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The Waiting – Revell Blog Tour

Posted by html404 on October 12, 2010
in Books

Faith and Family Reviews received the following product in exchange for writing a review. While we consider it a privilege to receive free products to review, our reviews are our honest opinion and thoughts of the product.

Jorie King has been waiting for her beau, Benjamin Zook, to return home to Lancaster County so they can marry. But when news arrives that Ben has been killed, Jorie finds comfort in the friendship of his brother Caleb. That friendship ripens into love, and it seems that they are meant to be together. But when the unexpected happens, their worlds are turned upside down once more.

I bawled my eyes out while reading this book and I cannot even blame it on pregnancy hormones! There were humorous moments too, as both humor and tears is what makes a great book in my humble opinion. This story was filled with many of life’s complexities and reveals that the Amish are not immune to suffering and hardships. What it does reveal is their fortitude in life’s trials.

I love reading about the Amish. Their lifestyle, community and family life intrigue me.

The Waiting is one of those books that makes the Amish people’s faith, community and willingness to forgive stand out above what I am use to experiencing. Because the Amish possess these traits they are better able to withstand life’s troubles when they come their way. Grant it, this book is a work of fiction, but it is based on who the Amish are in real life.

Personally, I long for what the Amish have – a close knit community on which to depend through thick and thin. The ability to forgive and be forgiven freely and to love completely without brick walls of emotional barriers being in the way of trusting, godly friendships is a rare gift. A gift The Waiting shows is possible with endurance, more forgiveness and love we are capable of in and of ourselves. It is our relationship with God that makes or breaks our relationships with others.

This was a wonderful story that I recommend as a good read. Thanks, Suzanne!

“Available October 2010 at your favorite bookseller from Revell, a division of Baker Publishing Group.”

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Monday Motivation – A Day Late, Again

Posted by html404 on October 12, 2010
in Family Stuff, Monday Motivation

mondaybutton

Last week’s Monday Motivation:

~ We have a field trip planned this week to a farm. We had a great time! The children mostly played in the wide open spaces and loved the hay ride.

~ A friend offered her photography skills to take our family pictures so we are going to have a second field trip to the Botanical Gardens.This was another wonderful highlight of our week. The photos are complete and we had a wonderful time with our friends and enjoyed the beauty of the gardens.

~ Plus we have to do everything else we need to do for work and homeschooling. So I am really just trying to organize my time better, if that is even possible when I am nursing on-demand a six week old baby!? It seems most things are done along side nursing and holding Sir Eats Alot.

This week’s Motivation:

~ My husband and I have an appointment with the Executive Director of a farm incubator program that we are interested in.

~ We really need to do our end of season garden clean up! My husband has been battling a cold but is feeling better so we should be able to do the garden this weekend.

~ Swim lessons for the children. We decided to take advantage of the YMCA’s no enrollment fee (at least for this month as we test drive this membership thing) and have been swimming every day since Friday. Yes, even I went swimming once. The children love it. I am hesitant to take Sir Eats Alot in the pool at his young age or else I would be in there as much as the other children. I grew up swimming all the time. My mom tells me that my sisters and I were swimming by four.

So I actually exercised! My goal is to get exercise while teaching my children how to swim. All of them are at different levels but for not growing up swimming I think they are all doing great. It’s exciting that we can share the love of swimming together.

Other than that I am just trying to manage home, children, homeschooling and work. It is definitely a juggling act. That’s why I may be taking most of November off from most of my work-at-home responsibilities except for one client whose busiest season is Christmas. I need to regroup and refocus a bit and hope that time off will help.

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Gardening Tuesday: Recalls

Posted by Bobbie Gould on October 12, 2010
in Gardening, Health & Garden Tuesday

Have you ever wondered why there are so many, many recalls in food and drug products in this industry? Some of those reasons are that food is being produced wrong! We are putting drugs, homicides, and bacterias in our foods! Our ancestors would turn in their graves at the way food is produced now! It may taste good now but in the end it is bad for you! What are some ways to protect your family from these things here are some tips to help:

* Buy locally grown food as much as possible. Local Harvest has some wonderful resources on locally grown food and where to find it. Buying locally reduces the risk of getting food poisoning and sickness! Now by locally I donâ€™t mean your local grocery store, no I mean your local organic farmers market.

