Pre-Order The Amazing Spider-Man Gift Set #SpiderManWMT #Cbias

Posted by html404 on September 29, 2012
in DVDs & CDs, Movies, Uncategorized

After the success of last week’s Avenger party, my children are very excited about The Amazing Spider-Man coming out on DVD too. They’ve been asking me to watch Thor, The Avengers etc. with them. Now that I have Captain America under my belt they are eager to introduce me to the rest of the movies in the series. We may get to watch one of them this weekend depending upon if I get my posts done up for the week since I leave for Brandcation on Wednesday.



Pre-Order The Amazing Spider-Man

When the children heard we were going to go to Walmart to pick up the pre-order The Amazing Spider-Man DVD or Blu-ray they were pretty eager to go with me. One son said, “Really?” He was surprised but happy. My four year old son was very excited because I told him he could have a new spider-man mask since his little fabric one that came with his dollar store spider-man costume is all torn.

I took five children with me to the store. It’s funny because they gravitated towards the costumes they saw last week and of course discovered new things. Then there was this huge pumpkin decoration with crazy eyes that my youngest daughter calls, “Hypnotizing”. It cracks me up what children come out with.

Of course on our way back to the electronics department we got side tracked in the party supply aisle as the kiddos remembered we went down there last week too. We noticed a couple of new Avenger items which disappointed the children because they were not available when we shopped for our Avengers party, but there was lots of Spider-Man supplies to choose from.

Then we found the pre-order spider-man item and it was completely different than I thought it would look since I had in my mind the photo on Walmart’s website. I thought the exclusive movie gift set came with an actual mask, but it doesn’t…eeeeks…..there’s going to be a disappointed boy if I don’t fix that!

So off to the toy section to pick up a sturdy mask the boys can share but Nookie can use first. Hoping to surprise him in the morning with it!

And before I headed out for a seminar today I gave Nookie the spiderman mask….I think he looks pretty pleased, don’t you?

Vudu.com and Ultra Violet

With the pre-order of spiderman we received a free digital copy of the movie on Vudu. Once we got home I wanted to see what the whole pre-order process was like and figure out Vudu.com and Ultra Violet because I’ve never pre-bought anything like this before. Vudu.com is a site where you can stream, rent or buy DVDs – for multiple devices too. They even have a tab to convert DVDs to digital format, which I haven’t tried yet, and you can store them online. I definitely see advantages to this as we have had several DVDs get broken and had we been able to store them digitally right after we bought them we would still have them. Vudu charges for individual DVD rentals and conversions. It is not a monthly subscription service. You only pay for what you use or buy.

I am still trying to figure out what Ultra Violet is, but from what I can tell it is another site that allows consumers to stream movies and TV shows with multiple devices. Here’s what their FAQs page says:

UltraViolet is a free, online Collection that gives you greater flexibility with how and where you watch the movies and TV shows that you purchase. Once a movie or TV show has been added to your UltraViolet Collection, you will have options to stream it over the internet, download it for offline viewing, or play it back on a disc. Because UltraViolet offers so many viewing choices, you have greater freedom to choose where you want to watch – whether its on a mobile device, computer, television, game console, etc.

It was pretty simple to sign up for a Vudu account. I followed the prompts on the screen, some of the steps are shown in the photos below.

We are all set to watch the digital version of The Amazing Spider-Man and we should receive the Blu-ray + DVD gift set a few days before the movie hits store shelves. My children are already talking about a spiderman party!

To learn more about The Amazing Spider-Man or to stay up to date on news about the movie be sure to follow on the movie on Twitter and Facebook. If you do tweet, use the hashtag #SpiderManWMT to increase visibility and hopefully help the movie trend on Twitter.

“I am a member of the Collective Bias™ Social Fabric® Community. This shop has been compensated as part of a social shopper insights study for Collective Bias™ and Sony Pictures Home Entertainment #CBias #SocialFabric. All thoughts and opinions are my own.”


