I Couldn’t Love You More

I Couldn’t Love You More

By Jason Ingram and Matt Hammitt

This is a beautiful illustrated hardback picture book for your little one or even just for you! The message is simple.  Jesus is always with you and Jesus loves you more than even your parents can. It expresses the complete love of the parent for the child. The illustrations in this book are just gorgeous.  I would like to purchase another copy of this book just so I can remove some of the pages and frame them for my wall.

This book was inspired by one of the author’s child’s diagnosis with a heart defect.  One of the pages especially touched my heart.  It says, ”You are mine for a moment but you are His Forever His.” I lost my middle daughter minutes after she was born to the birth defects caused by anencephaly. After carrying her for nine months and giving birth to her, she was literally only mine for a moment, but I was comforted by the belief that she went immediately from my arms into the arms of Jesus.

Also, being a foster parent who is hoping to adopt, it is always gut wrenching when a child that has been in my care is placed with a family member and leaves our home. It is comforting to know that no matter where that child goes, even though I can’t be with them anymore, Jesus is always with them.

This would be a lovely book to give to departing foster children, to your own child, or to a new grandchild. This book was provided to me by Tyndale publishers for my review. They have also given me a coupon for another copy so I can share this book with one of my blog followers. If you would like a chance to own a copy of this book Please leave a comment telling me who in your life you would like to ensure knows that Jesus loves them more than anyone on earth. I will randomly choose a comment on Monday morning July 2,2012. 

Quilt Block Fun

My first quilt in a magazine

I am finally getting settled in my new Quilting space. I have so much more room to spread out and sew. I am looking forward to all the fun things I will be creating in this space. I have big plans. My first big project to come out of my new sewing space is a Quilt for Quiltmakers 100 blocks volume 5. I have been testing blocks for Quiltmaker,for the last three issues. While I was working away testing blocks for issue 5. I was asked if I wanted to make a quilt using blocks from that issue. I was tickled! I got to work right away looking through the blocks to pick just the right ones for my quilt. I tried a few different ones out. When we test for the magazine we work on 12-15 blocks. For this project I had about 30 blocks to choose from. After playing around I finally settled on one. I then made a simpler version of that block to be my alternate block. I think the two make a great pair.

I am so proud to have a quilt pictured in a national magazine. My hope is that this is the first of many.
Her is a hodge podge of some of the blocks I have tested over the past 2 years.

Some of these are from previous issues but I wanted to share them. All these patterns can be found in Quiltmakers 100 blocks volumes 3,4 or 5 Please feel free to ask me if you want to know about a specific one.

A marriage book that will be of benefit to all.

 

I recently read Happily Ever After by Gary Chapman. The book is by an author that I have enjoyed many titles from. I read this book looking forward to more good advice. I was not disappointed. I feel this book is a culmination of all his other great books. It had highlights from his other books along with more great new advice to benefit anyone no matter what season of marriage he or she is in.
The book is broken up into chapters that each deal with a different area of marriage and family. One can skip to the section that would be of most benefit at the time or can read the whole book to get oodles of good advice. I like how each chapter has a review of the concepts shared and also has action steps that one can start applying right away. I have taught marriage classes to a military ladies groups for the last 10 years and this will be a great book to teach in the near future because of how all inclusive it is in dealing with situations that all married couples face.
This book is a must for anyone. I think it would even be great to give as a wedding gift to a newly married couple. I will be purchasing a few copies to share. I have already purchased the audio version so I can share it with my hubby when we are riding in the car. The audio version has a pdf file with it that contains all the additional tools and resources that make the book so wonderful.
I was given a copy of this book to review by Tyndale.

Kids in your own neighborhood are seeking adoption

Wait No More by Kelly and John Rosati

Please read this book if you are interested in adopting a child through your State’s Social Service Agency. It can be a rewarding experience. My family is a foster-adopt family in my state. I chose to review this book for Tyndale for that very reason – it is a subject I am very interested in.

The Rosati’s wanted a family but found that adoption was going to be their only option. Since they were stationed in Hawaii with the Air Force at the time they decided to pursue this option, they adopted there. The process is much the same in all 50 states. Eventually they adopted 2 boys and 2 girls, although that was not their original intention. The many twists and turns of the process and the various situations are what make this book interesting reading and strike a chord with others who have gone through or are going through this process.

