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UnPlanned. She thought that she was protecting and helping women who were facing the crisis of unplanned, unwanted pregnancies. And she really believed in what she was doing. She thought her choice to be a director of a Planned Parenthood Clinic in Texas that offered abortion services to its clients was the right one. What happened in that same clinic that would changed the course of her life wasn’t planned.

When she was called from her office to assist during an abortion procedure, Abby Johnson finally came face to face with the reality of what she had been promoting.  She saw the lies she had believed—and told countless other women about abortion and their unborn children. And that is when she chose to walk away from the career she had poured herself into for eight years and become a part of a Pro Life Organization.

Walking away from her career at Planned Parenthood wasn’t without challenges, and eventually her story became a headline on the National news and brought Abby unexpectedly to the front as an advocate and public figure in the right for life movement of today.

unPlanned is a documentary that tells Abby’s story—of where she came from, and how God worked in her life for eight years to bring her to where she is today. I cried as I watched her story. As a strong believer in pro-life, and as a girl who also has a tender place in my heart for women in crisis, I could relate to Abby’s desire to help women and her journey is touching and sincere.

Told from her perspective and the perspective of her family as well as the people who stood on the other side of the fence and prayed for her, unPlanned is an heart griping documentary companion to Abby’s book of the same title.

The book has been on my wishlist for a while, so I was interested when I was contacted and asked to review the DVD documentary by Focus on The Family and Tyndale Publishing, and the 60 minute film is well worth watching! The trailer can be found on youtube.

I am also happy to have been given an extra copy of unPlanned to share with one of my readers. 

I’m a natural born Saver. Spending too much money and racking up debt hasn’t been a struggle that I’ve personally had to deal with.  But I really love reading books on finances and money management. There are always new ways to look at the same old topic of how to get the most out of the little you already have.

The 60 Minute Money Workout is a lighthearted way to take another look at your finances and help you be master of your money and the way you live, instead of your money (or lack there of) being the master of you.

The idea is to spend just sixty minutes a week taking a deeper look into aspects of your finances and how you can change to make your money management as an individual or a couple better, and each chapter has thought questions, money quizzes and really, homework to help get you on the road to financial freedom.

I must admit that my natural penny pinching tendencies make budgets fascinating and the fact that this book has lists, another addiction I readily admit made it all the more fun to read and consider!

Personally, I’ve been studying about money and budgeting and being as debt free as possible for as long as I can remember, and did not find a lot about saving money in the book that I hadn’t already put into practice. But the questions and workouts at the end of the chapters did give me some new ideas about how to help others who may find money a tense issue in their homes and marriages, as well as some fun, new approaches to how I think about our personal goals and dreams.

I must admit, while I don’t claim to know money like she does, and while I think I can agree with her principles on almost every subject, there were a couple small things that I strongly believe have a lot of exceptions to the rule. One of those was some straws, more or less, about how allowances should be given and the importance they play. While this is a topic for a whole ‘nother time, let’s just say that I think there’s a lot more flexibility in this and some of the other minor aspects of managing money than the book seemed to suggest.

Still, many of her examples were fitting, and almost all of the workouts were very helpful, and I appreciated the encouragement to take an objective look together at finances without pointing fingers and without getting angry, so that solutions can be found and progress can be made towards the goals that can help ease the strain and the burden of being out of control when it comes to money, and overall, it made finding the right balance and creating a budget fun and interesting. I think that it would make a great engagement gift to a new couple, and if you’re just beginning to look for ways to get your own finances put together, I think the book could be helpful in keeping the attitudes light while dealing with a heavy topic. The most important thing is, if you struggle with money management, to find a good place to start, and this could be a great one.You can find this book, as well as other help books by the author, Ellie Kay, through Amazon and paperbackswap has some pop up from time to time, as well.

Thanks to Blogging For Books for this free copy for review.

The cover calls it a “three minute forever book” that is full of simple truths and happy insights, and Eat Your Peas is full of warm sayings and affirmations and Bible Promises paired with colorful text and graphics to catch the eye.

It’s a book, friend to friend, promising support and prayers and a listening ear, and while I do think it could make a sweet “thinking of you” gift, or a nice office table book, I must admit that this particular book wasn’t exactly my style of inspirational gift choices.

It isn’t because the sayings and thoughts aren’t heart felt, it is just that they were more greeting card style; a lighter, less personal feeling sort of encouragement than I would turn to for soothing the aches of living, or to inspire hope to take hold again in my heart.

