TOS Review: Sarah's Wish

I love historical fiction, so I was thrilled to receive a free copy of Sarah's Wish, by Jim Baumgardner, for review. I was especially hopeful that it would trigger an interest in reading in my middle-schooler.

The story begins with the death of Sarah's mother, and the dilemma with what to do with Sarah now that her mother has passed on. To complicate matters, Sarah is burdened with a secret that she is afraid entrust to anyone else--her mother helped slaves on the Underground Railroad, and had two hidden on their property at the time of her death. The story follows Sarah's adventures in continuing the important work her mother was doing, and in trying to find a new family.

The story idea is interesting, and there are some colorful characters, but my daughter didn't seem to be enthusiastic about finishing the book. After I picked it up to read it myself, I found the writing style to be a little choppy, and at times confusing, which may have contributed to her lack of interest. I must admit, though, that she's never been much of a reader.

There are two more books in the series, and you can read excerpts on the author's website. The prices range from $9.99-$17.50. For more reviews, please click here.

TOS Review: College Prep Genius

A couple of months ago, I posted an informational review on College Prep Genius: Master the SAT. We were excited to receive a free copy of it to review, right before my daughter took the PSAT for the first time. Unfortunately, she got very sick and was not able to fully utilize all of the material before she took the test. There are many acronyms and terms to memorize, which can seem overwhelming. I recommend that you first focus on your child's weakest spot, and then go from there.

My daughter is only in tenth grade this year, so I just wanted her to take the PSAT for the experience. Her scores won't really count toward scholarship opportunities till next year. What we found out from her scores is that she doesn't need to worry about the Critical Reading or Writing sections, but she does need to work on the math. This will help us to focus on that section of the College Prep Genius guide, and narrow the amount of tricks, tips, acronyms and terms that she needs to memorize.

After reviewing the dvd material on math, I am very excited about it. I think this is just what she'll need to raise her score the next time. The author of College Prep Genius points out several times that the SAT is not really a skills test, but a test of reasoning and logic. This is pointed out at the beginning of the test. You may see formulas and problems that you've never encountered before...this is not indicative of a gap in your education. Rather, it is something designed by the writers of the test to see if you can reason.

The program is being offered for a limited time at a 30% discount, which is $79 and includes a textbook, workbook, and four dvds. I recommend using it, and definitely recommend that your student start taking the tests early for practice, not only for experience with the test itself, but also the environment in which they'll be taking it.

For more reviews of this product, please click here.

High Tea

Our Tapestry Co-op has been studying the Victorian Era, so we celebrated our last day of class before Christmas with a High Tea.

We had a wonderful time, and the kids absolutely loved dressing the part!  After tea, we noticed the Rhetoric kids had gathered in the living room to listen to each other play classical pieces on the piano…look what happens when you’re all dressed up and using your manners!  LOL! 

 

A Grateful Heart

I'm so glad to have a minute to fill you in on what God has been doing for us!

About a month ago, He blessed us to sell our house with no realtor fees, and to get the amount we needed to make it all work. It was not even really on the market! We had to close and be out in four weeks. We looked and looked, but had not found a new house yet, and thought we'd have to move twice...once in with friends, and then again when we found something.

Our realtor who was helping us buy, found a house that was perfect for us, but it was not in our price range. However, the price had dropped twice in the short time it was listed because the owners were moving cross country and had to leave soon. Their realtor said they were willing to deal, so we offered what we could spend which was waaaaaaaaaaaay less than where it was listed.

They were shocked by our offer and counter offered, only coming down slightly, so we walked away, and started thinking about putting in an offer on another house we'd looked at. It was not exactly right, but it was something we thought we could settle for. Even though friends had said..."Don't settle...take your time," we were getting desperate and thinking we needed to make a decision. The day we wanted to go back to the "settle" house to see it once more and probably make an offer, the realtor from the other house called our realtor back and said the company that was transferring the people might be willing to put in some on the deal. We waited and prayed for two days. They came back with an excellent offer in our price range. It was a miracle! This home had more room for our family, was 15 minutes from our homeschool co-op, and only 15 minutes from my dh's job.

Another detail God worked out was that we now were down to the wire with closing and getting out of our old house. The bank wasn't sure they could close us on the new house the same day. But they did it. So last week we packed and packed. (Another miraculous provision: My aunt and uncle who live 6 hours away came to town and stayed in a hotel, coming over every day to help us pack! They stayed all week!!) My dh was able to get the week off, except for Friday...the big day. He had to work from 5:30-9:30 that morning, because all the managers were out of town at a meeting. Then we picked up the moving truck, started loading, went to our first closing, came home, loaded some more, went to the second closing, went to the new house and unloaded. It was a long, but very blessed day.

