Christmas Shopping for a Cause!

So Saturday night I was a little bored, and I had a busy day. I decided to go to my local Target store to just roam around and get some early Christmas ideas for my nieces and nephews.

I always buy my niece Mackenzie a doll. I saw these beautiful multicultural dolls.  http://www.hearts4heartsgirls.com/media/

They teach girls about different countries and the cost of them goes to support World Vision. I think this is a great way to teach girls about life not here. Girls cannot also go online and learn about the girls lives.

What a great idea! I didn't buy it but I will definitely purchase one or more of these six lovelies.

I received no endorsement of any kind for this post.

My Life and Lesser Catastrophies A memoir by Christina Schofield

What is a memoir? It is a reflection. it is not the complete story,but a perspective. It is what God has done in our lives, or is doing in our lives.
The subtitle of this book is an "unflinchingly honest journey of Faith". That is what I liked about this book, Christina Schofield is not afraid to tell her story. She's not afraid to share her disappointment when things don't work out when they are supposed. She's not afraid to share the fact that God 's will for us is that everything goes smoothly.
What is her story. She is married to Allen, a Christian student minister and has one child. She works as an illustrator in Christian publishing. her life seemed to be the American Christian dream, until one morning they are taking a belated anniversary ride on their motorcycle and hit some gravel. They are both injured. Christina has a concussion and Allen is left paralyzed.
She then wrestles with whether God is still faithful and still good. She wants God to heal her husband physically but does he have other plans for them? She learns to rely on God's presence in her life.
I sometimes struggled reading this book. I think I wanted Christina to see God's faithfulness faster. I haven't really had a life where I could relate to her feeling that bad things hadn't happened to her until this moment. My life has been messy and I've grown up trusting God to guide me through these days and not because my days are good, but He is.
In the end this is what Christina learns and her story isn't over. I can't not like her story because it is her story, my story is different.
 I am glad that people are willing to share God working in them. That God loves us....He writes our story...Maybe it isn't happy ever after...He is the hero and we are loved...
What is your story???

I received no compensation for this review of this book, other than a free copy of this book from Chosen, a division of Baker Publishing Group.

Wonderland Creek by Lynn Austin

Can you read too much? Can you be so lost in stories that you forget to live life? This is the dilemma of the heroine Alice of Wonderland Creek.
She loses her job, her boyfriend breaks up with her because he thinks she is out of touch with people. Is there nothing left for her but books? The only thing left for her is to go to Kentucky and take the books that she has collected for a rural library. She goes herself is the hope that there is more to her than books. She wants to touch people with books, which is proof that she does care about people.
So Alice shows up uninvited and gets caught up in an adventure. This adventure involves how to cope without the comforts of home. She gets caught up in the middle of a murder and a town broken up by a feud between two families. She also becomes a librarian who rides a horse to the homes of poor families and learns how to be involved in the lives of people.
I can relate to reading too much, but I like to believe that I have a balance of living. This book was a good reminder that the adventure is with people and not with books.

As far as this book goes, it really wasn't a page-turner for me, which maybe helps you to not get caught up in a book. I think it took a long time for me to like the characters in this book. Alice isn't very likable until she has her big adventure and then you begin to care about her.
I recieved no compensation for this post other than a free copy of this book from Bethany House.