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March 2024 Photos

May 19, 2024 by NZ Filbruns 2 Comments

And here are the rest of our photos from March! First, some pictures of the animals. I bought a new cow; she is behind Little Miss’s head in this first picture. She gives the type of milk we need, and was due to calve soon, so we needed to sell a couple of our other cows who don’t have the genetics we want. I took this picture to upload in an advertisement for Poppy, our old faithful cow. The girls were delighted to pat her while I was taking pictures–but there were a lot of tears the day we loaded her into a truck to go to her new home. We also sold her daughter Rosie, the one at the far left of this picture. Both have good homes, which I’m happy for.

These are the pullets from the first lot we hatched. We sold a few, but we need to sell the rest.

These are the turkeys. They are quite curious about everything! I took this picture the day Poppy went to her new home, while I was waiting for the truck to arrive.

And these are the house pets!

The garden has been outdoing itself this year, with bumper crops of almost everything. I’ve sent several boxfuls of zucchini we weren’t getting used down to the the cows. Here, the little children are cutting them up, having fun carving before the squash got eaten.

Mr. Imagination found this rutabaga in the garden. He wanted to know what it tasted like, so I cooked part of it. We didn’t like it, though (probably too old), so the cows got that, too. It didn’t go to waste!

This was one day’s harvest of tomatoes and beetroot. Since, we’ve had much larger harvests of tomatoes. We’re getting a bit tired of dealing with them.

Mr. Imagination turned 12 in March. He requested kebabs for his birthday meal, so the children had great fun assembling them, and then he got to help grill them.

Miss Joy wanted me to take a picture of her tower.

We saw this across the road one day. It’s apparently a hotel on wheels!

These four pictures were taken by Mr. Sweetie. He was intrigued by the artistry created by a foggy morning and steamy windows.

We went to Timaru for Easter Conference as usual. On Sunday afternoon I supervised our four youngest, and several children from another family, for an hour or so at a park across the street from the hall. This was a game of tag in which they couldn’t touch the ground. If they did, they were automatically it!

I got cold after awhile, so I suggested that the girls use the colored pencils an older lady had just given Miss Joy, and draw pictures. They spent the next half hour or hour, until the next meeting, drawing, while the older young people sang next to them.

Filed Under: Activities at Home, Away From Home Tagged With: Animals, Timaru, West Coast

Book Review–The Crooked Daughter

May 16, 2024 by NZ Filbruns 4 Comments

About the Book:

Book: The Crooked Daughter

Author: D.M. Griffin

Genre: Biblical Fiction

Release date: March 28, 2024

Choices her father made before she was even born reached a bony finger into her life, clouding her future with hopelessness. Her father’s cold heart had no room for her. He easily cast her aside when the Law permitted it. Defined as an outcast because of a physical infirmity, Priscilla was told death was her destiny. Despite the limited perspective brought about by years of adversity, Priscilla fought to keep hope alive and wait for the Lord’s timing.

Aquila lost his father at the most critical time in his life. Battling against grief and bitterness, Aquila uncovers a secret about his father’s death that undermines his faith in a religious system that once defined him. Driven from his homeland, Aquila becomes someone he no longer recognizes.

Two people whose perspectives are skewed by adversity become divinely intertwined in mysterious ways. As they wait upon the Lord for His timing, would Priscilla and Aquila ever find the truth that would lift their eyes to the hills so they could see the purpose of life, not only between a man and a woman but between God and His creation? A poignant story about how God uses adversity for good in the lives of those who truly love and trust Him.

My Thoughts:

I enjoyed The Winds of Ruach so much when I read it a few months ago that when I was offered a review copy of The Crooked Daughter I took it. I was glad that the author admitted that almost all of it was conjecture—because this book tells the story of three people who are mentioned in, at most, a couple of verses in the New Testament!

I found myself really enjoying The Crooked Daughter. Though Priscilla experienced so much rejection and hardship that she could easily have become bitter and angry, I liked the way her mother’s prayers and overheard wishes for her kept her from hardening. I appreciated the example of keeping her mind on the Lord and wanting to help others, even when she had very little for herself. In contrast, Aquila, when faced with adversity, mistreatment and disillusionment, became hard, bitter and angry. The consequences were dire—yet there was redemption and healing when he met Jesus. 

