Happy Birthday to ME!

Today was my birthday!  Growing up birthdays were a big deal and one of the perks was no chores on your birthday.  I've never outgrown that mentality of birthday's being a very special day.

So today, I turned 35.  I don't feel 35 - at least not most days.  And very rarely do I feel that age mentally :)

Today was special, not because of anything big that happened but just because I was able to spend the day with people I care about and love.

First stop was to see my dear friend, Pearl for a new do.  She does an amazing job on my hair, the only bad thing is that I don't go see her as often as I should.  Not only is she my hairdresser, she is a dear friend.  I spent a lovely morning treating myself to a rare cut and color and visiting with her.  While there, my cousin April popped in and I was able to spend some time visiting with her as well.  I don't see her as often as I would like either!

Then I headed off to work where my boss and co-worker took me to lunch at Mongolian BBQ - one of my favorite restaurants.  After I tried to go back to work, but she would have none of that and shoo'd me out of the building.  So I decided to go see my friend Gina who was off work this week.   She just got a new apartment and I spent a few hours visiting with her and another friend while helping her unpack.  (I think I did more watching than actually helping, but we had fun visiting!)

I then spent some time at Starbucks sipping on a delicious peppermint white mocha and then went in search of a book for me to treat myself too.  I ended up at a little used book store in the small town I live.  I've been wanting to pop into this place for awhile now, but never found the opportunity.  This place was absolutely wonderful.  They served me pomegrante tea and gave me a tour.  I ended up with a new Ted Dekker book!

Then at home I found that Shaun and Tyler had gone to Icing on the Cupcake to get cupcakes for my birthday, including red velvet with cream cheese frosting.   Yummy!  And of course Shaun had to stuff 35 candles on the cupcakes!

Now I'm off to take a nice warm bubble bath and start reading my new book.  What a lovely day!

Land of Elyon Review

I recently came across a Trilogy of books written for young adults by Patrick Carmen about a place called the Land of Elyon. Now I know that Elyon is one of the names of God, so I did some research on the author to see if he was considered a Christian author. I was curious as to whether these would be good books for me to read to my children and/or for them to read as they get older.

Based on what I could find about the author, I was not able to confirm that he is considered a Christian youg adult ficition writer or that he had/has any intention of tying God into these books. However, not long after I heard about them a neighbor was giving away some books and I noticed the first one in the series, so I grabbed it.

Book one is called - The Dark Hills Divide. I'm not going to give much away except to say that these books are worth taking a look at, and I would consider them along the lines of the Narnia series. Fantasy fiction. I decided they have some parts that might be a bit dark for my 7 year old daughter but I would be willing to read them to her and have her read them as she gets older. They would definitely be good conversation starters for us and Patrick Carmen is a very talented writer.

Whether he intends these to be books to teach our children about God or not, there are definitely underlying themes that as a parent you can use to talk to your children about the truths of God. The author definitely has some kind of religious Christian background and has drawn on that for these books.

After I read the first book I borrowed the next two from the library (Beyond the Valley of Thorns and The Tenth City). These had even more underlying themes that encouraged me. While looking for a picture to include with this post I noticed two more books regarding the Land of Elyon which Mr Carman has now written. One tells the tale of two of the characters in the other books, it is basically a prequel. The other is futher adventures of Alexa, the main character in the books.

So if you are looking for some good books that would be a quick read for you and/or a good read for your children, I recommend taking a look at these books.

Austin the Talker

My middle child, Austin, talks alot. In fact, this past year each week my daughter had to write sentences using the current week's spelling words. Almost every week she would bring home her assignment and at least one sentence somehow incorporated how much Austin talks. A typical conversation with him sometimes goes like this. . .

Me: "Austin, can you please be quiet for a little bit for Mommy."

Austin: "Yes mommy. I can be quiet"

Less than 15 seconds later. . .

Austin: "Mommmeeee, I'm being quiet!"

Me: "Austin, you are talking right now. To be quiet you need to not talk."

Austin: "I know mommy. I can be quiet" (Now he begins his idea of a whisper which is only slightly quieter) "Mommy, see I can be quiet. I'm being quiet right now mommy! Aren't I being good and quiet mommy. I told you I could be quiet."