* Donâ€™t buy milk that has homicides and growth hormones.

* Buy farm raised grass fed beef donâ€™t buy that disgusting store bought stuff! In the united states alone just in March 2010 their was a meat out break see this map here telling how many states got salmonella poisoning!

* Wash your fruits and vegetables with soap and hot water. Even salad I donâ€™t want to gross you out but their was a news flash on contaminated salad.

* Always wash down counters, knives, and dishes that have come in contact with raw meat. This can spread salmonella poisoning, and E Coli.

* Know your ingredients. Read labels, ingredients such as GMS, High Fructose, High Fructose Corn Syrup, Corn Syrup, Asppertain, and Natural Flavors, all contain yucky and bad ingredients, GMS,Â these as well as High Fructose Corn Syrup have been linked to mercury, and causes of Autism. You may have seen the commercials on TV for High Fructose Corn Syrup being the same as sugar but, that is not true! Read these articles here, here, and here.

The Corn Refiners Association decided to ‘show’ high-fructose corn syrup was as safe as sugar. It’s no different than the Tobacco industry telling us nicotine isn’t addictive.Â What they didn’t tell you is it’s banned in places like Canada and Europe. You can even buy sodas in Mexico without it in since they don’t have American lobbyists writing their laws.

If you can’t see that they are using the same tactics as the Tobacco Industry used in the past you are completely blind. Taken from TrueChristianDOTcom’s Youtube Channel.”

* Some people claim that soy is good for you but that is not true! Did you know that Soybeans are one of the most heavily sprayed pesticides in the United States and Canada alone? Don’t buy soy products unless they have been organically grown and sprayed with no pesticides.

* Know your facts watch movies like The World According To Monsanto, Food Inc, and The Future Of Food. Read books on healthy living and eating. And most importantly you donâ€™t have to be vegan to eat healthy!

Egg Stand

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Movie Review Monday: Book Of Ruth

Posted by Bobbie Gould on October 11, 2010
in DVDs & CDs, Movies

The last few versions of Ruth we watched we were slightly disappointed in the discrepancies throughout it. We liked Pureflix’s version because it was right on in their depiction of the story and characters. And because they did not take very many liberties like the other version did. We really liked that.

Our family really enjoyed The Book of Ruth dvd. Parents really do not need to preview this movie beforehand as it is a very family-friendly movie. We loved that the characters were portrayed like their real characters, showing their sorrow, as well as their joy and servitude towards one another.

The Book Of Ruth DVD shows a wonderful relationship between Ruth and her mother-in-law. So many times in the real world, mother-in-laws and daughter-in-laws get a bad rap from one another, but The Book Of Ruth DVD shows how a daughter by marriage can be a devoted and loving daughter – by her choice.

The Book of Ruth characters seemed very authentic, as were the scenes in the movie. We thought it was very well done, in our opinion.

We are very please with the films we have viewed from Pureflix and highly recommend them to families seeking family-friendly entertainment without the use of sensored equipment like Clearplay for bad language etc.

For more family-friendly entertainment, please visit www.PureFlix.com you may purchase Book Of Ruth dvd here for $14.98

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The House on Malcolm Street – Revell Blog Tour

Posted by html404 on October 9, 2010
in Books

The House on Malcolm Street is a novel. It isn’t so much a romance novel, although there is a little of that included, just not with the main character so much. Leisha Kelly has written an endearing story of a woman, Leah Breckenridge, her losses, her relationships and her healing.

Leah learns the value of relationships through a godly aunt who takes her invites Leah to visit. Not only that but she heals as she faces her “demons” and starts trusting again.

I really enjoyed this novel. It was a great story. So often life’s tragedies are exactly what teaches us the value of relationships. It is easy to go through life with severed relationships, sometimes that is the healthiest and safest in certain cases, but the majority of the time relationships can and should be mended. Carrying bitterness or anger around is very unhealthy for all involved – spiritually, physically, mentally and emotionally. With God’s help, we heal ourselves when we heal a broken relationship with a family member, friend or with God Himself.

