Book review time... & this one's NOT recommended

In my opinion: a lack of Biblical accuracy on heaven and a personal political statement

Safely Home by Randy Alcorn is a fictional novel based on old roommates going very separate ways for 20 years, until meeting up in China, one character’s home county. This story made up most of the book and is a needed reminder of the persecution Christians face all around the world, and the spiritual battle constantly going on which is so often easy to forget, especial as complacent American Christians who are not forced to stand up for their faith daily. On the other hand, there is a strong and constant charismatic feel throughout and I felt the last half of the book he was trying to throw in as many moral and human rights issues he could find with China, to make his own personal political statement through this book, not that I disagree with him, but it began to feel like personal venting in novel form. Also, throughout the book there are past family members and celestial beings looking down from “heaven”, watching, listening, and discussing things going on to their family below, then, as one characters dies he is allowed to see his living family (although they can’t see him) for his final goodbye. These concepts have always bothered me, considering they are not biblical. When depicting heaven, the author gives the sense that it’s inhabitants, and the Lord Himself are completely consumed by death of Martyrs and judgment of those persecuting them. Lots of wonderful scripture is used, however, my issue was with this being the only thing consuming those in heaven, including God Himself. Further, when the martyr dies near the end, his entrance into heaven is pictured mostly about himself. It goes on about his rewards, experiences, everyone has waited for him, and a great celebration in his honor of his perseverance on earth. I don’t believe heaven will strictly be a praise and worship service, but I don’t think it will be all about our achievements for the Kingdom either. Yes, we will be rewarded, but we will give our jewels and crowns back to the King Himself. I know this is a fictional novel, but considering the author’s best selling book is about and titled Heaven, I was surprised by the concept of heaven he portrayed. I almost want to read the other book of his, just to see what he said about heaven compared to this book. I didn't hate this book, but I didn't like it either. Thus, two stars. I received a complimentary copy of this book from Tyndale House Publishers as a blogger book review and was not required to give a positive review.

If ANYONE knows anything about his book Heaven, and it's nothing like this, I'm curious, let me know!

Home, Home on the Range...

It's literally where the deer and the antelope play out here.

Life has been pretty routine, and hence the extremely long wait since my last post. Sorry about that. I hope y'all didn't give up on me!

Aaron and I have been enjoying the summer, although, not so much the extreme heat living in the desert provides. I've done all I can to stay in doors mid-day with Madison, unless we are in the pool. Aaron's mom came for a visit at the end of July so that Aaron and I could take the WFR (Wilderness First Responder) course, which as 7 days long. It was a fun class though, and we are now certified to do so much!! We are kind of like paramedics, except we do all we can without any machines (hence the wilderness part of the title) and we know a few extra fun tricks and tips above a paramedic, because being in the wilderness is considered an hour or more (as in days) away from any medical help. You can even trust us to put a traction splint on a fractured femur! (not your every day splint I must say.) Part of our final exam was putting together a search crew at night and finding our patients out on the side of the mountain, assessing and getting them all fixed up and into some sort of shelter until "medical help arrived". It made for a long night, but it was really kind of fun. Now I'm just waiting the WFR call that demands stabilizing the c-spine and evacuating... is it bad I will be a little excited if I'm ever on call for that accident?? I hope I get to ride in the helicopter...

Madison had a great time with Grandma A that week, although, all the time without us produced a clingy little girl in the end. But the hugs and love was very welcomed after so many long days. She is now 14.5 months old and doing a ton of fun things!! She loves to babble on and on in her fluent "alien" talk, and has a few more words in her vocabulary, however, almost anything that moves is still a doggie or a turtle. And no, she still isn't saying mama. Now and then I catch her making the "ma" sound slowly, so I try to encourage her by saying "mama", but she happily replies with "Dada!". I think we are getting close though... eventually I'm sure.

We've also been very excited to announce our news of Baby Anderson #2, who will be arriving around April 6th! At this point we are pretty sure we won't find out the gender until the birth. I've heard it's one of the greatest surprises life can give you, and if we can just make it, I'd love to experience it!! However, Aaron and I are really really terrible with surprises! We can't even wait a few days with a gift for the other one... the only real chance we have of waiting until the occasion is if we hold out and do our shopping last minute, but even then, there's a slim chance. I think once we are past the 20 week ultra sound, if we can make it past without finding out, then we will be alright. Just got to get there first! At this point, I'm really thinking it's a boy though. I didn't have a leaning one way or the other until our first ultra sound, and since, I've just had this feeling. I had it with Madison, and I as right, so we will see if it's really a natural built in mommy thing, but I'm skeptical of those to begin with.

So far this pregnancy I'm feeling fine. Now and then I may get an over all not feeling well moment, but part of me thinks it's all in my head, and part of me thinks that there really isn't any nausea involved in those moments, so maybe it's just a non-pregnancy related feeling. but, I'm truly hoping this pregnancy is as easy as Madison's was! Except all the hip pain... I can do without that this time.

Seeing the Unseen, by T.W. Hunt

Well, here it is y'all, my first book review. : )

Seeing the Unseen is a simple and concise book, which focuses on motivating and leading you to a deeper personal walk with our God and Savior. However, there is a difference in his approach then the typical spiritual help books you may have filling your shelves. The author, T.W. Hunt, focuses on faith itself, breaking it down and emphasizing the things that can enhance or endanger our faith, thus affecting our walk with God and the ability to see His work scattered throughout the mundane in our days. He doesn’t do this through long wordy chapters, but is concise and straight to the point. He breaks faith down; it’s role, what it is, the “pathway” to having faith, etc., giving scripture upon scripture, walking you through and truly opening your eyes to the areas you may need to focus on as you grow closer to Christ. As you read, you find Hunt has an obvious passion to help others pursue the depths of God’s faithfulness the way he has experienced in his own life, and if you read with the intent to learn and apply, this will happen.

