Wait No More by Kelly and John Rosati

Wait No More by Kelly & John Rosati


From Goodreads.com:

There are over 130 million orphans worldwide. The pro-life/pro-choice debate continues to consume politics and everyday conversations. Readers want to know what they can do to make a difference on these issues. Wait No More tells Kelly and John Rosati’s story of experiencing God more fully through the great blessings and challenges encountered during their journey to adopt four children from the U.S. foster care system. It is a story of God’s faithfulness to grow a beautiful family, through adoption, from the ashes of child abuse, neglect, and abandonment. The Rosatis strongly believe that God’s solution for orphaned children in the foster care system involves ordinary Christians desiring to live out an authentic pro-life commitment requiring action, not just words. Their story reveals how their beliefs challenged, enriched, and completely changed their family’s life.

My Take:
Friends of ours from church recently adopted a child from overseas.  This child was neglected and was, at the age of nine, smaller than their one year old.  Since her adoption she has thrived.

I shared this story because it was the main reason I wanted to read this book.  The Rosati's didn't set out to adopt.  They saw a need and felt God's Hand and went for it.  Because they obeyed God's leading four children now have a forever home and the ministry of Wait No More was born. 
The need is so great and I know if you are like me you are probably thinking that what ever I do won't make a difference but that reminds me of the story of the man throwin clams back into the ocean and his friends saying that it wouldn't make a difference and he replied as a threw another one in the ocean "it does to that one"
Even if you don't feel lead to adopt this book is good for encouraging you look around and find ways that you  can help.

I was given a copy of this book for review purposes.

Forsaking All Others by Allision Pittman

Forsaking All Others by Allison Pittman

From Goodreads.com

Camilla Fox is alive. The last thing she remembers is being lost in the snow after leaving her home to escape the Mormon faith she no longer calls her own. She’s been taken in by the 5th Infantry Regiment of the US Army and given over to the personal care of Captain Charles Brandon. As she regains her strength, memories of her two children she had to leave behind come flooding back, threatening to break her heart. Camilla is determined to reunite with her daughters. But when news of her father’s grave illness reaches her, she knows she must return to the family farm to reconcile with her father. As spring arrives, Camilla returns to Salt Lake City a changed woman, but nothing could prepare her for the changes to the city, to the Mormon church, and to the family she left behind.

My Take:  This is the second in the series Sister Wives and I liked it almost as much as The first book



For Time and Eternity   Link leads to Goodreads.com page

Camilla is found by the military in the snowstorm that we left her in at the end of the first book.  She forms a friendship with the forts commander a fellow Christian.  She feels like she needs to go back to Salt Lake to see what her options are.  I feel I would tell to much if I reveal much more but it is a heartwrenching decision and I admired her fortitude.  I was a bit disappointed in the ending.  I thought there was going to be more of a confrontation at the end and it kinda feel a little flat for me but I was mostly satisfied.  I found it kind of interesting that the way people who left the church back then were more more or less  treated very simiarly the same as the Mormon church treats plagiamists today. 

A great series and I am sad that it was only two books long. 

I received this book as part of Tyndale House's blog review program and received a copy for review.

The Doppleganger Chronicles: The Secret of the Indigo Moon by G.P. Taylor

The Doppleganger Chronicles: The Secret of the Indigo Moon by G.P.Taylor

From Goodreads.com:
From best-selling author G.P. Taylor comes the highly anticipated second installment of The Dopple Ganger Chronicles, a series that combines art and traditional text to help “reluctant readers” discover the wonder of books.
Erik Morissey Ganger, famed explorer and detective (well, in his dreams), and his mischief-making sidekicks, twins Sadie and Saskia Dopple, didn’t go looking for a secret tunnel beneath the school. They never intended to make the acquaintance of a shifty private eye with a nose for trouble. It wasn’t part of the plan to come face to face with an old enemy, one with an agenda of his own that could destroy them all. And unraveling the “secret of indigo moon” was the farthest thing from their minds.
 At Isambard Dunstan’s School for Wayward Children, these things just seem to happen.
In The Secret of Indigo Moon, confirmed troublemakers Erik, Sadie, and Saskia plunge headlong into a new and perilous mystery, one that challenges everything they thought they knew about their lives, themselves, and whom it’s safe to trust.

My Take:  I had never read a graphic novel before this one.  My daughter had read a few and when this one came up for review I thought I would give it a try. 
The story was engaging and I could see how reluctant reader's would find the type of format inviting.  I think that boys would especially find this series of books enjoyable but I think that girls would also find them intriguing.  Since I didn't read the first in the series I plan on getting it.  You don't need to read them in order to enjoy them. 
I will be passing this book on to my daughter to read. 

I received a review copy of this book from Tyndale for an honest review.

The Imagination Station:Attack at the Arena by Marianne Hering and Paul McCusker

Attack at the Arena by Marianne Hering and Paul McCusker

From Publisher:
Patrick and Beth learn that Mr. Whittaker’s fancy ring can be seen inside the Imagination Station but not outside of the machine. A mysterious letter leads the cousins to fifth-century Rome in search of a special cup that belongs to a monk. If found, the cup could keep the mysterious Albert out of prison.


