Free books on FRIDAY

SYLVAN DELL PUBLISHING TO OFFER SEVENTY EBOOKS FREE IN HONOR OF READ ACROSS AMERICA DAY

Mount Pleasant, S.C. (Feb. 29, 2011)–Sylvan Dell Publishing will be participating in Read Across America Day by offering all of its award-winning eBooks FREE to read at www.sylvandellpublishing.com on March 2.  Participants will have access to Sylvan Dell’s full eBook Site License including eBooks with auto-flip, auto-read, and selectable English and Spanish text and audio. This is in addition to the free activities available every day including a “For Creative Minds” educational section, 40-70 pages of free teaching activities, three quizzes, and a related websites page for each title. 

Sylvan Dell co-owner and editor Donna German states, “We are proud to offer children a simple way to participate in Read Across America Day.  By offering our full eBook Site License we also make it easy not only for children to read and explore our great books, but we make it easy for parents and teachers to use each book as stepping stone to learning with our “For Creative Minds” section and our free teaching activities.” 

Sylvan Dell Publishing’s mission is to excite children’s imaginations with artistically spectacular science, math, and nature-themed stories.  Founded in November of 2004, Sylvan Dell has grown to include more than 75 authors and illustrators in the United States and Canada, and 70 titles—honored as finalists or winners of over 70 book awards.  Sylvan Dell’s Science and Math Through Literature Program integrates science, math, geography, character skills, and language learning through fun, cross-curricular activities.  

To participate in Sylvan Dell Publishing’s Read Across America eBook event, simply visit www.sylvandellpublishing.com on March 2 and click on the Read Across America icon in the upper right-hand corner of the website. For questions or concerns, call Sylvan Dell Publishing directly at (877) 243-3457 or email info@sylvandellpublishing.com.  

Ruby Dawn by Raquel Byrnes

This week, the Christian Fiction Blog Alliance is introducing Ruby Dawn White Rose Publishing (January 27, 2012) by Raquel Byrnes

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Raquel married her college sweetheart seventeen years ago and you can still find them spending time together chatting over a cup of coffee like when they were first dating.

Her husband is her biggest fan and most ardent supporter. He encourages her to take time for writing as often as he can. He regularly gives her gift cards to her favorite coffee house so that she can go there to write and relax.

He has been known to whip up his famous chicken quesadillas complete with guacamole and brownies for dessert.

Raquel has written books for more than a decade. She loves to do research and has taken private detective courses, gun classes, and underground tours to get every detail right for her novels. She writes romantic suspense with an edge-of-your-seat pace. Stories filled with faith, love, and adventure.

In 2009 she signed with agent, Terry Burns, at Hartline Literary. Terry worked to get her Shades of Hope series sold and in 2010, White Rose Publishing purchased the three-book series.

ABOUT THE BOOK

A painful past. A love returns A desperate plan.

Former street kid, Ruby now reaches out to runaways through her medical clinic in the worst part of the city, but her escalating battle with a gang leader puts that in jeopardy.

Cavalier, a risk-taker, charming… Ruby’s first love is now on the right side of the law and the center of a dangerous DEA sting involving her clinic. Tom’s disappearance ten years ago broke her heart and rattled her faith. As their romance relights, memories of what it costs to love him flood her with fear.

Ruby’s battle with the gang ignites a firestorm of danger, and a pattern of lies from within her own camp emerges. With Tom’s life in the balance and her world cast in shadows, can Ruby trust God as she once did…or has she strayed too far, for too long to ever return?

Watch the book video:



If you would like to read the first chapter of Ruby Dawn, go HERE.

A Sweethaven Summer by Courtney Walsh

This week, the Christian Fiction Blog Alliance is introducing A Sweethaven Summer Guidepost Books (February 7, 2012) by Courtney Walsh
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Courtney Walsh is a published author, scrapbooker, theater director, and playwright. Her debut novel, A Sweethaven Summer, will be followed by two additional novels in the series. She’s also written two papercrafting books, Scrapbooking Your Faith and The Busy Scrapper. Courtney has been a contributing editor for Memory Makers Magazine and Children’s Ministry Magazine and is a frequent contributor to Group Publishing curriculum. She works as the PR Manager for Webster’s Pages from her home in Colorado, where she lives with her husband and three kids, who range in age from 4 to 10. Courtney drinks entirely too much coffee.

ABOUT THE BOOK

Suzanne's daughter, Campbell, journeys there in search of answers to her questions about her mother's history.Suzanne's three friends-Lila, Jane, and Meghan-were torn apart by long-buried secrets and heartbreak. Though they haven't spoken in years, each has pieces of a scrapbook they made together in Sweethaven. Suzanne's letters have lured them all back to the idyllic lakeside town, where they meet Campbell and begin to remember what was so special about their long Sweethaven summers. As the scrapbook reveals secrets one by one, old wounds are mended, lives are changed, and friendships are restored-just as Suzanne intended.