I appreciated the vivid illustration of some of the things Jesus had to say against the Pharisees. It’s easy to read what He said about taking widows’ houses and just pass over it—but this book makes the reader feel the injustice of it. Also, the shock that people who met Jesus during his years of ministry would have experienced when they heard that He had been crucified—I felt that while reading The Crooked Daughter. So, while most of the story is conjecture, I really appreciated it and recommend it. If you like Biblical fiction, you will like this book. On the other hand, despite the good content and storyline, the book could use some editing. There are a lot of typos and grammatical/punctuation errors in the version I was given. I hope they have been cleaned up in the print version, but the digital one needs help. 

I received a review copy of this book from the author, and these are my honest thoughts about it. Links may be affiliate links, which will benefit Esther’s website if purchases are made through them.

About the Author:

D.M. Griffin is the author of several Biblical Fiction novels as well as devotionals, prayer journals, and Bible studies. She will be releasing a Christian Fantasy series in 2025. She currently resides in Northern California with her husband. They met in middle school a few days after she was transplanted to the West Coast at the tender age of twelve. She has three adult children who have been an endless source of delight and inspiration. She also has a precious new grandchild who brings her joy.

As a native New England girl, she fondly remembers spending her summers there as a child. Thick accents, small towns, and fascinating weather stirred the imagination of a young heart. She has always had a fondness for stories thanks to her imaginative mother who would make up wild, adventurous tales to tell when tucking her into bed as a child.

She truly believes that a book that sits on a shelf unread is like a planted seed that never blossoms. Nothing delights her more than sharing a story.

More from D. M.:

My inspiration for writing The Crooked Daughter is multi-faceted. First of all, I was intrigued by the unnamed characters in the Bible who had a single extraordinary encounter with Jesus. The woman who was bent over for eighteen years was one of the four that I selected for The Encounter Series.

Though there were few verses dedicated to this woman, I felt the deeper pull of a story tucked inside the folds of those verses describing Jesus healing her on the Sabbath. I wondered what her story was. What led her there that day? Did she go searching for Him or did Jesus pick her out of the crowd?

Reading that the woman was in that condition for eighteen years is worthy of pondering. I think a lot of times when we read Scripture, we miss the impact of time’s passage. As someone who has suffered from back pain for many years, I could relate to the crooked woman’s story. Eighteen years is a long time to be bent over. The longest I had to remain in a bent position was three weeks. It is extremely difficult to move through the world when the only thing you can see is the ground. Pain is bad enough to endure. Pain for eighteen years must have been excruciating. I know when I am in pain my mood and attitude definitely need adjustment. I would have been a monster after eighteen years!

Developing Priscilla’s character challenged me as a writer. As someone who suffered an early rejection in life only to endure physical infirmity on her own, I didn’t want her to become embittered the way most would after enduring such a trial. There was a delicate balance between lamenting her fate and holding onto hope as it slipped away. Therefore, I introduced the playful, furry character – a dog named Patch.

Aquila’s character was complex and layered. While he was physically able-bodied, his heart was agonizing with grief, responsibility, and disillusioned faith. He was a man who could stand straight even while his soul was bent over.

I have always been intrigued by Aquila and Priscilla in the Bible. As an inspirational couple who served the Lord together, I enjoyed weaving the threads of their story into the fictional account about the crooked woman. I believe that love soothes the wounds of suffering. Falling in love straightens the crooked perspectives of circumstances. Who doesn’t enjoy a good love story that culminates in a strong, enviable marriage?

In The Crooked Daughter, the main character’s condition is symbolic of the political climate of those days. The religious leaders were the ones who were bent over, their perspective about God’s acceptance of people horribly skewed under the heaviness of pride. They could not lift their eyes to the heavens to recognize the Messiah in their midst. Their hearts were hunched under the weight of selfish ambition and prejudicial attitudes. Condemnation was the chain that kept them bound, unable to see the horizon of eternity.

Physical infirmities are horrible to endure. Even worse are the infirmities of the soul. So many things can truly bend us away from God – rejection, selfishness, anger, grief, regret. Thankfully, Jesus is more than a healer. He is our Savior. I truly enjoyed exploring these themes throughout The Crooked Daughter. I hope that readers come away from the story with hope as an anchor for hard times. God truly uses all things for good when we trust in His plan.

