Halloween Safety Tips

These safety tips come to you from http://www.toi-health.com/blog/post/2013/10/30/Halloween-Safety.aspx

Free for Kindle: The Hope of Glory by Nancy Parker Brummett

Illumination Book Awards Winner

The Hope of Glory is a devotional guide with 57 lessons for older adults and those leading weekly devotionals in retirement homes, assisted living residences, skilled nursing facilities, senior centers or Sunday school classes.

These time-tested devotions will restore a sense of purpose and instill the Gospel message of hope in you or the older adults you know and love—as they remind us all of who we are in God's eyes: not old and useless, but men and women created in His image who still have a life to live, a story to tell, and a future of eternal glory!

For individual or group use.

File Size: 635 KB
Print Length: 294 pages
Simultaneous Device Usage: Unlimited
Publisher: Lighthouse Publishing of the Carolinas (July 14, 2016)
Publication Date: July 14, 2016
Sold by: Amazon Digital Services LLC
Language: English
ASIN: B01II73DBE

Purchase here

Free for Kindle: Cassia by Susan F. Craft

You know with our annual trips to the Outer Banks that fiction set there is going to catch my eye.

Illumination Book Awards Winner

Her family's voyage from South Carolina turns ugly when the ship's captain maroons Lilyan and her family on an island along North Carolina's Outer Banks. There, the family is captured by pirates and taken to a secret island hideout where they witness a mock trial and a hanging.

Forced to rebuff the advances of the murderous pirate, Captain Galeo (The Shark), and fearful that her children will be auctioned off to the highest bidder, Lilyan forges an escape plan. Meanwhile, her husband, Nicholas, calls upon his skills as a captain in Brigadier General Francis Marion's militia to devise a battle plan to save his family.

Will the young couple's faith be enough to see them through? Or will their declaration to rescue Cassia from the pirates prove too high a price?

File Size: 3300 KB
Print Length: 260 pages
Simultaneous Device Usage: Unlimited
Publisher: Heritage Beacon Fiction, an imprint of Lighthouse Publishing of the Carolinas (September 14, 2015)
Publication Date: September 14, 2015
Sold by: Amazon Digital Services LLC
Language: English
ASIN: B012Q8WS80

Purchase here

Book Spotlight: The Christian Chick's Guide to Surviving Divorce by Suzanne Reeves

The Christian Chick's Guide to Surviving Divorce is what your girlfriend would tell you, preferably over coffee and crepes, if she knew what to say. With a good dose of humor, it's full of life-giving encouragement as well as practical guidance. A book full of hope - from someone who has been there.

"I walked into my local Christian bookstore with my head down, hoping no one would see the tears streaming down my face," writes the author. "I didn't want the usual version of surviving divorce have a glass of wine, slash his tires, head to Jamaica, and party like you did in college. I needed Godly advice from a woman who had walked in my shoes and lived to tell about it."
Divorced "does not" have to be your label. You can heal and come out on the other side in triumph.

Every year, 900,000 women of faith go through a divorce. This book is full of the wisdom and encouragement that Suzanne received, as well as the lessons she learned while the Lord was exchanging His beauty for her ashes. There is life on the other side. A life full of hope, healing, and triumph.

Paperback: 179 pages
Publisher: Lighthouse Publishing of the Carolinas (March 22, 2016)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1938499743
ISBN-13: 978-1938499746

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Book Spotlight Best Season Yet by Rebekah Trittipoe

It's the first practice. Your back against the cold, dented locker, you take your spot on the floor, waiting. A posse of other hopefuls surrounds you. A tense excitement is palpable. Or maybe you're the coach, and you feel that same electricity. What will the season bring? you ponder. How will these kids perform? How can I lead them and help them find their potential? Inhaling deeply, you scan the faces and begin.

There is nothing like a new athletic season, full of promise for both coach and athlete. Goals are set, commitments made. But as the season progresses, it's all too easy to lose focus in the fray.

