not reveal what is really happening in my life so I can look like a model Christian.  But I don't need to do that.  I am a mess.  Christians are a mess, but we are saved by grace.  It is okay to reveal your mess.  "Our true faces are beautiful, too.  God made them exactly the way He wanted, and He longs to see His reflection."

I don't even know where to begin to describe all the things I learned from this book.  I am a work in progress when it comes to loving myself and being confident in who God made me and this book definitely gave me a boost in that area.  I am going to finish the post by sharing several quotes from the book that I really loved. 

[God says, in essence] 'What if I tell them there are no logs of past offenses, of how little they pray, or how often they've let me down?  What if I tell them they are righteous, right now?  What if I tell them I'm crazy about them?'

'What if they knew that, when they mess up, I'll never retaliate?  What if they were convinced bad circumstances aren't my way of evening the score?  What if they knew the basis of our friendship isn't how little they sin, but how much they all me to love them?'

"God created us with limitations so we can be loved by others.  Instead of pretending we're 'doing fine,' we give others an opportunity to love us.  We experience their love as we learn to tell each other we're vulnerable."

"God never tells me to get over something and just get past it.  Never.  Instead, He asks me to trust Him with every circumstance."

"He will never give you a second-best destiny.  He has waited for you since before the world began, and He will never bury His intentions for you."

“Humility. That means trusting God is with us. Trusting God is for us, absolutely and completely able, never making any mistakes in moving us forward. He is fully sovereign. He loves me more than I love myself, and absolutely nothing can damage His total and complete control! He never messes up when it comes to you and me. I trust that even the worst events this life can bring are being used by God, forged into good. Not religious, pretend good, but the best actual turn of events for me! In fact, any other series of circumstances would have been worse or He would have brought them about instead.”

Truly a great read.  Check it out.  It is worth your time and will boost your spirits!

Sashenka

I am a history lover.  Mostly, I enjoy American history, but I can get caught up in other world history, too.  I especially enjoy reading historical fiction and that is much of why I enjoyed the book, Sashenka, by Simon Montefiore.  It was actually really random that I started reading the book.  My mom had it in our Kindle library because she read it for her book club.  I was searching for a book to read on my Kindle for our recent weekend get-a-way.  The description sounded intriguing, so I started reading.  Part way through the book, I asked my mom if she liked it and she did.  She also thought I would like it, so it confirmed my choice in reading it. 

The character, Sashenka, is a teenage girl in the beginning of the book.  It is set in Russia during the fall of the Tsar.  Sashenka, against her father's wishes, becomes a Bolshevik and is all for that party.  Then the book skips ahead to the late 1930s during the reign of Stalin.  Sashenka is now married with two children and devoted to Stalin.  I didn't know much about the Russian revolutions before reading this book, so it was interesting history to learn about through the story of Sashenka.  It is a fictional story, by the way, but the historical parts are accurate.  Anyway, I did not know how ruthless Stalin was.  I always think of Hitler as the worst in terms of killing innocent people, but now Stalin ranks right up there in my mind. 

It is kind of hard to write more about the book without revealing a lot of what was surprising and made the story a page-turner for me.  I'll just say that Sashenka encounters some trouble and the book moves ahead, yet again before revealing the whole story.  The third part of the story is set in the 90s, after the fall of the USSR, and is told from the perspective of a historian looking back into Sashenka's life.

Overall, I really enjoyed the book.  There was a little too much sex and adultery for my liking, but I could get past it and enjoy the true suspense of the plot.  I definitely recommend this book if you like historical fiction or if you are interested specifically in Russia.  Even if you don't like either of those things, it was easy to get lost in Sashenka's story aside from the Russian political stuff.  It is a long one, but especially quick if you have about seven hours in the car and a husband who is happy to drive the whole way!  :)

Humilitas

Way back in September, I mentioned in a post that I had been thinking a lot about humility.  A friend of mine commented and recommended a book by John Dickson called, Humilitas.  I borrowed the book from her and proceeded to not read anything at all during the holiday seasons.  I finally picked it up in January and what an interesting read.  It definitely was very thought-provoking and fit my curiosity about humility. 

