Book Review: When God Created My Toes

I received When God Created My Toes by Dandi Daley Mackall for review from bloggingforbooks.com. I am so glad I selected this book! It is such a sweet little book to read with preschool age children. Great book to discuss how we're all created beautifully and wonderfully by God. Cute illustrations and quick read for those with short attention spans! I would recommend this book for preschoolers and beginning readers!

Book Review: The Christmas Singing

I received The Christmas Singing by Cindy Woodsmall from Blogging For Books for review. I have read many of Cindy Woodsmall and always enjoy them, but I especially love this book because of the characters! Mattie, an Amish cake baker/decorator in Ohio, loses her cake shop in a fire. When she returns to her parents' home in Pennsylvania for the Thanksgiving/Christmas holidays, she is forced to face her past relationship with her childhood sweetheart, Gideon.

I absolutely loved the character development and plot. This is a wonderful, heart warming story to read during the holiday season! Cindy Woodsmall even included a couple cake recipes at the end of the book!!! This is a very QUICK and EASY read!

Book Review: Forever Faithful

I received Forever Faithful by Karen Kingsbury for review from BloggingforBooks.com. This is the complete trilogy: Waiting for Morning, A Moment of Weakness, and Halfway to Forever.

Karen Kingsbury is a great writer and really does a great job conveying faith and hope throughout all of her books. She also did a great job developing her characters so that you can relate to each and everyone of them in some way... even if you are not going through the exact same tragedy. I found the stories heart breaking and at the same time providing a lot of hope. I liked how there is a message from Karen for the readers at the end of each book.

Even though it is great to have all 3 books in one, I would have preferred them to actually be separately bound. This trilogy is a bit bulky to carry around. I would recommend purchasing each book separately instead.

Book Review: Hermie A Common Caterpillar

I received the book Hermine A Common Caterpillar by Max Lucado from Tommy Nelson publishing! This is a beautifully illustrated book for level two readers. Hermie is a caterpillar without any spots or stripes, and feels so common compared to strong ants, beautiful butterflies, black spotted lady bugs, and very large snails. He prays throughout the book to God about why God had made him so common. Throughout the book, God answers with "I love you just the way you are. But I'm not finished with you yet!" The story is very sweet and has great lessons on praying and God making everyone special. I would recommend this book for children of all ages, whether they can read for themselves, or have it read to them as a bed time story!

Book Review: The Power of a Praying Wife

I was able to get a copy of The Power of a Praying Wife from church during our last Work Day. I had heard only great things about the book, so I decided to give it a try... and now I know why!! This book is wonderful! It is broken down to 30 small chapters that can be read in 10 minutes each covering a variety of topics. Each chapter includes a prayer and couple verses that relate to the topic. Stormie does a great job explaining why we need to pray for our husband in these areas, but also in a way which causes you to see the flaws in your own life and areas where you need to pray for yourself as well! She is very open and has some amazing testimonies of how prayer has changed not only her and her husband's lives and marriage, but lives and marriages of other couples who were struggling with difficult life and marriage issues!

I HIGHLY recommend this book for EVERY wife and wife to be! Whether getting married in a month, just married or married for 20 years! This is a great way to spiritually support your marriage. With society the way it is... we can use every tool in our tool belt!

I look forward to reading some of Stormie's other books:

- The Power of a Praying Parent

- The Power of a Praying Woman

- The Power of a Praying Husband (I want my husband to read that one! :)

If I could give this book 10 starts out of 5, I would! There should be a copy of this book in every household!!! I hope this book will bless you and your marriage as much as it did for us!

Book Review: Awakening

I received Awakening by Stovall Weems for free for review from Water Brook Multnomah for free. This is a 21 day devotional focused helping you becoming more passionate about your relationship with God. The book is broken into 3 parts. The first part talks about what awakening is. Part two focuses on prayer, fasting (not from food, but from a worldly mindset), and coming to agreement with God's will. Each chapter has an "Awakening Story" to inspire the reader. Part three is a 21 day devotional. It has references to scripture, Bible reading plan, prayer focus, and a section for journaling. The devotional also has a reading plan for the first 2 parts of the book if a reader chooses to follow that plan to read the first 2 parts. There are also small group questions in the back.

The author is slightly wordy throughout the chapters, but has great content and strong scriptural support. I would recommend this book for anyone who is interested in growing a deeper relationship with God.

Book Review: 100 Read & Sing Devotions

As a preschool teacher, I loved using the 100 Read & Sing Devotions. This book and CD combo is perfect for little ones with short attention spans. The devotions are quick and to the point. They include Bible stories, value-based lessons, and songs to go along with each theme! A whole lesson plan in one! The songs are easy ways for the kids to learn the lessons. The illustrations are great.

Each devotion includes a "Word Watch" (Biblical reference), a prayer for the day, and also a commentary. The book is written is simple language and great for beginning readers.

The CDs includes songs such as "Jesus Loves Me", "Zacchaeus Was a Wee Little Man", "The B-I-B-L-E" and many more children's favorites!! I highly recommend this book for all families with little ones!

I received this book for review for free from Thomas Nelson Publishers!