Best Season Yet: 12 Weeks to Train is a book (with integrated journal) that guides the coach and team to embrace their God-given talents, discover a purpose beyond winning and losing, and spur each other to that place where fear and dreams collide. For a dozen weeks, the entire team will visit themes such as commitment, submission, goal setting, pain and suffering, and pursuing excellence. It offers an opportunity to discuss and journal practical ways to set the principles in motion. The format of five easy-to-read stories is ideal for use in a Monday-through-Friday school setting. Best Season Yet is a resource for the coach, team member, or individual athlete who desires to experience an exceptional season.

Paperback: 180 pages
Publisher: Lighthouse Publishing of the Carolinas; 1st edition (February 28, 2013)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1938499557
ISBN-13: 978-1938499555

Amazon
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Book Review: Raising A Young Modern-Day Princess by Doreen Hanna and Karen Whiting

A book that is both empowering and inspiring, Raising A Young Modern-Day Princess: Growing the Fruit of the Spirit in Your Little Girl is the perfect guide for raising a godly young woman.

Co-authors Doreen Hanna and Karen Whiting share their insights on how parents can instill and nurture virtuous traits in young girls to prepare them for the teenage years. Each chapter is filled with personal stories, Scripture references, activities, and ideas based upon the theme of that chapter.

It was wise to start off the first chapter talking about different personalities. Understanding a child's personality goes a long way in helping a parent know how to interact with that child and gets them to thinking how best to teach them.

I also like how dads were not left behind. There are dad and daughter activities and each chapter winds down with "Dad's Toolbox," which allows the reader to discover "insights on using the appropriate tool to build purpose, value, and strength" in their little girl's life.

This book is an excellent resource to encourage you as the parent of a young girl. I've had two, so I know it's not always sugar and spice and everything nice. I'm only sad that my girls are way beyond this stage now and I won't be able to put this great book into action. I certainly wish Raising A Young Modern-Day Princess was around back then.

Highly recommended!

Pages: 228
Publisher: Focus on the Family
ISBN-10: 1589978668
ISBN-13: 978-1589978669

I received a copy of this book from the author. This review contains my honest opinions, which I have not been compensated for in any way. 

Book Review: Raising A Young Modern-Day Princess by Doreen Hanna and Karen Whiting

A book that is both empowering and inspiring, Raising A Young Modern-Day Princess: Growing the Fruit of the Spirit in Your Little Girl is the perfect guide for raising a godly young woman.

Co-authors Doreen Hanna and Karen Whiting share their insights on how parents can instill and nurture virtuous traits in young girls to prepare them for the teenage years. Each chapter is filled with personal stories, Scripture references, activities, and ideas based upon the theme of that chapter.

It was wise to start off the first chapter talking about different personalities. Understanding a child's personality goes a long way in helping a parent know how to interact with that child and gets them to thinking how best to teach them.

I also like how dads were not left behind. There are dad and daughter activities and each chapter winds down with "Dad's Toolbox," which allows the reader to discover "insights on using the appropriate tool to build purpose, value, and strength" in their little girl's life.

This book is an excellent resource to encourage you as the parent of a young girl. I've had two, so I know it's not always sugar and spice and everything nice. I'm only sad that my girls are way beyond this stage now and I won't be able to put this great book into action. I certainly wish Raising A Young Modern-Day Princess was around back then.

Highly recommended!

Pages: 228
Publisher: Focus on the Family
ISBN-10: 1589978668
ISBN-13: 978-1589978669

I received a copy of this book from the author. This review contains my honest opinions, which I have not been compensated for in any way. 

Mailbox Monday - Oct 3

Mailbox Monday is a meme started by Marcia of To Be Continued. Mailbox Monday is the gathering place for readers to share the books that came in their mailbox during the last week. It now has a permanent home at the Mailbox Monday blog.

Warning: Mailbox Monday can lead to envy, toppling TBR piles, and humongous wish lists.

Here we are again. Hope you all had a nice weekend. Ours was busy.

My youngest niece got married this weekend. She was a lovely bride and we all had a fun time. Food was great.

It was also a soccer weekend. The Lil' Princess was waiting for play to start in that photo. She's having a good year, but her team isn't winning any games. At least she is enjoying herself. 

As far as books go, all the books that arrived were not requested, but they are all books I would like to read.