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Talking to Toddlers

Posted by html404 on September 28, 2012
in Parenting

Talking to Toddlers is a mini parenting course about talking to toddlers. There are 12 talks and each talk is approximately 10-20 minutes long and comes with a little summary and homework to practice what the talk went over. This course was created by Chris Thompson, author of Talking to Toddlers – Dealing with Terrible Twos and Beyond.

All three of us moms here at Faith and Family Reviews had the opportunity to listen to Chris Thompson’s audio about Talking to Toddlers. I thought I’d let us all have a space to share our thoughts. See below….Professor’s will be forthcoming.

Brande’s Thoughts on Talking to Toddlers

I’m not a yeller, however, I am a No..No…No… Mom. I really try and keep my anger levels low, but we all have a breaking point, right? Chris Thompson really helps to keep you together with his 12 tracks.

I paid close attention to Chapter 3 – How to Avoid Saying “No” While Getting What you Want. I’ve been try to use the “I understand that you want _________, however ____________” which does work sometimes. We usually end up getting into the “Why’s”. Which sometimes gets unnerving, too. But, I always remind myself she is only 3 and still little.

As every parent learns you pick your battles. Bringing me to Chapter 7. Our battle is clothing! It could be 20 degrees outside and my daughter wants to wear a sundress. THE BATTLE IS ON! After our disagreement and she is now in jeans and long sleeve shirt, if she grabs a crown and pocketbook and we are heading to the grocery store fine by me. We tend to lay clothes out the night before if we are heading out to keep the morning battles to a minimum.

I’ve started counting and if I get to 3 and your still doing a “bad” thing, you are heading to your room. Then the stomping, crying, and sorry’s begin. I will let her sit in her room for a few minutes and then head in to talk to her about what she did wrong and why she didn’t stop when I asked. Time outs didn’t work when she was younger, however, putting an item she loves in time out corrected the situation.

All in all, Mr. Thompson has wonderful tips and very useful!

Theresa’s Thoughts on Talking to Toddlers

Talking to Toddlers is a parenting series, but it’s not just for talking to toddlers, it’s for any child over the age of two. Chris even had a friend use it on his girlfriend! Chris had some very good reminders. If you remember, when my older children were little I read A LOT of parenting books, so many of Chris’ tips were the ones I had heard before, just presented in a different way.

While much of what he said was familiar, I appreciated hearing it again since we have a 2 year old in the house who isn’t much of talker yet. He’s the child that screams in protest because shaking his head no isn’t as effective in expressing himself. I am sure we have unintentionally trained him to be like this because none of our others were screechers like him.

Most of our children are getting older and hitting the double digits and teen years and much of what was presented seems to be what we’ve already worked through with them and our middle children. We generally do not have battles over clothing, going to bed or leaving the park or toy section of a store because we’ve learned how to work through those things. And if we do, it’s rare. The children know and have learned there are consequences if they choose to make a fuss. The most effective consequence for store fusses, we leave them home the next shopping trip, same as going to the park…after a couple of times they learn that it just isn’t worth the fuss to miss out on a fun outing. We only have a couple of children where it’s taken several times – those are the children who learn the hard way. Now we just have to work through all of this with Junior!

I can definitely relate to the “lazy parent” because I just don’t have the time I use to when I was parenting the older children. Sad but true and certainly no excuse for Junior’s lack of training. Talking to Toddlers just made me realize how much work I have to do with our youngest.

A warning for those who do not use curse words of any kind, there are a couple of spots Chris could have used “ticked off” or “upset” instead of the alternative. As with any parenting resource, parenting styles differ from parents to parents, therefore take what you need/what works from this Talking to Toddlers and leave the rest.

P.S. I just thought of ways to use Talking to Toddlers with my older children…with their chores and practicing their music…now to incorporate it!