If you would like to read the first chapter of A Sweethaven Summer, go HERE.

guest article Hot vs. Pretty...what do you think are they the same???

today I'm going to direct you to an article I thought was pretty good. It is by author and speaker Sheila Wray Gregoire....Well you're going to get a tease here. You'll have to head to her site for the full article. But it is so good and to the point.

Every Friday my syndicated column appears in a bunch of newspapers in southeastern Ontario. Here’s this week’s, which was inspired by a post I saw at Traditional Christianity.

When my daughters were little they loved playing dress-up. They had bins of skirts and tiaras and little high-heeled plastic shoes that they would don for their own fashion shows. Though some feminists may wish to deny it, I think there is a feminine instinct to enjoy being The Beauty.

While I personally don’t go overboard—I have been known to venture to the grocery store without lipstick, and I have driven my teenage daughter to work while still in pyjamas—on the whole I try to look presentable. When I do, I feel better about myself. I feel more ready to take on the world. Put on earrings and lipstick, and I actually work harder. Appearance, whether we like it or not, does reflect how we see ourselves and how we act.

Lately, though, I fear that the idea of what is attractive and beautiful has become distorted. So let me perfectly blunt: hot and pretty are not interchangeable.... (read the rest of the article here.) 

weekend thinking....

"Put on therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering;.. And above all these things put on charity, which is the bond of perfectness."  ~  Colossians 3:12 & 14 KJV  (my fav. translation)


"Whose adorning let it not be that outward adorning of plaiting the hair, and of wearing of gold, or of putting on of apparel;  But let it be the hidden man of the heart, in that which is not corruptible, even the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit, which is in the sight of God of great price."  ~ I Peter 3:3 & 4 KJV

feel better recipe round-up

This week's Menu of the Week features five of our favorite recipes from Mom's Very Best Recipes. SO, in keeping with the MOM theme, today's Recipe Round-Up will be all about those recipes that never fail to make you feel better when you or your loved ones are feeling under the weather!

(Plus, it's kinda sniffle season anyway, right? Never hurts to be prepared!)

So, whether YOUR mom made it for you when you were sick
or whether YOU make it for your kids to perk them up, tell us...

What are YOUR favorite FEEL-BETTER recipes?
Share 'em all in today's Recipe Round-Up!

---

Here's one of our favorites from Mom's Very Best Recipes...enjoy!

Mom's Champion Chicken Soup
This feel-better recipe was shared by Melody Taynor of Everett, Washington. She writes, "Guaranteed to chase away the chills! For extra goodness, use homemade chicken broth...you’ll need about 10 cups."
1 T. butter
1/2 c. onion, chopped
1/2 c. celery, chopped
2 32-oz. containers chicken broth
14-1/2 oz. can chicken broth
1 c. cooked chicken, diced
1 c. carrots, peeled and sliced
2 t. dried parsley
salt and pepper to taste
1-1/2 c. thin egg noodles, uncooked
Melt butter in a stockpot over medium heat. Sauté onion and celery in butter until just tender, about 5 minutes. Pour in broth; add remaining ingredients except noodles. Bring to a boil; stir in noodles. Reduce heat slightly and simmer for 15 to 20 minutes, until noodles are tender. Makes 6 servings.

Three Hearts DVD By: Samaritan's Purse

I didn't know what I was in for when I said, "I'd review this movie"  WoW what an eye opener.  Talk about touching.  This is a hour and a half documentary of the Children's Heart Project by Samaritan's Purse.  If you don't know anything about this organization before you watch the movie you'll be inspired to get involved afterward.  You'll follow 3 Mongolian children from start to finish on how they were selected to receive their heart surgery. The movie describes their condition and also the surgery that will take place.  You'll see interviews with the patients and their families.  You also get to got to Mongolia to pick-up the patients and bring them to the US for the surgery.  Follow through with the surgery and recovery.  You take the journey and find out the challenges that lie ahead of each patient.  They are fighters and find a faith and new life in the One that changes the heart.  Find out more about Samaritan's Purse Organization here

Thanks to Angie and flypropeller I have the opportunity to offer one of my blog readers with the chance to win a copy of Three Hearts DVD.  this would be a wonderful movie to show to church group that is looking to get involved in a mission type project.  It will stir hearts to action and explain about the organization and process in choosing patients to receive heart surgery.  Watch the video trailer, look around on their web site and leave a comment as to why you'd like to win this dvd.  Be sure to leave a way of contact.  Please US residents only I will choose a winner on Mar. 10th




Christian Book Distributors

 

About Three Hearts:

A passionate team of people work to save the lives of three Mongolian children with life-threatening heart defects.

