A Giveaway - The One Day Way

Today is the day that matters, not yesterday when you ate a hot fudge sunday and not tomorrow. Just today.

This is the basic background idea behind the book The One-Day Way and it make sense. You focus on what you can do today to be healthier and to lose weight. Today you may chose not to have the potato chips with your sandwich or to up your intensity on your workout - and those are great goals to have and much more attainable than "I will never eat potato chips again because they are soooooo fattening."

Don't focus on the past ("I ate healthy all month but then I ate a whole package of oreos yesterday so I have failed"). Just focus on what you can do today.

Realistically this applies to more than just losing weight. Stop smoking by not having a cigarrette "today" (each day). Focus on keeping your temper today.

The One-Day Way gives you everything you need to lose weight and get fit in body, mind, and spirit:

• Break free from past dieting defeats
• Learn a realistic, life-changing way to measure success
• Change the way you think so you can change your life
• Translate your dreams into goals, and your goals into lasting achievements
• Get strong with thirty-one simple exercises, no fancy equipment required
• Take advantage of ten ways to eat better while you lose weight

There is a meal plan for 7 days in the book and it isn't a complicated one that would have you spending hours in the kitchen.

There are exercises that you can do in the comfort of your home - no fancy gym membership needed.

All and all this is a great resource and guess what?

I am giving away a copy! Not my dog-eared copy but a nice new copy.

WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group was nice enough to send me a copy but also a copy to give away.

So what can you do to win a copy?

Leave a comment with one thing that you are going to do today that is healthy for one entry. If you blog about it or tweet about it leave a comment with the address for additional entries. Please leave me your email address so I can contact you

The drawing will be next Friday, January 15th. Good luck!

If you want to go ahead and buy a copy you can go to RandomHouse.com

The Sweet By and By

The Sweet By and By
By Sara Evans and Rachel Hauck

The Sweet By and By is the story of Jade, a young woman on the brink of marriage. When she finally mails the invitation to the mother she hasn't spoken to in 3 years, old wounds are opened and finally allowed to heal.

Book Description

A redemptive story from multi-platinum recording artist Sara Evans.
Jade Fitzgerald left the pain of her past in the dust when she headed out for college a decade ago. Now she's thriving in her career and glowing in the light of Max Benson's love.
But then Jade's hippie mother, Beryl Hill, arrives in Whisper Hollow, Tennessee, for Jade's wedding along with Willow, her wild younger sister. Their arrival forces Jade to throw open the dark closets of her past--the insecurity of living with a restless, wandering mother, the silence of her absent father, and the heart-ripping pain of first-love's rejection.
Turns out Beryl has a secret of her own. She needs reconciliation with her oldest daughter before illness takes her life. In the final days leading to the wedding, Jade meets the One who shows her that the past has no hold on her future. With a little grace, they'll meet in the middle, maybe even before that sweet by and by.

It is beautifully written and will draw you in. I really enjoyed reading this book and found myself crying at the end. I am finding this review very hard to write because there is a mystery and I don't want to give away too much. I also have a great relationship with my mother and so didn't relate personally to the story - it was beautifully written but I never thought "that is how I felt".

I received a free copy of this book from Thomas Nelson for purposes of review only. I received no other form of compensation. If you are interested in becoming a book review blogger click on the Thomas Nelson badge.

Primal by Mark Batterson

This is a potentially life changing book.

I suppose that you could go on as normal and not change anything, but why would you want to?

In Primal Mark Batterson encourages us to love God with our heart, soul, mind and strength and goes on to explain how that is possible. Heart is tied to compassion; soul is a sense of wonder; mind is insatiable curiosity; and strength is sweat.

I had already decided to do the 90 day challenge, his chapters on wonder confirmed that I made the right decision. There are tips and encouragements to make the challenge easier.

There is also encouragement to keep learning - about anything. If entomology interests you - then learn about it and learn about how the Creator of the world wanted such a vast variety. If immunology interests you then learn about the way the creator designed our bodies to fight off disease. God is there in microbiology and in the macro. The more astronomy you learn, the more His creation is amazing.

This is a must read for anyone who is tired of stale Christianity. I admit, I was less than enthusiastic (because of other books) before I started to read but before many pages were read, I loved it.

I was given this book by WaterBrook Multnomah to read so that I could provide a review - but I was not told what to say.

If you want to purchase this book you can click here. I receive no compensation for you doing so.

40 Loaves by C. D. Baker

40 Loaves - Breaking Bread with Our Father Each Day is a devotional book that tackles the tough questions that a christian may ask. Why are some Christians so hard for me to like? Why do I avoid sharing my faith? why don't I feel safe at church?

Each loaf is one of the tough questions and C. David Baker attempts to answer the questions.

Honestly, I didn't like this book. It wasn't that I disagreed with the theology, but the idea that a question like "why do I feel like a hypocrite?" could be answered in 3 pages is ridiculous.

Some chapters did make me angry, like the chapter "why do I resent authority?" which blamed a woman for resenting authority because she didn't trust Jesus enough when she listened to her church that told her to stay with her abusive husband.

All in all, I couldn't recommend this book to anyone. While the answers weren't quite platitudes, they were pretty close to it.

This book was provided for review by the WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group.

If you wish to purchase this book for your own, here is a link:

http://www.randomhouse.com/catalog/display.pperl?isbn=9780307444905

I get no payment or reward from you purchasing it through this link.

