Book Review: Everyday Watercolor by Jenna Rainey

This book is full of beautiful examples and wonderful details for painting with watercolors. The author includes details on color theories and drawing techniques. She also included many time saving techniques such as what to do to prepare for next steps in painting while waiting for paint to dry. It seems she took the time to really write down exactly what she does when painting. The techniques are not as accessible to my children as I had hoped, to no fault of the book, merely my hope for the activity. I will look forward to exploring the techniques with my children as they become more capable with time. I received this book from Blogging for Books for this review.

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Fun Game Review

A Box of Awesome Things Matching Game is a fun addition to our family game collection. My kids were so excited to play the game with an assortment of interesting pictures. The selected pictures are a nice change from the usual boxed princess variety. The sturdy matching cards have also been used to play "Go Fish" as well as other made up games by my kids. The set of cards to make ones own matching design was a big hit too!!

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I received this book from Blogging for Books for this review.

Drawing Resource Book

My children and I have been exploring the Art world a lot this year. We have been completing art projects and visiting the local Art Museum weekly as a family.  An interesting resource I acquired to aid us in our exploration is called Foundations of Drawing by Al Gury.

This book contains a wealth of information on the history of art beginning in ancient times, tools, and techniques to produce ones own art.

I appreciated that the book is overflowing with examples of real art work from children's work and amateur all the way to professional and great artists. Some people may be uncomfortable with the amount of nudity portrayed in the examples, however, it is nothing different than found in Art Museums as artist strive to draw the human form.

I found great encouragement in learning that our own bodies anatomy creates an obstacle to drawing simple lines, yet people can overcome anatomy to produce wonderful results.

I also appreciated the extensive details on the many art mediums. The author includes how to store the mediums, types of paper to use the mediums on, how to prepare paper for adding the medium, as well as storage of final works.

Foundations of drawing seems to be a broad term, as the book seemed to progress to rather advanced concepts. I am not an expert on drawing so I am unable to speak to what might actually be advanced techniques to be contained in editions not aimed at "foundations".

Foundations of Drawing will be a wonderful resource through the years in our pursuit of improving our art work.

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I received this book from Blogging for Books for this review.

Review: The Underground Girls of Kabul

This book displays that life is always much more complicated than it seems. There is always another side to the story. The book brings awareness to women's rights issues. The book is an excellent choice for high school or college courses looking for a primary source document to further study gender issues.

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I received this book from Blogging for Books for this review

Book Review: Never Eat Alone

By Keith Ferrazzi

Ferrazzi provides an interesting peak into the networking aspect of the business world, with many practical tips for increasing ones chances of achieving goals through the assistance of others. I feel that the author attempts to describe the networking process as being others focused, when ultimately the core motivation of networking is to achieve ones own goals. As much as the author tries to put a positive spin on the concept, I struggle to see the "selfless" nature of networking. An exorbitant amount of text is also spent on discussing well known public figures that the author has encountered.

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I received this book from Blogging for Books for this review.

Book Review: Good God Lousy World & Me by Holly Burkhalter

I was impressed with the authors resume and intellectual abilities (and her ability to convey this in writing). It is amazing to me that this woman could work so hard on big issues and have political hurdles that permit progress from being made. These obstacles led her to have many questions  about God, ultimately leading to her developing a faith in God. It is really inspiring to read about the appropriateness of wrestling through questions with God, in contrast with a culture that promotes a view of lack of faith if one questions God. He is, after all, bigger than any of our questions. With all of the ugliness that she has personally seen in the world, the book serves as a great testament to God's power in our broken world.

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I received this book for free from Blogging for Books for this review.

Book Review: Living the Quaker Way by Philip Gulley

I was very intrigued to read this book as I had encounter a Quaker gathering place near one of my very first clinical locations in nursing school in 2004. I had wondered what they believed and had heard that Quakers gather to sit in silence during meetings.

The book answered many questions for me about the Quaker's but also caused many more questions than it answered.
I found the insights into living life with simplicity, peace, integrity, community, and equality as very good qualities. I was very confused, however, on the marketing being aimed at Protestants and bringing "God's Kingdom to Earth". I agree that this should be the goal of Christians, to live like Jesus now, not waiting to get to Heaven. However, early on in the book, Gulley described that Quaker's come from all walks of life, including athiest. I have not been able to reconcile this detail in my mind. To me "living the Quaker way" does not equate to following Jesus and bringing His kingdom to Earth, despite the similarities.

Overall an interesting read and definitely good qualities to live life in, but I would not classify this as a Christian book.