To purchase your copy, click here.

To visit more of the blog stops on this tour, click here.

To enter a fun giveaway, click here.

Filed Under: Book Reviews Tagged With: Book Review, CelebrateLit

Book Review–Raising Kids to Follow Christ

May 15, 2024 by NZ Filbruns Leave a Comment

About the Book:

Book: Raising Kids to Follow Christ: Instilling a Lifelong Trust in God

Author: Lee Ann Mancini

Genre: Nonfiction, Family and Relationships, Parenting

Release Date: February 20, 2024

How can we raise the next generation to have an unshakable faith in God as they navigate the challenging terrain of modern culture?

Offering years of experience and countless success stories, author and parenting expert Lee Ann Mancini says what our children need is a heart change, not just a behavioral change, so that they become effective disciples. In Raising Kids to Follow Christ: Instilling a Lifelong Trust in God, she inspires parents, grandparents, teachers, and others to teach their children essential Christian principles to enable them to navigate the world with grace, integrity, and an unbreakable bond with their heavenly Father.

This book goes beyond surface-level advice, delving into the intricate matters of children’s hearts and minds and offering a blueprint for nurturing a deep and unwavering faith in Christ.

Raising Kids to Follow Christ offers:

• Decades of personal experience and training based on key essential principles in Scripture

• Practical strategies for addressing doubts, fears, and questions that arise in today’s culture

• Ways to help children control their emotions and actions in various situations

• Suggestions from some of today’s brightest Christian minds in children’s spirituality

• Empowerment for parents to become their child’s spiritual champion

• Easy-to-understand apologetics for children and adults

• Fun ways to connect your child’s heart to Christ

Raising Kids to Follow Christ is a collaborative journey inviting parents to learn, grow, and flourish alongside their children as they become bold in their witness and committed to their faith rather than secular culture.

My Thoughts:

Back when I was a new mother, I started reading books about raising children. Over the years, I’ve read quite a number of them. All of them have good pointers—and most of them have had things I don’t quite agree with. I don’t read very many books like that now, but I probably still should, since even after being a mother for 25 years I still have a 4-year-old. When I was offered a review copy of Raising Kids to Follow Christ, I decided it would probably be a good book to spend some time with.

Lee Ann Mancini has a lot of good advice in Raising Kids to Follow Christ. This would be a very good book for new parents to read. Much of the advice for instilling a love for Jesus in your children works best with babies, toddlers and preschoolers—if I tried implementing her suggestions with my children, most of them would think it was pretty silly, but if you started very young it would be natural. I liked the encouragement in building a God-centered worldview for your children, and helping them to learn to know Jesus personally.

On the other hand, she clearly states that “discipline never means physical punishment.” I wondered if she means that physical punishment is never to be used? I may have missed something, but what I understood her to say was that seeing the parent’s disappointment should be enough punishment for most things. Maybe I’ve totally failed with my children, but that has never been enough for them. I did appreciate the author’s advice for ways of teaching children right behavior. She has some very creative ideas for teaching children about God.

I received a review copy of this book from the author, and these are my honest thoughts about it. Links may be affiliate links, which will benefit Esther’s website if purchases are made through them.

About the Author:

Author Lee Ann Mancini is the award-winning author and executive producer of the Sea Kids series, which can be viewed on Answers.TV, Pure Flix, Right Now Media, and SeaKidsTV.  Lee Ann earned a master’s degree in theological studies from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School (Trinity International University), as well as two master’s degrees — one in Christian and Classic Studies and one in Biblical and Theological Studies — from Knox Theological Seminary. She serves as an adjunct professor at South Florida Bible College and Theological Seminary and hosts the award-winning podcast, Raising Christian Kids.

More from Lee Ann:

Recent statistics show our youth abandoning faith at an alarming rate. 90% of 13–14-year-olds believe there is no absolute moral truth, and 75% of parents agree.[1]  In the cultural war against Christ-centered values, vulnerable young souls are our greatest casualties. It’s time to raise up a faith-armored generation and equip them to change the world. With the right resources, we can equip our kids with enduring faith.

