Valentine’s Day has always been a rather boring holiday to me, since it’s just a bunch of hearts painted on shop windows and candy – and an opportunity for married folk to flood the restaurants. But this holiday can be redeemed, and meaningful – before you’re married!

I encourage you to read StoryGirl’s idea and consider becoming a part of her project. Reclaim this holiday, singles, as a day to remember and pray for the one you are waiting for. Until God’s timing.

Like any of my thoughts matter

So many thoughts have already been spoken, and written, and shared

They shape my thoughts

But my thoughts stand alone – they are unique

If I could, I would have

A book

With all of my thoughts.

Because I think many things,

But forget almost all

Even the things

I want to remember

In heaven, there must be a library

Perhaps somewhere among its shelves, there is a book

With my memories

and thoughts

And I can settle it in my lap, and open it, and remember

The joy

and sorrows

Hesitate no longer,if you are interested in getting involved in any of these programs, it’s easy to sign up! I don’t know if they have a limit of how many bloggers they allow, but personally I have been able to sign up and request a book the same day I decide to do so…

There are two programs that I now belong to (click on titles to go to their main site):

BookSneeze, which is a division of Thomas Nelson publishing and offers their books,

and

Blogging For Books, which offers books by Waterbrook Multnomah publishing.

Both of these sites offer choices of fiction and non-fiction, paperback (they pay for shipping!) and e-book – as well as some books in Spanish.They both request that you review the book on your blog and on a consumer website – could be Amazon, could be Christianbook.com, your call.

I’ve found that Blogging for Books tends to have a greater selection – BookSneeze has less fiction books. The latter site sends out an email when they will be releasing a lot of books, and sometimes you have to be quick to snag a book you want to read, before all of the copies have been requested. I have noticed that the variety at BookSneeze has steadily been increasing over the last couple years.

Blogging for Books will also send you an email reminding you to read and review your book, which is helpful.

In the end, I would say that the difference between these sites is pretty small, and you’re pretty sure to find a book you would enjoy reading and talking about through either program. So what are you waiting for? Jump on this train before it’s filled up. And keep your eye out for other publishers that adopt this idea!

Know of any other sites that let you blog for free books? Comment below!

But for now, I have another book review! I recently joined a second program that allows you to read free books, with the criteria that you must review them on your blog and on a consumer site (Post to follow on how to get involved in such programs).

The first book I requested from Blogging for Books, which offers books from publisher Waterbrook Multnomah, is the first volume of the Sierra Jensen Collection. I had heard good things from friends about the author Robin Jones Gunn, who also wrote the popular “Christy Miller” series. This series is connected to the Christy series, in that Sierra met Christy while on a mission trip in Europe, and will continue to meet up with Christy further on in the series.

Volume One is a collection of the first three Sierra stories, “Only You, Sierra”, “In Your Dreams”, and “Don’t You Wish”. In these stories, Sierra returns from a mission trip in England to one adventure after another that will try her – a new home, a new school, a grandmother that is losing touch with reality, sister troubles, the need for a job, and a chance meeting in a London airport with a guy named Paul that happens to live in Oregon, too, and that she begins to run into frequently.

Through it all – even with her strong will and sharp tongue – Sierra keeps God in the forefront, and will make a great role model for every tween/teen girl.

Gunn’s casual way of writing about a teen girl’s daily life never lost my attention, and in fact reminded me a lot of the “Diary of a Teenage Girl” series by Melody Carlson, which are some of my favorite books. My only complaint about these books is that even though the main characters go through hard times and struggles, it often feels like their lives are pretty well put together. When I was younger and reading Carlson’s books, it felt as if every one of her main characters had a job, their license, and a car by at least 16, 17 years old. Felt pretty unfair to me that their lives were so easy, although looking back it wasn’t that long until I had my license and a job, just felt like a long time in waiting, ‘cause everything feels like a long time when you’re a teen…

I’ve also wondered if the reason the lives of the teen girls in Gunn’s and Carlson’s books seem easier and “rosier”, is because it’s difficult to truly capture the small things that cause friction in day-to-day life and keep us from having truly great days. When you think about it, what are the things that bring you down, that cause tension in family and friends? Sure, there’s the big things, but I’d bet that most of the things that can make our lives short of perfect… would just sound plain silly when written down. Someone drank the last of the chocolate milk in the fridge? Slow person driving in front of you as you were headed to the grocery store? The day is ruined!! Sounds silly… but stop and consider, what are the things that get to you, and that you allow to make your day that much less enjoyable?

And if the lives of these characters in these books ever start to feel a little rosy, consider… maybe the things that we allow to bother us are so trivial, they would sound ridiculous written down.

Just a thought.

I’m hoping to get the rest of the Sierra series through Blogging for Books – I want to see how her life continues to play out. If you want to check this book or this author out, I would say go for it. Although Melody Carlson is still definitely my favorite – if you’re going to head to the library to check out any books after reading this blog post, I recommend her “Diary for a Teenage Girl” series, especially the Caitlin books.

Disclaimer: I received this book from Waterbrook Multnomah Publishers for free, in exchange for my honest review.