The Rosati’s had several career changes and moves within the U.S. during the course of this book. The thing that shines out in this book is their love for and dedication to the rights of our country’s orphans. There are a lot of children right here in the U.S. waiting for a forever home and many of them will never have one because the need is great for people to choose adoption. Birth parents are not always able to be there for their kids for a variety of reasons, but the child is an innocent victim of the circumstances and deserves the love and stability of a family.

You will find as you read about the Rosatis’ experiences that the going gets really tough really fast and there are many hurdles to overcome with each child, but the rewards are great. If you are interested in adopting or have adopted, you will want to read this book. And maybe, if you weren’t even considering it, you will consider adoption after reading this book. In any case, you will enjoy reading it.

A DVD series you should watch with your teen.

This is a set of 2 DVDS containing 10 lectures on the reliability of the Bible. Dr. Stephen Meyer is conducting a college course of lectures and each section is one of the lectures. It covers from the Patriarchs through the New Testament account of Jesus’ trial.  There are 5 25-minute lectures on each DVD and also included in the set is a 96-page discussion guide.

These lectures are very much in the same format as Dr. Del Tackett’s Truth Project series and made by the same people. Although this is a college course, it is easily understandable by laymen. In fact, my pre-teen daughter found it very interesting. Dr. Meyer explains the minimalist view and talking points and then gives archaeological and historical evidence which backs up the Biblical Truth.

While I take the Word of the Bible on faith, it is still very satisfying to have some evidence and facts to back it up and give an answer to the naysayers. I will listen to this series multiple times to try to gain all the information that I can from it and will incorporate it into my daughters’ homeschool studies so that they too can gain this knowledge. This series was sent to me by Tyndale for review but I would have purchased it myself at some point anyway when I learned about it.

PLAN to be touched by the unPlanned Truth!

Abby Johnson was raised in a Christian home and led a storybook life. At 17, she went off to college and as an impressionable and inquisitive girl she looked for causes that interested her. She developed a relationship with a man and found that she was pregnant.  He took her to have an abortion and made it seem very normal. A couple of years later, she was pregnant again and took the abortion pill. Then the relationship ended. About the time she finished college she started volunteering for Planned Parenthood because they presented to her that she would be helping women make important choices in their lives. Eventually, much to her parents’ chagrin, Abby became an employee of Planned Parenthood and eventually became the director of the facility in Bryan College Station, TX.

Working in the Planned Parenthood facility she was constantly faced with fielding the Right to Life people outside the fence. She noted that the ones that wore bizarre costumes and shouted evil things to the women coming to the clinic only enforced the stereotype of the crazy right to lifers. Those that really made an impression on her though were the quiet, respectful, dedicated people that stood out there and prayed every day and counseled the women that were entering the facility. She made up her mind to get along with those people, rather than be confrontational like previous directors had been.

One day Abby was called to assist an abortion doctor in the clinic who was doing an ultrasound as he did the procedure.  She was shocked and dismayed to see the child on the ultrasound and watch it sucked out in pieces. She immediately knew that what she had been telling people for years and what she had been told was not true. She also knew immediately that she could no longer be a party to it.

She resigned from Planned Parenthood and sought counsel from the Coalition for Life people that she had conversed with in front of the clinic for years. She has become an advocate for Life and speaks all over the country. Planned Parenthood tried to intimidate her by filing an injunction against her but it was dismissed in court.

You can see a trailer for this life changing and thought provoking DVD on YouTube. I encourage you all to watch this DVD. It is so eye opening. Share it with friends and also watch it with your kids. I believe boys need to be educated aobut this just as much as boys. 

This is a story of how God can turn a life around in an instant. Just as Paul’s life was changed in an instant on the Road to Damascus, Abby Johnson’s whole life’s course was altered in front of that ultrasound monitor that day.

Tyndale House sent me this DVD to review and I am having a contest on my blog to give away a certificate for a free copy to one lucky winner. Please comment on my blog to have a chance to win this certificate. The drawing will be Monday, May 23. If you don’t win that is OK. The day after my drawing for this DVD there is going to be a Unite for LIFE webcast. It is a free webcast featuring Abby Johnson that will benefit pregnancy care organizations. You can sign up to participate on May 17 at 8:00 p.m. (in all time zones) at www.uniteforlifewebcast.org. Unplanned the book and the DVD will be available for purchase as a package deal and 33% of each purchase will go to crisis pregnancy centers like CareNet, the National Institute of Family & Life Advocates, and Heartbeat International.

The best way you can help those in need and help them choose life is to know the facts and find out all you can. Always have a compassionate and sensitive heart to those in need. Most of all Pray!