At the Roman Colosseum, Emperor Honorius is hosting a gladiator battle in celebration of a war victory. Beth attends the event as the emperor’s slave; Patrick attends as a monk’s apprentice but is taken prisoner and sent to fight in the arena. During their adventure, the cousins meet Telemachus (a true historical figure), a monk who believes that fighting is wrong. Telemachus is willing to risk everything—even his life—to stop the killing. When the cousins return with the cup, they find that a third letter has been sent with more information about Albert’s fate.
 
My Take:
When my children were young they loved listening to Adventures in Odyssey.  My 15 Year old still likes to listen to the cds we have.  I like to download them onto my mp3 player and escape to Odyssey every once in awhile.  My Husband will listen on the radio occasionally.  When I was given the chance to read a book from the new series about Mr. Whitaker's invention The Imagination Station (from Tyndale) I was thrilled.
 
These books are geared toward children ages 7 and up , about a second grade reading level.  This book is the second in series and I would highly recommend starting with the first book.  This book is enjoyable by itself  but there are some things that happen in the first book that I would have liked to have known about.  
 
Patrick and Beth travel back to ancient Rome in order to get a special cup.  They get separated and Patrick ends up traveling with a monk Telemachus and Beth ends up as the bird keeper for the emperor.  This book is filled excitement and will keep the beginning reader turning the pages till the very end.    

Code Triage by Candace Calvert

Code Triage by Candace Calvert

From Goodreads:
Dr. Leigh Stathos likes her ER shifts fast, furious, and adrenaline-infused—“Treat ’em and street ’em”—with no emotional complications. Life’s taught her a soul-rending lesson: nothing lasts forever, including marriage. And the clock is ticking toward the end of hers. Then an unwelcome confrontation with “the other woman” begins a whole new set of lessons.


San Francisco police officer Nick Stathos never gives up, whether protecting his patrol neighborhood, holding fast to faith—or trying to save his marriage. Seven days is all he has to reach Leigh’s heart. But when a desperate act of violence slams Golden Gate Mercy Hospital into lockdown, it starts a chain of events that will change lives forever.
 
My Take:
This is the Third Book in a Series.  Although not having read the first two books in this series I had no problem with the main story in this book.  I was however completely lost in the Last chapter.  All these characters that I had no Idea who they were or where they were from came out of the wood work and completely threw me for a loop.  
 
That being said I really enjoyed this book and I will definitely be going back and reading the first two books. 
 
We first meet Nick Stathos as he is trying to intervene on behalf of a mother that is at the end of her rope with her life.  Her electricity has been turned off and her babysitter didn't show up so her daughter called for help and the police and Crisis worker show up.  Nick is able to talk to her and by time and then they rush the whole family to the hospital for carbon monoxide poisoning.  At the hospital we are introduced to Nick's soon to be Ex-wife Leigh who wants to just get the divorce and start her life over again.  Nick wants desperately to save his marriage.  In walks Samantha Gordon, the Crisis worker and the women that Nick had an affair with when his best friend and her brother died and Leigh had kicked him out of the house. 

Along with all this drama lurking in the background is the father of the family sent to the hospital who has been banished from the family for taking and dealing drugs.  He is determined to get his family back. Anyway he can.  
 
I really liked this book although I thought that there was way too much time spent on talking about Leigh's horse.  There was just enough suspense to keep you turning the pages but not so much that you lost sight of the wole human drama going on between Leigh , Nick and Samatha. 
 
I was sent a copy of this book for review purposes.

Ryken's Bible Handbook

I received this book from Tyndale House to review for their blogger program.  I was very excited when I received it.  
This is a guide to reading the Bible so I will admit that I have not read the entire thing.  I decided that I would read the chapters that applied to my current book of the Bible I was reading for my devotions so I could put the different aspects of the guide into practical use. 

I am currently reading the Book of Joshua so I first looked at that chapter.  Each chapter opens with a fact sheet on that particular book of the Bible.  It gives it's implied purpose, where the author is comming form , the audience it was ment for plus a few more things.  What I liked about the fact sheet is that it ends with a section on The challenges that the reader or someone who is teaching that particular book will encounter.  Then it follows up that section with one on how to meet the challenges. It ends with the most common misconception about the book.

Next there is an outline of book followed by sections that include Key characters, key elements, tips for teaching the book.  Sprinkled through out there are little sidebars like Did you Know? and Key Verse.
The chapter ends with a section on how the book contributes to the Book's story of salvation and ends with a section on applying the book to your life.  The very end has quotes about the that particular books by various different authors and scholars. 

I felt the this guide enhanced my reading of Joshua especially the challenges and applying sections.  I plan on using this guide for the reading of the rest of Bible.  It will be the first thing I consult before I start a new book in the Bible.