He Leadeth Me

I am blessed to be in a community of faith called Eastside Church of Christ. This weekend, we had our annual Ladies' Retreat. We spent time praising God together. We played games. We got to know each other better. Michelle did an amazing job of organizing the event. On Friday night we thought about how our lives are like a quilt and we made a quilt to hang on the wall. On the quilt we wrote our hopes for the retreat. A great number of women hoped for new or deeper relationships and friendships. We ate together. I felt so blessed to be asked to speak. Notice the words on the screen taken from the book of Esther. We discussed how we are each gifted by God to serve the people we come in contact with each day. What a great weekend we had together! Thank you Vanessa Leonard for the photos!

I'm getting spring fever. How about you?

Most of you are probably familiar with Eric Carle's priceless book The Very Hungry Caterpillar. I recently send David the book and the caterpillar. His mom says they are big hits. Do you know about Kohl's Cares for Kids ? Kohl's sells wonderful children's books and matching stuffed animals for $5.00 each (an amazing price) and the proceeds go to organizations that help children. I'm not sure where all the money goes, but I know that in Houston, Texas it goes the to very prestigious Texas Children's Hospital. A good reason to support Kohl's. Happy Shopping and Happy Reading! book cover courtesy of Follett.com photo courtesy of David's mom

Book Courtesy of Goodreads I have a confession to make. Most of the books I read, I forget soon after reading them. Not this book!!! It has been two days since I finished it and I can still remember the plot and more importantly the name of the main character-- Melody. This is an amazing book that should be required reading or all elementary and middle school children WITH their parents. If you read it, I promise, its message will stay with you for a long, long time.

Somewhere in the deep recesses of my memory, I remember my Grandma Aven making snow ice cream with my siblings and me. That has been many years ago and this is the first time that I have ever tried it myself. Since Houston doesn't offer many opportunities for gathering the main ingredient, I didn't have a recipe, so I Googled "Snow Ice Cream" to find a good one. Paula Deen actually had a recipe. 8 cups of snow Her recipe didn't say clean snow, but mine was very clean. 1 can sweetened, condensed milk I used the WalMart Great Value variety 1 teaspoon vanilla Thank you Aunt Terry for introducing me to Watkins Vanilla many years ago. Of course it will taste better if the mixing spoons are the "love" variety. The first thing every superhero does when he is cooking is to wash his hands. Step 2: Taste the main ingredient to see if it is as pure as the driven snow. Help Nana pour the snow in the bowl. Don't you just love his hand on my arm? I do. Pour in t...

Yes, I usually review new books, but there is a special reason that I am reviewing these two "old" books today. Tuesday by David Weisner is a good book, well actually probably a great book since it won the coveted Caldecott Medal in 1991. But I have never cared for the book very much. I gravitate toward the books with messages, books that I can relate to and I just have trouble relating to frogs flying through the air on lilly pads. That is, until, Thursday of this week. I pulled this book from my bookshelf to read to Caleb. I thought he might enjoy it since he is into humor these days and this almost wordless book has great potential for humor Caleb LOVED it! Caleb and Nana laughed uproariously as we read the book over and over and over again! The lesson for Nana: Books are very personal things. Just because you love it, doesn't mean everyone will love it. And just because you don't like it, well.......read it to your kids and grandkids anyway. It just might be...

Moon Over Manifest is this year's Newbery Medal Winner. Like many Newbery winners, children aren't likely to read this historical fiction book on their own. They will need a parent or teacher to read it to them. Abilene Tucker (don't you just love that name?) is searching for many things and finds them in the small town of Manifest, Kansas. You will fall in love with spunky Abilene and the other colorful characters she meets in Manifest. This is a book for older elementary and middle school readers.

Much to Aunt Kim's Delight and to Nana's Dismay, Superhero Caleb pronounced Aunt Kim Wonder Woman and Nana Frog Girl! I'll NEVER live that one down with my baby sister!