Talking to Toddlers Giveaway in November

We will be offering Talking to Toddlers as a giveaway in November so please be sure to watch for it so you can learn how to talk to your toddler too. If you’d like to know more about Talking to Toddlers, here’s the link: http://talkingtotoddlers.com and FAQs section: http://talkingtotoddlers.com/faq

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


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Ever Been to Genghis Grill?

Posted by html404 on September 28, 2012
in Food and Treats, Restaurants, Uncategorized

Eating out is a treat for our family, as it was for me growing up. My husband’s family ate out a lot and still do. We do not frequent most major fast food places just because they do not serve healthy food. Unhealthy food is never filling and when our children have had it, it leaves them feeling hungry an hour later. We’d rather they fill up on nutritious, healthy foods instead.

Genghis Grill

Genghis Grill is a growing restaurant featuring a unique build your own bowl experience using the Asian stir-fry. According to their website, the experience offers a fun way of cooking similar to what may have been used by 12th century Mongol warriors, led by GENGHIS KHAN, according to an ancient legend. The legend also indicates they used fires to heat their shields so they could grill their food. Now, my boys would love that fact!

Definitely an inspiring little history behind Genghis Grill.

We have never been to Genghis Grill, as a matter a fact, there’s only one in the state of Illinois, but it is only about an hour drive from us.

The Food

If the photos are any indicator, the food at Genghis Grill looks yummy! They serve a variety of protein, including ham, chicken, turkey, beef and fish. Their seasonings range from hot cayenne to garlic and lemon pepper. They also give a wonderful choice of yummy veggies. Their sauces are free of MSG…bonus…and sound delicious. Lastly they serve pasta, rice, tortillas and noodles. If you go to their website you can follow the steps and create your own bowl.

When I built my bowl, the calories weren’t bad for turkey, lemon pepper sauce, veggies, sweet and sour sauce with some fried rice. However, the sodium measured 1500mg! So those watching their sodium intake should watch the nutritional calculator carefully.

Khans Klub

Genghis has a birthday club called, Khans Klub, which enables those who sign up to receive a FREE bowl of your choice. Happy Birthday to you!

Be sure to visit Genghis Grill’s Facebook page and Khans Klub Facebook page as well.

When is the last time you ate out? Where’d you go?



Disclaimer: I received a promotional item for my participation.


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1 Week Away ’til Brandcation Blog Cabin #Brandcation #PigeonForge

Posted by html404 on September 27, 2012
in Blog Stuff, Travel, Uncategorized

Brandcation Blog Cabin…it seems like just yesterday that I was coming home from my very first blogger conference, Brandcation Bloggers Gone Coastal, and here I am a week away from attending my second Brandcation! I can’t believe how fast time has flown by. It has been an incredibly busy two weeks and I know the next two weeks are going to be the same.

Brandcation Blog Cabin

I will be traveling down to Pigeon Forge, Tennessee with two fellow bloggers, Kim and Paula. These two ladies snagged us a Kia Optima Hybrid to drive down in. I am the “lucky” lady who gets to check it out first since I am farthest north. It’s arriving on Tuesday at 10 am and I am very excited. At this point it’s sad to say, but I am more excited about test driving a hybrid car than Brandcation…it’ll come, but first things first though, right? 😉 Can’t wait to tell you all about the Kia Optima Hybrid and Brandcation on my return!

Doesn’t it look slick? I have no idea what color it will be or anything, but I’ll be sure to take lots of pictures!


Brandcation Blog Cabin Sponsors

Brandcation Blog Cabin is being hosted in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee October 4-7. We, as in me and 33 other bloggers, will be visiting some area attractions, many of whom are sponsoring us to attend their events. So a huge pre-Brandcation shout out to them for hosting 34 bloggers!

