SRKindredSpirits

"The vision of College of the Ozarks is to develop citizens of Christ-like character who are well-educated, hard-working, and patriotic." College of the Ozarks is a Christian liberal-arts college, with its campus at Point Lookout near Branson, Missouri. It is 40 miles south of Springfield on a 1,000-acre campus, overlooking Lake Taneycomo. The college has an enrollment of 1,450, over 30 academic majors, and degrees in Bachelor of Arts or Bachelor of Science. The College charges no tuition for full-time students, due to its student work program and donations. The program requires students to work 15 hours a week at an on-campus work station and two 40-hour work weeks during breaks. A summer work program is available to cover room and board costs. The college refers to itself as "Hard Work U.", and places emphasis in "character" education. Faith at the Administration Building We enjoyed a tour of the college campus, visiting the clas

Enjoy: The Gift of Sexual Pleasure for Women , Dr. Clifford and Joyce Penner This book is from Focus on the Family. It's a good book, but I honestly felt like it is written for someone who is not yet married, or who is in a sexless or unfulfilled marriage. Although I agree with the majority of the authors writings... it simply does not apply to me. You see, I've been happily married for 12 years to an amazing hubby who always puts me first in the bedroom. He is loving, understanding, spontaneous, adventurous, gentle and very respectful of me.  I won the lotto, when it comes to my man ! *Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher through Tyndale, book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own.

Oh, my goodness.... what do you do when you get two different books from two different publishers and both are not at all what you thought they would be??? That's the predicament that I currently find myself in! The first book was "I Almost Forgot About Me" by Terry McMillan. I really thought it would be about a lady finding herself, what she wanted to do with her life, looking at her past along the way, and how she got to that decision. I wasn't completely wrong, but most of the book was made up of Dr. Georgia Young going back to all the men she had 'loved' (had sex with), her two horrible girlfriends, and a whole lot of bad language. It was defiantly colorful - and I don't mean that in a good way - I have never read a book so crude and with so much swearing in it. Ever. I don't mind a little swearing, but this was just too much. The three friends were extremely foul-mouthed, promiscuous, women who come across as lacking the abilit

I live just 45 minutes south east of Alexandria, Indiana and although I've heard of Joey & Rory Feek - I've never kept up with all the buzz on social media or of them in the news. I wasn't sure that this book would hold my attention, but I thought I'd give it a try and see who these 'Feek' people were and what the fuss was all about. ..... I was pleasantly surprised! I really enjoyed this book! Rory's writing style was interesting and held my attention.... I read the whole book in one day! Grant it, I was in the hospital with my son, so I had the time, but still, usually it takes me a few days to get through a book -even a really good one. I love how God can take a broken down individual and make them into something great! I love that the author is raw and honest - it isn't all fluffed up - it's just the plain, hard truth. "I've leaned that it is never too late to start over. Never too late to impact someone in a good

This book wasn't exactly what I was looking for when it comes to a devotional. It felt shallow, and left me feeling empty, longing for a deeper conception to God and myself. I'd have to say, the best thing about this book is the cover and it's size. T he soft leather feel to the cover, makes it wonderful to hold.  It is the perfect size to carry in you pocket or put in your purse. I liked the orange cover.... the perfect color to go with the blue of the ocean.... yes, the cover was the greatest thing about this book to me. *Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher through Tyndale, book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own.

"The last class of my old professor's life took place once a week in his house, by a window in the study where he could watch a small hibiscus plant shed its pink leaves.  The class met on Tuesdays. It began after breakfast. The subject was The Meaning of Life. It was taught from experience.  No grades were given, but there were oral exams each week. You were expected to respond to questions, and you were expected to pose questions of your own. You were also required to perform physical tasks now and then, such as lifting the professor's head to a comfortable spot on the pillow or placing his glasses on the bridge of his nose. Kissing him good-bye earned you extra credit.  No books were required, yet many topics were covered, including love, work, community, family, aging, forgiveness, and, finally, death. The last lecture was brief, only a few words.  A funeral was held in lieu of graduation.  Although no final exam was given, you were expected to produce one long p

This book had my attention the minute I flipped it over and read the back cover... "Just when you think you’ve got this wife and motherhood thing down . . .Your toddler expresses his inner Picasso on your freshly painted walls . . . In permanent marker. Your 14-year-old demonstrates her newly acquired modeling skills . . . via every social network known to man. Your husband pulls up in a new car that you can’t afford . . . and only has two seats. Lord, have mercy. What are they thinking?" ...... story of my life!!! Well, not quite, instead of a toddler I have a 7 yr. old daughter and "mess" is her middle name! And my teenager is almost sixteen - but other than that.... it's pretty much right on! .....and my hubby loves pulling in the drive with a mustang.... at one time we had 3 of them, all at the same time. Right now he's talking about a new truck, or RZR for him and the kids, so one or the other will probably be pulling in the drive any day now!

