Paws & Tales: Being Kind and Caring

This DVD contains two episodes of a delightful series for children created by Chuck Swindoll. The Club consists of some kids (animals who talk and are dressed like children) who are mentored by a big bear named “Papa Chuck.” Playing time is approximately 50 minutes. These two episodes are all about a go-cart race that gets out of hand in a number of ways. Taught amidst the action are forgiveness, teamwork, kindness and friendship. This reminds me of some of the cartoon series my children used to enjoy but with some character training thrown into the mix. The stories are highly enjoyable and ones my grandkids will enjoy watching over and over. Also included are some downloadable related activity files. I received my copy of this DVD from Tyndale House for review purposes.

Song of My Heart by Kim Vogel Sawyer

When I picked up this book to read I expected to have a wonderful time reading this book. As always, I was not disappointed. Kim Vogel Sawyer never disappoints. I love to read about read Christians with real life dilemmas and I love to read about Kansas so this book was a winning combination. A young girl (Sadie) is forced by circumstances to go to Kansas where her cousin has found her a position as a clerk in a mercantile and also an opportunity to sing in a new opera house. Her father’s illness has created a situation in which Sadie much earn money to support her parents and her young siblings.

When Sadie joins her cousin Sid in Goldtree, Kansas things aren’t quite what she had expected. She likes her job in the mercantile with the Baxter sisters, but their brother Asa who has hired her to sing isn’t quite on the up and up. Her growing affection for the new sheriff, Thad McKane, is complicated by the fact that Mr. Baxter wants her to keep some information about his operation secret.

This story is about an interesting piece of Kansas history – Prohibition. Ms. Sawyer has handled the subject in good detail and this puts human feelings and aspirations into what was a couple of rather uninteresting paragraphs in our history books.

The characters in the book are all interesting folks – Miss Shelva and Miss Melva, the twin sisters of Asa Baxter that seem to think in tandem; cousin Sid, who was Sadie’s favorite cousin in childhood and stands ready to defend her as a young adult; Thad McKane, whose past makes him want to do more for God and must discover what avenue God would have him pursue; Sadie, whose love of family puts her into an untenable position which her Christian upbringing pulls her through; and other people whose Christian lives shone through in their dealings with others.

I received a free copy of this book from Bethany House for review. But I definitely would have bought this one anyway!

The story kept me wondering how it would all turn out in the end and trusting that the faith of these people would set them free in the end. I love stories about people living their faith that aren’t preachy – just very REAL. Kim Vogel Sawyer is the Queen of making it REAL!

A Miracle for Jen by Linda Barrick

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ye1IKm9TBmQ
www.tyndale.com


This book will utterly change your life and your perceptions of God. This is the story of a girl who was severely brain injured in a tragic car accident and against all odds, lived to tell about it. No one, especially the neurosurgeons expected her to live, but she held on. When she emerged from her coma she couldn’t talk clearly or do most simple tasks for herself. She had no short term memory. But she spent hours praying and singing and praising the Lord in a clear, normal voice. She was a miracle in many ways. The doctors had warned her parents that brain injured people usually wake up shouting obscenities that no one even knew they knew (even Christians), but not Jen! She woke up praising God and never stopped.

Jen’s healing is not complete even at the writing of this book, five years after her accident, but her recovery has been miraculous and the number of people she has reached with the message of the gospel of Christ is miraculous as well.
I challenge you to read this book. You will never think to ask God, “Why Me?” again. I cannot emphasize enough how life-changing this book is. My Christian walk will never be the same again and I believe everyone who reads this book will be profoundly changed by it.

Would you like to win a copy of this book? Just post a comment on this blog about why you would like to receive the book. A random drawing will be held on April 6 to determine the winner.

You will want to try this course in your homeschool!

The Art of Argument by Classical Academic Press
http://classicalacademicpress.com
3920 Market Street, 3rd Floor
Camp Hill, PA 17011

This curriculum includes a student text, a teacher text and an instructional DVD. The texts are paperbacks of approximately 230 pages. The two textbooks contain exactly the same pages with the exception that the teacher book has the answers filled in on the questions. This is a complete course that takes about a semester to complete. It teaches about all the fallacies and about logic. This course is helpful in preparing students for debate, mock trial and other forensics endeavors. In fact, my student is a Bible quizzer and it has helped her in preparing her contests for the judges.

I was expecting my 9th grader to be resistant to having this course added to her daily workload but she was fascinated from the moment I gave her the book. It is one of her favorite subjects of the day. I also found the course very interesting and I can truly say we have enjoyed every minute of this course. I think this is a course that would enhance every homeschoolers course of study.

In addition to a thorough explanation of each of the fallacies, there are great “plays” featuring Socrates that we enjoyed reading together and other interesting illustrations that “brought home” the concepts.

The Art of Argument, Basic Bundle (3 items listed above) is $88.95. I believe this course would be appropriate for any middle or high schooler. See more about this product at http://homeschoolcrew.com/784685/.

I received this product free of charge for review purposes.

The Promise of Provision by Derek Prince

What a wonderful book by the late Derek Prince. This is not one of those "God wants you to get rich" books. This is a practical guide to living your life in an attitude of abundance. It teaches the Biblical principle that you must be giving in order to receive. It also builds your faith to believe that God has already made provision for you and all you have to do is make arrangements to receive it.

Mr. Prince outlines the 5 Principles of Provision and the 5 Conditions for God's Abundance. This is not anything we haven't heard before and the book is heavy on Scripture quotation (which always is a high recommendation for me), but it puts the pieces together in such a way that it just makes practical sense and takes any mystery out of it.

If you want to live an abundant life, this book would be a great resource for you. It will definitely become a permanent resident of my bookshelf.

Bethany House gave me a free copy of this book to review.

The Essential Guide to Healing by Bill Johnson and Randy Clark

This book is both a testimony of the healing ministries of these two authors and a practical guide to help Christians develop a healing ministry in their own lives. Both of these men have been in the Charismatic healing ministry since the 1970s and have seen many miracles.

Especially helpful is their explanation of how the Word of Knowledge operates in their ministries and in other peoples' lives.

Having lived these same decades in which these men have been ministering in a Pentecostal church, I have seen both effectual and ineffectual prayers for healing. Who would not want to learn more so that they could see these marvelous healings these gentlemen describe? I have seen some but not nearly as many as I would like to. I want to dig deeper and this book is a great guide for that pursuit.

Bethany House provided me a free copy of this book to review. Thank you, Bethany House! It is worth its weight in gold.

The Ultimate Prescription by Dr. James L. Marcum, MD

I found this book very interesting. In fact, I read it straight through cover to cover in one day which is unusual for me to do with a non-fiction book.

Dr. Marcum took the Genesis account of creation and paralleled it to God’s plan for our health, essentially the idea that the Bible is our “Owner’s Manual.” He stressed the need for enough clean air in our environment and enough pure water in our systems. He also pointed out some of the problems with current products on the market such as prescription and over-the-counter drugs, scents, cleaning products, processed food products, etc. Basically he is advocating a vegan lifestyle. I am not sure I agree with him 100% that meat, poultry, fish and milk products were not intended for human consumption because after all, Jesus and his disciples ate fish and the Old Testament is full of instructions about how to prepare meat to eat. But for the most part, I found all the information in this book very helpful and it has given me some incentive to change some of my lifestyle habits. I recommend this book to everyone to read because there is some information here that we don’t find anywhere else.

I received a free copy of this book from Tyndale to review.