This first one is from a series I've read in the past. Haven't read the last few, but they are in my pile.

The terrorist organization ISIS is after a deadly toxin that could be the ultimate weapon of mass destruction. The same toxin holds the potential to eradicate cancer. There is a frantic race to see who can get to it first, even as Caitlin Strong begins to assemble the disparate pieces of a deadly puzzle.

At the center of that puzzle is an Indian reservation where a vengeful tycoon is mining the toxin, disguising his effort as an oil-drilling operation. This is the same reservation where Caitlin’s great-great-grandfather, also a Texas Ranger, once waged a similar battle against the forces of John D. Rockefeller.

In her highest-stakes adventure yet, Caitlin Strong faces off against a host of adversaries that just might include the beautiful Comanche girl with whom the son of her ex-outlaw boyfriend Cort Wesley Masters has fallen in love, along with a mythic monster culled from Native American folklore that the tribe believes has risen to protect its land. The lives of those Caitlin loves most are threatened by the villains she’s pursuing; her own moral code is challenged. The fate of both the country and the state she loves are dangling on the precipice of a strong cold death.

For as long as Lottie can remember, the only people who seem to care about her have been her best friend, Eliot, and the mysterious letter-writer who sends her birthday gifts. But now strange things and people are arriving on the island Lottie calls home, and Eliot's getting sicker, with a disease the doctors have given up trying to cure. Lottie doesn't know what she can possibly do—until a door opens in the apple tree. Down through the roots is another world—a world of treacherous, beautiful, impossible magic that just might lead to a cure for Eliot.

Even after escaping from the Southerly Kingdom, Lottie Fiske and her best friend Eliot have returned to the magical Albion Isle, despite the fact that she is a wanted criminal there, because she is seeking answers about her abilities, and her parents--but war is threatening Limn, and the answers she needs seem to lie in the Northerly Kingdom, along a road full of dangers.

Jane Austen's family is eager to secure her future by marrying her off. But Jane is much more interested in writing her novels, and finds every suitor lacking—until the mysterious Mr. Lefroy arrives. Could he be the one? Before Jane can find out, she must solve a murder, clear her family's name, and face a decision that might cost her true love.

That's it for now. I'll be away at a conference part of the week, so not sure how much blogging I'll do. Make it a great one.

Book Review: Joshua's Mission by Vannetta Chapman

If you're looking for a book about family, love, overcoming hardships, forgiveness and grace, you need to pick up a copy of Joshua's Mission by Vannetta Chapman.

Joshua Kline travels from the family farm in Oklahoma to an Englisch town on the gulf coast of Texas that has been ravaged by Hurricane Orion. He brings his younger brother with him. Perhaps the change will keep Alton out of trouble.

Two young women from the Amish community of Cody's Creek will be joining them, the bishop's daughter, Becca Troyer, and her friend Sarah.

This mission trip just might teach all of them about the gifts of love and friendship and the powerful grace of God.

This is the second book in Chapman's Plain and Simple Miracles series. I reviewed the first book, Anna's Healing, here. Joshua's Mission is a stand alone novel, so you don't have to read the first book. I feel comfortable, however, recommending both of them highly.

What I truly enjoyed about this novel is how Chapman stayed focused on the purpose of the entire series, yet delivered a total fresh plot with a story told in a very different way. Anna's Healing focused on a family impacted by tragedy and how a miracle affects their lives. In Joshua's Mission, the miracle unfolds gently like a new flower unfurling its petals. The miracle is in how the mission trip changes these four young people instead of being a healing miracle or something that draws attention.

While the story starts in Cody's Creek, the majority of it takes place in Texas, making readers of the series eager to return to this Plain community in Oklahoma for the third novel, which was released in September. This also allowed for many new characters to be introduced.

There is so much to love in this novel. If I had time I would definitely read it again. This book is a keeper.

Series: Plain and Simple Miracles (Book 2)
Paperback: 352 pages
Publisher: Harvest House Publishers (February 1, 2016)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0736956050
ISBN-13: 978-0736956055

I received a free copy of this book from the author. This review contains my honest opinions, which I have not been compensated for in any way.