Review: A Christmas Prayer by Wanda E. Brunstetter

Christmas is probably my favorite time of the year. I've always be in awe of those that journeyed across the US for a better life. I often think I would have liked living in those times, but I can't imagine the work load and stress that they endured.  In A Christmas Prayer Cynthia Cooper and her mother are attempting a cross-country journey with her new fiance, Walter Prentice.  Walter isn't exactly the ideal man that Cynthia would like, but she needs someone that will take care of her and her mother and she knows he will do that. She's marring for stability rather than love. Walter isn't really a hands-on type of man and that become apparent very quickly as the journey starts. They are traveling with two other wagons, one a widowed man with children and the other a brother and sister team.  Cole is the leader of the wagon train, but Cynthia sees that Jack is equally capable. She is hopeful that their knowledge will make up for Walter's lack.  

Traveling this way is not easy and Cynthia and her mom struggle to adjust.  They enjoy the company of the others at night and soon Cynthia and Virginia, Cole's sister,  take over the care of Jack's children during the day to try and help keep them occupied. The days are long, but just when they think they are getting close to the end winter weather starts to fall.  The men go back and forth about the best way to deal with the current situation. They still have some food left, but can't survive the winter out in the snow. Later the group is blessed by Cole running up on an abandoned cabin while hunting for food. This may be the answer to their prayers. It's small and it will be hard for them all to live in such tight places, but it will be protection from the winter weather and may just save their lives.  

As they wait out the winter and pray their food lasts until better traveling weather romance seems to be running through everyone's veins. Cynthia is engaged to Walter, but Walter feels that Cole is "too friendly" around her and that she spends too much time watching Jack's children.  Is Cynthia on the path to true love rather than the stability that Walter will offer?

A Christmas Prayer by Wanda E. Brunstetter and a great story.  There are 170 pages, but the author engages us so easily through the characters that it's a very quick read.  There are so many great choices from this author that you could keep busy for many months. She has written stand alone books as well as several series.  To keep up-to-date with what books are coming out check out her social media sites: Facebook, Pinterest, Youtube, Twitter and Godtube


"I received a complimentary copy of this book from Barbour Publishing and was under no obligation to post a review."

First six weeks of school is in the books!!

We have completed the first six weeks of school and I feel like we are doing pretty good. This might be our best start yet! It never seems to fail that we make a few changes and tweak what we are doing, but that's part of homeschooling. As the years have gone I've learned that I need to go with the flow more and not stress so much if something isn't working. Sometimes things just don't work with certain children and it's better to drop it than push through. Sometimes we should push through and that's been one of my biggest struggles is knowing when to stop and when to push through.  I guess by the time I graduate our youngest child I'll finally feel like I know what I'm doing (LOL) This year marks our 15th year homeschooling and I often still don't feel like I know what I'm doing. I've realized that being in charge of your child's education is stressful and not wanting to make mistakes can cause a mom to do crazy things (LOL)

This year our middle child is in the 11th grade. The plan was to start out with Abeka American History. My daughter enjoys the Abeka history books and has been using them for a few years now. I try to order used when I can, so that's what I did, but this year it was problematic :( I didn't pay much attention to what arrived in the mail until it was almost time to start. Then I realized the reader and answer key didn't match :( I don't mind a little older book, but I do mind when I don't have a usable answer key. That's one of my favorite tools for homeschooling is to have an answer key for everything! A friend used the same program and was able to loan me hers, so we now have the more current book AND answer key. Makes grading much easier. I debated about English and ultimately went with the American Lit from Bob Jones. When I was flipping through it I was pretty sure it wouldn't work out for us, but again I got it super cheap and so we tried it. About two weeks in my daughter came to me that she was struggling. We decided we'd drop that program and go back to picking books to read and doing comprehension questions and some writing. Her first book that I picked was The Giver by Lois Lowry. I had grabbed this one day at the library and thought it was something she'd like. I figure we'll have an interesting mix of books read by the end of the year.  We are always open for suggestions! :) For Science we are doing something new for us. We are using a free Anatomy & Physiology program from Guest Hollow.  She's really enjoying this and it's usually the first subject that she turns to each day. 

For our youngest we are also using a free program, American History Year 2, from Guest Hollow as well. I had heard about this site from another homeschooler, I wish I could remember who told me, and I had bookmarked it to check out. It's working great for us this year and both of them seem to really be enjoying them.  I recently wrote about how we are using this history this year.  Issac is continuing to use A+ Math that we were given last year to review. He used to be ahead in math, but once multiplication and division came into play he has struggled since.  We are just continuing to work through some of the basics to try and strengthen his foundation.  We are throwing some health this year.  I figured we could easily add things on for our science.  Just recently I was given the chance to review Science in the Industrial Age and I'm loving it after just one lesson! We jumped back into First Language Lessons 3 this year. Issac has trouble remembering basic parts of speech and we are more often than not reviewing and stopping other programs due to his memory. I decided that these programs had worked great when he was younger, so we'd go back to it. I'd rather have a good basic foundation for him than trying to push ahead on things that I don't think are necessary for him.  We have been reading some of the longer chapter books from our history as our English and I've been finding comprehension questions and vocabulary to use. We also just received Mosdos Press Literature-Pearl to use. I'm not sure why I went with this level because Issac is usually behind at least one level. I went through and skipped the longer stories and we started with the smaller stories. We are going to attempt to modify it to make it work for us :) 

Usually by this time I'm feeling SO behind. Issac has been doing so great for the last 2 or so weeks. Not arguing about doing his work. Getting up early and wanting to work before appointments and not complaining if we were late some days. It's really made this year much more enjoyable and I'm hoping it continues!

The kids are also continuing to do their drama classes as well as Issac is doing a space themed class and one where they are reading The Adventures of Rush Revere-The Revolutionary War. I highly recommend these books! This company is wanting to get these books into children's hands and get them to develop a love of history. They have been VERY generous with our co-op in helping supply books. 

Review: A secret To Die For by Lisa Harris

In my mind there isn't much better than sitting down on a rainy afternoon or lazy weekend and reading a book.  A Secret to Die For is just the book for one of those afternoon! I will admit that a good romance is usually my first choice, but Lisa Harris writes great suspense novels that include romance and mystery.  

In A Secret to Die For Grade is adjusting her life to the death of her young daughter and the break up of her marriage due to the loss of their daughter. On the anniversary of her daughter's death she's woken up to the sounds of someone breaking in her home. Trying to decide if this is a fight or flight scenario she decides it's a flight and manages to barely escape before the intruder enters her room. She manages to hide until help arrives. Later that morning she has a reunion with an old friend of her husband's.  He's working a homicide case and they are lead to her for help.  Grace knew her client was worried, but she never really thought anything would happen to him.  As she tried to help the police she is drawn even more deeper into the case.  As they try to decipher the cryptic messages that Stephen left Grace and Detective Nate have their own personal demons to wrestle. She's struggling with thoughts of her daughter and her grief for not having done more for Stephen and Nate is struggling with PTSD from a recent bombing that killed his partner.  As Grace tries to help Nate with his PTSD he's rushing to solve the case of who killed Stephen and why before Grace is put into harms way again.  

I really enjoyed this book. It was an easy read, but one that kept me interested the entire time.  I have read quite a few of her books and I've never been disappointed! To keep up with what she's currently working on follow her Blog, her Facebook page, her Twitter page or her Pinterest page.  

**I received a free copy of this book from Revell for my honest opinion.**