Raising Kids to Follow Christ: Instilling a Lifelong Trust in God endeavors to remedy the statistically high rate at which children turn away from Christianity. Raising Kids to Follow Christ (February 2024 from Whitaker House) offers today’s families the resources they need to nurture children in faith. This expert guide offers developmentally appropriate and scripturally centered methods based upon top research and expert insights from the brightest minds in childhood spiritual development. Author and Raising Christian Kids CEO Lee Ann Mancini emphasizes truth wrapped in love and joy in a parenting approach designed to prevent children from abandoning their faith. Her reason for writing this book is to help readers eagerly search the Bible, looking for fresh truth they can find in each word of scripture — “for the word of God is living and active” (Hebrews 4:12, niv) — to build a strong foundation of Christ in their children that will last a lifetime.

Valentine’s Day Bible craft for your family:

Memory Verse: John 13:34-35, “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another” (ESV).

Supplies

  • Markers/pens
  • Scissors
  • Sheets of paper (1-2 per person)
  • Small jars/clear containers (1 per person)

Setup

  • Gather items and have them ready to use.
  • An adult can draw seven hearts on each sheet of paper. Make one sheet per person.
  • Optional: If children are older, allow them to draw hearts on their sheets of paper.

Say

  • Our memory verse, John 13:34-35, tells us that God wants us to love others in the same way He loves us. That’s how other people will know that we are His disciples.
  • God wants us to love everyone. A great way to start practicing loving others is to love the people you are closest to first.
  • I want you to think of seven people who you spend the most time with. We are going to start practicing showing God’s love to them this week.
  • Each of us will fill up a jar/container with hearts with those seven people’s names written on each heart.
  • We will pull out one heart each day this week and come up with ways to show that person God’s love all day.

To purchase your copy, click here.

To visit more of the blog stops on this tour, click here.

To enter a fun giveaway, click here.

Filed Under: Book Reviews Tagged With: Book Review, CelebrateLit

Riding a Horse

May 12, 2024 by NZ Filbruns Leave a Comment

A friend of ours bought a horse recently for his children, and a couple of times in March the horse was brought to the Nelson Creek park by someone else, with the owner’s permission. He’s a good-natured horse, and let the children ride him for quite awhile each time.

What this picture doesn’t show is the time Elijah fell off! He’s never had the opportunity to learn to ride a horse.

Filed Under: Away From Home Tagged With: Horse, Nelson Creek, West Coast

Book Review–Tennessee Wildcat

May 10, 2024 by NZ Filbruns 2 Comments

About the Book:

Book: Tennessee Wildcat: On the Trail of Laura Ingalls Wilders’ Mr. Edwards

Authors: Robynne Elizabeth Miller and J.D. Rushmore

Genre: Nonfiction/Historical Biography/Literary History

Release date: August 24, 2023

Mr. Edwards … that colorful Tennessee Wildcat Laura Ingalls Wilder so deeply loved. He helped Pa build the family’s cabin, saved Christmas by carrying presents across a raging creek, and spit further than Laura thought possible. Though he was a little rough around the edges, Laura simply adored Mr. Edwards. Through her vivid, heartwarming stories, we came to love him, too.

But who was he? Virtually all Laura’s Little House characters were real people … even those whose names were changed to protect their reputations.

Mr. Edwards, however, wasn’t so easy to track down. In fact, he’s the sole Little House enigma … the only mentioned character that hasn’t clearly surfaced via historical records.

Was he fiction, for the sake of illustrating pioneer stereotypes? Was he a composite character, built from several men Laura knew during their time in Kansas? Was he a loose collection of memories and family lore, cobbled together for the sake of the narrative? Or was he a real man, whose full identity had previously evaded discovery?

We wanted to know the answer …

So, we dusted off our boots and headed out … hot on the trail of the wildcat from Tennessee!

My Thoughts:

Like many other people, I have loved Laura Ingalls Wilder’s Little House books ever since I can remember. In fact, I remember when I was six or seven I was very pleased with myself when I read through an entire book from that series in one day (yes, I was an early, rather precocious reader). I can’t tell you how often I’ve read the entire series, either silently or aloud, but there have been several times. So, when I saw Tennessee Wildcat and read that it was an investigation into a character from Little House on the Prairie, I knew I wanted to read it.

