While I’m not one for reading specialty holiday novels, I wanted something light-hearted, quick, and fun. This definitely fit the bill. I also knew Cindy Woodsmall wouldn’t disappoint, and she didn’t! Mattie is a lovable character that I easily connected with. I was immediately engaged with the story and the characters. I probably could have read it in one sitting had the circumstances allowed. If you’re looking for a fun holiday read, I highly recommend this book!

Disclaimer: This book was given to me for free by Waterbrook/Multnomah’s Blogging for Books program, in exchange for my honest review.

That quote is at the beginning of Dug Down Deep by Joshua Harris along with other reviews.This is the most accurate description of the book. 

This book has received excellent reviews from many people I theologically respect. I wanted to like this book. I was excited to read this book. I wanted it to be an excellent intro to theology, a book to lead younger women through. But, in the end, I’m not a big fan. 

Because of Harris’s autobiographical approach, I found that I kept loosing the spot-on theology to the stories. He would try to connect a doctrine to a life event, but in the end, I just felt like it was too wordy and too flower-y. I can understand that this approach may appeal to a lot of people. However, I’m a very systematic, practical, down-to-earth person and while I love an illustrating story to make a point, I just felt like this was a little too much. 

The book was also entitled Dug Down Deep, when in reality, this is very much an introductory book to theology. Maybe instead it should have been called Digging Deeper. If you have yet to explore deeper theology within the Christian faith and you are a more artsy type of person, then this will be a good book for you. If, however, you are well grounded and know and understand words like justificaton and sanctification and would enjoy a more straight forward book, then I would suggest looking elsewhere.

Disclaimer: I received this book for free from Waterbrook/Multnomah’s Blogging for Books program in exchange for my honest review.

I was mostly disappointed in the book. The published description leads one to believe that this may be some type of frame story, however, it is sadly, not. I was surprised by the more contemporary setting and disappointed that about a 1/3 of the way through I thought, “Am I seriously reading a ghost story? Really?!” The most enjoyable section is about 200 pages in where we become privy to Susannah’s letters. This is by far the most interesting portion of the book and saved it from a lower rating.

I was also expecting a Christian fiction novel because of the publisher, but I do not feel as though it can be categorized as such. While redemption/religion entered the story, it seemed a sloppy after thought.

Disclaimer: I received this book for free from Waterbrook/Multnomah’s Blogging for Books program in exchange for my honest review.

I will be honest, I have not been impressed by any Amish novels other than Beverly Lewis. But Cindy Woodsmall makes the Amish setting come alive once again. I thoroughly enjoyed the book and will be going back and reading the Ada’s House novels that came before Harvest of Grace. I quickly fell in love with Sylvia Fisher and hoped the best for her as she began to seek a new life away from home. I applauded our hero as he returned home a recovering alcoholic and truly tried to mend fences with his grieving and hurt parents. It’s a story that is easy  to enjoy and get caught up in and I highly recommend it.

Disclaimer: I received this book for free from Waterbrook/Multnomah’s Blogging for Books program in exchange for my honest review.

http://waterbrookmultnomah.com/bloggingforbooks/reviews/ranking/11631

I love charter schools. I love what they represent… choice. I honestly do not see the negative side of charter schools.

Because I’m curious I’ve googled “charter school opposition” (or something like that). Then I googled (American Preparatory Academy scandals because 1) It was a criticism that charter schools are known for scandals and 2) I was curious about my son’s school. Just as a side note, this is the only article, and I was proud of my school in the end.)   I do not feel as though the opposition has a good argument. But, for now, I digress and move onto this particular blog post.

For whatever reason when I went to comment on the post the comments weren’t working, so I’m blogging about it.

The blog post is simply a straight forward copy and paste of an article from the Salt Lake Tribune with no commentary. Well… kind of. You see, the author links to the news article, but then copy and pastes only excerpts of the article that suits the needs of his/her agenda. At first, reading the article, I didn’t realize that the entire article was not included. She quotes a large portion and then adds in “…”. Then quotes another large portion and ends with another “…”. Now, to my understanding, when one uses the “…” to indicate that material has been removed, the removed material should not have any bearing on the meaning of the overall story. The second “…” was used correctly, however, if one digs a little farther the first “…” changes the entire outcome of the American Preparatory Academy “scandal.”

