Jodi from The Jolly Bee held a giveaway for the book The Creative Family and I was the lucky winner! Yeah!! This book is written by another blogger, Amanda Blake Soule of SouleMama and is absolutely wonderful.
Full of nature exploring and craft projects, it's purpose is to help families tap into their inner creativeness while laughing and playing together. Amanda makes some really good points in just the first few paragraphs alone, talking about how every child has a creative genius inside but we tend to lose that as we grow-up. Creating with our children is such a wonderful way to connect and grow, letting the little one's teach us as well.
Here is the first paragraph of Amanda's introduction:
'At the heart of every mindful and loving family lie the seeds of endless creativity. With patience, support, and just a bit of guidance, that creativity can flourish and grow in beautiful ways. In our modern lives, it's all too easy to get swept up in the busyness of the day-to-day--meals, cleaning, school, work, and other life details often stand in the way of the time we need to pursue our creative endeavors. As parents, it is both our responsibility and our privilege to be sure that our family's creative spirits have all the room and tools they need to soar freely.'
Sections include Gathering, Playing, Living and Connecting which all include projects and wonderful idea's.
Thank you so much, Jodi, for this great book. Oh, and if you've never been over to The Jolly Bee for a visit, go! Jodi has a great site and she's sweet and nice to boot.
My friend, Mary, from Mary's Writing Nook, hosted a Christmas Book Swap and Mary and I were partners. Again, Yeah!! Mary and I have swapped books in the past and she always has great taste in reading material. (If you don't know Mary, pop over to Mary's Writing Nook and say howdy. You're going to love her!) This year, she sent me The Unfinished Gift by Dan Walsh. When it arrived, I was in the middle of another book and hurried through it so that I could start reading The Unfinished Gift. I was not disappointed. Boy, was it good.
Patrick Collins is an 8 year old boy in 1943 who has just lost his mom in a car accident and his dad is a fighter pilot overseas. Patrick is taken, by a very caring social worker, to live with his grandfather, a man that Patrick has never even met. The grandfather, Ian Collins, is a crotchety old coot without a kind word to say to the heartbroken little boy. Patrick doesn't know why his grandfather doesn't seem to like him and prays for the quick return of his father, who the war department is trying to locate. Patrick finds a hand-carved wooden soldier in the attic, but his grandfather rips it out of his hands and Patrick is forbidden to touch it again. Why is Patrick's grandfather so filled with bitterness and what is the story of the wooden soldier? I won't tell, it would spoil everything for you. Stop asking!
First paragraph from the book:
'When the black sedan stopped at the traffic light, Patrick rose quietly to his knees in the backseat and peeked out the side window. He flattened his palms against the glass, cold as ice, but he didn't pull back. His eyes were drawn to a large picture window on a house at a nearby corner. Set deep within he night shadows, the window gave the appearance of a painting suspended in midair. Patrick would've given anything to be a part of what he saw inside.'
This is a wonderful book. If you pick it up, you won't be disappointed, I promise.
UPDATE; Dan Walsh, the author of The Unfinished Gift, visited my site tonight! Yeah!! How cool is that?! To read more about this book and to see a preview of the upcoming sequel, go here
You can also follow his link through my comments section to visit his blog. FUN! Thank you, Dan, for your visit. So looking forward to The Homecoming.
Don't forget to scroll down to my last post and leave a comment to be entered into my giveaway. A family of chickens could be yours!
9 comments:
The unfinished gift sounds so good!
Dawn gave me "The Friday night knitting Club" for Christmas. It makes me feel like picking up a pair of knitting needles, even though I don't know how to knit.
Ohhh, "The Unfinished Gift" sounds wonderful. But sad. Knowing me, I'll probably cry -- anything with kids and a dead parent. Well, it just gets to me. I'm sappy that way.
And I hope you're enjoying "The Creative Family," making and doing things with and for the grandkiddies. How did they like the Abominable Snowman? (did I spell that right?) Anyhow, you are very welcome, my friend. I'm glad you won. After the month you've had, you deserved to win! Take care.
Paula,
So glad you enjoyed the book. Thanks for the kind words. Jolly Bee. Most of the people who've emailed me after reading it said they cried (I cried several times while writing it). But it's not my-dog-died kind of cry. More like a Hallmark TV commercial kind.
Hope you all have a wonderful New Year!
Dan Walsh
the unfinished gift sounds great - and how amazing that the author visited your site:-) sorry to hear about shiloh and love to you all as you all recover and continue to be thankful for those angels who looked after you all.
I think I did forget to mention that Noah loves his snowman. He named him Ho Ho. Cosmo the monster is still his favorite though. He was a bit traumatized the other night when Cosmo had to have a bath becuase the new kitty dragged him into her litter box. But then he had the biggest smile this morning when he got Cosmo back!
Maybe you'll let me peek at your Creative Family book? Course, I was in Costco last night and while waiting on the boyfolk, I picked up a book (Dean Koonz's latest) to kill time... and then couldn't put it down and had to buy it. And I NEVER buy hardback novels. I promise not to walk away with your book if you let me peek.
Oh, how I love the Creative Family - her second book is just as good and inspiring!
An author visit! How exciting, congrats! I'm looking forward to seeing your fingerless mittens, and I'm happy to have found out about Sharing Our Gifts through your site.
Paula,
So glad you won The Creative Family. It looks like a great book.
I was positive you would love The Unfinished Gift. I had read it previously and just had to pick up a copy for you when you became my swap partner.
I am currently reading "Fall On Your Knees," which is a great story. Thanks so much for sending it along.
Blessings,
Mary
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