A few years ago, I read The Three Faces of Nellie, which is a similar investigation. While I found Tennessee Wildcat interesting, I think Nellie was more so. A lot of this book felt repetitive. However, there were some absolutely fascinating stories about the early settlers in Montgomery County, Kansas. I really enjoyed reading about them. I also found the description of the way land was surveyed, divided, and described very interesting. I am fairly familiar with a lot of the concepts, because the area of Michigan in which I grew up had been mapped out that way—but to read about it brought everything together. 

If you are a fellow lover of the Little House books, you will want to read this book and learn what life was really like on the frontier where Laura spent two years of her life as a very young child. Warning: It was quite different than she described in her book!

I received a review copy of this book from the author, and these are my honest thoughts about it. Links may be affiliate links, which will benefit Esther’s website if purchases are made through them.

About the Authors:

Robynne Elizabeth Miller holds a Master of Fine Arts in Creative Nonfiction and Fiction and a B.A. in English Literature. She’s the author of ten books and countless articles, including Tennessee Wildcat, From the Mouth of Ma, and The Three Faces of Nellie.

Along with speaking nationally, Robynne is a writing and publishing coach and mentor, a writing teacher at writers conferences, workshops, and retreats, the Writing Track developer and director for Unbound, and the director of the Vision Christian Writers Conference at Mount Hermon.

She’s passionate about helping writers bring their stories and messages into the world and delving into the real people and places which populated the stories of Laura Ingalls Wilder.

J.D. Rushmore is a history and genealogy buff, with a particular interest in American history before 1900. He’s enamored with the opening of the west, pioneers, the gold rush, the Oregon trail, etc. He’s particularly passionate about researching historical mysteries, especially when they relate to the Little House series of books.

He is a musician in his spare time, as well as an “at everything” father, husband, and friend. He prefers the smell of historic archives to fresh air (unless it involves poking around a remote historic cemetery!) and has a knack for reading handwriting on historical documents that is illegible to others. Nothing thrills him more than finding the one tiny detail that, after being overlooked for decades, or even centuries, changes EVERYTHING.

More from Robynne:

If you’re a Little House fan like us, you know how risky it was to delve into Mr. Edwards. Rumors have flown for decades as to his real identity, and some folks have double-downed on who they believe he was … declaring a particular name with certainty.

But it just didn’t add up. Through all our team’s collective Little House research and general love of 1800’s history, the name that had been put forward just didn’t make sense.

So, we had a choice.

We could avert our eyes, go about our other writing projects, and leave this mystery untouched. Or, we could, with as much neutrality and meticulous research as possible, see if Mr. Edwards’ true identity could be established.

We risked two things: upsetting some people if our findings didn’t support their theories, and crushing our own hearts if Mr. Edwards turned out to be the one character who Laura Ingalls Wilder constructed purely from her imagination.

We hope our respect for previous researchers, and the strength of our newly discovered information, helped avoid the first worry. And, the second? We were thrilled to discover Mr. Edwards almost certainly wasn’t a work of fiction!

To purchase your copy, click here.

To visit more of the blog stops on this tour, click here.

To enter a fun giveaway, click here.

Filed Under: Book Reviews Tagged With: Book Review, CelebrateLit

Book Review–Marcus and the Emperor’s Coin

May 8, 2024 by NZ Filbruns 8 Comments

About the Book:

Book: Marcus and the Emperor’s Coin

Author: Dennis Conrad

Genre: Christian Children’s Picture Book

Release date: October 30, 2023

Marcus and the Emperor’s Coin is an exciting adventure in the Ancient Roman Empire at the time of Christ. Eight-year-old Marcus and his father are on a mission for the Emperor and visit a mine and a mint where coins are made. Marcus himself makes a denarius, a coin with the emperor’s image.

Marcus goes to Jerusalem where he sees Jesus hold a denarius saying, “Give to the emperor the things that are the emperor’s, and to God the things that are God’s.” What will seeing Jesus mean for Marcus, and will he ever be the same again?

My Thoughts:

Last year, I read The Two-Cent Piece, a picture book about the two-cent coins that were used in the United States about the time of the Civil War. There was an aspect of that book that I did not appreciate, but I liked the pictures and the idea of the book so well that when Dennis Conrad offered his next book, Marcus and the Emperor’s Coin, I wanted a copy of it, as well.