John Dickson, among other things, is a senior research fellow of the Department of Ancient History at Macquarie University in Sydney, Australia.  Throughout the book, it is obvious that he is very passionate about history.  I enjoyed teaching American History, so I know where he is coming from a little bit.  He spent a lot of time in the beginning of the book talking about the history of humility.  He spoke of how different society was in ancient times than what we are used to now.  In the ancient world, it didn't matter if a son was happy or made money, it mattered if he brought honor to the family.  Because honor and reputation was so important, humility was not high on their list of virtues.  Dickson says humility came to the forefront with Jesus.  Jesus said, "Whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be slave of all.  For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many."  Mark 10:43-45.  In these famous verses, Jesus encourages his disciples to become servants to others if they want to be considered great in the kingdom of heaven.  Being a servant and being humble in this way does not mean to let people walk all over you.  Dickson defines humility as, "the noble choice to forgo your status, deploy your resources or use your influence for the good of others before yourself."  The key in this definition is that it is a choice.  It is not someone overpowering you.  You gladly step down to help someone else up.

While I enjoyed reading the history, background, and definition of humility according to John Dickson, the parts I liked the most were near the end.  I agreed with a lot of his points about leaders needing to be humble in order to effectively lead.  I also was inspired by his chapter on how humility generates growth in your abilities.  Most of all, I liked the chapter, "Harmony: Why Humility is Better than 'Tolerance.'"  In that chapter he talked about the big issues in the world; different religions, homosexuality, abortion, etc.  He claimed we should not be tolerant of things that go against our convictions.  He encouraged readers to hold strong to their convictions, but to "treat those who hold contrary beliefs with respect and friendship."  I don't think I have ever got into an argument with people over those big controversial topics, but I have reserved my friendship and respect from people who make choices that I don't believe in.  This book made me realize I need to separate the two.  Just because I don't agree with a religion someone follows or a life choice they make, doesn't mean I can't respect the person and befriend them.  I really like a quote Dickson used from G.K. Chesterton, "An open mind is like an open mouth; its purpose is to bite on something nourishing.  Otherwise, it becomes like a sewer, accepting everything, rejecting nothing."  I think that quote says we should have our beliefs and morals.  We should have our strong convictions.  We just need to have them with a soft heart.  This also fits the saying, "If you stand for nothing, you'll fall for anything."

Finally, I am going to share the steps he gives for becoming more humble.  I know I need to follow them. 
1. We are shaped by what we love.  Love and admire humility and it will come more natural.
2.  Reflect on the lives of the humble.  Jesus...enough said.
3. Conduct thought experiments to enhance humility.  I am the kind of person who over-analyzes everything, so the idea of purposefully over-analyzing something is scary to me, but it makes sense to use forethought to figure out how to act with more humility.
4. Act humbly.  Even if I don't feel up to it, I need to force myself to do it.  Kind of like getting on the treadmill; I don't want to, but I always feel better after I do.
5. Invite criticism.  I am blessed to have a really awesome group of friends whom I meet with every week.  I know they'd be glad to provide constructive, loving criticism to help me grow.
6. Forget about being humble.  Humility is low key.  You don't often notice it in a person right away.  Dickson quotes C.S. Lewis, "If anyone would like to acquire humility, I can, I think, tell him the first step.  The first step is to realise that one is proud.  And a biggish step, too.  At least, nothing whatever can be done before it.  If you think you are not conceited, it means you are very conceited indeed."

I guess I can say I have made the first step.  I know I am proud and I'm not proud of it.  I know I need to stop talking about myself and listen more to others.  I'm really glad my friend lent me this book to help me get started down the right path!

PS-I know I shared a lot of the book on here, but it truly is a great read and I would highly recommend it!

"Motherhood in the Trenches"

Actually the title is, "Loving the Little Years: Motherhood in the Trenches" but I find the second part rather funny.  This cute 102 page book is by Rachel Jankovic, mother of FIVE children aged FIVE and under.  Holy cow.  Her goal in writing the book was to provide encouragement to other mothers because she needs it, too. 

A friend of mine passed along this quick read and it was fabulous.  It is short, funny, insightful, and thought provoking.  Parenting is hard, but well worth it and this book points out ways to deal with the hard stuff and delight in it at the same time.  While I'm not even sure two children are in our future, five seems outrageous to me.  And they are all so young.  But, this mom has some great things to say about managing her home and treating each little person like the individual they are.  There are 20 short chapters in this book and I could probably talk about the lesson in each one because I really enjoyed them all.  However, if you are a mom of a little person, I think you should read this book and I don't want to ruin it for you. 