So, basically, here’s what happened:

In the portion that the author quoted it is revealed that,

“The academy pays a charter school management company $986 a year per student to run its two schools, according to the management agreement. The company is owned by sisters of the chairman of the academy’s board.”

“With about 1,140 students enrolled in American Preparatory Academy’s two schools, the for-profit management company, led by Carolyn Sharette, receives more than $1 million a year, she said. Sharette’s brother, Howard Headlee, chairs the American Preparatory board, which hired Sharette’s company.”

“Sharette, Headlee and their sister Laura Campbell opened the first school together in 2003. Sharette and Campbell worked at the school and later created the charter management company, called American Preparatory Schools Inc…”

Whoa. That sounds a little dicey. And that’s exactly where the author of the blog leaves the story and how he/she wants you to feel… a little icky.

However, if you dig a little further (ie click the link to the original story and read the whole thing, you then find out):

“Sharette said setting up a management company became necessary to allow her to assist other charter schools that were approaching her for help without using American Preparatory Academy’s resources.”

“Headlee did not attend the meeting in which the board voted to hire Sharette’s company, did not participate in discussions about it and previously declared his conflict of interest, according to minutes of the 2008 meeting in which the board voted to hire Sharette’s company.

Headlee said he has no financial interest in his sister’s company. He said the board followed competitive bidding practices required by state law but Sharette’s bid was the only one that met the needs of the school’s instruction model.

Sharette’s company employs the academy’s administrators and handles the school’s finances and academics.”

So, after reading the entire article concerning APA we find out, in fact, that while there may be questions, those questions were answered in such a way that everything is above ground. We find out that the charter management company owner started the company, not to embezzle money, but rather to protect the charter school and help others, that the brother did not participate in the hiring process of his sister’s management company, and that while the company gets $986 per student per year at least part of that money goes right back to the school in the form of salary for the administrators and is compensation for being  the school’s accountant, if you will.

What irks me is that the author of the blog left readers to believe that there were some shady dealings being done, when in actuality, those involved were really trying to do what was best for the school and avoid accusations of nepotism. The author wishes to promote the idea that charter schools are wrong because there are scandals attached to them. However, here’s the thing… public schools have scandals too.

In a comment she asks “but what’s wrong with them finding my blog where they will only end up reading a Salt Lake Tribune article about the school?”

The answer is that it’s wrong because of the excerpt posted can lead people to believe there was a scandal, when in fact those involved answered openly, honestly, and had done everything according to the law. It’s wrong because by the very fact of posting it on a blog entitled “Charter School Scandals” leads people to believe there was a scandal.

I don’t mind that the blog exists. It’s well within the American’s freedom to collect scandalous articles and have them all in one location, and could perhaps be helpful at times. However, what I do mind is people purposefully trying to distort information to benefit themselves or their agenda. It just isn’t helpful to the conversation. If this person thinks that charter schools are wrong or add to corruption within education then they should support their case with honesty and integrity.

As an end note in regards to the second school mentioned in the article, Monticello Academy, another local charter school, I think the State Charter Board was correct in “ousting” the director of the school. They did so because of parent complaints “of low teacher morale and efforts to block parental involvement in the school’s management,” lead to an investigation. To me, that’s what charter schools are all about. The parents wanted their teachers to be happier and so be able to perform their jobs better. They also wanted more involvement in the school. When they didn’t get what they wanted they went about changing things. They held power in their school. I think that’s awesome (this coming from a former teacher), and I don’t think that’s true in the public schools.

I didn’t really like this book. I was excited about reading a mystery, but there was little of that in the book. I pegged the bad guy quickly and wasn’t even surprised that there was a twist toward the end. The book dragged on. And I was ready for the story to finish long before it did. I was hoping for more, but I do not think this book did the description justice.

*Disclaimer: I received this book for free as a part of the Thomas Nelson’sBookSneeze.com program, in return for my honest review.

I have never been one who has paid much attention to eating healthy. I’m not really proud of that statement, but it’s the truth and it’s life. I have had people in my life who have gone from a “normal” diet, eating hamburgers, fries, pizza, with fruits and veggies sprinkled in to the very next day, seemingly, reveling in their asparagus and brussels sprout smoothie for breakfast gloating about how delicious it is on social media sites.

I am not that type of person.

I don’t think I have it in me to simply and completely walk away from the way I’m used to eating.