So you get the picture.

Tonight Austin wanted to me to read to him. We had read a couple Dr. Seuss books and I asked Tyler if she could bring me another book to read to Austin. She walks in with another book and very matter of factly says. . .

"Mom, here is one that Austin can learn something from." as she hands me the book. I look at the title, it is "Marvin K. Mooney, will you please go now!"

Horton Hears a Who

If you are interested, I've done a post on my other blog regarding the movie Horton Hears a Who which came out today. I am planning to take my daughter to see the movie in the next week or so and will post what I think afterwards. However, I'm expecting it to be a very good movie.

If you are interested in my other post please visit it at Ang4him - Horton Hears a Who & Abortion. I also suggest visiting the Mercy Seat Blog - All Whos Who Have Blood that is Red.

I Can Read God's Word

My work had a book fair on Monday which was perfect timing for me. I only had a few dollars on me but figured I would go see what they had. I came across a set of three books by Phil A. Smouse, all three are part of a series called I Can Read God's Word.

Each book has four short stories with wonderful illustrations. They are the perfect reading level for my daughter (she is 6 yrs old - 1st grade)! The timing was good because I had just started doing morning devotionals with my daughter that morning (read my Seeds Planted and An Example to Our Children posts on my Ang4him blog)

I've been reading the scriptures to her from my Bible then letting her read the stories in the books. We then talk together about what it means. It has been wonderful - she is learning about God, having a regular quiet time and she feels more involved because she is actually able to read the stories.

The three I have are:

The Lord is My Shepard and other stories from the Psalms
Treasure in Heaven and other stories Jesus told
The Lost Sheep and other stories Jesus told

Right now we are going through the Treasures in Heaven book which includes:

The Lamp (Luke 8:16-17)
My Treasure (Matthew 6:19-21)
On the Rock (Matthew 7:24-27)
Love Your Enemy (Luke 6:27-31)

I'm excited to find online that there are more to the series.

The Golden Compass

I had seen this book before and actually almost picked it up a couple times. After doing some research, I am now glad I did not. This is the first book of a trilogy (His Dark Materials) by Phillip Pullman, an avowed aethist. I don't have a problem necessarily with a book written by an aethist, it is his purpose for these books that concerns me. Especially since the first book (Golden Compass, known as Northern Lights in Britian) is now being made into a movie.

Phillip has been very upfront about his beliefs and his intention to "kill God" in the minds of children. The movie which is scheduled to be out the beginning of December and stars Nicole Kidman has been toned down according to critics. This is an attempt to draw in children and their parents in hopes that they will request the books for Christmas. From my research each book gets worse (The Subtle Knife and The Amber Spyglass).

The more research I do regarding this trilogy series the more I'm convinced this is not something I want my children watching or reading. In the end, every parent needs to make their own decisions, but I thought it would be good to share with all the parents who read my blog some items about this book/movie which the entertainment news surrounding the movie is not revealing.

The main little girl of the book, Lyra has a companion throughout the book, a shape-shifting daemon named Pantalaimon who goes by the nickname Pan. This is just one of many things that concerns me. According to one review

Second, the device of the daemons, animal-shaped companions to all human beings in Pullman’s universe, is brilliant. The daemon concept is marvelously conceived and carried out. Pullman brings his readers to believe in daemons as an integral part of his characters’ lives, to the point that we are actually shocked when we learn that the villains have been separating children from their daemons.

These sound too much like "spirit guides" to me. Another item of concern is the Oblation Board.

I've listed a few links below and you can do your own google/yahoo search as well. Even reviews which are favorable make mentions of things that raise alarms for me. For being an aethist, there appears to be an awful lot of ties to the occult in these books.

Snopes - The Golden Compass

Daemon - Wikipedia

Denver Science Fiction & Fantasy Book Club Review

Northern Lights - Wikipedia

Phillip Pullman - Wikipedia

Bridge to the Stars - View on Religion - once again a site that recommends the books, however this page is very insightful.

As a parent I would suggest you look into this yourself to make a decision prior to allowing your children to watch the upcoming movie or read the books.