God Gave Us Love and God Gave Us Christmas

God Gave Us Love is a sweet little book with beautiful pictures. Little Cub and her grandfather are fishing when the otters interupt the trip. Little Cub's Grandfather tells her how God gives us love, there are different kinds of love and how acting loving even when we don't want to is the right thing to do.

I read this book not only to my children but also to a group of 4 and 5 year olds. The kids were entranced and engaged by the beautiful story. Little Cub learns that love helps us see the good in others, even when they make us grumpy and one little girl mentioned how her teenage sister makes people grumpy.

I really enjoyed reading this book to the kids (and also for myself).

God Gave Us Christmas begins with Little Cub asking if Santa 'vented Christmas.
She learns that it was God who "invented" Christmas because he loves us. Little Cub and her mama go on a journey to find God, which they can do because God is all around. They see God in the Northern Lights (they are polar bears after all), in powerful events like chunks of ice breaking off cliffs, and in the stars that He put in the sky.

I read this also to the kids and this was their favorite. One of the girls thought it was funny that anybody would think Santa invented Christmas - but she is a pastor's daughter. A boy was really annoyed that we don't have anything like the Northern Lights in Texas and didn't seem appeased that there are no alligators in the polar regions. The pictures in this book are also beautiful.

Author Biography:

Lisa Tawn Bergren is the award-winning author of nearly thirty titles, totaling more than 1.5 million books in print. She writes in a broad range of genres, from adult fiction to devotional. God Gave Us Love follows in Lisa’s classic tradition of the best-selling God Gave Us You. She lives in Colorado , with her husband, Tim, and their children, Olivia, Emma, and Jack.

To purchase this book directly from Randomhouse you can go here for God Gave Us Love and here for God Gave Us Christmas. (I get no proceeds from you going this way)



I received this book free from the WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group. I received no other compensation, nor do I get any other profit. These thoughts and words are my own (except for the bio, I copied that).

Treasured by Leigh McLeroy

Treasured by Leigh McLeroy is a beautiful and thought provoking book. Inspired by a treasure box from her grandfather where she found things like a key ring with 2 keys, a coin purse with a little over a dollar in chance, cuff links and a tie tack and a shaving brush, Leigh McLeroy looks at what God might have in his treasure box.

Each of the items has ties back to their Biblical past but also illuminate our lives now; the fig leaf that clothed Adam and Eve points to the shame we feel now over various things. I had never thought about how God removed their fig leaf covering and dressed them in animal skins just like our efforts at removing sin don't work and so God had His son remove our sins.

It is a wonderful book and can help us to see how the Old Testament connects to modern day life, how these events of old can illuminate our modern hearts.

Author Biography:
Leigh McLeroy is the author of The Beautiful Ache and The Sacred Ordinary. An avid collector and recorder of everyday moments, words, and wonders, Leigh’s keen eye for God’s presence in ordinary life infuses her writing and living with a deep, insistent joy. A frequent conference and event speaker, the author makes her home in Houston , Texas , and posts often on www.leighmcleroy.com and www.wednesdaywords.com.

To purchase this book directly from Randomhouse you can go here. (I get no proceeds from you going this way)

I received this book free from the WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group. I received no other compensation, nor do I get any other profit. These thoughts and words are my own (except for the bio, I copied that).

Love Finds You in Lonesome Prairie Montana

Sometimes you are able to find a book that instantly captures your interest and from the first page Love Finds You in Lonesome Prairie Montana by Tricia Goyer and Ocieanna Fleiss had my interest.

The story is of Julia Cavanaugh, a young orphaned woman who travels west to Montana on an orphan train with her young charges. At the final stop, she finds out to her horror that the matron of the orphanage thought an arranged marriage to a prospector would be romantic. Stranded in Montana, Julia finds out where home really is.

I loved this book from first page to last and would highly recommend it to anyone. In fact, I am letting my mother read my copy (and I hope I get it back - hint, hint.)

About the Authors

Tricia Goyer is the author of several books, including Night Song and Dawn of a Thousand Nights, both past winners of the ACFW's Book of the Year Award for Long Historical Romance. Goyer lives with her family in Montana. To find out more visit her website: www.triciagoyer.com





Ocieanna Fleiss is a published writer and has edited six of Tricia Goyer's historical novels. She lives with her husband and their four children in the Seattle area. Connect with Ocieanna on Facebook!








CONTEST ALERT

The authors, Tricia and Ocieanna, have put together one humdinger of a contest for this blog tour! Enter the Fall in Love With Lonesome Prairie Contest and WIN a perty Montana Gift Basket!  

To enter, simply fill out the entry form (http://www.triciagoyer.com/contest.html ), (then tell 5 or more friends about the contest)! The winner will be announced December 14th, just in time for an old-fashioned Montana Christmas. Giddy-up!

The Winner of our ‘Fall in Love with Lonesome Prairie’ giveaway will receive a fantastic Montana Gift Basket, including:

*Winter fleece throw

*Huckleberry chocolate bar

*Paula Dean candle

*Burt’s Bees gift set

*Wild Huckleberry taffy

*Montana stationary notebook

*Montana greeting card set

*Montana ball cap

*Montana apron

*Montana refrigerator magnet

*Charlie Russell 2010 Montana Calendar

This book was provided for review by the Litfuse Publicity Group. These thoughts and opinions are mine. If I hated the book, I would have said so, and certainly not lent it to my mother.