Here’s the premise of the story, from the back of the book:

The last thing Addy Davidson wants is to be on a reality TV show where the prize is a prom date with the President’s son.

She’s focused on her schoolwork so she can get a scholarship to an Ivy League college, uncomfortable in the spotlight, never been on a date, and didn’t even audition for it.

But she got selected anyway.

So she does her best to get eliminated on the very first show. Right before she realizes that the President’s son is possibly the most attractive guy she has ever seen in person, surprisingly nice, and seemingly unimpressed by the 99 other girls who are throwing themselves at him.

Addy’s totally out of her comfort zone but that may be right where God can show her all that she was meant to be.

In Krista McGee’s debut book, she sets the story of Esther in modern day times – substituting a good-looking president’s son for King Xerxes, and using a reality TV show as the setting. The main character, Addy, is a real-life, natural person – especially juxtaposed against the other girls – and as each competition on the show arises, you wonder, “what will she do now?”. This book is lighthearted but not cliché and predictable, which I appreciated.

This book also helps you to look at the story of Esther with new eyes, and to appreciate how (pardon the language of my generation) “epic” it really is! Sometimes I look at Bible stories, such as Jonah and the whale, or Noah, only seeing the coloring book images from Sunday School, and missing that the stories are true and those were real people, and the same God we worship today. This book reminded me to look at the familiar story again, and to appreciate Esther’s bravery and faith.

In short. If you’re the kind of person who will enjoy this book, or the kind of person who won’t, you will be able to tell by looking at the cover and reading the synopsis. If you enjoy the writings of Melody Carlson and Robin Jones Gunn, you will most likely enjoy this book. If you are a young woman looking for a quick and lighthearted read, you will enjoy this book. I felt that the author did a good job with a good idea, and personally recommend this book. Allow it to help you see the story of Esther with new eyes.

—–                 —–                —–              —–

I received this book for free from Thomas Nelson, through the program BookSneeze, with the criteria that I review it. I was not encouraged in any way to post positively: all views are my own.

So it’s official: Today was my second day of work! I have been hired, and the negative drain on my money supply has just switched to paychecks of positivity in every way. This Wednesday I finally moved the job search beyond filling out endless job applications and scouring Craigslist from the comfort of my own home… after visiting a couple businesses and shaking some hands, I began to feel the familiar, sour, depressing fog descending upon me that always comes when job searching and finding nothing but fake smiles and rejection. Then a couple neat things happened:

• REI took back items that had been sold with no refund guaranteed. I slept in a car with several friends to wake early for their Scratch-and-Dent sale, wandered the madness as people made quick work of the piles of hiking boots, clothes, and gear, and ended up buying only one thing: a pair of fingerless gloves that could convert to mittens. When I got home, it turned out there were two LEFT-handed gloves!!! Hilarious, yes, but entirely un-useful! Fortunately REI refunded me. Great store, shop there!
• Second thing: Used a free drink coupon at Starbucks only to find it was expired. They gave the drink to me anyway. Yah, Starbucks!
• Third thing: Visited Quiznos (this is starting to sound like advertisements for businesses…) and the manager said, “oh yeah, I remember you!” and proceeded to say that he still had my resume, that it was on top of his list, that my experience was impressive, and he would hire me right then if he had a spot available. He jokingly mused, “maybe I could fire someone…” Very encouraging to me to see that my resumes weren’t immediately discarded and that my experience was enough to get noticed….
• And lastly… did I mention I got hired?! Completely unexpected. I walked into The British Pantry for the first time to buy my mom some of her favorite brand of tea as she was almost out… while checking out happened to ask if they were hiring… five minutes later I was shaking hands with the manager, and five minutes after that I was to come in the next day for training, hired immediately. As it so happened, someone had just quit without giving notice, so there was an open spot.

Thursday was my first day of work, where I had everything crammed into my head at once… and today was much quieter and gave me a chance to learn more names and settle into this new, entirely unexpected opportunity to earn money and DO something.

‘Tis a blessing, indeed.

Here’s an excerpt:

A New York City subway train holds 1,200 people. This blog was viewed about 4,800 times in 2011. If it were a NYC subway train, it would take about 4 trips to carry that many people.

Click here to see the complete report.

I am looking forward to sledding this year.

Lights have been strung on our house and they look marvelous. We are using our wood stove to heat our home. It lends itself well to heating up mugs of milk for hot coco. We have been enjoying delicious cookies and eggnog for several weeks now. It gets dark quickly, which means CANDLES! I have about 5 burning in my room right now. Bliss.

Can’t wait til it snows. It is a good time of the year.

“They were hungry enough for God’s leading that they wanted to say it with the hunger of their bodies and not just the hunger of their hearts.”

-John Piper, as quoted in “Fasting: the Ancient Practices”

For my second book from the BookSneeze program (where you get a book free as long as you agree to review it on your blog), I decided to choose Fasting, by Scot McKnight. I know friends that make fasting a regular part of their walk with God. I’ve done 30 Hour Famine with my youth group about… *mentally counts number of shirts* 4 times, but while that gives you an idea of what it’s like to feel hungry, it’s a group event designed to raise money and teach you about world poverty. Excellent, worthy goals, but not the typical goals when you fast.