I am a sucker for quiz books and figuring out your 'type' whatever type that my be.... I love trying to discover who people are, and what makes them do the things they do, or act a certain way.... The Seven Money Types is not a book on how to manage money. Rather, it is a unique approach to understanding how you relate to handling money. This book gives a different perspective on money than any I have ever read. I found it fascinating. It uses Scripture as a baseline and the author does a good job of giving real life examples to back up his theories. This book will change your approach to money, helping you understand other people's interactions with money and your own! What money type are you? I am a Jacob .... My belief is that money should be used to create pleasurable experience (can anyone say travel?? I love to travel and explore the world, creating memories with my family!) I use money to create beautiful moments and buy beautiful things.... spending mon

"When it comes to education - there is no school like home!" We home school our kids....  In the past, we have used public school for kindergarten and have tried a couple christian schools, but in the end, it just works better for our family at this point in our life to home school.  Over the years, I have had experience using just about every curriculum out there.... Abeka , CLE, Pathway, ACE , Rod and Staff, and more, but I have found the best curriculum to be the one that is put together individually for each child. For the two youngest, we are currently using My Fathers World and love it! I'll try to do a post on that sometime! For high school, our oldest daughter is graduating this year with a Diploma from Penn Foster High School.  I graduated from Penn Foster back when it was a mail correspondence course and was known as ICS Newport Pacific High School/Harcourt High School. Some of the reasons that we love Penn Foster High School a

NIV Investigator's Holy Bible by: Zondervan 5 Stars If you're looking for an NIV bible that is easy to understand and keeps kids interested... this is the one to get !  Have you ever used a magnifying glass? It makes everything bigger and easier to see, right? Detectives and scientists magnify things to understand them better. Well that’s just what this Bible does—it’s a magnifying glass to help children understand the Word of God better. The Bible is a gift from God, but many of the things written in the Bible are hard for kids to understand. In fact, sometimes they’re downright mysterious to kids. Using kid-friendly language and a detective theme, the two color NIV Investigator’s Holy Bible explains the Bible text for kids ages 6–10.  Two central mystery-solving characters invite children to investigate the Bible using the following features: Evidence—Bible book introductions answer what kind of book it is, who wrote it, what happens, and the “

Talking With God By: Adam Weber 5 Stars I love, love, love this book!!! The style of writing, the simple truths, the practical lessons, the humor, the realness. It's a great book! Prayer seems like it should be so simple. Yet, when it comes to actually praying, often it feels awkward and complicated. I mean... what should you actually pray about? What do you say? Is there anything I should or shouldn’t say? Do you have to speak out loud? Then comes the craziness which is life. Between work, changing diapers, walking the dog, unread emails, trying to keep up with our neighbors... and the laundry, who has time to pray? The truth is, prayer is simple. It’s like talking. Talking with a good friend. And the best part? Our God can’t wait to talk with us. I have always loved South Dakota ... the Badlands are one of my most favorite places, and we've also been to Sioux Falls, Falls Park and the Corn Palace in Mitchell.... if I'm ever in South Dakota a

 I have three kids. There is a  9 year age difference between the oldest and youngest. Most of the kids books have been passed down over the years, and many  have been torn, colored in, or dog-eared, pages ripped, etc. Some of them were getting so rough, it was time to toss them, so I am trying to find my six year old, books to add to her collection. Here are two of the latest kids books I received to review. Same Kind of A Different Me –by Ron Hall & Denver Moore This book wasn’t near as good as I thought it would be. I liked that it had some depth to the wording, so it is better suited for grade school kids.  Although the story line was good, the illustrations were lacking and seemed more for toddlers. The story seemed to be missing a link, tying it all together.  I do love the  saying on the last page,  “Nobody can help everybody, but everybody can help somebody,” and I definitely want to instill that into my kids’ minds, but, overall, this book didn'

THE LORD'S PRAYER by: Rick Warren 3 Stars I loved the front cover of this book. I also like the fact that the author takes the time to explain what the Lords prayer means so that kids can understand it. I think too often people are to quick to disregard the KJV because they simply do not understand it. This book will encourage your kids to not only learn this portion of Scripture but to also apply it in all situations. My 6 yr. old was excited to add this book to her collection. This book is a great resource to add to your home school library. Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher through BookLookBloggers, book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own.