“Available September 2010 at your favorite bookseller from Revell, a division of Baker Publishing Group.”

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Sweet Exchange

Posted by html404 on October 7, 2010
in DVDs & CDs

If you are familiar with the group Point of Grace, then you will remember Heather Payne who sang with the group before she left to focus more on her family. In spending more time with her family she and her husband were interested in teaching their children more of the traditional hymns that have all but disappeared from some mainstream churches. That led Heather to consider recording her own single album with all the old hymns but with a modern flair.

Sweet Exchange is Heather’s her new album as a soloist artist, which she recorded in a friend’s home studio on days her children were at school. What a mom, eh?! Her album is beautiful and will appeal to the younger generation who is not use to singing or listening to the old hymns. The words are the same but Heather has attempted to update them to appeal to a wider audience. So even if you don’t attend church this album just might surprise you and appeal to your ear.

Personally, I love the old hymns, but I grew up singing them in church so they are what I know. They are so rich with meaning and truth of who Jesus Christ is and what He has done for each and everyone of us.

Heather’s Sweet Exchange album is available here.

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Thrifty Thursday- Free Food

Posted by Bobbie Gould on October 7, 2010
in Food and Treats, Free Stuff, Thrifty Thursday

So we all love free stuff right? Well how about free food? We found out that each month you can get free food cool eh?

February- Free IHOP pancakes.

March- Free Ben & Jerry’s Ice Cream, Rita’s Italian Ice, and a Starbucks Pastry. ( bring a cup in from Starbucks and get a FREE cup of coffee read our post on that here)

April- Free Pretzel Time pretzels and a Cinnabon treat.

May- Free Haagen Daas ice cream.

June- Free Krispy Kreme doughnut, Sonic root-beer float and TCBY frozen yogurt.

July- Free Chick-Fil-A meal in July

Google free food each month to find more!

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Under A Maui Moon

Posted by html404 on October 6, 2010
in Books

Under A Maui Moon is a book about a woman who has strayed from her relationship with God, facing marital difficulties amidst other life struggles. Robin Jones Gunn deals with some tough situations that many women face.

I wasn’t sure what the book would be like, but had read a couple of Robin’s first books years ago so thought I’d read this one. Even my daughter said, “What kind of book is this?” when she read the back of it.

Sometimes we don’t like to admit when we hit a valley in our marriage, but that is a pride thing. All of us at one point or another will face marital challenges, the important thing is what we do about them. Will we give hang in there, keeping our vows and our commitment to the one we’ve pledged to love, honor and cherish for the rest of our lives? Will we give in to the temptation to flee or maybe even “play around” and possibly even leave our spouse? It is harder to hang in there because it hurts and it’s hard, but face it, the best thing and the biblical way of dealing with the challenges is to stick it out (unless of course physical or substance abuse calls for a time of separation or even divorce if these issues cannot be worked out). Divorce hurts and doesn’t solve the problems. The problems just get carried into the next relationship. What a vicious cycle.

My husband and I are blessed to have a legacy of in tack marriages in our families for the past three generations that we know of, it could be more, and we desire to be the same example our children that our parents, grandparents and great grandparents were to us – All of whom faced their own kind of troubles and difficulties but remained married to the one they committed their lives to. What a testimony of God’s faithfulness to us!

Ultimately I enjoyed the story and was rooting for the main character as she manuevered her way through the difficulties thrown in her path. This isn’t really the typical Christian Romance that I am use to, but I think it made me think about how’d I’d respond to what Carissa faced in her marriage. I think it helps to see things in a different light and try to prepare for how we will respond should we find ourselves facing life’s tough questions like Carissa did as she visited the Hawaiian island of Maui.

Review Copy Provided by Wynn Wynn Media

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Wordless Wednesday – Baby Feet

Posted by Bobbie Gould on October 6, 2010
in Wordless Wednesday

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Gardening Tuesday: Gardening And Essential Oils Part 2

Posted by Bobbie Gould on October 5, 2010
in Gardening, Health & Garden Tuesday

Here is part two of Gardening and Essential Oils read part 1 here.