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Disclosure: I received this book for free from WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group for this review.

Book Review:Quiet by Susan Cain

This book was a phenomenal read! Being an introvert I appreciated the confirmation that my personality is not really a flaw, that it has strengths that vary from societal expectations. The book is full of great research articles and other references that bring much validity to the work. I highly recommend this read to everyone. As always I enjoy the numerous practical tips contained between the covers!
Be sure to listen to the TED talk as well!

http://www.ted.com/talks/susan_cain_the_power_of_introverts.html
http://waterbrookmultnomah.com/files/2013/01/Quiet-Reading-Group-Guide.pdf
http://waterbrookmultnomah.com/files/2013/02/Quiet-Question-and-Answer.pdf
http://www.randomhouse.com/book/22821/quiet-by-susan-cain/9780307352156
http://www.randomhouse.com/book/22821/quiet-by-susan-cain/9780307352156#excerpt
http://www.randomhouse.com/author/125586/susan-cain?sort=best_13wk_3month


"I received this book for free from WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group for this review."

Book Review: Next Generation Leader

book by: Andy Stanley

I loved this book.  Andy Stanley had a great coaching writers voice.  The book was a fast easy read with many practical applications.  He weaved personal experiences in modestly.  I really enjoyed to questions for self evaluation at the end of each section (Courage, Competence, Clarity, Coachability, and Character).  One of the most useful applications for me was defining my current job situation and then laying out the qualities of my dream job.  I feel inspired to step up and display more courage in my work because of this book.  I highly recommend it!

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I received this book for free from WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group for this review.

Life organization

Through the years I have tried many planners and calendars in an attempt to organize my life.  Nothing in the are world has ever worked for me on a long term basis.  This past August I received an IPad for my birthday.  This has revolutionized my life.  I have never been more organized.
I use a calendar for dates, to-do list for all tasks including a break down of goals and the tasks involved, Evernote for collecting information, numbers for budgeting, tracking gifts and cards, employment requirements, etc.  this is only the beginning.

What tools do you use for life organization?

Great article about birth center outcomes

Outcomes in birth centers

I am so pleased to see the completion and publication of a study on birth center outcomes.  The results are wonderful and supportive of the choice for low risk women to birth at freestanding birth centers.  I have been blessed to have given birth to both of my wonderful daughters in the presence of certified nurse midwives at a freestanding birth center.  I am so thankful that more and more people are finding value in the midwifery model of care.  I pray that the government and society as a whole will begin to realize the cost containment involved in low intervention wellness based pregnancy and childbearing care.

Book Review: God Gave Us Easter

By Lisa Tawn Bergren

After having read two other books in this series, I had high expectations for this book. I read it with my two year old daughter, who immediately asked to read it again upon completion.  The story was different than I imagined, but it was still good.  The pictures are, as always, very cute.  The text was easy to read. I appreciate the authors willingness to delve into deeper topics in a way that youg children can understand.  I highly recommend this book.

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I received this book for free from WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group for this review.

Book review: Cleaning House by Kay Wills Wyma

I recommend this book for any parent.  The authors intended audience is that of parents that desire to reeducate their children to get rid of youth entitlement in their homes.  I feel that this book is also appropriate or even better suited for new parents.  I have a 2 year old and a newborn so I read the book as if the author was an older mentor advising on how to establish work ethic and prevent youth entitlement from the start. I enjoyed the authors honesty and transparency about what worked with her children and what didn't.  I also appreciated the authors discussion of what she learned versus what her children learned in the process.

I received this book for free from WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group for this review. Thank you!

For more information follow these links.

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Book review: God Gave Us Christmas

This is an adorable book.  My husband, 2 year old daughter, and I have been reading it each day as a part of Advent activities.  My daughter loves it, and asks to hear the story repeatedly.  The pictures are cute.  The story has a great message about why we celebrate Christmas. I wish the author had used the term "gift" instead of "present" in regards to Jesus, since "present" Implies a requirement vs. a gift being from the heart.  Though this is a minor detail, not really a true problem.  I do have a little trouble reading the black text on some of the pages.  At the end of the book, white text was used on a colorful background and was much easier to read. Overall, this is a great story to share with young children.

Coloring page
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I received this book for free from WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group for this review.

Book Review: The Nutcracker

I requested this book so that I could read it to my daughter.  Since she is only two it was a slower process.  I was unexpectedly intrigued by the story, so I ended up reading ahead on my own.  I had seen the Nutcracker ballet, but the book provided many more details than the ballet.  I am excited to watch the ballet again after having read the true story.  The illustrations by Maurice Sendak  are absolutely beautiful. I look forward to reading this book over and over to my children through the coming years.  I highly recommend this book as a keepsake.