Enjoy: Finding the Freedom to Delight Daily in God's Good Gifts  by: Trillia Newbell 2 Stars I enjoy reading books and am privileged to review books for Tyndale , Book Look Bloggers and Blogging For Books . I have found some really great and interesting books to add to my bookshelf . Some of them, I will read over and over again... they're just that good! But sometimes, I get a book to review and honestly - it's just not for me..... and that's how I felt about this book .  There's really not one certain thing that I didn't like, but it just didn't do anything for me. I guess you could say I was kinda board... it didn't hold my attention, and not to be conceded, but I pretty much already know everything the author talked about in the book. This is one of the books that will be donated, and hopefully someone, somewhere, sometime, will pick it up and find it useful to them. *Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this

This year there were 48 blog posts at SRKindredSpirits....  There were a lot of different topics.... Things to say on a job interview , Recipes , Visiting Louisville KY , Getting rid of cookbook clutter, Book reviews , Bookcase redo , Why I don't sell , Making an orb , Crochet Christmas tree skirt , Understanding a INTJ , Adoption , DYT experiment , My first speeding ticket , What Instagram really tells you , How to review a product company, Family quality time , A free health quiz , and much more. Here's the top 10 posts of 2016: We had our first giveaway here on SRKindredSpirits and it was a success! The Happiness Dare is a highly recommended book! Once you try these, you'll be hooked! Easy and yummy... you can't go wrong with these cream cheese roll ups! I wrote this post after reading the definition of the word 'family', it will give you a little insight to my life. Getting rid of the swimming pool was personal favorite and

The back cover of this book states: "We all dream. The capacity for dreaming and pursuing those dreams is a gift given to every individual. But many people cannot even begin to describe their dreams, much less figure out how to bring them to fruition in the face of frustrating obstacles, distractions, and setbacks." "In Unlock Your Dream Philip Wagner will inspire you to engage in life’s greatest quest: discovering and reaching God’s purpose and dreams for your life. You’ll be empowered, equipped, and freed to give life to your dreams and to live with joy and expectation for an adventurous future." In complete honesty, I never finished reading this book. It wasn't all bad... Chapter 3 actually had some really good stuff.... such as trusting God and realizing that as we mature, dreams may need to be renovated, edited, and refined. Dreams change. I especially liked the following quote: "God never asks us to give up something that is

The day this book came, I sat down with my 6 yr. old daughter Adilayia, to read this book together. She enjoyed it.  By replacing key words with graphics, the child can fill in the story by looking at the picture which represents the missing word.  I used to love these books when I was a kid!  Some of the short stories are:  Beginning, Flood, Abraham’s Family, Moses, the Promised Land, Ruth and Naomi, David, God’s People Made Slaves, Esther, and Jonah in the Old Testament and Jesus is Born, John the Baptist, Jesus’s Life, Jesus’s Death and Resurrection, the Holy Spirit Comes, Saul Becomes Paul, Peter, and the Best is Yet to Come. The cartoon like drawings are simple and fun-   but some of the people images v.s words were kind of confusing to explain to a 6 yr old. but overall,  I think this book is a great addition to our home school library for my son and daughter who are learning to read. To comply with regulations by the FTC, Book Look Bloggers has provided me wi

All The Pretty Little Things By: Edie Wadsworth 5 Stars I read this complete book in one day! I was drawn to it like I haven't been drawn to a book in quite awhile, and so will you!     Get ready to go on a journey.... one of sadness, drunkenness, broken relationships, fire, poverty, and abandonment. But also a journey of finding hope, love, grace, forgiveness, and wholeness.....  To all those who feel fatherless, you have a Father God that loves you.... (and deep down your birth father probably loves you too -even if he really doesn't know how to show it.) You are worth a Father's love! All the Pretty Little Things takes you on a journey of how one woman finds emotional healing.... Are you in need of emotional healing? Spiritual healing? What about physical healing ? Our bodies were designed to work well with all three aspects. If one is lacking, you will suffer. ( Take our FREE Healthprint Quiz to help find physical healing.... and to ge

The Curated Closet By: Anuschka Rees 3 Stars I am a visual person when it comes to learning! So, while reading  'the curated closet' , I loved the suggestion on creating a 'My Style' Pinterest Board . After looking at my style board , it helped me see a pattern. I like above the knee length denim straight skirts, bodycon skirts, denim and leather jackets, brown boots, strappy sandals, cardigans, and chunky jewelry, to name a few. I am a Type 3/secondary Type 2 in Dressing Your Truth - so you'll find lots of Type 3 colors in my style board. I think the most important thing to remember when building your curated closet is that you personalize it to you. Don't try to be someone else's style look alike! Overall, I thought this book had a lot of good useful ideas, the only downside is that the photos were not vivid or engaging, and overall dull and boring - but that may just be my Type 3 personality showing! I am not doing a closet