Thanks to God's provisions, we had friends volunteer for the AM loading of the truck, and other friends volunteer for the PM unloading of the truck, and people helping unpack necessities the first night and the next day to get us to a functioning level.

We are in awe of our great God's ability to answer prayers beyond all we could ask or even think. He knows our needs, and it is not difficult for Him to provide for those needs. He even knows our dreams....and He sometimes provides those as well. He managed a multitude of details, and it worked out better than we could have imagined. He sent friends and relatives to help us continually through the process. He stretched our money to take care of all the moving expenses.

He always answers prayer. And sometimes He says, "Yes!"

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!!

"Oh that men would praise the Lord for His goodness, and for His wonderful works to the children of men!" Psm 107:8

Update

Please excuse my recent blogging hiatus! Big things going on around here, which I'll share later when I have more time. I have had to resign from the TOS Crew, because our schedule is so chaotic right now. However, I do have a few more products on hand that I will need to finish reviewing, so stay tuned for those, as I have time to post. :)

Empty Arms, Full Heart

Today is Pregnancy and Infant Loss Day. All life is created by God and is precious in His sight. I wanted to share something I wrote in 2002, after our first son was stillborn, in hopes that it might comfort any who are suffering through this right now. This was written while I was on the mountaintop: feeling God's arms underneath me in a way I had never felt before. I have also experienced the deep valley of grief, when you have to believe by faith that His promises are true, but your heart has trouble catching up with what you know is true. If you would like to read more on grief and loss, and God's sufficiency for our every need, please click here. (Scroll down to find several posts on our losses.)

For those of you who have never experienced this type of loss, I highly recommend this series by Molly Piper: How to Help Your Grieving Friend.

EMPTY ARMS, FULL HEART

“Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort; Who comforteth us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble, by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God.” (II Corinthians 1:3-4)

On January 4^th, 2002, in the 24^th week of my third pregnancy, I delivered our stillborn son, Christopher. Our hearts were broken as we realized that all the expectations, dreams and plans we’d looked forward to this year were abruptly altered. After months of morning sickness, months of a growing belly, months of anticipation of having a new baby in the house, I came home from the hospital with an empty womb and empty arms. It was the hardest thing we had ever been through.

Before Christopher’s death, I’d never experienced any major trial in my life. I’d always feared trials and cringed to think of having to ever go through one. I’d sit around sometimes and think of horrible things that had happened to others, or worry about things that might happen to me, and wonder how I could ever get through something so terrible. What I am finding through losing Christopher is that God is not in the worrying about things that might happen, but God is always in the trial. You don’t go through it alone! The actual trial is easier to get through than you could have imagined, because the Lord is bearing the load with you! It’s not that the trial doesn’t hurt, or that you don’t grieve tremendously, but the Lord will not put on you more than you can bear. (I Cor 10:13) He has promised that He “will never leave you nor forsake you”! (Heb. 13:5) I have known this verse most of my life, but now have experienced its truth. What a blessing to know that no matter what happens to us, He will be right there with us! God is touched with the feelings of our infirmities, and He keeps our tears in a bottle. (Heb. 4:14-16, and Psm 56:8) He has graven us upon the palms of His hands! (Is. 49:15) He says in Matthew 5:4, “Blessed are they that mourn, for they shall be comforted.” His comfort IS such a blessing. He truly is a “very present help in time of trouble”!

The Bible says in Romans 8:28 that “all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to His purpose.” God is showing us that so much good can be brought about through our suffering this loss. Our faith is being strengthened as we see that God is always with us. We don’t walk through the fire alone. (Is 43:2) I have the strongest desire to reassure those who haven’t yet walked through a fiery trial—Don’t be afraid!! God will be there with you! He is gracious and good and merciful, he will lift you up! He will work good in your life through the hardest of circumstances! Psalm 145:8-9 says: “The Lord is gracious and full of compassion; slow to anger, and of great mercy. The Lord is good to all and his tender mercies are over all His works.” Deuteronomy 31:8 says, “and the Lord, He it is that doth go before thee, He will not fail thee, neither forsake thee: fear not, neither be thou dismayed.”

When questions come into our minds, we must remember that God is sovereign. He is in control and we may not always understand why He allows some things to touch our lives, but we don’t have to understand why…we just need to trust Him. (Is. 55:8-9, Rom. 11:33-36) For us, it was easy to see that our little son had been spared so much by going straight to the arms of Jesus. Had he lived through birth, his condition was such that he would have suffered greatly. We could see that the Lord had spared not only our son from suffering, but also us from watching him suffer and not being able to help. At one point, though, I did consider the fact that God was the one who knit this baby together in my womb…why couldn’t he have made him healthy and whole from the beginning? But the Lord brought to my mind the scripture in Romans 9: “Nay but, O man, who art thou that repliest against God? Shall the thing formed say to Him that formed it, Why hast thou made me thus?” In Job 38 the Lord says: “Who is this that darkeneth counsel by words without knowledge?…Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the earth? Declare if thou hast understanding.” And in Job 40:2: “Shall he that contendeth with the Almighty instruct Him? He that reproveth God let him answer it. Then Job answered the Lord, and said, Behold I am vile; what shall I answer Thee? I will lay my hand upon my mouth.” Job 13:15 says, “though He slay me yet will I trust in Him.”

