Hinds’ Feet on High Places: An Engaging Visual Journey

Hinds’ Feet on High Places by Hannah Hurnard is a classic story. You join Much-Afraid on her journey to the High Places. It’s an engaging picture of our faith walk — the struggle, the joy, the sorrow, the suffering, the lessons, and the love — as we also journey to the Kingdom of Love and beyond.

I love this book and have read it several times, even aloud to my kids. However, this special edition illustrated by Jill DeHaan and Rachel McNaughton is so wonderfully amazing. The watercolor paintings and photos add so much vibrance and beauty. There is also space for journalling and verses drawn and designed to color, which encourage

 

you to really personalize the journey. It’s a work on art of a work of art in literature!

I would recommend Hinds’ Feet on High Places just for the story, but this edition is so much more than I was expecting. I want one, I plan to give copies as gifts and I highly recommend that you grab one or more copies too!

**Disclosure: Tyndale House Publishers has provided me with a complimentary copy of this book for my honest review.

The Read-Aloud Family by Sarah Mackenzie

I have been a reading to my kids since they were little, because I love books myself! After

https://readaloudrevival.com/raf/

connecting with Sarah Mackenzie in her Read-Aloud Revival community a few years ago, I had a clearer picture of why reading aloud is important and what to read. However, her new book covers deeper the why-to-read-aloud and the how-to-make-it-work. It also includes read-aloud book suggestions for different age groups, which are great book lists.

I have book darts all through this book, because as the subtitle states I want to be “making meaningful and lasting connections with [my] kids”.  I will keep the rest of this review brief, because the book darts are mostly just reminders for me. For example the reminder of the importance of reading aloud at ALL ages, EVEN when our days are busy. I need to actually “steal” time from other areas to make it a priority in my family. I want to build memories and connections with my children through stories now, even if it’s only ten minutes each day. During these times, I want the kids to be inspired by heroes, walk in other’s shoes and have compassion, and learn to think. Also, I simply want them to love stories and dive into books themselves for the rest of their lives! Those are just a few of the reminders I needed from The Read-Aloud Family.

**Disclosure: I received a copy of this book from Read-Aloud Revival in exchange for a fair and honest review.

Gratitude: A Prayer and Praise Coloring Journal

A great season for this Gratitude: A Prayer and Praise Coloring Journal!

Thoughtful prayers to guide and inspire,

space to write your own,

a little color to make the journal simply pretty on it’s own,

some creative art to color and personalize this journal,

beautiful and durable in a hardcover.

This would also be a wonderful gift idea for older girls, teens and ladies who enjoy journaling and coloring. The coloring isn’t overly complex, but very sweet designs and word art.

I wanted to share one of my favorite prayers from the journal, which was harder than I expected… so many good choices!

The Purpose of Life is a Life of Purpose

Lord,

I’m so thankful for this life! Today I’m going to enjoy reminders of the abundance you offer. You’re my joy in the mundaneness of the everyday, my hope during tough times, my stability in a mixed-up world. When my patience wears thin, you infuse me with your strength. I praise you for every opportunity for your Spirit to work in mine. Thank you for salvation, Lord.

The thief’s purpose is to steal and kill and destroy. My purpose is to give them a rich and satisfying life. —John 10:10

Here’s some more other links….

·         Tyndale’s Inspire Creativity board on Pinterest has downloadable samplers and sharable coloring pages from our coloring and Bible journaling line, the Living Expressions Collection!

·         Check out www.livingexpressionscollection.com for the latest news and information on our coloring and journaling products.

**Disclosure: I received a copy of this book from Tyndale House Publishers in exchange for a fair and honest review.

Saving My Assassin: A Memoir by Virginia Prodan

I should be dead. 

Buried in an unmarked grave in Romania.

Obviously, I am not.

God had other plans.

—Virginia Prodan

That quote from Saving My Assassin really grabs your attention as we journey through
Virginia’s memoir during Nicolae Ceausescu’s savage communist regime. We first step into her childhood in Romania, which is heartbreaking and lonely, yet she doesn’t give up but becomes inspired through a a paper she wrote about her hero Mircea cel Batran.

“What would it be like to live in a society where people told and valued the truth? What would it be like to experience true freedom?”

Virginia determined to coming an attorney and pursue truth and freedom.

After she became an attorney, she became disillusioned that truth might not exist anymore. Later Virginia was meeting with a client, Nestor, who was trying to get his parents home and land back from the Communist Romanian government. It was a slow, expensive, frustrating process yet he was continually contented and joyful. She expressed a desire to have what he had and he invited her to his church.

“I want Nestor’s peace, his optimistic outlook on life, his sense of confidence even in the worst of circumstances. If all of that comes from his church, then I will go and visit.”

Virginia Prodan became a Christian, giving Jesus her life, and then requested started coming in to defend in court churches and Christians who were being persecuted. Ceausescu was a shrewd and untrustworthy leader—trying to gain America’s favor by promising to respect human and religious rights, yet building his own brutal and oppressive regime where people where fired, jailed or ended up missing because of their faith.

