Personal Post on My Health

Ok this is probable the most personal post I have ever written on this blog.  After walking the color run this last weekend, I have realized I really need to lose some weight. My thyroid is finally under control and I have no excuse.  Yes I know I am very busy but I need to get healthy again and do it as a lifestyle change not a fad diet.  I am very self conscience about my weight as I used to be an anorexic before I had my oldest (I still fight thinking I am much bigger than I am).  When I found out I was pregnant with him, I changed my habits to make sure he was healthy.  But now I know I am overweight/obese even though all my blood work is healthy.  I know I need to get into better shape for my family.  I know also that I have never shared a photo of myself on my blog but tonight I will now I am going to share my Color Run photo, with the Lord's help this will be my before photo. For my very few readers out there please help encourage me thru this journey as I know it will be tough.  But I pray that by this time next year I will have lost at least 15 pounds which will bring me back under 200lbs. My goal is to be back to a weight higher than I was when I got pregnant with my oldest but lighter than I was before my pregnancy with my youngest which will put me at a healthy weight for my height and bone structure.  I have hidden health issues that will not make this easy but I am going to work thru it.  I can only do this with God's grace and mercy.  So please remember to keep me in prayer while I do this change. So my changes will probable be a new post style I will be posting along with my normal book and rant posts.

This will be my before photo.

Heart Wide Open By Shellie Rushing Tomlinson

"Heart Wide Open" by Shellie Rushing Tomlinson is written to women that may have not led the bad girl life and their faith is boring to them. This book started slow for me but did encourage me to pursue my love of Christ even more than I do now.  However I got to about the middle of the book and I stopped in my tracks.  If you have read my reviews before you know it can take a lot for me to stop in a middle of a book.  Well the author starting talking about when she was a little girl that she would hold seances like she seen in the movies.  Ok that caught me off guard but I thought well she will bring up that they are against God.  Well she did not she even went into details on how they held them.  Then what really made me upset was that she compared her prayer life to a seance.  Quote " Best case scenario-meaning that which was most conductive to a successful seance-none of my family members were home when I reached out to the heavenly throne.  Many scriptures talk against contacting the dead see Deuteronomy 18:10-11 and Isaiah 8:19.  I am sorry but I don't carry how bad your prayer life is right now we don't compare it to something that God hates.  So I cannot recommend this book.

I received this book for free from WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group Blogging for Books for this review and was not required to give a positive review.

Test and Update

Ok this will be a quick post just to let my readers know I am still here just the family has been ill with the stomach virus and my DH has bronchitis bad.  Also I need to test the scheduled posting feature so I can write a review for a book I am done reading but I am not supposed to publish the review until June.  I have to get my reviews out while they are fresh in my head.

"Persecuted" By Robin Parrish

"Persecuted" by Robin Parrish is a good novel that could take place now or even in the future.  It starts with with an assassin named Mr. Gray getting a phone call from a politician about a possible job if something doesn't go his way.  Then we are introduced to evangelist and preacher John Luther the head pastor of Truth Ministries talking against bill in congress that supposedly gives religion equal standing which waters down not only Christianity but everyone's religion.  Well John Luther doesn't realize that he has friend/enemy will do anything to get the bill passed, his supposed friend Senator Harrison.  Senator Harrison will do anything to get his bill pass and that is hire Mr. Gray to ruin John Luther's reputation but not kill him.  Through out the whole book we go from past to present.  The past is John Luther's past as a former drug, alcohol, and domestic abuser. Also we see his relationship with his father a pastor himself.  That is all I will give away as the book is all mystery.  

I really enjoyed this all the different story lines in this book.  I really was impressed by the story of John Luther's past. Also in how what is happening to him now was not his fault but it did make him realize that faith in Jesus Christ and not man is what is important. For once we have a story with a major pastor character that falls but not from something bad he has done.  When I first started reading this book I thought this would be a great movie then I seen listed on the cover it was based on a movie.  I do highly recommend this book as it is a very good mystery.

I was given this book by Bethany House for my honesty review and was not required to give a positive review.

Lighthearted post

I am always doing rants so this time I am doing a light hearted post about weird facts about my life.

• I have been the queen of free on the side of the road, dumpster, or free almost to the dump items.  My funniest find was a TV that the screen didn't work but its sound did.  When my oldest was a baby I found a barely working VCR so then I decided to find a TV, since we didn't own one (I was a single mom working multiple jobs at the time it was before DH I were married, he is the father of my oldest we just were broke up at the time).  So anyway I found one that the screen worked but no sound then my cousin and I found one in the dumpster that the screen did not work but the sound did.  So my now DH fixed  it for me so that I had a dueling TVs, you just had to have them on the same channel so one would be the screen and the other the sound. It used to be fun to watch people change the channel on one TV and wonder why it wasn't working right. Years later, after we got married, we got a huge TV that my DH found on the side of the road that worked if you kicked it enough.  

• I love the smell of wood chips even when its mixed with the smell of chain saw oil.  I grew up around mill workers and loggers. 

