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Book Review: Armando’s Treasure by Melody Carlson

August 4, 2008 By kelly Leave a Comment

Armando’s Treasure
By Melody Carlson / Tyndale House

Dora Chase is a frustratingly independent widow. Armando Garcia is a young man with a propensity for taking the easy way out—even if it means flirting with crime. When they meet, neither realizes how much their lives will be changed. Together they struggle toward the truth and find the importance of repairing and building relationships through forgiveness. 350 pages, softcover from Tyndale.

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Kelly’s Review:

I really enjoyed this novel. I found it a bit difficult to get into initially, but it wasn’t long before I was hooked and fully enveloped in the storylines. Melody Carlson brings together elements of finding faith, redemption, acceptance and forgiveness to expertly craft a beautiful novel. Highly recommended!

Music Review: The Rubyz

August 2, 2008 By kelly Leave a Comment

The Rubyz CD

By The Rubyz / Advocate Entertainment

Join Alexis, Cammie, and Marissa for an energetic collection of tween-pop originals. The trio’s self-titled debut addresses real-life issues that teens everywhere face with clever lyrics and catchy melodies. Includes their spunky takes on The Go-Gos’ classic “We Got The Beat” and Rihanna’s club smasher “Umbrella” plus lead single “Thirteen.”

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We discovered The Rubyz when we were looking for music for Macey, our five year old daughter. Their sound has been likened to acts such as Hannah Montana and the Cheetah Girls and in our experience those comparisons are spot-on. What we appreciate about the Rubyz is that they are wholesome and evidence of their Christianity is resounded time after time. The music is fun and upbeat. Macey loves it. A+ music for those who enjoy pop.

Emerging Butterflies…

August 1, 2008 By kelly 1 Comment

This morning, our family has had the blessing of watching butterflies emerge from their cocoons. What an awesome experience and opportunity to remind ourselves and our girls about God’s wonders. It’s so cool!

We ordered this Live Butterfly Garden from Amazon for Macey’s birthday. We received the kit and sent away for the caterpillars. Within a couple of weeks, we got five caterpillars in a habitat with their food. When they first arrived, they were tiny little squigglers, but they soon grew. We went to the beach for a long weekend and when we got back, we had five cocoons in the habitat. Yesterday we finally moved the cocoons over to the mesh habitat so that the butterflies could fly about when they hatched. This morning at breakfast I looked up and noticed one of the cocoons moving. Sure enough, the first of the butterflies was emerging. And, we got to witness it!! How awesome!! Mickey took the habitat down from it’s hook and we put papertowels soaked with sugar water into the habitat so that the butterflies would have their food. About half an hour later, Macey and I got to watch the second butterfly emerge. She was in awe as much as I was at that point. We keep checking back to see if any of the remaining three butterflies have begun to emerge. Once they are all safely out of their cocoons, we will release them into our backyard.

This has been a terrific experience for all of us. I am so glad we found this gift for Macey’s birthday. Even Mariana enjoyed watching the caterpillars and is now enthralled with the butterflies. Mariana pointed to the mesh habitat with the cocoons yesterday and told me that the baby butterflies lived there. How cute! So, it really has been fun and exciting for the whole family.

Watching this process has been so inspiring. These caterpillars weren’t much larger than eyelashes when they first arrived at our home. And now they are beautiful painted lady butterflies. Isn’t it just incredible to watch God’s work unfold? God takes the “ugly” and transforms it into beauty. Not just with caterpillars, but with our human hearts as well. What a miracle!! Praise God for His wonders!!

My frame was not hidden from you
when I was made in the secret place.
When I was woven together in the depths of the earth,
your eyes saw my unformed body.

All the days ordained for me
were written in your book
before one of them came to be.

How precious to me are your thoughts, O God!
How vast is the sum of them!
Psalm 139:15-17

11 More Days…

July 31, 2008 By kelly 1 Comment

The countdown is on now. 11 more days. That’s how many days we have left until Macey starts Kindergarten. Big kid school. No more preschool that begins at 9:30am and ends at 12:30pm. She will have longer school days – beginning at 7:55am and ending at 2pm. She will be able to ride the bus. She will carry a backpack and some days a lunch box. This is a big deal to our big girl, of course. For Mickey and me, it’s just surreal. Seriously, how can it be that our firstborn is this age already? How can she be ready to go into the world of elementary school? Wasn’t she JUST born? Didn’t she just take her first steps? These days her steps are usually running, skipping or even “tumbling” as she has taken a shine to turning flips all over the house. These days she rarely takes a nap and is eager to do chores on her own. This is the girl that never wanted to be apart from mama and daddy as a baby and is now going to swim parties and is talking about sleep-overs (though she has yet to participate in one). The girl that simply thought Baby Einstein was the coolest thing ever now watches Hannah Montana and loves High School Musical. And, in eleven days she will officially be a Kindergartener. Where has the time gone?!

Book Review: Love Starts with Elle by Rachel Hauck

July 29, 2008 By kelly 2 Comments

Love Starts with Elle, Low Country Series #2

By Rachel Hauck / Thomas Nelson

She’s the last of six Lowcountry sisters to tie the knot, so when Elle Garvey’s quarterback-turned-minister boyfriend Jeremiah pops the question, the family resolves to give them the send off of the century.
But as Jeremiah leaves Elle to plan the wedding and moves ahead to Houston for a large pastorate there, Elle listens for her own call to the ministry-but none seems forthcoming. And with the influx of new residents in coastal Beaufort, South Carolina, Elle’s art gallery business has never been more fruitful. She’s even begun to successfully show her own paintings-paintings she created after Jeremiah left town.
Soon Elle’s widowed tenant, Heath, arrives, throwing a real wrench in the works, and offering a new kind of love that soon takes hold.and blossoms.

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Kelly’s Review

This is the second book in Rachel Hauck’s Low Country Series. The first was Sweet Caroline which I just LOVED, so I have eagerly been anticipating this second installment. The anticipation was more than worth it. Love Starts with Elle did not disappoint. What a terrific read!!

Elle Garvey is an art gallery owner in Beaufort, South Carolina. When the novel opens, we discover that she is dating a local minister by the name of Jeremiah and they soon become engaged to be married. The hitch is that he has taken a new church in Dallas, TX. Elle begins to transition out of her life in Beaufort, faithfully although reluctantly, to begin a new life with Jeremiah in Texas. It is clear that her heart is torn in many different directions and that Elle finds herself struggling to make the right decisions for herself and her faith.

Enter Heath McCord, a widower from New York City who has come to Beaufort with his four year old daughter, Tracey-Love, in hopes of healing his heart and learning to move on with his life after his wife’s tragic death. Heath has rented Elle’s home and the two find themselves meeting in an unexpected way, but a friendship and bond soon form. The two discover they have more in common at heart and soul than they ever would have anticipated.

Elle is a beautifully written novel. Rachel Hauck has a way of touching on subjects of faith that is truly heart-opening. She doesn’t throw any issues out in an “in your face” way, but I know that I came through several times realizing that the words she had written spoke to my own heart. In addition to reading an excellent novel, I also felt moved by the way issues were presented and handled throughout Elle’s story.

I just adore this Low Country series. I have become a fan of Rachel Hauck and now I find that I am once again anticipating the next installment.

Editing to add this cute clip. It’s not long, so give it a view. 🙂