I like Marcus and the Emperor’s Coin. It’s a beautifully illustrated story with a clumsy boy who is afraid he will mess things up for his father. He learns along the way how silver is mined and coins are minted. The comical pictures go well with the story. I’m looking forward to having the print copy on our shelf when it arrives here! I know my younger children will enjoy it.

I received a review copy of this book from the author, and these are my honest thoughts about it. Links may be affiliate links, which will benefit Esther’s website if purchases are made through them.

About the Author:

A former coin collector for over fifty years, Dennis combines his love for the Bible, children’s literature, and sharing stories about the history behind coins.

Dennis retired as a professor of speech communications from Barstow Community College. He and his wife served as English and public speaking teachers ten summers overseas.

Dennis became a sustaining member of the Numismatic Association of Southern California in 1979. He is also a life member of the American Numismatic Association.

Dennis is a member of the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators and a Fellow of the National Writing Project.

More from Dennis:

How to Turn a Penny into a Teachable Moment

Dennis Conrad

Connect with your child or grandchild by starting a coin collection.

Start with the penny, also known as the Lincoln Head Cent. The coins were first minted in 1909 because it was the 100th anniversary of Abraham Lincoln’s birth.

Use the coin to help your child make the connections with who Lincoln was, what he did, and when he lived. Reasons why Abraham Lincoln is featured on a coin include the following:

  1. Lincoln is often at the top of the list of America’s greatest presidents.
  2. He helped to preserve the Union during the American Civil War.
  3. His Emancipation Proclamation freed the slaves.
  4. The Gettysburg Address ranks as one of the best speeches of all time.

Now, Look On the Back (the Reverse)

Go through change to find the different images on the backs of pennies.

There are wheat ears (1909-1958) and the Lincoln Memorial (1959-2008).

To celebrate the 200th anniversary of his birth, the U.S. Mint issued coins with four different images on the back. The Lincoln Bicentennial (2009) coins include a log cabin, Lincoln sitting on a log, Lincoln standing in front of the state capitol of Illinois, and an unfinished U.S. Capitol Building (the way it was when he was president.) For the past several years, there has been a shield on the back representing the preserved union (2010-Present).

Add one of each reverse to the child’s collection.

Don’t forget to mention the words, the date, and the mintmark.

The words include “One Cent,” “In God We Trust,” “Liberty,” “The United States of America,” and “E Pluribus Unum” which means “Out of many, one.”

Also, look for and find the year minted and the mintmark.

Find and add a coin from the child’s birth year to the child’s collection.

Look at the mintmark. It is a letter on the front of the coin under the date. The “D” is for Denver, the “S” for San Francisco, and the absence of a mintmark means the coin was minted in Philadelphia.

Add coins with the different mintmarks to the child’s collection.

Keep the collection safe in a small box or a Ziploc bag. Have fun. Add to the collection as time goes by.

Free Resources

Want to encourage the child in your life to learn more about coins? Sign up at https://dennisconradauthor.com so your child can become a Junior Coin Collector. Receive free, monthly activity sheets like a crossword puzzle. There is a Coin Hunt section where children can search for and find coins in change for their collection, and a Vocabulary Builder section with coin collecting terms.

To purchase your copy, click here.

To visit more of the blog stops on this tour, click here.

To enter a fun giveaway, click here.

Filed Under: Book Reviews Tagged With: Book Review, CelebrateLit

February 2024 Photos

May 5, 2024 by NZ Filbruns Leave a Comment

We didn’t take many pictures in February, after we got home! I was too busy trying to catch up. This first picture shows part of what I had to catch up on. We harvested a couple of bushels of beans every week for about a month.

We had fun, too. This book that Elijah and Simon were enjoying is one that my mom sent along with a lot of other books that I had stored at her place. We went to the North Island to meet up with people who came from the States and other places to hold a conference, and it was a good opportunity to have books brought in suitcases. This book is hilarious, and I thought Mom would enjoy seeing it being enjoyed.

Kea, the budgie, does not like humans to touch her. She will not allow us to pick her up or hold her. However, we got home from church one day, and found her desperately trying to push out between the bars of her cage. We let her out to fly–but she wanted right back in! She was so focused on pushing through the bars that she let us hold her until she could go back to her cage. We ended up putting her in a smaller cage with narrower spaces between the bars, and the next day she was back to normal.