And yet, I did find a page that made me smile. It’s a page about counting gifts, what the author calls “moments of grace”, and across from a little list of lovely things like freshly washed sheets and sunshine on cold days, is a part of a quote that says “Blessed are the little things…”, those little “moments of grace” in which GOD reaches down and touches us with the evidence of His care.

I probably won’t be buying extra copies of Eat Your Peas.  Maybe I’d have liked it better in a real book I could hold in my hands instead of an eBook. But I think that I’ll keep that beautiful definition of little things tucked away in my heart as I continue to look for the little things, the moments of grace, in each day of my life.

thanks to booksneeze for this complimentary copy of eat your peas for review purposes. thoughts and opinions are mine alone.

I am a little ashamed to admit that even though I have loved history ever since I can remember, I haven’t read a lot about the Civil Rights movement.

So reading this book was really  important to me. Civil Rights does matter to me. A lot. ButI grew up in a part of the world that often felt far removed from the struggles in other parts of our country over skin and equality. In our home, there was no difference between Asian, Hispanic, Black or European—between anyone. I never heard my parents refer to people by their skin color.

It never occurred to me as a child that it would matter to anyone else in the world, either.

Until I went to an all African American church .Two thirds of the congregation was visibly uncomfortable, and half wouldn’t even look at me. I couldn’t figure out why then. I didn’t know about anything.

As I grew up, I read some about Martin Luther King. I became much more aware of the pain between two cultures in our nation. I read some about the KKK that disturbed me and gave me nightmares. But I had a hard time imagining something I’d never seen before, besides the reverse (and perhaps out of habit formed by prior sad experiences) prejudice I experienced when I attended that church as a child.

But one day I found myself in the true south. I finally understood what racial prejudice could still be like. I was shocked to hear that there were still places that were too dangerous to go if you had the wrong color of skin, hurt by the way that fellow Americans could still treat each other after so many years in a land that is free.

When I had the chance to read and review a copy of While the World Watched, I knew it would be good for me to understand more first hand what actually went on in the heart of one of the most violent places in the Civil Rights times. I figured it would be hard to read, and I was right.

While the World Watched isn’t an easy book to read. Carolyn Maull KcKinstry experienced some first hand some of the terrible things that happened during those years in Birmingham. She was in the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church on the day it was bombed. She lost four of her friends that day, and this book tells her story—of her life before and after, and of how she dealt with the death of her friends, and the way that the world seemed so silent for so long.

And though many times tears filled my eyes and found their way down my face, it was the way that she forgave that touched my heart the most. Even as she faced the man who had placed the bomb that killed her friends, she said “by God’s grace, I forgave…it’s the difficult road, but it is the road to ultimate freedom.”

I still feel like there is a lot more I want to know about the Civil Right’s Movement, and I really don’t know a lot about who Martin Luther King, Jr. was as a person, even though I’ve read and appreciated many of His quotes, and while I personally don’t support the politics of Obama and I believe that Civil rights goes both ways…and some of the other extremes that I’ve seen and experienced on both sides of the picture have made me feel that we all have a long ways to go still. (Such as experiencing severe prejudice as a white girl in an all black community—to the extent that they would hardly sell me a cup of water when I asked.) But I am glad I understand the kinds of things that have happened better now, because it helps me understand the potential cultivated fears behind the prejudice that still exists.

So, regardless of your views on the Civil Right’s Movement—and what should or shouldn’t have been done, Martin Luther King, or your political leanings today, I would say that While the World Watched is a book well worth the reading. If only to understand what it must have been like to be there, and yet to forgive.

thanks to tyndale publishing for this copy of while the world watched for review purposes. the opinions and statements made are mine alone.

I love being an auntie, and one of the things I’m looking forward to is being able to share the love of reading and of good books with our little nieces and nephews.  Shayla loves books already, and when Gretchen reviewed “God Loves Me More Than That” over on the littlepinkhouse, I knew that this choice was a good one and was anxious to get it for myself.

My copy of God Loves Me More Than That arrived not that long ago, and I enjoyed reading the little “Dandilion rhymes” that told over and over again how much God loves us…more than the buzzes of bumble bees and soft as a summer breeze.

The little rhymes are easy to understand (or explain!) and every single page has an adorable painting featuring a little boy as he asks questions and gets answers about God’s love.

This book is perfect for toddlers and perhaps even as a simple reader for little ones just starting to read on their own, and I think you’ll agree with me that the message and the pictures are so sweet that it will be read again and again. I know I can’t wait to share it with my niece next time she is here, because even though she is a little hard on books still, I know she’ll enjoy the pictures and I want her to never forget that she is very loved…more than anything else, by our God.

Note: Thank you to Multnomah Books and the blogging for books program for this copy for review purposes.