Those attractions include, in case you missed my last post:

Cabin Fever Vacations (accommodations)
Dollywood
Dixie Stampede show
Country Tonight
Lumberjack Feud
Titanic Museum
Climb Works for Ziplining
Wax museum
Flashy Blinky Lights

Be sure to hop on over to A Daily Dose of Tony to see who I’ll be sharing the big, beautiful blog cabin with…my cabin mates. She’s done a great video in honor of our 80’s theme party, which I found an outfit for…two actually. Just have to wash them up and try them on, hoping at least one of them will fit me! I think I’ll be rather boring and “tame” compared to some others…at least from the discussions I saw about their 80’s costumes!

Thanks again to Trisha, Lynsey, Kim, and Blondie and to the sponsors for making this event possible!!

 


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Play MG Think Christmas and Pre-Order!

Posted by html404 on September 26, 2012
in Techie Stuff, Technology/Electronics, Uncategorized

Technology continues to amaze me. MG (more game) is a portable WiFi gaming system. It eliminates the need for packaged games or data plans that are required for the ever popular smartphone. It allows kids to enter the world of freemium Wi-Fi App gaming safely and affordably. Sounds like a gamers delight.

There is a new feature in The MG Family Collaboration System called “Digital Wallet” and “Remote Trust” notification functions:

The “Digital Wallet”: Parents can offer “game allowances” through a reloadable BillMyParents SpendSmart prepaid MasterCard. This is a creative way to teach pre-teens or Teens about budget and learning spend with in a budget.

“Remote Trust”: Parents can choose to receive email or text updates on MG account activity.

Here’s how it works:

When an MG gamer enters her BillMyParents account number into the MG’s Family Collaboration System app, she can see her SpendSmart prepaid MasterCard balance right on her device. The BillMyParents SpendSmart system allows parents to remotely observe how their teens are spending their game allowances via text, email or by going online, and encourages family dialogue about smart spending habits. Parents can even lock or unlock the card with a text message if necessary. MG is the first to include a BillMyParents SpendSmart prepaid MasterCard directly into the MG device, giving parents an easy, safe way to moderate teen gaming purchases, while reinforcing the concepts of budgeting and making smart spending choices.

These are features sound like they are more for a parent’s peace of mind, but I am sure kids will enjoy the freedom it allows them to experience. Plus, it is the 1st portable Android gaming system with BillMyParents SpendSmart MasterCard. I haven’t used the MG system, but have been told, “It’s a dedicated device for app gaming using the Android platform so your kids can play any game they’d download on your iPhone on their very own portable gaming system and you don’t have to worry about paying for a data plan or buying game cartridges like you would with a Nintendo DS.”

Play MG Think Christmas and Pre-Order!

MG is available to pre-order right now at a savings of $70 off the suggested retail price of $169 when it launches later this year. The first 2000 early adopters who visit Kickstarter.com (search PlayMG) will be rewarded with an MG at cost for this holiday season. Other supporters will be able to order their MG for $20 off ($149).

Sounds like gamer parents might like to pre-order this now just for the savings offered. I believe this promotion is coming to an end soon so be sure to take advantage of it now rather than later.


Disclaimer: Posted courtesy of MG and in turn I may receive a promotional item.


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An Angora Rabbit…New Addition to Our Family – Wordless Wednesday

Posted by html404 on September 26, 2012
in Animals, Farm Stuff

Yes, we have another new addition to our family…our farmyard that is…meet Daisy. She’s an angora rabbit. We aren’t quite sure what breed yet, still trying to figure it out. Another homeschooling family had posted on our homeschool loop that they were giving Daisy away…and I being the softie that I am responded saying we’d love to take her! We still had rabbit food and the children loved the bunnies and this bunny was FREE! So I had to take her. Come to find out a farm not too far from us who breed angora rabbits charge $200 for a rabbit. Whooeee! Angora rabbits provide fiber and Daisy is in need of getting clipped as you will soon see from the photos taken on September 14th, the day we got her. She came all matted and that was the biggest reason the family was giving her away because they didn’t have the time to keep up with her grooming.