As Virginia began defending churches’ rights to repair their buildings and people’s rights to move Bibles from one church to another for their Vacation Bible Study and more, she became a target to hostility and intimidation. She knew God had called her to this time for this purpose, but fear began to overwhelm her.

“I understand the outer battle. I can face adversaries in the courtroom and even the Securitate [Communist government agents]. But I cannot win this inner battle between my own heart and mind. Lord, you have to win this victory for me. Take away my fear and replace it with a peace that surpasses all understanding. I need your peace, Lord. I need your victory.”

___Well, my summary to this memoir has taken over this review, but I can’t keep going! There is so much more I want to share but I need to stop so you can read the book!!

Virginia Prodan’s story, her trust in God, and commitment to fellow Christians is amazing and inspiring, and I would recommend it to everyone!!

To conclude, I want to share a bit more from Virginia…

“*Freedom is precious to those who don’t have it.

*If the truth lives within me, lies cannot overpower me.

*If my soul is free, no power on earth can enslave me.

*If God gives me the victory, defeat is impossible.

…My desire is that through reading my book and seeing how God used me to accomplish amazing things, you will realize God has a grand plan to use you as well, and I pray you will not put off doing what God is calling you to do.”

Disclosure: Tyndale House Publishers has provided me with a complimentary copy of this book for my honest review.

God’s Comic DVD

The family and I were looking forward to a fun evening of laughter with Brad Stine’s comedy dvd called God’s Comic. I had never seen him before, but my husband had at a Promise Keepers event. On the DVD, Stine had good personal interaction with the audience, even picking on a few in the front row. (Lesson learned: When going to see a comedian, never sit on the front row!) His topics included God, life, marriage, death, technology,…. and even gravity.

I liked Stine’s view of laughter: “Feels good to laugh,” “Laughter is a gift from God,” and “We laugh to experience joy.” My husband and I both agreed that he was pretty funny. However, sometimes he would yell and it was more of a put off because it didn’t fit in. Our kids thought he was “hilarious” and liked his silly faces. Those were a bit annoying to me though. As usual with comedians, there were some generalizations and not everything got everyone laughing, but overall he was clean and humorous…but not our favorite.

**Disclosure: I received a free copy of this DVD from FishFlix.com in exchange for an honest review.

(By the way, you can get a $5 coupon to FishFlix.com for Christian movies if you join their email list. Join by visiting www.fishflix.com/5gift or texting 5-GIFT for 44222.)

Miriam by Mesu Andrews

What an fascinating, intriguing historical fiction book! Not only do we dive into more of the culture and political climate in this period of the Israelites’ history, but we also feel the possible emotions and relationships surrounding Miriam, a familiar and yet lesser know historical woman.

Miriam introduced herself as “old but of use. I am a slave, a midwife, a healer with herbs. This is what I do, but El Shaddai makes me who I am.” She is called a prophetess, but she sees herself as a messenger of El Shaddai who speaks to her in dreams and visions. He has been her whole world, He satisfies her heart, she seeks He’s wisdom as she treats the injured slaves and talks with those around her…

As we enter into Miriam’s world, the Israelites have been slaves for 400 years. That’s all they know…

Now Moses, her brother and former Egyptain prince, comes back with news from Yahweh, El Shaddai’s newly revealed name, that freedom is coming for the Israelites. However, the freedom won’t come immediately or without pain. Miriam feels left out and unneeded. Will she learn to trust this El Shaddai and His gifts of love or give in to anger and bitterness?

“Based only on the first three plagues—before the distinction between Egypt and Goshen was made, when there was no clean water, frogs were hopping, gnats were biting—what would you have thought of Yahweh’s nature? Would you have trusted Him, or would you have feared such a God? Only after His fierce majesty was displayed did Yahweh show His great love the the Israelites. That’s what we find in the Bible we hold in our hands today. Only after we see God’ fierce holiness through the Old Testament Law can we fully appreciate Jesus’s great love through grace in the New Testament.

It is my prayer that you, dear reader, will come to know Yahweh—intimately, personally, and fully—and become as Miriam was, captivated by a God you can’t understand that will do things you know are impossible.” —from the Author’s Note

Miriam is the second book in Mesu Andrews’s A Treasures of the Nile Novels. The first was The Pharaoh’s Daughter. I haven’t read it and didn’t feel like I was missing anything. However, I’m sure you will meet some of the historical characters, including Miriam in that first book. If it’s as well written as this one, I would recommend both!

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**Disclosure: I received a free copy of Miriam from Blogging for Books in exchange for an honest review. THEN the book was stolen! Yes, there is a real life “book thief” that thought this book looked good enough to take! I think that’s a huge recommendation in itself!! I contacted Blogging for Books, and they kindly sent me another copy to finish reading! Thank you, Blogging for Books 🙂

Why is Great-Grandma So Sad? by Susan Heagy

I have been in WWII so often in my reading recently — from our history for homeschool, books I’m reviewing, a book for book club, and now a book meant for children. The subtitle is “Discovering the Holocaust Through the Eyes of a Child.” I planned to read this with my kids, but kept pushing it off. I wasn’t sure why. Maybe because I get tired of fighting my tears…and usually losing. However, there are events that are worth the tears.

