Family, Reviews, Healthy Living, Photography and More!
September 1, 2015
Summer is coming to a close as the kids start school next week, so this week’s Wordless Wednesday is a re-cap of all my favourite things from this summer we did. Enjoy!
Make sure you link up below so that I can come visit you too!
July 14, 2015
As many of you may already know, the PanAm games have officially started in Toronto. We attended two football matches, Panama VS Peru and Brasil VS Canada. Both matches were full of excitement and we had a wonderful time.
Make sure you link up below so that I can come visit you too! Have a great day!
June 1, 2015
What would it be like to share all of your belongings and live in a Christian group?
About Hutterite Diaries
In Hutterite Diaries, Linda Maendel offers a rare glimpse into the daily routines and communal faith of her people, the Hutterian Brethren. From stories of working together to laugh out loud tales of sisterly love, Maendel invites readers into her colony situated in the prairies of Western Canada. Here children and adults work, play, eat and worship together,crafting a community of goods and living an alternative life of consumerism in today’s society.
The Hutterites are a plain Christian community, related to the Amish and Mennonites. Maendel invites readers into a deeper understanding of this community of faith.
My Thoughts
The Hutterite Diaries reads as a collection of thoughts and stories, that jumps from one time period to another. While at first confusing, this works to the advantage of the reader as you are able to see the whole picture of a very faith oriented and dedicated community. Linda shares her own stories for the most part with some of those in the community.
I love learning about new religions and different cultures around the world. For me, this book was something new as I was never aware of the Hutterite colony in Western Canada. Here was a faith-based community in my own country that I was clueless about. I love how they work together as a community and share the material items between themselves (even though I know this is something hard for me to understand and picture). They share chores and meals as a large family would (except in this case an extremely large family!). Linda does an excellent job in sharing her communal lifestyle and fostering understanding and respect.
A great read for all Canadians, young and old to foster respect and understanding for all faith groups that have travelled to Canada. In the Hutterite case, it was heart breaking to read of the persecution they faced and how many lost their lives because others did not understand their faith and communal living.
You can find more about the Hutterite Diaries on the Litfuse blog tour page. You can purchase a copy of the book here.
Rating: 4/5
About the Author
Linda Maendel is an author, blogger and educator living in Elm River, just outside of Winnipeg, Manitoba.
Disclosure: I received a digital copy of this book in order to facilitate this request. All opinions expressed are my own.
May 4, 2015
A gifted rider in a world where women do not race, To Win Her Favor follows the story of a girl and her horse and their road to racing.
About To Win Her Favor
Maggie Linden is determined her horse will be a champion. But the one man who could help her has vowed to stay away from thorough bred racing.
An Irishman far from home, Cullen McGrath left a prosperous life in England because of a horse racing scandal that nearly ruined him. He has come to Nashville for a new start, hoping to buy land and begin farming, all while staying away from racing. But starting over proves harder than he thought when Maggie’s Father makes him an offer he shouldn’t accept but can’t refuse.
Maggie is certain her mare can win the race, she only needs the chance to prove it. To give her that chance, her Father makes a barter. His agreement includes one tiny detail – Maggie must marry a man she has never met and a man she would never have chosen for herself.
My Thoughts
I have to start off by saying how much I love Tamera Alexander’s writing style. She draws you deep into the story, creating an emotional attachment to the characters while providing you with moral lessons. This novel was no different.
Tamera covers a time period in the South that was full of racism and states trying to recover from the war that shook them just prior to this event. To witness some of the racism that was directed towards the characters in this book was heartbreaking. You become so emotionally invested in this novel and I found myself crying along with this novel. I literally could not put this novel down I was so attached to the story.
The ending was perfect and uplifting – the perfect combination for this book.
You can find more reviews on the Litfuse blog tour page here. You can purchase a copy of the book here.
Rating: 5/5
About the Author
Tamera Alexander is a best-selling novelist whose deeply drawn characters and thought-provoking plots resonate with readers. Having lived in Colorado for seventeen years, her and her husband now live in Nashville along with their two children. You can connect with her on her website, Facebook and Twitter.
Disclosure: I received a digital copy of this book in order to facilitate this review. All opinions expressed are my own.
April 28, 2015
Winter felt like it would never end this year but spring is finally here! Many of you may have even started your spring cleaning already (I have a giant checklist of things to get done but not quite sure where to start). One of the more forgotten areas of your home is your home decor and the prints on your wall (you know all those infant prints you have up in frames and your child is now nine with no updated photos in sight!). The best way to refresh your home for the spring months is to update these few easy items on your walls.
Here are some helpful tips from Posterjack to help you accomplish this task:
Embrace Spring Photography
Spring time is an incredible time to get outside and take photographs. The flowers are budding, the weather is cool and not too warm and the lighting is perfect for your pictures. If you have kids take them outside to join you in the hunt for budding flowers, bugs and special nature shots. Use this time to explore and build your child’s knowledge of the outdoors.
Encourage Your Children to Participate in Photo Shoots
Is the weather wet and rainy outside? No worries! Set up an area inside and create your own family photo shoot. Have your children choose their props and set up the area in which you will be taking your pictures. Maybe take to Pinterest or the internet to figure out how you would like to set up the photos and go from there. In the photo shoot below our boys wanted to include their Dad’s ucalaly so we went for it and captured this perfect picture of their hands that melts my heart everytime I look at it.
Add a Pop of Colour to Your Decor
Colour has a way of changing the mood in a room. So liven it up and give your photographs a hint of colour this spring. Posterjack offers image customization features that allows you to add borders or photo effects.
Spring Clean Your Hard Drive
This is the one area that I have been slacking in. I have over four thousand photos to scroll through, save and transfer! It is also an important task to make sure you don’t lose anything important (who wants to lose those first baby photos??).
Join the 12 Prints Project
Have you been following the #12PrintsProject online? If not head over to Twitter and check it out to win prizes. Remember to keep on top of printing off your photos to make it less overwhelming on yourself at the end of the year.
Celebrate Mom!
Photographs and photo books are my personal favourite gift to receive and with Mother’s Day fast approaching, I can’t wait to see what my boys create for me! Capturing a special moment in time and gifting it to the person you love is the ultimate personal gift you can give the special person in your life.
How do you update your wall art and photographs in the Spring?
Make sure to follow Posterjack on Facebook and Twitter to keep up to date with current offers and tips and tricks!
