Walking Therein

The Christmas Glass by Marci Alborghetti

Posted by SimpleFolk
7:46 PM, Dec. 2, 2009 .. 0 comments .. Link

This week, the
Christian Fiction Blog Alliance
is introducing
The Christmas Glass
GuidepostsBooks (October 1, 2009)
by
Marci Alborghetti

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Marci Alborghetti has been writing only slightly longer than she's been reading. In seventh grade she received her first writing prize for a zany Halloween story. The prize? A five dollar gift certificate to a local bookstore. She was hooked. The Christmas Glass is her fourteenth book, and she is currently at work on a sequel as well as a non-fiction book about service. Some of her other books include: Prayer Power: How to Pray When You Think You Can’t, A Season in the South and Twelve Strong Women of God.

She and her husband, Charlie Duffy, live in New London, Connecticut and the San Francisco Bay area. While in New London she facilitates the Saint James Literary Club.

ABOUT THE BOOK

In the tradition of The Christmas Shoes and A Christmas on Jane Street, the heartwarming story of The Christmas Glass shows how, today as always, the Christmas miracle works its wonders in the human heart.

In the early days of World War II in Italy, Anna, a young widow who runs a small orphanage, carefully wraps her most cherished possessions -- a dozen hand-blown, German-made, Christmas ornaments, handed down by her mother -- and sends them to a cousin she hasn't seen in years.

Anna is distressed to part with her only tangible reminder of her mother, but she worries that the ornaments will be lost or destroyed in the war, especially now that her orphanage has begun to secretly shelter Jewish children. Anna's young cousin Filomena is married with two-year-old twins when she receives the box of precious Christmas glass.

After the war, Filomena emigrates to America, where the precious ornaments are passed down through the generations. After more than forty years, twelve people come to possess a piece of Christmas glass, some intimately connected by family bonds, some connected only through the history of the ornaments.

As Christmas Day approaches, readers join each character in a journey of laughter and tears, fractures and healings, as Filomena, now an eighty-four-year-old great-grandmother, brings them all to what will be either a wondrous reunion or a disaster that may shatter them all like the precious glass they cherish.

If you would like to read the first chapter of The Christmas Glass, go HERE

Saint's Roost by Terry Burns

Posted by SimpleFolk
7:44 PM, Nov. 30, 2009 .. 0 comments .. Link

This week, the
Christian Fiction Blog Alliance
is introducing
Saint's Roost
Sundowners (September 20, 2009)
by
Terry Burns

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Terry has over 30 books in print, including work in a dozen short story collections and four non-fiction books plus numerous articles and short stories.

His last book Beyond the Smoke is a 2009 winner of the Will Rogers Medallion for best youth fiction and a nominee for the Spur Award from the Western Writers of America. He has a three book Mysterious Ways series out from David C Cook, and Trails of the Dime Novel from Echelon Press.

A graduate of West Texas State he did post graduate work at Southern Methodist University. Terry plans to continue writing inspirational fiction as well as working as an agent for Hartline Literary Agency. Terry is a native Texan Living in Amarillo, Texas with his lovely wife Saundra.

ABOUT THE BOOK

Terry Burns has written a novel rich in Texan drawl and old western authenticity.

Saint’s Roost opens with a determined couple leaving a wagon train to set off on their own, only to be set upon by savages. Patrick, an eager evangelizing preacher, steps out to share the Good Book with the savages and meets an untimely demise, leaving his wife, Janie, alone on a trail to nowhere with no one to help her survive.

She makes her way across the frontier determined to follow her husband’s calling, but she doesn’t know where to begin, or even how to take care of herself. When her travels bring her into the lives of two cowhands, an ex-prostitute, a young boy and his drunken grandfather, and towns filled with cowboys waiting to be saved, she discovers there’s more than one way to spread God’s word.

If you would like to read the first chapter of Saint's Roost, go HERE

Teaching Math the Easy Way

Posted by CandyFoote
10:22 AM, Dec. 2, 2009 .. 0 comments .. Link

Do you have a child that has difficulty with counting and doing simple math?

Hand him a jar of pennies. Tell him he can keep as many as he can count.

Change the problem to a money problem. Kids love money! Instead of: What's 2+3, say what if you have $2.00 and I give you 3 more?

Let me know how it works out for you!

Our relaxed homeschool group meeting

Posted by ElCloud
9:23 AM, Dec. 2, 2009 .. Posted in Homeschool Updates .. 0 comments .. Link

Yesterday, we attended our homeschool group's co-op meeting. Attendance was lower than usual, and in a small group like ours that is especially noticeable. But it enabled us to do everything in one group and forgo the rotations we have been using.

We had decided to set aside our usual studies in order to focus on Christmas. I confess that was a last minute change, but it all came together. One of our moms has been working on a Bible timeline presentation she's using with children in a church's after-school program. She started with that, taking the children from Creation to the birth of Christ. Then we used the Family Life Christmas In A Box set to talk about the individuals involved in Christmas, and the prophecies of the Old Testament that were fulfilled in Jesus.

After that, we talked about the different names for Jesus, partially using the Family Life Adorenaments set. I had intended to go more in-depth with that study, and with the prophecy study, but when it came to the actual time ... it seemed better to keep moving more quickly.

We practiced our Christmas carols, since we're supposed to sing for the Senior Center during their holiday decorating on Friday. The kids did a good job, and I enjoyed watching them all sing heartily. Yeah, some of the kids don't carry a tune very well, but that's normal for the elementary ages.

My 3 year old and 5 year old got up there, too. 5 yo M didn't sing since he isn't reading yet and wasn't sure of the words. But he stood there very well, looking handsome and shy. LOL! 3 yo L didn't care if she knew the words ... she sang along with the tune in her ahhh-aaahhh style. She loves to sing and can follow a tune, even if she doesn't know the words. I'm looking forward to the caroling on Friday. We served a Thanksgiving meal at the Senior Center last week, and the children enjoyed it. I'm sure we'll enjoy caroling and decorating, too.

After our lunch break, which allowed the kids to spend some time visiting with their friends while they ate, we moved into crafts. Two of our Moms had prepared 4 separate crafts for the kids. The pre-teens and teens decorated dough ornaments for the whole group to take home. The preschool and kindergarten age made snow pictures with chalk, cotton balls, glue, and glitter glue. The young elementary students made coupon booklets they can give as gifts to their parents. Then they all were able to decorate 3 cookies one of the Moms had made with frosting and sprinkles.

A couple of us had printed out some Christmas word games the kids could do, thinking if we were having rotations there might be some time to fill. But the children didn't want to do those after their crafts. They just spent some more time playing together until it was time to leave. I think some of the Moms grabbed the worksheets to take home with them, though.

It was a nice relaxed co-op meeting ... an enjoyable time with friends. Our group moved to only having one meeting a month, instead of two this year. I know we needed to do that, due to gas costs for those who live more rurally. But I do miss having two chances to get together each month. The moms have added an evening together each month, though, and that is an encouraging time of fellowship.

Our homeschool group is a blessing to our family.

Trusting In Him,
April

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