I received this book free from NavPress Publishers as part of their Blogger Review Program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commision's 16 CFR, Part 255: "Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.

Books, Books, Books!!!

I've always had a love of reading. My dad use to always tell people how I couldn't keep my nose out of books from a very early age. Of course, reading every Goosebumps known to man, as well as other classic childhood favorites from my time eventually faded out with the onset of puberty and the ability to drive a car. There was so much I could be doing, rather than stick my nose in a book. And of course, then came college, where I began to want to read more, but had too many books I had to read, and didn't really desire to. And that was my excuse for five years!! When I wasn't in school I was so grateful I didn't have to be reading something, pleasure reading just didn't sound fun. Then came life and work and a baby, and a wishlist of books in the back of my mind. Of course, some reading did get done in that time, but nowhere near what I would have liked.

Now here I am, in the middle of nowhere, with no TV, no cell service, and only the internet and the pool for a distraction!! I'm loving it!! We've been here 2 weeks and I've already finished a 480 page book, which a similar size book from the same author took me over a year a few years back, and the sequel took about 5 months!! Of course, sweet Madison doesn't allow me to do much reading with her running around, but I do have nap times for the most part, as long as I have kept up with other household things during other times.

Thanks to my friend Jenny, (THANKS for this info Jenny!!), I've also joined a few blogging review programs (google it and you'll find tons!) from various publishers I tend to favor. It's amazingly simple, and you get free books, to keep!! There are only certain books you can choose from, and they seem to be mostly new on the market. You have to have a blog (check) and like to read (check) and agree to write a 200 word review on the book and stick a little note at the end that this publishing company sent you the book free for the reviewing... easy enough (and check!) Send them the link and the book is yours to keep, and you don't have to pay postage either!! Not only will this help build my collection, but since there are only certain books you can choose from, it will help broaden my collection into books I may not have picked up otherwise. So yes, you can look for my blogging book reviews in a short while. It also helps living in the middle of nowhere, where there isn't a library close at hand. I joined 4 publishers blogging review sites, for more selection as well. If I don't have time, I just don't request a new one. Pretty stinkin' simple!!

So, I have posted a new tab up top with my wish list of books to read. Some have been on this list a very very long time, and some were started but not finished, or barely started at all. My personal rules are to rotate between fiction and non-fiction, or it would be very easy to just read the fiction forever. It's my favorite, and I am much faster at reading them. But, I'm pretty excited about the whole thing to be honest... so, I'm going to go start my next non-fiction book right now!! Simplify Your Spiritual Life by Donald Whitney. I had his wife for class in SWI and she was wonderful!!! Aaron also had him for a professor and he is one of the best! He's also written Spiritual Disciplines for he Christian Life. A book Aaron and I have both read a few years ago... highly recommended, and I'm sure this one will be too!!

Life as we know it...

The last few weeks has been a great journey!

Madison has begun to settle a little and get back to her regular two nap schedule, as well as sleeping through the night again, which is great! She hasn't been consistent at that since she was so sick for February and March, but she has slept every night through since we arrived here Monday. (Hopefully this doesn't jinx it!) She became very clingy and emotional the last week, and although she is still clingy, she's beginning to return to her outgoing little center of attention around the camp. She also has another cold, which will hopefully end soon. Her cough is starting to get that breaking up sound, so praying it is almost done running its course.

We are finally here is the middle of the middle of nowhere, Texas. It is beautiful, but a different kind of beauty then the NC and TN hills I am used while working at camps. Aaron has started working some half days with the old director, gleaning as much as he can. But, the old director is packing up his home and moving in about ten days, so he is also a little extra busy with that. Aaron has really appreciated the time he has had with Jason, and I am sure they will be staying in contact, especially as the new walkabout season begins in the fall. Aaron is already having to make some pretty big decisions on student applications for the fall. It's not easy to decide who can come and who can't. But there are some amazing opportunities with different churches and such who are using this program as part of a very long term discipleship program for their youth. This program is much bigger then we could have imagined outside of this camp. It's wonderful!

We are fully unpacked, minus books, but we need to buy new bookshelves before we can unpack those. We are also busy starting to paint and make this home a little more personal. I am very excited at the amount of space we have! It's almost too big for us at this stage in our life, but hopefully we will grow into it as a family. There are so many deer and elk around as well. We saw a HUGE elk on our driveway the other day (which is 8 miles of dirt road.) And a 6 point axis deer right out our back door the other afternoon. Apparently, all axis deer are 6 points, but they are measured by the length of the spread of the rack, so I don't know what that would have been. But they are pretty deer with lots of spots. We also have some regulars at our hummingbird feeder as well as a "mud" type nest under the awning of our front porch with one little speckled egg and two beautiful parents with blue feathers and yellow bellies.

It's been good getting to know some of our fellow staff, but they are very busy right now too, as the summer college staff have just arrived and training is in full swing for two more weeks until the first week of campers arrives. It's so beautiful here, and I am anxious to see how the summer runs around here. It's a little different to be the full time staff with a child, when my camp experience has always been the summer staff, playing with full time staff children in spare time. It's a whole new perspective, but I'm very excited about it.

I had my first tiny bit of missing Louisville last night. I was looking at my profile picture which is on Southern's campus, and it made me miss the pretty quad and the green grass. I know when we are fully settled and I begin to set into a routine, I will realize all that has been left behind and miss it a lot for a while. But that's how it works. We always have something to grieve when starting something new. It's inevitable, but I have an amazing husband to love on me while we miss things here and there. But, as for right now, I'd just like this painting to be done!!!