Graduating college senior, Cissie Graham Lynch, granddaughter of evangelist Billy Graham, takes on an internship at Samaritan’s Purse working with the Children’s Heart Project. This project is dedicated to saving the lives of children by providing medical procedures that aren’t available in many countries. Cissie is charged with supervising the arrival and surgeries of three Mongolian children suffering from fatal congenital heart defects.

But the task is not easy and filled with unexpected challenges.  Cissie balances responsibilities as a newly married wife to a professional football player and her tasks with the internship.  Meanwhile the Children’s Heart team turns to a Texas family who travels to Mongolia for the adventure of a lifetime to help bring the children to San Antonio for their surgeries.  In Texas, two host families make sacrifices to care for these children and their mothers, while a team of doctors and nurses volunteer their time only to stare directly into the face of life and death. How far would you go to save a life?
It’s a fight for survival, a fight of faith, and a fight for a new life for these three hearts.

In exchange for my honest review an ecode to watch this movie on-line was provided for this review and copy of the dvd for the giveaway by flypropeller

"Disclosure of Material Connection: I received one or more of the products or services mentioned above for free in the hope that I would mention it on my blog. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be good for my readers.  I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission's 16 CFR, Part 255: 

"Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising."

Winner...Winner

Congrats to you on winning my followers hop giveaway

Into the Free by Julie Cantrell

This week, the Christian Fiction Blog Alliance is introducing Into the Free David C. Cook (February 1, 2012) by Julie Cantrell

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

A speech-language pathologist and literacy advocate, Julie Cantrell was the editor-in-chief of the Southern Literary Review and currently teaches English as a second language to elementary students. She has been a freelance writer for ten years and has published two children’s books. Julie and her family live in Mississippi where they operate Valley House Farm.

Julie served as contributing editor to MOMSense magazine and wrote content for Mothers of Preschoolers, Intl. for nearly a decade. Additionally, she has contributed to more than a dozen books. Into Th Free is her first book.

ABOUT THE BOOK

Just a girl. The only one strong enough to break the cycle.

In Depression-era Mississippi, Millie Reynolds longs to escape the madness that marks her world. With an abusive father and a “nothing mama,” she struggles to find a place where she really belongs.

For answers, Millie turns to the Gypsies who caravan through town each spring. The travelers lead Millie to a key which unlocks generations of shocking family secrets. When tragedy strikes, the mysterious contents of the box give Millie the tools she needs to break her family’s longstanding cycle of madness and abuse.

Through it all, Millie experiences the thrill of first love while fighting to trust the God she believes has abandoned her. With the power of forgiveness, can Millie finally make her way into the free?

Watch the book video:



If you would like to read the first chapter of Into the Free, go HERE.

copyKat recipes free.....

CopyKat cookies get your free eBook today.

Click here

4+ hours of Bliss

Well my Friday night Sew-in was just that.  I closed up the house and turned on the lights, (room lights, lava light, and candle (apple cinnamon oh, yummy smell filled the house) put on the music added some food and away I stitched all night.  Was seated on my comfy couch seat from 4-9 pm.  Well, I took a short break to make me some supper....

it was a quick one, had some serious sewing to do.  Chicken sandwich but it was yummy

and of course I had to top it off with a little sssshhhh don't tell item....

my own homemade Chocolate Mint mocha topped with cool whip and kisses too.

had to take a quick break to pull laundry out of the dryer and use the little girls room, but other than that I had my little ol' self planted right on the couch all night long.....

while I listened to my favorite music

what else than Threads of Love by Lorie Line
oh she's good! 

I'd love to go to her concert some day.
Yes!  I'm a fan!!!!!

oh, before I started in the living room I made my contribution to my mom's quilt that I'm making for her....

Ultimately my whole night was working on the quilt in a round-about-way.
You see mom asked me to make this cross-stitch for her 

Saying:  Grandpa and Grandma's House 

where cousins become best friends.

and so I thought it would be fun to make it into a quilt and have grand-kids and great-grand kids make quilt square to add to it.  I haven't figured it all out yet and I don't know what the outcome will look like, but non-the-less in my mind I think it will work.  ;-P 

here are two of the 40 some squares....

I sure hope it turns out.  I have more squares to get in the mail so I can get them back.  However, the cross-stitching part isn't done yet so we aren't ready for assembly quite yet.  So without further ado here is what the cross-stitch is looking like.....

before FNSI

After FNSI

It's taking shape quite well.  I just hope the final product turns out just as good.  

Sew is what I did last night.
How about you? What did you get accomplished last night?

cute as a button idea

My Valentine Surprise

My daughter surprised me with this 

LOVE-ly ring 

on Valentine's Day.

I just had to show it off.