So far our girls are doing wonderfully grooming her, let’s hope it continues because Daisy’s health depends on it. Since angora rabbit fur gets so long they are prone to what is called “wool block”. This is when the rabbit cannot eat due to a fur ball being stuck in their throat. This can be prevented by giving the rabbit a piece of fresh pineapple or papaya on a daily basis. We are not sure how the fruit prevents it but my daughter read about it and we’ve started giving her pineapple after noticing her BMs (bowel movements or rabbit poop) were strung together with hair, which is/or can be a sign of wool block. 🙁

The photo above is of the fur the girls cut off of Daisy during their first grooming session. The photo below is how she looked after the fact….mucho better.

We are looking into selling or using her fur to knit with, but have to learn how to go about doing it first. We attended a free session with a spinners guild last Thursday and plan to attend their next meeting in October, will miss November and pick it back up in December to learn more about fiber, spinning and to meet others doing the same thing.

Even Daisy gets to enjoy the fresh grass since we recycled old pieces of a mini greenhouse we had a couple of years ago and created a play yard for her.

She’s still getting acclimated to all the children but we think she’s going to be a great addition to our farm. She’s huge by the way, if you couldn’t tell from the photos. If you remember our other bunnies were just wee little things. We’ll see Daisy’s true size once we clip her fur. One of our daughters doesn’t want to clip her because then she’ll be “naked” and cold but I think now is the time before winter is here that way she has time to grow it back. On average she will need to be clipped four times a year. Definitely makes for lots of new things to learn…..


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Ringya iPhone App

Posted by html404 on September 25, 2012
in Organization, Reviews, Techie Stuff, Uncategorized

You all are aware of the businesses we have. A couple of our businesses have more contact lists than the others and it is time consuming to keep track of everything, to update things manually etc. So I am all for time savers…like the Ringya iPhone App.

The thing is this app isn’t just for businesses, but for coaches, PTAs, Girl/Boy Scouts, teachers and whoever has contact lists.

Ringya transforms contact lists (class lists, work contacts, sport teams) into organized, sharable, digital lists. Just snap a picture of a paper list or email the app a digital version and…voila…you’ve got it handy on your phone!


Ringya iPhone App Review

Ok, this was written on 8/3 and I just downloaded the Ringya iPhone app. It was very easy to set up. Just follow the prompts. I took a photo of a list that I wanted to be able to import to email and phone numbers so I could do follow up to a snail mail mailing via phone or email, but didn’t want to have to do the data entry for it. If this app does what I think it will do, I am excited as this could potentially be a huge time saver! It did exactly what I thought it would do. It uploaded all the contact info of about 35 contacts – name, phone number, and mailing address. Almost wish there had been email addresses on the list and my work would have been complete. Since the emails were not listed, all I have to do is go into the “edit” feature and manually add the emails of the contacts.

Easy peasy! What a neat little app! The only issue I foresee is if you do not have enough data space on your phone and have a tone of contacts. Otherwise the Ringya iPhone App receives two thumbs up from me.

You may download the Ringya for free on iTunes.


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Crest Video Review #CrestSponsored

Posted by html404 on September 24, 2012
in Health, Personal Care Products, Uncategorized

Trying new product through video or vlog post, which isn’t something I normally do but thought I should start doing. In the video below I tested out products.

Crest Video Review

I wanted to start this review by saying that when our family buys any personal care products we read the labels for ingredients. If we do not recognize the ingredients we look them up on ewg.org.

Now onto the review…

Crest and Oral-B Pro-Health Clinical Plaque Control Review

I thought my husband would enjoy reviewing these products, but he’s been sick so I ended up reviewing them myself.

The Crest Oral-B Pro-Health Clinical Plaque Control products includes:

Toothpaste: The toothpaste is mint flavor, which isn’t my favorite, but it does leave my mouth feeling fresh and clean. As far as noticing a long term difference, not enough time has passed to determine any significant difference in my oral health.

Mouthwash: I did not like the mouthwash. It doesn’t smell good or taste good. Shiver.