I want to eat healthier and I want my family too as well. So, I started implementing small changes. Ordering from a food co-op was the best thing I could have done. It has made me aware that there is an obvious and big difference in quality of meats. I am now pretty picky about the type of meat I choose for my family and am willing to pay the price. One also offers 9-grain bread. You have to buy 5 loaves at once, so I convinced a couple of friends to try it out with me and now I won’t go back. I hate it when we run out and miss out on ordering more. Beyond that the co-ops have given us new types of fruits and vegetables that weren’t on my radar before. I probably never would have bought cauliflower, but found out it is a favorite of my daughter. We just tried plums today and both the kids liked  it (after I forced them to try it!)

I’ve also tried to reorient how I have my kids eat. If they claim to be hungry, I will give them options of the different fruits and veggies we have. If they say they don’t want that, but want (insert unhealthy snack here) I say, “Well then, you’re not really hungry.” I want them to understand (and get into the habit) that when they’re hungry the best thing to do is grab fruits or veggies. Don’t get me wrong, they get treats, but I want snacking to be healthy.

I’ve also come to the dinner table differently. Just last night we had sloppy Joe’s with raw carrots and broccoli. (In the past I’d probably serve this with chips instead… so don’t judge me for the sloppy Joe. ) Anyhow, my daughter didn’t want to eat the sandwich but ate a ton of carrots and broccoli. So, do I force her to take some bites of the sandwich? Really? If she’s happy with the veggies and can fill up, shouldn’t that be ok? So I didn’t push the issue. Today she ate the ham and cheese from her sandwich, but not the bread. Again do I push the issue? Should I make her eat a sandwich a normal way, or allow her to do it her way and so not love carbs as much as I do? I let it go. I’m not convinced I did the right thing in either setting, but I think it’s partly because I was raised in the culture pushing “clean plate clubber” membership. But, I want my kids to learn to stop eating when they’re satisfied.

Here’s my biggest frustration with all this. I’ve made some good healthy steps in the right direction. But when I try to look out there in the internet world about the next step to take, I’m off to asparagus and brussels sprout smoothie land where I don’t know what half of the ingredients are in recipes. To top it off, the recipes have about 100 ingredients and take about an hour of your time. I’m not ready for that. I’m just happy if I can get a meal on the table. I wish there was some type of transition-to-healthy-eating website that lead you through steps of things to add into and take out of your diet progressively. Or one that catered healthy recipes to busy moms that includes freezer meals and crockpots!

I’m happy to take tips, ideas, recipes, advice, amens! and encouragement. But please don’t expect me to being making the above mentioned smoothie tomorrow morning!

Then one day your ball bounces over your fence and you walk down the street a little way to retrieve it. In your neighbor’s yard you notice a slide and you begin to become curious about it. But your ankle monitor doesn’t allow you to travel any farther. All of a sudden the next day, you’re a little put out by having to stay in your yard. You want to experience the slide. You begin to notice that you don’t have every freedom that you would like to have. The next day you decide to make a run for it. You run to your neighbor’s yard and slide down the slide. Of course the monitor goes off and a guard is at your side within minutes dragging you back to your house.

You’ve now tasted a bit of freedom and begin to wonder what life is really like outside of your house. However, you’re beaten down and feel alone and scared. Not being content with your home any longer you begin to seek help and plead to be released from house arrest. Finally, you are granted mercy. You may have complete freedom to roam about the world, but your ankle monitor will remain on your leg. That’s ok with you, it hardly weighs you down.

You leave your house and walk past your neighbor’s house. You leave your street behind and finally your neighborhood. You are exploring the wonderful freedom that has been lost on you before. You realize that there are millions of different, delicious food options. You see people dressed in clothing of all different colors and styles. As you continue to travel you experience the snow in the mountains and the beaches in the tropics. Eventually, encounter the rules you were told of. However, even the rules seem to be in place as a protection for the people. For example: Rule #3 “Don’t jump in front of a moving train.” “Really,” you think, “that leads to death, why would I want to do that anyway?”

Along the way someone trips you, but you get up again. However, it begins to happen more often. You get tripped and brought down and you begin to think of the beautiful safety and freedom of your house. It was such a beautiful little cottage, with flower boxes in the window, luxurious green grass, and the most comfortable of beds. The comfort that it always gave you. Without even realizing what you’re doing your feet lead you automatically toward home. It’s been an easy trip with no one tripping you along the way. Ah yes. Life is just so easy at home.