One of the hymns that has brought much comfort during this time of grief has been “Be Still, My Soul”:

Be still, my soul: the Lord is on thy side.
Bear patiently the cross of grief or pain.
Leave to thy God to order and provide;
In every change, He faithful will remain.
Be still, my soul: thy best, thy heavenly Friend
Through thorny ways leads to a joyful end.

Be still, my soul: thy God doth undertake
To guide the future, as He has the past.
Thy hope, thy confidence let nothing shake;
All now mysterious shall be bright at last.
Be still, my soul: the waves and winds shall know
His voice Who ruled them while He dwelt below.

Be still, my soul: when dearest friends depart,
And all is darkened in the vale of tears,
Then shalt thou better know His love, His heart,
Who comes to soothe thy sorrow and thy fears.
Be still, my soul: thy Jesus can repay
From His own fullness all He takes away.

Be still, my soul: the hour is hastening on
When we shall be forever with the Lord.
When disappointment, grief and fear are gone,
Sorrow forgot, love’s purest joys restored.
Be still, my soul: when change and tears are past
All safe and blessed we shall meet at last.

Whenever I used to hear the verses “Rejoice in the Lord always” and “In everything give thanks”, I have to admit I thought that would be very difficult in the midst of trials. But praise the Lord— we can always rejoice in Him! Even when our world seems to be falling apart, we can be thankful that He’s working good from the situation, we can rejoice that He does not leave us or forsake us, we can praise Him for His faithfulness, mercy and grace, we can bless His Holy name. “The eternal God is thy refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms…” (Deut. 33:27) We can rest in His comforting arms and know that “the Lord is righteous in all His ways, and holy in all His works.”

There is great encouragement to be found in the knowledge that our times are in His hands. (Psm 31:15) All of the worrying we do is a waste of time and energy! We won’t leave this world one moment before our appointed time, or one moment later. We will never experience anything we are not supposed to go through, and whatever we do go through, He’ll be there! He will never leave us alone. What peace and happiness—what rest—can be ours when we trust in the truths of His sovereignty and faithfulness! “Cast all your care upon Him for He careth for you.” (I Pet. 5:6,7)

We rejoice that Christopher is in heaven with our Savior. He will never know pain and sorrow. Our grief is not for him, but for our own loss. Thankfully, we sorrow not as others, which have no hope. One day we will see him again! (II Sam 12:23) “O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?” (I Cor. 15:55) “He will swallow up death in victory; and the Lord God will wipe away tears from off all faces.” (Is. 25:8)

When everything seems to be falling apart, rest assured that God is still in control and He will use the trial to make something better out of us in the process—to conform us to His image, for His own glory. I would never ask for trials…but in learning the lessons He’s taught me through the death of our precious little baby, I have come to realize that trials do bring us closer to Him than anything else ever could. If He gave me the choice to go back to last year and skip over this whole experience, I wouldn’t want to do it. I have felt His presence in a closer way than ever before in my life. I know He is real. He has brought the most incredible peace and joy into my life at the darkest hour of my life. He gave me “beauty for ashes.” My womb and my arms may be aching and empty, but my heart is overflowing with the joy of the Lord.

“This I recall to my mind, therefore have I hope. It is of the Lord’s mercies that we are not consumed, because His compassions fail not. They are new every morning: great is Thy faithfulness. The Lord is my portion, saith my soul; therefore will I hope in Him.” (Lamentations 3:21-24)

~January 2002

Story Contest and Discount for Nature Friend Magazine!

Just a few updates to my recent review of Nature Friend magazine:

Nature Friend magazine is holding a Story Contest for subscribers. You can get details here! Scroll down for details on the contest.

They also have a $3 discount on subscriptions through November 30th...just use this code: BLOG93. And, they are offering discounts on their hardbound volumes that contain issues from past years:

We have a limited supply of 2006, 2007 (our 25^th anniversary year), and 2008. We are discounting these volumes 30% while supplies last, or until November 30, 2009, whichever comes first. You may also order the 2009 at this same savings, though we do not expect to be able to ship them before January 2010. To get this discount, use coupon code HBV30P. While this coupon code will only work for hardbound volume purchases, there is not provision to enter more than one coupon code at a time. To order both a magazine subscription and a hardbound volume, you will want to place two orders so both coupon codes can be used for the products for which they are valid.