This cat is often found sleeping in very strange places. Anything confined is perfect for her–especially if it’s something new!

Filed Under: Activities at Home Tagged With: Random Photos

January 2024 Photos

April 28, 2024 by NZ Filbruns Leave a Comment

I’ve finally finished posting the pictures from our North Island trip! Now to catch up on the photos from around home. Here are the rest from January.

After a couple of four wheel drive trips, the boys’ trucks were in need of a wash. Miss Joy happily helped operate the power washer!

James spent more time working on his sleepout. This was the day he started cladding the outside.

The boys cleaned the carport and garage. They decided it was time to get rid of this old stationary engine that had been sitting there for about three years. Simon wanted to restore it and get it working again, but finally gave up. Elijah listed it on Trade Me for a $1 reserve auction, and it went up over $250! The next challenge was to load it on the buyer’s truck. This was the test run with the tractor-mounted crane that Simon and James built to hoist cattle they are butchering. It worked, so when the buyer came to get the engine, that’s how they lifted it! The engine had wheels under it, so it was easy to get it out of the carport, but too heavy to lift by hand.

We went to Nelson Creek for a baptism one Sunday afternoon, and of course the children wanted to swim.

See what James has on his feet to go swimming? They were actually very light-weight boots, full of holes so they didn’t fill up with water.

I think this was taken down at the river.

Little Miss wanted to make braided bread, so Esther helped her.

Part of the second hatch of chicks. It’s so fun to see them hatching!

Filed Under: Activities at Home, Away From Home Tagged With: Nelson Creek, Random Photos, Video, West Coast

Book Review–What Color is God’s Love?

April 24, 2024 by NZ Filbruns 4 Comments

About the Book:

Book: What Color is God’s Love?

Author: Xochitl Dixon

Genre: Children’s Picture Book

Release date: March 19, 2024

All the colors displayed in this world that God made—
every glorious, fabulous, beautiful shade—
show how good God is and will always be.
But what is the color of love? Come and see!
In What Color is God’s Love?, a little girl and her service dog join their diverse friends through a whirlwind of adventures. As they celebrate the spectacular spectrum of colors God designed,
each color invites readers to explore their God-given emotions and becomes a reminder of God’s unchanging character. While encouraging children to acknowledge God’s constant presence with every turn of the page, What Color is God’s Love? also empowers children, with and without disabilities, to play, work, and serve God together, by simply letting the colors of His love shine through them. With each turn of the page, the focus shifts to a specific color—orange, yellow, blue, green, pink,
black, white, gray, brown, red, purple. Each lyrical rhyme invites readers to engage with God
through empowering and faith-building truth-statements that incite worship and encourage a
lifestyle of loving God and neighbors.

My Thoughts:

I’m a sucker for picture books that are offered for review. Since I still have little girls in my house who love to have stories read to them, I always have an appreciative audience. My four-year-old was delighted a few days ago when I read What Color is God’s Love? to her.

What Color is God’s Love? is a beautiful book. Each page features a different color, names a few things that are this color and talks about how that color makes the narrator feel. For little girls like mine who love dogs, each page is a treat, because there is a dog romping with the children, as well as a number of other animals. Each page also talks about God’s presence and care. This is a delightful book to read at bedtime!

I received a review copy of this book from the author, and these are my honest thoughts about it. Links may be affiliate links, which will benefit Esther’s website if purchases are made through them.

About the Author:

Xochitl (So-Cheel) Dixon, contributing writer for Our Daily Bread and God Hears Her, is the author of
Waiting for God: Trusting Daily in God’s Plan and Pace. She loves Jesus and people, as she crosses
cultural, generational, and international lines with encouraging and sound biblical teaching. Celebrating
diversity and inclusion, she advocates for disability awareness with her beautifully diverse family and her
service dog, Callie. Her first children’s picture book, Different Like Me, now available in Spanish, is a
2021 ECPA Christian Book Award Children’s Book Finalist. In March 2024, Xochitl’s second picture book, What Color is God’s Love?, is releasing with WaterBrook.

