This and That...

While the kids were out playing hockey today, and Arthur was out feeding the beef cows, I worked on library stuff. Here's a few of the new things. The "Eden Strings Quartet" was really good and they're farm girls so that makes it just a little more special! Those into playing stringed intruments would enjoy this. It's not just music, but also tells about the family and their farm. "Click, Clack, Jack" is a children's video. Some might say it's not professional enough, but we enjoyed it. Over and over I hear people criticize amateur videoing but I say, "Way to go!". I love it that people are out there trying to make good clean movies even if they might not have a Steven Spielburg quality. Gotta start somewhere. Yes, it's very clean too. "Seven" is another good Lamplighter book. It's about a man who has seven days left to live and how after wasting most of his life, he tries to finish well. It's sad but very good. A very good reminder that our days here on earth may be short and we must do whatever we can to further the cause of Christ.

We had a nice day of rest yesterday after two great services and lunch together. We watched some of the Vikings game at my parents house. No, we're not "into" football but it was fun to watch and too bad they lost. Then Aaron and Naomi came over and they brought a cake and the game "Shoot the Moon". Kinda like Rook. Oh, and back to Friday, Isaac, Caleb and Priscilla , along with the J. boys, went skiing with the Mittons and our local homeschool group. It was Priscilla and Caleb's first time and they are really, really hooked! Priscilla was brave and went down the Black Diamond. Isaac went one other time when he was really young. Sorry, no pictures!

The weather's been kinda strange. It actually rained for several days - something that hardly ever happens in January up here! Then it turned to snow on Saturday and now today it's really windy. So the roads are bad and there's drifts everywhere. Makes feeding the cows a challenge and hauling manure on the field even more so. I'm so glad for a warm house! And all the cows in the barn are warm and the chickens toasty in their calf igloo we keep them in with a heat lamp and bales around it.

Sorry, P. family. I've been working on a slideshow of some of the hilarious faces you all make whenever a camera is pointed your way, my surprise, but somehow, I can't find what I did with the pictures!

Have a great evening with God!

Naomi got a springform pan for Christmas, and last night tried it out on us. She made a delicious cheesecake with a raspberry sauce. We all agreed it was great and hope her pan wears out! Giver her a little warning if you come over and want some!!
In a couple of weeks we'll be putting a new book table out at church. Some of our favorites this time are these two by Ed Dunlop - The Quest for Thunder Mountain and The Golden Dagger. These books are the first in a series called 'Tales from Terrestria' and come after the 'Terrestria Chronicles' which are also excellent books. These books are really clean and are allegories that even I can understand. Your kids would love them! They don't have any "fantasy and wizardry" you might find in other allegories.

Another set I really enjoyed, (I proofread them for the library), is another set by Ed Dunlop called 'The Young Refugees'. It's a trilogy that takes place during WWII about a brother and sister. These also are really clean and the gospel is presented clearly which I really appreciate. Both of these sets of books can be purchased at http://www.talesofcastles.com/ Have a great evening!

Library Favorites...

After looking at the new things for our church library, I'd have to say these are my favorites. The Jungle Doctor missionary story books by Paul White are really good for 8-14 year olds. This is the man that wrote the "Safe as Poison" story and "The Great Wall" which our family has told countless times over the year as a visualized children's story. I guess it's no wonder we like the books. The church kids will like them too. Also got a couple of the Ester Reid books which Naomi and the girls really like.

The "Smuggler's Ransom" video isn't the very best I've seen and and it's too short (50 minutes, which for this movie you could easily watch it if it was much longer). It was still good never-the-less, and since videos clean enough for our church library are hard to come by, we'll keep this one. It is very suspensful and presents the gospel in it somewhat clear. I don't think really young children would probably want to see it because of the suspense and there's lots of gun scenes.

If anyone ever has a "squeaky clean" book or video they think would be worth checking out for our church library please let me know. We basically want things without dating, dancing, bad music, or heavy romance scenes. We do want ones where the children are good, the men spiritual leaders of their families, godly wives, and with good doctrine.

Well, the kids left this morning at 3 am. They should be there right about now. So the house has been quiet and even Priscilla has been engrossed in a book so she's quiet as well. We didn't get snow, thankfully. With a little extra time on my hands today I changed the look of the blog. I'm one of these people that like to change things quite frequently. Not in a "discontented" type way but in a "different look" sorta way!

Books, Books, and More Books

One thing I do for church is purchase books for the church library. The deacons have established some really high standards so you won't find any of the "really" popular christian fiction of the day unless it's really really good. Every three months or so I put out a display of the new books purchased from here and there and with input from a lot of people we've come up with lots of really great material.

This last week we did a new book table and after the awful (just kidding, it's more like the wonderful!) job of "censoring" the books I had to admit that the Bob and Arty books by Jeff Barth were really, really good. If you know a boy, or girl, between 10-15 and younger and older that needs really good reading material you need to recommend these books. There's five in the series and they're about Bob and Arty who are two young guys, 18 and 20, who fly around the world, often with their family, helping out missionaries. They have all kinds of adventures that are very clean, as in the kids aren't brats that know more than their parents, and the adventures are exciting too. You won't find any boyfriend / girlfriend stuff and kids doing things without their parents approval.

The books can be purchased at Grace and Truth Publications. There's a link to it in "Our Favorites" column. I know a lot of you are always looking out for good books so I'll try to fill you in when we find some. The books are not only really clean they're really good on soul-winning, and the family in the books has really high standards.

I got one of our school orders so today I took advantage of the silence, as the paint cans sit in the kitchen, and worked on lesson planners. Silas is skeptical about some of the things I got but I think they look great. The Apologia Exploring Creation With Zoology is fantastic!! I highly recommend them for kids 3-8th grade or so. I kept having to stop and read things because the whole book was interesting and had great pictures. I also really love the US History and Geography by Landmark that I'm using for Priscilla. I wish I had found these things years ago!!

Well have a great evening!