Since Jesus said, “when you fast” (Matthew 6:1), it seemed to me that fasting should not be an optional or non-existent thing in our spiritual lives.  But how should fasting be done? With what goals in mind – could it be done with wrong motivations? Did it matter if it was a complete, or partial, fast?

So when I saw this book on BookSneeze’s list, I seized the opportunity to learn more on the subject.

Scot McKnight did a great job on this book. It was evident that he had done his research, and was no stranger to fasting – essential for any author on this subject.

McKnight talked about the different faces of fasting, or the different ways it could be approached. He used Biblical references that told of  instances where nations, groups, and/or individuals had fasted.  Many times he also referred to and quoted men throughout history that not only spoke of fasting, but lived the meaning of seeking God with your entire body – from Benedictine monks to Baptist preachers to St. Augustine to John Calvin. This book has some excellent words from all sorts of men from through history, referring to fasting.

Overall, however, I did not find this book enormously… moving? And found as I read on that his message became repetitive. Indeed, you could simply read only the introduction and, without reading further, have the entire book’s message. A good message, I concede, but repeated continuously throughout the book so that each chapter felt like only very slightly different angles on the same message.

Many people believe that fasting will produce results, McKnight wrote. I cannot deny that that was my view. Yet fasting is not an advanced plea to gain something, he continued, but a response to a sacred moment. A moment of intense sorrow and grief, of intense joy, of intense longing for  a nation’s freedom, for another’s salvation, or for God’s own presence – fasting is a whole-body action of expressing that emotion.

But I will not detail the book. I felt that McKnight did a good job of covering this subject and emphasizing that in the end, fasting is a response to a sacred moment that had to be responded to entirely.

This book is rare in that it is written humbly and with a yearning for God central. Other books of this topic would fall under the category of “Self-Help”, claiming to deliver something if you read the book. Miracles, spiritual freedom, or a closer, more intimate relationship with God, perhaps – simply search “fasting” on Amazon to see what I mean.

This book offers no easy ten steps to take, it simply approaches the subject with a quiet frankness. And for that I am grateful.

It is impossible to win the race unless you venture to run, impossible to win the victory unless you dare to battle.
- Richard M. DeVos

Hello again, the threshold between November and December. Between a month of constant writing, of Nanowrimo pep talks and competition against my fellow Nano participants, and a month of snow, cookies, sledding, and the wonderful remembrance of our humble King that Christmas brings.

This is a wonderful place to be, standing between two months, looking at the past and the future. 30 days are behind me that were full of getting ahead in word count (not much of that), falling behind and striving to catch up (a LOT of that), despising my plot and my writing and my characters and yet plunging on, determined to tell their story.

This evening my brother, a friend, and I hung out at Tully’s for several hours and one by one, conquered the number 50,000. We had been planning to attend a Nanowrimo write-in but there wasn’t really any Nanowrimo-ers there that we could tell… They must have all attended the large, end of the month Seattle event. Or we were duped by this whole Nanowrimo site and none of the other participants exist – they just wanted to see if some people out there would be dumb enough to actually try to write 50,000 words in one month. They could be laughing at us right now.

Whatever the case, there we were, ready to achieve victory. We crowded all three of our laptops onto one table and effectively distracted each other, laughing, somehow managing to squeeze in writing between the teasing and jokes. My friend had 900 words to write and reached victory first. I could tell at once from her smug smile. My brother Kevin had about 1,100 words and conquered it in no time with his awesome-ness… and I, I had 2,000 words still to write and took until Tully’s closed to type them all out.

My excuse is that while they were writing, all three of us were concentrating on writing and therefore quiet(er). While I was writing, they were both involved in distracting me. And were effective

But in the end, by 9 o’clock, we all reached 50,000 words and sat there, together, three Nanowrimo winners and just plain epic people.

We reveled in the feeling for but a moment before springing up to let the Tully’s people close…

I am still amazed at my brother’s dedication and hard work. Not once did he fall behind, and thus was an inspiration to his sister that lagged, albeit with seemingly viable excuses.

As for my friend, I am not amazed at all as this is the 3rd year she has won – and beaten me to it. Oh, Hannah, Hannah…

For all of you other Nanowrimo winners, I applaud you. You have accomplished a great thing. Even if you end up tossing out every word you wrote this month, you learned more about writing. You may have written the beginnings of a great story this November, or you may have written another stepping stone, a learning experience, that you never could have done without when you do come to write your great story. Either way, you have learned something. You set a goal and accomplished it. Good on ya, mate.

Now go enjoy December. Rediscover the real world – take a break from your novel. Eat some cookies while you lounge by a fire and watch a Charlie Brown Christmas. Let it encourage you that while your raw, unedited and hastily written novel may be a Charlie Brown tree now, it still looks better than those ugly aluminum trees, and holds a lot of potential.

Au revoir, I am off to rediscover life, aka watch some Psych.