More from Xochitl:

The Heart Behind My Story

By Xochitl Dixon

Like most of my writing, What Color is God’s Love? began as an overflow of worship while I prayed and praised God. In 2018, my husband and I had followed God from California to Wisconsin. I’m disabled and can’t drive, so his long hours at work left me feeling isolated while I searched for a new church and new doctors. As the weather became more extreme, I grew more discouraged, frustrated, and resentful. I struggled as I wrote my first 31-day devotional for Our Daily Bread, Waiting for God: Trusting Daily in God’s Plan and Pace. I was praying for people, studying and teaching the Bible every day. So, I couldn’t figure out why I felt so out of touch with God.

When my new puppy, Callie, licked my tears away, I looked out the window and noticed the rain had finally stopped. Rays of sunlight pierced through the dark gray clouds, shining on a white heron that had landed in the greed foliage on the creek’s bank next to our front yard. I wept tears of grateful praise. I wrote the first draft of a free verse poem celebrating God’s loving care for the details in Creation and in the lives of His people.

As I prayed, I realized I had been spending time talking to people about God. However, as the physical, emotional, and mental effects of our transition overwhelmed me, I had stopped spending quality time with God. As I watched the white heron take flight, God led me to Psalm 33:6-9, which became the first What Color is God’s Love? Bookend Bible verse.

I released Waiting for God in 2019 and my first picture book, Different Like Me, in 2020. But God had me tuck that free verse poem away as He dramatically transformed me and the original manuscript over the next few years. I wanted to give young image-bearers what I never had growing up: a safe place to process emotions . . . in God’s presence. I also wanted God’s beautifully diverse image-bearers, people with and without disabilities, to see each color as a reminder of His unchanging character, unlimited power, and unwavering grace, as they experienced His unconditional love flowing for them, in them, and through them.

After I signed the contract in November 2021, God began leading me to the right Bible verses to build the messages for each color I shared. Over time, I created the Breath Prayer Cards as a free download on my website, the YouVersion reading plan, and the devotional for the rest of the colors not shared in the reading plan.

I wanted each color to be a reminder of God’s unchanging character, unlimited power, and unwavering grace as we experience His unconditional love flowing for, in, and through us. More importantly, I began praying that everyone who read What Color is God’s Love? would be inspired to open their Bibles and spend more time with God, including me.

To purchase your copy, click here.

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Filed Under: Book Reviews Tagged With: Book Review, CelebrateLit

Kapiti Coast and Wellington

April 21, 2024 by NZ Filbruns Leave a Comment

The day we traveled from Taupo to Wellington started out cold and rainy. About halfway through our travels that day, however, the sun came out and by the time we got to the Kapiti Coast, just north of Wellington on the Tasman Sea, the weather was delightful. We stopped for a little while at a carpark facing Kapiti Island and had fun exploring the rocks.

Miss Joy had great fun collecting shells!

Mr. Imagination was just glad to be out of the van. Notice all the action in the next few shots!

We noticed a commuter train going along the cliff towards Wellington.

Bluebottles were washed up along the shore.

Lots of seagulls around!

That evening we went shopping for a few ingredients for our dinner and the next morning’s breakfast. I notice dragon fruit at the supermarket, so we bought one just to see what they were like. We all enjoyed it!

The next day we went to church with some friends in Wellington. When we left the hall to go to their house for lunch, the van wouldn’t start. The battery was flat. They came to our rescue, and after lunch the men and boys went back to work on the van. It turned out that some tiny piece of rubber had perished, making the brake light stay on all the time, draining the battery! A clothespin took care of that problem. We ended up spending all afternoon with our friends, and going back to their church for the evening service. In between, some of us drove to a windmill up the hill from their house and had a good view of Wellington from that vantage point.

And that’s the end of the pictures from our big trip! Now I’ll try to catch up with the other pictures we’ve taken so far this year. It’s been a very busy summer and not likely to slow down for a few more weeks.

Filed Under: Away From Home Tagged With: Holiday Trip, North Island Trip, Wellington

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The Family:


Dad and Mom (Gayle and Emma)

Girl #1, Esther, my right hand

Boy #1, Seth (Mr. Handyman)

Boy #2, Simon (Mr. Inventor)

Boy #3, Mr. Intellectual

Boy #4, Mr. Diligence

Boy #5, Mr. Sweetie

Boy #6, Mr. Imagination

Girl #2, Little Miss

Girl #3, Miss Joy

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