Glide Dental Floss: We have used Glide for several years and it is by far our favorite dental floss. True to it’s name it glides between teeth without fraying or getting stuck.

Pro-Flex Oral-B Toothbrush: I really like the soft head Pro-Flex Oral-B toothbrush. I liked how it brushed and felt on my teeth and gum lines.

3 out of 4 isn’t bad, right?

To learn more visit the Crest and Oral-B Pro-Health Clinical Plaque Control website.


“I wrote this review while participating in a blogger review campaign by Mom Central Consulting on behalf of Crest and received product samples to facilitate my candid review. Mom Central Consulting sent me a promotional item to thank me for taking the time to participate.”


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Our Awesome Avengers Party #MarvelAvengersWMT #CBias

Posted by html404 on September 23, 2012
in DVDs & CDs, Family Stuff, Fun Stuff, Kids Stuff, Movies, Uncategorized

Last Tuesday night our family was able to enjoy a very fun evening, except my husband who has been struggling with cold/flu like symptoms the last few weeks – found mold behind our washer. 🙁 Anyhoo, the children and I all headed out to Walmart to shop for supplies for our Avengers party! Did you know The Avengers Blu-ray/DVD release is this week? Yes it is! I haven’t watched any of the new Marvel movies but my husband has watched a few of them with the children, including The Avengers. They get excited about all things Avengers and super heros. My goal was to enjoy an evening of fun with my family.


Shopping at Walmart

Before we went shopping, I downloaded The Avengers Augmented Reality App. There is a quiz, a place to join The Avengers, a game, a place to scan product. The kids love the game and music on it. I watched a video first to help me understand how it worked. The problem is we were only able to get it to work on the Marketside pizza boxes because there were barely any displays were up in promotion for the movie.

On the pizza boxes The app basically provided a 3D scene from The Avengers, my kids are pretty tech savvy and loved it.

Due to the lack of promotional signage available, we were unable to find any of the app’s trigger points so we could participate in earning points. We tried scanning the sign at the deli counter as well as the video display they had there for other Marvel movies but nothing happened. The sign at one of the entrance’s didn’t work, nor did any of the tags on the apparel we looked at.

I was hoping our Walmart had everything I had in mind to create an awesome Avengers party and you should see what I found!

We bought The Avengers party plates, cups, napkins, balloons, candy (not something I normally buy but this was a special occasion so we indulged), masks, a punching ball, prize ribbon and tattoos. We even purchased a couple of packages of super hero figures for the children to share and play with. These were part of the prizes I got for our game time. I was trying budget my money wisely because costumes were $9.99 and up, I couldn’t afford to get them each their own individual costumes, so we settled on them each having a mask which worked out great and it was so fun – I even wore one.

The children were so excited in the toy section, another section we usually avoid so we keep the gimmees at bay. There were lots of Avenger toys, figures and Legos to choose from….gave me a couple of ideas for Christmas. They were too expensive to get on a normal day out, that’s why we settled on the inexpensive action figures, plus more children could play with them than they could one big action figure/or toy that cost $15-$25 each.

Our Awesome Avengers Party

We purchased Marketside pizza for dinner. It’s very good. We were pleasantly surprised as it is very filling compared to other pizza we have tried. We enjoyed our meal together before heading down to our basement family/playroom for an evening of games showing super power strength and agility.

I divided us into teams and we played three games: whose team could keep a balloon in the air the longest, who could do the punching ball the longest and who could make the most words out of the word Avengers in two minutes. Then I handed out prizes to the winning team, the child who did the punching ball the longest and then each of the younger children received tattoos and super hero figures.

We ended our evening by watching half of Captain America since it was 9pm when we started it. We finished it the next day.

The Avengers Graphic Novel

Our children also enjoyed getting The Avengers Graphic Novel, though my daughters did report a couple of inappropriate/swear words, which was unexpected and disappointing for something geared towards children.