Part 2 of Gardening and Essential Oils is all about things that bug us around the house and garden. Part 2 also covers natural and safe pest control and natural insecticides with essential oils.

Thank you to Dr. David Stewart for this information!

Essential Oils For Things that Bug You
By David Stewart, Ph.D., R.A.

Among the many chemicals in our industrial environment that get into our systems and make us sick are the pesticides we use in our homes. We use them because they are toxic to the creatures that bug us, but they are also toxic to us! Sometimes the toxicity is immediately apparent: we get a headache, get sick or feel nauseous from the fumes or other contact.

Sometimes the toxicity is subtle and can accumulate resulting in chronic complaints and disorders (including allergies, cancer and miscarriages that can be serious and even deadly over time. Sometimes we even put poisons on our pets to deal with ticks and fleas, not realizing that these substances are not healthy for us not our animals.

How to Use Oils for Pest Control

As Young Living Essential Oils users, we don’t need poisons to kill pests. We can repel them (and even sometimes kill them) with substances that are not only harmless to us, but are actually healthful to us. Below is a list of oils that will solve most of your pest problems around the house.

And how do you use them? One way is to get a pistol-grip squirt bottle. Mix a few drops of the oil with some water, shake it up, and start firing. If you have bugs on your plants, like aphids on your roses, you can squirt the leaves and drive the bugs away with no harm to your plant. You can do the same with the other pests. As for ants, you can smear a line of peppermint or spearmint across your kitchen counter or floor and the ants won’t cross it. If you already have a line of ants invading your house, just draw a line of oil across them and they will turn back. It is fun to watch! And as for flies, you can knock them dead right out of the air with one shot from your pistol grip.

Specific Oils for Specific Insects

ANTS
Peppermint
Spearmint

APHIDS
Cedarwood
Hyssop
Peppermint
Spearmint

BEETLES
Peppermint
Thyme

CATERPILLARS
Spearmint
Peppermint

CHIGGERS
Lavender
Lemongrass
Sage
Thyme

CUTWORM
Thyme
Sage

FLEAS
Peppermint
Lemongrass
Spearmint
Lavender

FLIES
Lavender
Peppermint
Rosemary
Sage

GNATS
Patchouli
Spearmint

LICE
Cedarwood
Peppermint
Spearmint

MOSQUITOES
Lavender
Lemongrass

MOTHS
Cedarwood
Hyssop
Lavender
Peppermint
Spearmint

PLANT LICE
Peppermint
Spearmint

SLUGS
Cedarwood
Hyssop
Pine

SNAILS
Cedarwood
Pine
Patchouli

SPIDERS
Peppermint
Spearmint

TICKS
Lavender
Lemongrass
Sage
Thyme

WEEVILS
Cedarwood
Patchouli
Sandalwood

A Brown Recluse Experiment

Seeing how squirting a peppermint-water spray would kill flies in mid-air, I wondered what pure oil would do. So I did an experiment on a brown recluse spider. I captured a live one in a jar and carefully placed one drop of peppermint on one side. The pure peppermint repelled the spider sho crowded to the other side to avoid the oil. When I tipped the jar to force the spider to fall into the oil, it merely squirmed and got away, still repelled by the oil, but not apparently harmed. Then I put a drop of water with the oil and tipped the jar so that the spider slid into the water and oil together and, instantly, it shriveled up and died.

Conclusion: The oil alone is an insect repellant. Combined with water, it is an insecticide.

Safe Insect Repellants

As far as repellants go, when you go into the woods and fields, put a little lavender around your ankles, wrists, and waist-band and you won’t have to worry about chiggers or ticks (or Lyme Disease of Rocky Mountain Spotted Tick Fever). Lemongrass, sage, or thyme would work, too, but might irritate your skin so put it on your pant cuffs and shirt sleeves.

As for your pets, you can put oils such as Purification around their necks and backs, but watch to keep oils from around their eyes.

So there you have it. Non-toxic pest control.

You can view this and other interesting articles on essential oils by Dr. David Stewart at www.raindroptraining.com

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