As I pulled the book out to read last week, my oldest daughter immediately brings me the tissues! (They know me so well!) And yes, as I read I fought the tears and still lost, but we will NOT forget.

Susan Heagy shares in the preface that these are fictional characters but the experiences are true. True stories from Holocaust Survivors are combined to bring us Why is Great-Grandma So Sad?. Also, included in the back of the book are some short biographies of the survivors who’s stories are a part of this book.

Sarah, a 7 year old girl, notices that her grandma is very sad one day, so she asks her mom and then the action unfolds. The grandma’s story is told clear with simple illustrations. It isn’t an easy read, because of the subject, but it is a book that I would consider well written for and appropriate for kids. Working through it together as a family was a perfect way to handle the book and the questions that came with it. I also think it would be a great resource to use in any curriculum whatever the educational setting.

“With the revelation of history came the gift, and the responsibility for Sarah to be the new Survivor. She would remember her Great-Grandma’s experience, and not forget it—not ever. The gifts of life, hope, and determination were now passed on to the next generation.”

**Disclosure: I received a complimentary copy of this book from BookCrash. I was not required to give a positive review, but to solely express my own thoughts and opinions.

Like a River From Its Course by Kelli Stuart

I seem to have so little time to read recently and it saddens me greatly! However, I am privileges to have the opportunity to invest my time in an amazing book like this. I highly recommend this book to all!

A beautiful, heart wrenching story of loss, love, terrible tragedies and amazing forgiveness from the brave men and women of Ukraine. I did not realize that they “faced more deaths per capita than any other country in World War II due to their high Jewish population (Jews were killed by both the Nazis and the Soviet Red Army), and their rich soil, which particularly interested Hitler.” You can tell that Kelli Stuart lovingly and carefully compiled her 15 years of research in her writing of this book. She focuses on four different individuals that are loosely rooted in the true stories she compiled. I tend to love books and even movies like this one, where stories are honest, broken, and yet redeemed. Yes, I cry with the characters and the pain and loss they endure, but I also feel that after reading a book like Like a River From Its Course I have grown with the characters and learned from them and their experiences.

“In the still, dark moment of this frozen night, I embrace [peace]. I think of our life before the bombs, the river of our days flowing so calmly in a direction that I thought would last forever. In a flash, that river was turned, unexpected and quick, dragging us along this unforeseen path. Like a river from its course, life has swirled away from all I expected or planned. Sluggish and slow, this river carves a new path. There are calmer waters that wait.”

**Disclosure: I received a copy of this book from Kregel Publications in exchange for a fair and honest review.

The Jazz Files by Fiona Veitch Smith

Poppy Denby moves to London to take care of her aunt, but soon realizes that her aunt wasn’t being honest. It’s the 1920’s and her aunt, a militant suffragette, felt that Poppy would have more of a chance pursuing a career in London. So, Poppy ends up getting an editor’s assistant job with The Daily Globe. However a reporter’s body falls at her feet on her first day. An accident or could it be murder? He had been looking into some past mysteries involving the suffragettes, and with Poppy’s connections she becomes the ideal person to help finish the story…. However, not everyone wants the past dug up!

Fiona Veitch Smith combines a popular genre and an interesting time period in The Jazz Files, which starts the Poppy Denby Investigates series. The main character is Poppy, a young woman wanting to stretch her wings. She is a bit naive but learns quickly and shows quite a bit of bravery. However, she also desires her choices and possible career to be done in truth. She does some real soul searching in the middle of the book after she was involved in lies and deception.

She is a Christian surrounded by people living in sin, so we’ll see how her faith survives and hopefully grows through the series.

**Disclosure: I received a copy of this book from Kregel Publications in exchange for a fair and honest review.

Mr. Zip and The Capital Z by Kimberly Bryant-Palmer

I love tracking down new and interesting books for my kids! I really want my kids to love reading. Now if I can find a fun clean series that will pull them in AND include history — What a find!! 🙂

I really enjoyed Mr. Zip and The Capital Z. The main character is, of course, Mr. Zip, an older gentleman who owns a very unique shop with “everything you would need to know — from A to Z.” He is a very likable and yet slightly strange character that has a hint of Mr. Whitaker from Adventure’s in Odyssey and Finnian Jones from Lamplighter Theatre. (Great audio resources I would highly recommend!)

This book focused on a young boy called Peanut. He learns a little more about family, history and his heart. Somehow with Mr. Zip he sees glances of history from General Jackson in the War of 1812 to General Washington in the Revolutionary War to as far back as the Tower of Babel.  I love the last chapter with the interaction between Peanut and his dad. What a special moment!

Mr. Zip shares an interesting fact from history between each chapter. Also, there’s footnotes and endnotes concerning the history, if you want to check more out.

We look forward to the next book in the series — Mr. Zip and The Capital Z ~ Lucy Jane Pennywhistle Comes Home!

Disclosure: I received a complimentary copy of this book from BookCrash. I was not required to give a positive review, but to solely express my own thoughts and opinions.