S Club Mama

Thank you to you all for entering my "The Zookeeper's Wife" Fandago gift card giveaway. I'm excited to announce that the winner picked by random.org is.... Amanda Kaeb! I loved her answer to my question: who is your female hero? I just started listening to this book too ... While I run! What are the chances?!? So funny.  I've always admired Sabrina Wrumbrand. She was the wife of pastor, Richard Wrumbrand, during the communist take over of Romania. In his memoir he recounts a time when he was faced with the decision to support the communist agenda or stand up for Christ and face certain imprisonment, torture, and probable death (which would obviously leave her abandoned and alone to raise their son in a very scary and unstable time). He writes about how he turned to his wife and said (something to the effect of) "Sabina, I can't stand up now, you know what will become of me" to which she responds "you must stand up, for they are spit

I read "The Zookeeper's Wife" by Diane Ackerman about a year ago - rather, I listened to it while running. I fell in love with this true story of Antonina  Żabińska and her husband,  Dr. Jan Żabiński. They are the zookeepers at the Warsaw zoo in Poland during 1939. When the Nazi's arrive after Poland is invaded, they struggle to keep their beloved animals, their son, and their home. They end up working with the Resistance and " put into action plans to save lives out of what has become the Warsaw Ghetto, with Antonina putting herself and even her children at great risk." They have made this wonderful book into a movie! Antonina's heroism throughout the book is extraordinary! Another woman who showed great heroism during World War II - Corrie ten Boom. She was a Dutch watchmaker and Christian who, along with her father and other family members, helped hide and save many Jews from the awful evil of the Holocaust. She even ended up in prison herself for t

I do love the giveaways I host on here but it's especially fun when an IRL friend wins! The winner of the LifeWay gift card (chosen by random.org) is... Mari Carnes! A big thank you to my friend, Sarah, for teaching me how to do screen shots from my desktop! Now after almost 8 years of having this computer, I have a new skill. haha! Thanks to everyone who entered. Check back for another giveaway or book review.

I have been a fan of Jennie Allen for several years now. She is the founder of IF:gathering. My friend Cari and I hosted IF:gathering two years ago, attended another last year and are hosting it again this year. It is such a vital time of encouragement and learning for me. Jennie's new book, "Nothing to Prove," has that same type of encouragement and learning. The subtitle is "why we can stop trying so hard." Don't you feel like you've been trying so hard? Striving for success or a goal of some kind for so long. I have. No, don't misquote me here saying that I don't think goals are worthwhile. I do very well when I have a goal to strive for. However, when that striving becomes overwhelming and exhausting, something is wrong.  Even in the Christian world, we are all striving. Usually, we are striving for good things: doing good works for God, mission work, discipling, evangelizing. These are good things but they can make us exhausted. In

Thanks to those special folks at Grace Hill Media, I have a $25 gift card to LifeWay to give to one of you lucky readers. TO ENTER: Please leave a valid email address with your comment so I can contact you if you win. Look at http://www.lifeway.com/ and tell me what you want to get with $25. That's it. I like to keep it simple here. Giveaway will run until Sunday March 12, 2017 at 11:59pm CST. To enter you must be 18 or over with a valid US mailing address. Void where prohibited. Disclaimer: This giveaway is not associated with LifeWay stores or their .com at all. Just a perk. I received a gift card of my own for writing a post about my faith. 

CNN has a show called "Finding Jesus: Faith, Fact, Forgery" and the 2nd season premieres on March 5 at 9PM ET/PT. One episode this season is about Thomas, or "doubting Thomas" as he can be known.  If you don't know the story of Thomas, he was one of Jesus Christ's 12 disciples. Ever so faithful during the life of Christ, he is called the doubter because of the passage of John 20:24-29 where he says he will not believe that Christ was resurrected until he saw it for himself. Many sort of scoff at this man for his doubting, but they overlook how faithful he was during the life of Christ. John 11:16 shares his passion for the Messiah in wanting to go with Jesus even if it meant his (Thomas') death. I feel like Thomas is one of the more relatable characters in the Bible because of his momentary doubt. The story of Christ's life and resurrection is unbelievable without faith! And some are more hard-headed than others. I feel like my faith is a gi

My greatest desire would be to fulfill this Scripture:  "I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the truth." 3 John 1:4 Truly, the Lord has blessed me with my children and I try my very best to instill in them a love for the Lord. My hope is that this discipleship of my children will lead to their ownership in their faiths. That they may walk in the truth. One way I've found necessary in our lives to teach them is through books. We are bookworms, my children and I (my husband has come very far in his non-reading ways lol). My boys naturally lounge with a book daily. Even Princess, as small as she is, likes to be read to. One of her first words was "buh" which means "book." She is quite violent in placing them on your lap for you to read to her but it's with a good heart, a bookworm heart. image via amazon.com I love to have books that speak of God. Our favorites include "Look What God Made," "G