The Cleaner Plate Club

This is another book I borrowed from the library.  As I was looking for some other books, I came upon this and it looked healthy and interesting.  And, I was totally correct.  This cookbook not only has recipes, but it gives a lot of great information.

This is not a vegetarian cookbook, but the emphasis is to get more vegetables into our children.  It gives the background of the vegetable and pictures of all different varieties of that vegetable in color.  It tells you how to select and store them, the nutritional goodness, then, some recipes that are typically easy to make. 

In a different section, it does things like Soups, Desserts, etc. which combine a variety of vegetables, fruit, and meat/poultry/fish.  It's really informative, which I absolutely love.  The layout of the book is great.  It gives you healthier alternatives to the traditional stuff - for example, sweeteners are resigned to white sugar, rather you can use maple, honey, stevia, agave nectar, etc.  And, the alternatives they give are natural, not yucky synthetic.

All the recipes look to be kid-friendly.  If you have kids, you know how things like peer pressure or changing taste buds can wreak havoc on a family's meal times.  They also give suggestions for packing school lunches that are healthy.  I think at some point in the future, I will purchase this book when I can find it for under $5 with shipping. 

Don't Check Your Brains At The Door

I got this as an eBook from Book Sneeze.  This is my 5th eBook from them.  Originally I wanted this book in print for my kids to use as reference, but I missed the time when it came out by 1 day and all available print copies were gone.  So, here I am with the eBook.

This book did not take me long to read and is a fairly easy read for an adult.  I did not go through the "Brain Food" exercises in each of the 42 chapters.  This book is broken down into Myths in the following areas:

• Myths About God
• Myths About Jesus
• Myths About the Bible
• Myths About the Resurrection
• Myths About Religion & Christianity
• Myths About Life & Happiness

The latter 2 sections had a lot more examples.  This book is appropo for teenagers and those entering teenage years.  I have a 7 & a 10 yr old and I will be getting this book in hard copy for them to do.  Though my kids are a little younger, as a family we regularly read & discuss the Bible.

I love how each chapter is short, an explanation of what the LIE is and the Scripture backing & argument for it.  It doesn't go very deep into the argument, but it's a starting point for study on any of the topics.  To go through 42 different LIES, have "homework" to do, it gives whomever is doing the "Brain Food" work things to think about, as well as to discuss with others to better help understand what one believes.

The topics of the myths are things kids and even adults will come across.  I think this book was well-organized and very appropriate.
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Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher through the BookSneeze®.com book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. 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.”

The Final Summit

I'm not a fan on fiction, but there have been a few books that I absolutely LOVE.  The first fictional book I read in years was The Shack, by William Young.  Awesome book.  Then, I read The Traveler's Gift, by Andy Andrews.  Since both books were life changing and caused me to be moved in action, when Book Sneeze offered this book for review, I snatched it up.  The Final Summit is just in line with Andrews style of writing and is another hit with me.

David, the main character, has experienced great failure, as well as great success in life.  His greatest successes came after his biggest failures.  Gabriel, the arch angel (he is an arch angel and not just an angel), plays a vital role in this story.  The Final Summit is a summit comprised of incredible people throughout time where God brought revelation to these people to help them through life and impact a good portion of mankind.

Though David did not see himself as impactful like Winston Churchhill or Abraham Lincoln, because of the courage of David's life as he relied on God, he is considered just as great.  Without giving away the whole story, the summit is a gathering of these great people throughout all time, including King David & Solomon from Bible times.  Five people, called "Travelers", are called out to help David determine the correct answer to the question "WHAT SHOULD HUMANITY DO, INDIVIDUALLY AND COLLECTIVELY, IN ORDER TO RESTORE ITSELF TO THE PATHWAY TOWARD SUCCESSFUL CIVILIZATION?"

They were given 5 chances to get this right.  With each chance, David and Winston Churchill could call upon a pre-selected "Traveler" to help them figure out the answer.  With each addition of a Traveler and discussion, despite great wisdom & incredible discussions, each of the answers were wrong.  If they did not get it right by the 5th time, all of mankind would be doomed.

Anyway, I don't want to spoil the ending of the story, but it's a definite must read.  My guesses were wrong, but I learned a great deal in this book.  Failure isn't failure unless you give up.  Keep relying on God.

I hope you enjoy the book as I have.  Thank you again, Book Sneeze, for sending this book to me for free to review.
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Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from Thomas Nelson Publishers as part of their BookSneeze.com book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. 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.”

The Boy Who Changed The World

The illustrations in this book are so beautiful and the message is so sweet. It's regarding the Butterfly Effect, but made simpler so young kids can read and understand this.

The message is simple, "EVERY THING YOU DO MATTERS!"

This includes big things, small things, and everything in between. This reinforces that we are beautifully and wonderfully created for a purpose by God. Our lives are significant, they do matter.

The book is physically a nice big book. The pictures are like mini-paintings and thoughtful. The expressions on the people's faces are tender & loving.

There is great hope in this book. Both my kids read this book and loved it. It's a must to share with your children, grandchildren, young people. This book also gave me time to speak to book of my children about making wise choices and to know that nothing they do is insignificant.

This book helps greatly convey in a simple manner that a person does have great value & worth. Great job Andy Andrews!

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Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from Thomas Nelson Publishers as part of their BookSneeze.com book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. 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.”

The Butterfly Effect

This is the second book I've read by Andy Andrews. The first was the The Traveller's Gift, which was an wonderful fiction book that had a great message and has really changed how I view things. The Butterfly Effect also has the same poignant impact on me.

The jist of the book is to not place judgment on whether an event, something we do or say is of greater or lesser important, rather that ALL that we do has a consequence and is important. We do not know whether any consequence at any moment in time can result in something really impactful and significant or not occuring.

Sometimes seemingly insignificant events can ultimately result in HUGE things happening. He gives a couple examples in history that ONE person was able to impact the lives of millions and billions of people - countries, nations. However, when each person acted in whatever manner they deemed best in that moment, it set about a chain reaction that has greatly made a difference.

The conclusion of this is MY LIFE IS SIGNIFICANT. I really do matter. This isn't only for myself, but for every single person ever born.

When thinking about the impact of our words & actions can have for all eternity, it's a very sobering thought and makes me want to make wiser choices, be more courageous, be a person of integrity, a better person. Excellent book and very easy to read.

I had both my children read this book and they loved it.

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Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from Thomas Nelson Publishers as part of their BookSneeze.com book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. 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.”

Hermie: Who is in charge anyway?

This is my first review for BookSneeze and the funny thing is I didn't get a book. I got a DVD instead. A children's DVD to be exact. If you think I "..doth protest too much" I'm not, I just found my first review to be somewhat amusing.

I just wanna say Kudos to everyone who has a heart to convey Biblical principles to children in story form. There is something about story that captures the heart. And yes, even bad stories can have the same effect. But this is not the case here. I'm just sayin...

The graphics on the DVD reflects current CGI technology to date. It was colorful and very detailed.

The story is about hearing from God (the voice from the sky) and how he is involved in our lives and cares about us. It may sound simple but it is often the most simplest of truths that offers most comfort during the dark times in our lives.

The DVD will capture the attention of Toddlers but older kids will find it boring I think. Don't get me wrong, it is not torturous to watch, it was very well written. It's just that the developmental reality that children's attention are captured by different things in stages of growing.