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I received this book for free from WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group for this review.

Book Review for A Season for Tending by Cindy Woodsmall

When I acquired this book, I was a little worried that it would be another typical "Christian romance" book.  I was pleasantly surprised that the book had more of a focus on other life aspects including business and family tragedy.  The book did contain the typical winding love stories, but seemed almost more of side stories to the other story lines.  It was interesting to learn, if their is any truth to the story, that some Amish people explore life outside of the Amish beliefs.  It was a nice touch that the author included some recipes and a glossary of terms. Overall this is a good book.

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I received this book for free from WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group for this review.

Book Review: Coming Apart by Charles Murray

Coming Apart by Charles Murray is an interesting collection of statistical data about Caucasian people in America from 1960 through 2010.  The author covered many topics from religion, to jobs, and income.   He also created two fictional towns based on statistics to demonstrate the changes in lower and middle class white families in America during the designated time frame.  I found the statistics and information to be quite informative.  With 2/3rds of the book being a collection of data, the authors intent in writing the book was unclear.  The third section of the book did examine the authors purpose by explains all of the reasons that the data supports his view that America should return to the same values of the founding fathers with a limited government.  One especially interesting section discussed the values of the founding fathers, revealing that the founding fathers were not as dedicated to God, as the modern Christian "right" believes.  The book overall is a nice collection of information and support for why America is declining, but lacks real and applicable solutions.

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I received this book for free from WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group for this review.

Book Review: To Heaven and Back

book by Mary C. Neal, MD

This was the first book that I have read about a personal account of dying and coming back to life.  I was not sure what to expect. The first chapter begins with a Bible verse quote that I believe to be taken out of Biblical context, but chose to focus the authors story rather than on her attempt to weave Bible verses throughout her story (as though the verses add credibility to her story).  The first several chapters were dry, including the minimal amount of background details necessary for the story.  Once the author reached the chapters involving the story of her death and resurrection and recovery the story became much more vivid and real.  The author included a number of chapters detailing tragic events for which she believes her time on Earth was not over (so she could support and prevent). I did find it amusing that the author believes herself to live an ordinary life. From my perspective the author and her family have an extraordinary life full of travel and adventure.  The book has caused me to reevaluate how I pursue (or don't) pursue God on a daily basis.  I appreciate the challenge that the author presented in writing down coincidences that occur in life to look for God's fingerprints. Overall an interesting account. I will be interested to read other similar accounts in the future.

Dr. Mary Neal on Fox News

Dr. Mary Neal's Website

Follow Dr. Mary Neal on Facebook

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I received this book for free from WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group for this review.

Book Review: The Scent of Cherry Blossoms by Cindy Woodsmall

The first three chapters of this book felt cheesy and forced.  It was very difficult to read in light of this and took me many weeks to work up the motivation to finish the book.  Once I did pick the book up again, I was pleased to discover that the next chapters fell into rhythm and were more realistic.  The author chose the interesting topic of Amish versus Mennonite lifestyles.  I enjoyed reading about the romance of Aden and Annie as it developed. I appreciated that the book stayed pure and innocent in the blossoming relationship and did not seek to explore a physical relationship between the characters.  I also enjoyed reading about the various tensions that their relationship was causing on family members and their struggle to decide whether or not their love is worth pursuing in in light that their respective religious communities view them as unequally yoked, despite both having faith in God.  Although I enjoyed the middle of the book, I was greatly disappointed by the final chapter in which Aden and Annie were given permission to pursue their relationship. The author had spent the entire book mentioning all of the potential problems that the Amish and Mennonite communities would have with Aden and Annie's relationship, however, she chose to not discuss what actually happened, but simply gave an abbreviated recap that the communities would indeed have issues with the relationship, but they would resolve in time (a description that did not match the hype played up throughout the book).  Overall this is a clean book that would be appropriate for single teenagers to read.

Here is a link for an excerpt and videos.

http://waterbrookmultnomah.com/catalog.php?work=206745

I received this book for free from WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group for this review.

Yearly Expense Sinking fund

I have recently opened an ING direct account (They are still doing a $50 bonus if you sign up). I have decided to use this account as a sinking fund for yearly expenses. This was after trying to track the fund on paper within other accounts. This did not go so well, especially when there were unexpected expenses...

How do you keep track of your yearly expenses?