• I like to work on cars well the older ones but not so much on newer extremely computerized ones.  One of my dreams has always been to be in a demolition derby.  

• I had one of the originally Hotmail accounts when it was just by word of mouth in 1996, got rid of it long ago cause well long story someone was spamming me severely so I got rid of it..  Also I used to use the Internet when it was BBS boards (curious what that is well then you will have to look it up on your own).

OK I am done just wanted to do a light hearted non book review post today.

When Others Shuddered By Jamie Janosz

"When Others Shuddered, Eight Women Who Refused To Give Up" By Jamie Janosz is a good book about eight women who stayed strong and worked hard for Jesus Christ.  The eight women that Jamie Janosz writes about are Fanny Crosby, "Emma" Dryer, "Nettie" McCormick, Sarah Clarke, Amanda Smith, Virginia Asher, Evangeline Booth, and Mary Bethune.  All of these women were born and lived in the 1800's up until the early 1930's.  Fanny Crosby was the only one I knew who she was before this book. This book really gets me into wanting to learn even more about each of these women.  Each was a powerful woman that lived for Christ in her time and went against the norms or what was expected of them. Also most of them had a connection to D.L. Moody.

Fanny Crosby was a famous hymn writer that was blinded since childhood, we still sing a lot of her hymns today.  "Emma" Dryer whose dream was to build a Bible School and with emphasis to also educate women biblically which she thought would help them at home and in society.   "Nettie" McCormick was a very rich woman who used her wealth to help others specifically schools, also with her friend "Emma" Dryer they helped/encouraged D.L. Moody to start his Bible Institute.  Sarah Clarke was a women who with her husband ran a mission and one of the men they preached the gospel to became a famous preacher his name was Billy Sunday.  Amanda Smith was an African American woman who was born into slavery, ends up traveling all over the world helping others learn about Jesus Christ.  Virginia Asher witnessed to women that most people especially at that time nobody would look twice at, the prostitutes and even bar patrons.  Evangeline Booth the daughter of the founders of the Salvation Army rose through the ranks to Commander and was know for helping others including those affected by the 1916 San Francisco.  Mary Bethune was an African American woman who stood up in the face of racism in her era (1875-1955).  All these women had in common was their love for the Lord and wanted to help others.  This was a powerful book and thanks to it I want to learn more about each of these woman.  I highly recommend it as a good book to learn about known and unknown women missionaries.

I was given this book from Moody Publishers for my honest review and was not required to give a positive review.

A must read by everyone "The Waiting" By Cathy LaGrow

"The Waiting: The true story of a lost child, a lifetime of longing, and a miracle for a mother who never gave up" by Cathy LaGrow with Cindy Coloma.  This is one of the most powerful books I have ever read.  It is a true story about this wonderful (who I would love to meet) woman name Minka finding her daughter after 77 years.  She was raped when she was just 16 years old in 1928 and she gave up her daughter, Betty Jane, to adoption praying that her little girl would have a good life.  Well when she gave her up, she did not give her up in her heart.  She constantly wrote letters to her until the birth of her 2nd with her husband Roy in 1947.  Most of the book is about Minka and her life from a little bit from childhood, the rape all the way to today.  Yes, I said today as of today she is still alive, yes she was born in 1911. An amazing and strong woman!  We find her meeting her husband Roy, with him coming home from World War 2 with PTSD.   Her close friendship with her younger sister Jane. Her having their two children with Roy but also his alcoholism affecting their family in bad ways.  Even through all this she stays strong in her faith and keeps in her heart the love and memory of her daughter Betty Jane whom she still loves very much.  The last section of the book we learn about Betty Jane's, renamed by her adoptive family Ruth.  Minka did know that Ruth was adopted by Pastor and his wife which turned out to be a big blessing for that family and Ruth.  Ruth was blessed with a very loving family.  In high school she met and fell in love with her future husband Charles. Ruth and Charles ended up having six children.  Minka one day decided when she did her praying for

Betty Jane/Ruth she decided to ask God to help her find her.  What she did not know was that her daughter was looking for her with the help of Ruth's son Brian. Minka's daughter and her grandkids did not know about her long lost daughter.  But Minka and her complete family now was reunited.  Once Minka was reunited with Betty Jane/Ruth she was able to finally forgive her rapist even though she had put him out of her mind for years.

I will say this was one of the most powerful books I have read.  The story Minka and Betty Jane/Ruth is very powerful and started to make me cry.  We have a tendency in this pro-abortion culture to forget that there many woman out there that have been raped but still loved their children that came from that rape.  This was a powerful story that needed to be told.  I am so thankfully to Cathy LaGrow (who happens to be one of Minka's Granddaughters) for writing her Grandmother's and her Aunt Ruth's story.  This is one book I do not plan on ever getting rid of.  You can buy here at http://www.amazon.com/The-Waiting-Lifetime-Longing-Miracle/dp/1414391900 and please do buy it.

I was given this book by Tyndale Publishers for my honest review and was not required to give a positive review.