The Avengers Blu-Ray/DVD/Graphic Novel Combo Pack

The Avengers Blu-Ray/DVD/Graphic Novel Combo Pack was not in our Walmart store when we shopped last week but I can see how it will be a nice gift to super hero fans. It retails for $24.95 and will also be available on September 25.

To learn more about The Avengers visit Marvel.com Fans will want to follow Marvel on Twitter (use hashtag #MarvelAvengersWMT) or Facebook .

Overall our Avengers party was very memorable and the children told me how much fun they had that evening and again the next day. Guess it was a success!

“I am a member of the Collective Bias™ Social Fabric® Community. This content has been compensated as part of a social shopper insights study for Collective Bias™ and Marvel. #MarvelAvengersWMT #CBias #SocialFabric. All thoughts and opinions are my own.”


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With Every Letter – A Revell Book Review

Posted by html404 on September 22, 2012
in Books, Reviews

Lately it seems every time I have a book review due, the week before gets extremely busy and this time was no exception. It’s not like I intentionally plan to have a ton of work due at the same time as my book review or that I procrastinate, I love reading. I tend to wait because I write a better review the fresher it is in my mind. I have tried reading as soon as I get a book, writing a notes or a rough draft but going back to re-write it is never the same as having just experienced a good book and the wide range of emotions it takes me through and writing the review at the same time. Regardless of my full schedule this week, With Every Letter was so worth my time, With Every Letter, written by Sarah Sundin. To be frank, I’ve enjoyed all the books I have read by Sarah.

This book is a historical romance, but there are so many things I could relate to in it. You know how when you listen to a song and it can take you to a place you haven’t thought of in years? This book had that affect on me.

Set during World War II, this story is about flight nurses and their service to injured service men. For me there was so much depth to this story. The resistance the nurses faced by being women on the field, having to get along with those in your division, the orders you had to obey, the fight for position and rank – I don’t understand why anyone would want to go into the service, but admire those who do and am very grateful for those who have literally gave their lives for the freedoms we enjoy. My grandfather was a pilot during World War II. I am grateful he made it back alive and I had the privilege of knowing him. I just wish I had been interested in that part of his life to ask him about it.

Back to the book…

The main character Lieutenant Mellie (short for Philomela) is a flight nurse. She considers herself different and finds it hard to make friends with the other nurses she’s around every day. I just think she found it hard to trust people after what her mother did to her and her father. There have been things in my life that have caused me to be very UNtrusting.

Friendships are a huge part of life and many of the characters in With Every Letter Written learn that intimate relationships open the heart to hurt, but the key to maintaining those close relationships is mercy, love, forgiveness and restoration. If you are like me some of those steps are harder than others, even when you know the right thing to do.

Mellie is given the opportunity to pen-pal with a service man stationed overseas whose name is Lt. Tom MacGillver. After initially baulking at the idea, she begins her correspondence which turns out to be just what she and the service man needed. Did you know that is essentially how my husband and I got to know each other – via letters? We met at college but I was only there for a semester (a God ordained meeting, if you ask me 😉 )and we met over half way through so we were just starting to get to know each other when I had to leave. Reading Mellie and Tom’s story brought a wide range of emotions and memories back. It’s hard to get to know someone via letters, UNLESS both people are completely open and honest. I loved their story and didn’t feel it was a stretch of the imagination for the time setting of the storyline or for today because I believe long distance relationships can and do work, if both people believe in the relationship and commit to it. Definitely not for the needy or fainthearted as it does take a lot of time and work. Just as if you were together in person.

I loved the ending. While I had predicted what the ultimate outcome would be I loved the clever way it happened.

Two thumbs up for a heartwarming, emotionally evoking book that made me fall in love with Mellie, Tom and their friends. I loved their characters, grit and courage in the face of many different obstacles, including a war. It’s so hard when a good book ends….sniff, sniff.

“Available September 2012 at your favorite bookseller from Revell, a division of Baker Publishing Group.”

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


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