Tina The Storyteller

I could sit here and tell you that we have been doing homeschool work, which we have and with much struggle and very little to show for it.  Learning how to read it turns out is harder than it looks. I could also sit here and tell you that my computers are a decade old and until recently I wasn't sure if I would be able to turn it on with any reliability and now it turns on, but it's still a decade old. I could sit here and tell you that for over a month I have had some kind of bizarro leg dysfunction that has been treated for shingles, cellulitis, allergy to drugs for cellulitis, and is currently awaiting results as to whether or not it may be suffering from Lyme disease.  Do you see how I have become detached from my leg? I figure if it's going to go off and do things like that for such an extended amount of time, it no longer wants to be associated with me.  Fine by me, just leave already. I could tell you that our daughter has been having some yelling problems a...

The Big Red Holy Bible is actually not so big, but it is red. Big Red is an International Children’s Bible (ICB) and art from Eikon Bible Art. It’s not what I would call 3-D art, but it is interesting and has drawn my 6 year old to ask for the stories on the pages, which is what it’s all about, right? This is my first experience with the ICB. The introduction to the translation states that it was translated specifically for children and that its reading level is grade 3, which is unique for a full text Bible. I wish that there had been more information about the art, as it is in the title and therefore, one of the main reasons that Hannah and I were interested in it. I wasn’t sure if it was actually going to be pop up books or images that would use 3-D glasses, but the art is interesting and ultimately 2-D. As far as extra features, there is a dictionary, topical index, list of God’s promises, key memory verses, and a handful of maps. If you have a younger reader, who doesn’...

Code Triage is the third in The Mercy Hospital series by Candace Calvert. It is the story of the soon to be divorced couple: Leigh, an emergency room doctor, and Nick, a police officer. The story starts with colliding of Leigh, Nick and the woman Nick had an affair with in the emergency room. The story centers upon Nick and Leigh struggling with the fact that their marriage is ending and Nick’s battle to keep them together. The internal struggle that they both go through is intriguing and engaging. The love that they shared is sparked through out the story, and they have many moments of tension in which it appears that there is no hope for a future. I enjoyed it enough to wish that I had read the previous two novels in the series before reading this one. I think that would have helped in the reading of the epilogue which takes place in an unfamiliar location with unfamiliar characters, but I finally figured out what was going on. It is a nice relaxing read for the plane o...

I grew up in rural America, I’ve seen my fair share of rural churches. What O’Dell has done at his church is nothing short of a Holy Spirit party. The church has grown, one congregant at a time. He shares how their church is organized and how they interact with leadership within the church. Unfortunately, as is true with most ministry helps, this book is not geared towards a small congregation. The outline of leadership is not for the highly structured mainline denominations. One of the very helpful parts of the books is O’Dell’s discernment process for going to the rural church. He lays out the conflict of not wanting to go, but knowing that he was called. The online resources are plentiful and the call to connect with others in rural ministry are a vital part of insuring those that say yes to rural ministry continue to be able to answer that call. Overall, I would say that it’s a good read, even if you are not in a rural church, because the dynamics can be the same in any...