The best lesson I took away from the book was that I am raising my daughter to release her someday.  It is hard for me to even fathom Aria as an 18-year-old headed off to college, but when she reaches that point I hope I have helped her become a strong, confident young woman who can make her own decisions and live her life according to God's will for her.  Right now I have authority over her and must discipline her to help her learn how God wants us to live.  In the book, Jankovic talks about making sure your child(ren) understands why you are disciplining in line with God's authority.  For example, God tells us to love others.  That is why we do not hit our friends (or mommy, daddy, the dog, etc.).  It is not because "Mommy said so" or because I have some power over her.  Through discipline, I should be teaching Aria how I live my life under God's authority so she can someday live completely under God's authority and not mine.

Another chapter that really hit home was "Growth Spurts."  Before reading this book I had already learned the lesson of not getting too comfortable in the "normal" with an infant/toddler because pretty soon it changes.  But this chapter put a nice perspective on it.  A lot of times I do find myself complaining, "Why won't Aria just.....sleep, eat, stop screaming, use a spoon, etc."  When really, I should be seeing it as a growth spurt.  Something in her life is changing and developing and I need to foster it.  According to Jankovic, I need to be praying about how I can help them in this new phase, how I can make it fun, and how to appreciate their new needs.  That makes a lot of sense to me.  I should embrace each stage we come to, difficult, fun, or exhausting as it may be.  As it says in the book, if I have the right attitude, most likely it will transfer over to Aria.

Those are just a couple of the big ideas I loved in this book.  I highly recommend it to all mothers of young children!  Definitely a 10 out of 10!

Another Series Ended

Recently, the last book in "The Inheritance Cycle" by Christopher Paolini came out.  This series has been almost as near and dear to my heart as Harry Potter.  Almost.  It will take one amazing series to ever top my favorite books, but "The Inheritance Cycle" certainly capped my interest and I read them just as I did Harry Potter, every second I could.  I even went to a midnight party for the coming out of the third book in the series.  For those of you who aren't familiar with the name, "The Inheritance Cycle," maybe Eragon would ring more of a bell.  Eragon was the first book in the series and he is the main character.  They made a movie of the first book, but it was not good, at least in my opinion.  And, they were dumb in their making because they used things from the second book in the movie, causing them to not be able to make a movie about book two.  So, the readers were left to just the books, but they were certainly enough.  I always think the book is better than the movie, so I don't mind.

Whenever I recommend "The Inheritance Cycle" to another reader, I always compare it to the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy, but more for teens.  (Yes, I'm a big time teen novel reader.  It comes from teaching them.)  It has elves, dwarves, and humans, but the main difference is that it has dragons and dragon riders.  It is a story of an evil king, Galbatorix, who is trying to take over all of Alagaesia.  It has a young, inexperienced boy as the "good guy" in Eragon.  Eragon is a dragon rider.  In this world, dragons live in eggs until they are found and matched with their specific rider.  Dragons only hatch for their rider, unless you use evil magic like Galbatorix.  Eragon had no knowledge of dragon riders when he came upon what he thought was a cool blue stone.  Pretty soon a dragon hatched from the stone and he became a dragon rider. 

The entire series revolves around Eragon's training to become a great Dragon Rider and his battles with Galbatorix.  When Eragon's dragon, Saphira, hatched there was only one other dragon in the world.  It belonged to Galbatorix.  Galbatorix also had two eggs he was trying to hatch for his evil followers.  So, all the good guys thought that Eragon was their only hope.  The books are full of action with many battles.  However, it is never very gruesome.  There is just a little bit of romance, but it is in the form of a crush Eragon has on an elf, Arya.  Anyone recognize that name?  Yes, I particularly like Arya in these books and in part came up with my Aria's name from her.  Anyway, the books are clean, interesting, exciting, and hard to put down. 

I was more than happy with most of the final book in the series.  I thought Paolini did a good job wrapping up the story.  I was pretty sad about one of the results, but I won't share it on here in case someone wants to read them!  As much as I couldn't put the book down for the four or five days it took me to read it, I was sad when I was done because, much like Harry Potter, there will be no more Eragon stories to read.  Some might think it is silly to get wrapped up in a book like I do, but it is my form of entertainment.  I really enjoy fantasy books and the anticipation for the next book in a series to come out.  I don't think I have any unfinished series that I'm waiting for anymore.  I guess someone is going to have to introduce me to a new one!