Leaving by Karen Kingsbury

Leaving
By Karen Kingsbury
Book 1 in the Bailey Flanigan Series

Almost a year ago exactly, I picked up Redemption, the first book Karen Kingsbury wrote about the Baxter family. Just a few weeks ago, I finally caught up through Take 4 and was waiting for Leaving to come out. Karen Kingsbury blessed me by choosing me to review it out of the many people who applied. What an honor and a privilege that is.

Karen Kingsbury’s books are called Life Changing Fiction. They are called that for a reason, and that is because they have changed many lives along the way! Many people have come to find the Lord Jesus Christ as their Savior though the testimonies of the characters in Karen’s books. These might be fiction books, but they bring the real truth to every reader!

In this latest book, Karen brings to life the real feelings we each go through as a chapter in our lives ends and another begins. We look forward to the next step in our lives, where God is going to take us next, but we cringe at what we leave behind in the process. From the Baxter Family, to the Flanigan family, this book will explore the endings and beginnings of different aspects of their lives. You do not want to miss this! And then, when it is read, you, like me, will not want to wait to find out what happens next in Book 2, Learning.



Disclaimer: I received a free copy of this book in order to review it for the author. I was not bound in any way though to give it a good review!

We have jumped into parenting teenagers!

For those of you that do not know, we have added 2 teenagers to our family! Juanita is 14 (almost 15) and Wesley is 13. They came to stay with us in November and December of last year. Juanita moved in on November 21st and Wesley moved in on Dec.3rd. They are biological brother and sister. On February 28th, we went to court and were granted temporary legal guardianship of them. We go back to court on March 28th for full legal guardianship of them. I am attaching a recent picture of each of my kids!

Unlocked - By Karen Kingsbury

Unlocked

by Karen Kingsbury

I am an avid fan of Karen Kingsbury's writing, and this book is just another wonderful example of her life changing fiction! It pulls you in and won't let go. If I was not a homeschooling mom with young children, this book would have been finished in a day, but even with as busy as I am, I still completed it in just 3 days! It was too good to put down and I would stay up until midnight just for the chance to read some more! Even knowing that my daughter would be up at 5am, it was worth my lost sleep to keep on reading!

Holden is a Senior in high school, but has not spoken a word since he was 3 years old. He is locked in his own world of Autism. Most of the kids at school think he is a freak, with his arm flapping repeditive behaviors, and word cards when he wants to say something. But one girl stands up for him. There is just something familiar about him to her. Then she finds out that they were childhood friends before he was diagnosed with autism. What can she do to help him when nothing else has ever worked in therapy and the special education teachers have even lost hope in him?

I have included the trailer for this book from YouTube. It is a touching book that should be included in everyone's library.

The Read-Aloud Handbook by Jim Trelease

http://www.trelease-on-reading.com/

This book was a gift from a friend who is an elementary school reading specialist. She thought it would be helpful to me as a homeschooling mom. I Love It!! It includes so much facts and statistics on reading to a child, but yet it presents itself in a way that keeps you reading it more and more. All the anecdotal stories are wonderful. I sat down to thumb through this book one night and ended up reading almost the entire book! This book is 292 pages and the last 115 are all recommended books and include a short synopsis of the book as well as the recommended reading ages for each story. A wonderful resource for any parent!

Lucky Baby by Meredith Efken

http://www.meredithefken.com/books.html

When imagination meets reality in this East meets West novel, the power of love and forgiveness conquers all. Meg Lindsay is determined to not be like her mother was to her, but can parenting a child fill the void she has where her mother is concerned?

I read this book in two days! I loved reading it and hated the times that I had to put it down! The author keeps this book flowing with imagery that flows off the page and into vivid pictures in your mind!

This is an adoption book that I think all adoptive parents should read, but especially parents adopting older children! I have a feeling that parents who have adopted from China will also really enjoy this book as well. It portrays so much more than just the orphan finds a family theme that most people think of in adoption books. It shows that there is more than one side to a life and that all things must be considered when adopting a child!

Disclaimer: I received a free copy of this book in order to review it for the author. I was not bound in any way though to give it a good review!

Baxter Family books by Karen Kingsbury

Have any of you read about the Baxter family? Karen Kingsbury has written several series surrounding the lives of the Baxter family. The first series is called the Redemption series. This series contains 5 books called Redemption, Remember, Return, Rejoice, and Reunion. These books introduce you to the characters in the Baxter family and learn what has lead each of them to the place they are now. These books were co-authored by Gary Smalley, the relationship author. Karen Kingsbury, with the help of Gary Smalley, not only introduces the characters, but teaches the reader throughout the books how God heals relationships. From tragedy to poor decisions, they lead you back to a life with Christ through the characters. The reader can take the knowledge of what helped the character return to Christ, and internalize it for themselves in their own situations in life. I found this to be very helpful in my own life in things that I have to deal with.

I would love to go on about the second series, but it would give away information from the first series. So go check it out! Not only will you be hooked like I am, you will also possibly change your life!

Life got away from me!

So shortly after our daughter came home in July, we had a family member and her baby, who is 2 weeks younger than our daughter, move in with us. It is like having twins in our house! Life has since been very hectic as you might imagine! Things are starting to slow down now though and I have been doing a lot of reading lately so please watch for lots more reviews coming very soon. Hoping to get my first review up today! This picture of them was taken in October after a trip to a harvest party at church.