As you walk up you begin to notice things you never noticed before. There are bars on the windows and several large, heavy locks on the door. The grass is brown and ugly. The ball barely bounces. The food you once found delicious is disgusting and leaves a stench throughout the house. The clothes in your closet are drab. The bed is hard and lumpy. You decide this wasn’t what you remembered or want out of life, but it’s too late. The home automation system has already locked you in for the night. Feeling helpless and hopeless you decide to sleep.

Waking up with the house bathed in morning light, it no longer seems so bad and you’ve once again become accustomed to the stench and taste of the food. “It’s not so bad here,” you decide. You easily slip into your old habits and routines. Then one day, as you’re sitting out on your swing you feel the breeze and it snaps you out of your daze. You remember the humid, salty, coconut scented breeze of the beach and you suddenly can’t remember why you’ve come back and certainly not why you’ve stayed so long.

You set out to leave, but it’s hard to do so again. You’re ankle monitor, which has never bothered you before, suddenly feels like it weighs 100 lbs but you drag your leg out the door. It’s a battle moving down the street.  The further you get from home the heavier the ankle monitor feels and weighs you down. The harder it gets to move. You give up and head for home. Again you find contentment in your old habits and routines.

After a while you begin day-dreaming day in and day out of the freedom you once knew. You decide to leave again. Once again the ankle monitor weighs you down, but you’re more prepared and more determined. It slows your journey until one day you realize it feels weightless again. You begin to revel once again in your true freedom. The more time you spend away from your  house the more and more realize that your house was the true prison and now you were experiencing true freedom. That even the rules that were put in place for your own protection and allowed for far more freedom than the oppression of the barred windows, drab wardrobe and tasteless, smelly slop you ate for food.

Even with this knowledge, your house still haunts your heart and yells out to you calling you home. You even decide to go home again. But standing across the street, you once again are shocked by prison-style house that stands in front of you. You break into a run to put as much space as you can between you and it. Every so often it creeps into your thoughts. But this time you have truth on your side. When you picture your house in your mind instead of seeing flower boxes you remember the bars. Instead of believing your bed is the most comfortable of feather mattresses you remember the hard lumps. Armed with the truth of your past imprisonment you began to become adept at pushing thoughts of your house away.

The thoughts and longings come less and less often the longer you’re from home. And one day you wake up and realize it holds no draw to you. You wouldn’t go back there even if someone paid you a million dollars. You swing your feet around the bed and place them on the floor and you’re astonished to find that your ankle monitor is not snapped. The lock has somehow come undone. Without hesitation you take the last piece of your life linking you to your past prison, drive down to the beach and chuck it into the vast ocean before you. You are free. Truly, completely, and totally free. As you sit down on the beach drawing your knees to your chest, you think back on your life and are astonished that you once thought your prison was freedom and that true freedom was a prison.

He’s a precious little boy with a tender heart and a big belly laugh. He LOVES to play games. Any kind of games: Board games, computer games, group games. He has become very competitive with Lydia but has also learned to strategize so that he can win. He has his own logic…

My little five-year-old

“Why is your race car in the refrigerator?”

“Because I want it cold.”

I mean, who can argue with logic like that?

His best friend is Tyler, but also loves to play with David, James, Jonah, and Chloe. He loves their little sisters too… the babies. He loves babies and has told me on a few occasions that we need to have a baby in the house. He is a good big brother and he’d be the best big brother to a baby! He’s so gentle and loving with them.

He is a superstar at memorizing verses and catechisms. He loves to sing songs and make up new ones. He can read and is very proud of himself, and often asks what words say on signs around town, while we’re driving in the car. He is very happy and bubbly and gets excited over everything.

He loves planes, trains, and automobiles! As well as dinosaurs and Toy Story. He gives good hugs and kisses and tells us that he loves us. He loves to draw and learn to write. He especially loves his Bobby! A new love is learning to fish with daddy, which had him practicing day and night with his Buzz Lightyear fishing pole in our back yard and off the front porch!

Sitting in his window

He had his first birthday party with friends. He wanted a DINOSAUR party with a dinosaur cake. So, that’s what we did. A deal on a bounce house and snow cone machine rounded out the fun. He had the BEST day. While munching on his cake he exclaimed, “This is the BEST birthday party ever!” Which of course made my heart melt and my lips smile. At the end of the party, we all got a super duper surprise because Omi and Papa surprised us!

He is my sweet, precious, effervescent, energetic, full-of-life, caring, loving, little FIVE-year-old boy.