I thoroughly enjoyed this book. I would say that this book had the perfect amount of humor, intense moments, and bonding between characters. It had interesting twists and turns and I have to admit that at times I did not expect some of the things that happened. This book definitely keeps you on your toes. Not only does it have a great storyline but it is also a great allegory and at times had me really thinking about something or noticing similarities between Amara's Wulder and Our God. The Grand Parrot Beccaroon reminds me of a protective uncle, trying to protect his girl Tipper, but also not wanting too much loving attention. Tipper is easy to relate to and has a great personality and the dragons are an interesting touch. Sometimes they almost seem like key characters. I personally enjoyed the Wizard Fenworth's addition to the ragtag group. Always seeming to sleep yet he stays very in touch with everything that is going on. He and Lady Peg had me laughing out loud at times and kept the book light. I found it interesting that in Chiril they regarded their minor dragons so cooly until the Amarans told them otherwise. If it were me I would have loved the little things to pieces. It is a fun and easy read, great for any ages really.

If you go to this website, you can get the first chapter. :)
http://waterbrookmultnomah.com/2011/03/25/sneak-peek-the-dragons-of-chiril-by-donita-k-paul/

I recieved this book from the Waterbrook Multnomah Publishing group through their Blogging through Books program in exchange for an honest review.

Some Things I Like

I just figured I would list some of my favorite things, that way you all can get to know me better.

Movies I like:
-The Lord Of The Rings Trilogy
-The Chronicles of Narnia movies
-Sherlock Holmes
-Iron Man 1 & 2
-Twilight
-New Moon
-Eclipse
-Percy Jackson & The Olympians, The Lightning Thief
-Transformers 1 & 2
-Spider-man 1, 2, & 3
-Nancy Drew
Mind you, these are only a few of the movies I like, but they give a pretty good idea of what I like.

Bands I like (music):
-The Newsboys
-TobyMac
-Hawk Nelson
-Group 1 Crew
-F.M. Static
-Skillet
-Red
-Disciple
-Jeremy Camp
-MercyMe
-Casting Crowns
-Kutless
-Switchfoot
I also like other bands, but they are too many to count. These are all christian bands.

Books I like (Meaning I have read them multiple times):
-Percy Jackson & The Olympians Series
-The Kane Chronicles
-The Lost Hero
(All 3 of these are written by Rick Riordan)
-The Twilight Saga
-Anything written by Karen Kingsbury
I read a TON of books, but these are my very favorites.

Our Garden

Here is our garden at the church near our house. We have been working on it  all summer and it is finally starting to show some life.

These are our zucchini plants.



These are our pea plants.




These are our green bean plants.



This is one of our broccoli plants.



This is our row of lettuce.




This is one of our tomato plants.




These are our strawberry plants.




This is our first strawberry, which I ate yesterday and it was very good. :)




This is one of our corn stalks.




This is the start of one of our carrots.




This is a close up on one of our lettuce plants. We cut our lettuce the other day and got a whole grocery bag full of it.


Our garden is organic and 25% of our crops will go to our local food bank. It is a great program and it is especially nice for those of us who don't have big yards or space for a garden.



Summer Fun

Well first off I just wanted to say "HAPPY BIRTHDAY AMANDA!" My little sister turns 6 today. Also happy late 4th of july, I had a great 4th of July this year and I hope everyone else did too. My friend Sienna and I went to our other friend Caroline's house boat out on Lake Pend Oreille for the weekend. We went jet skiing (my first time, I even got to drive it and got up to 40 mph) and swimming. Unfortunately I got a bad sunburn. (I burn easily) But in spite of that, I had a great time and would encourage any of you to go jet skiing sometime. We got to watch a great fireworks show that we were practically right under and we jumped off the top of Caroline's house boat. I love the summer time.

Some of My Photos

Here are two of my photos.....more will come.

A Deep Book

This book has quite the story line. It is a story line that I'm sure we have all gone through. Christopher falls pretty far, but he can still be saved through Christ no matter how far he has fallen. We have all fallen and have all needed to be saved by Christ whether we have done this already or not. I felt that Angela had a very strong commitment to her son, but she also trusted God to save him in His time. It is extremely hard for us to let God work things out in his time. We always feel that we need to step in and do our own work to make things right. Angela spent years praying for her son, but things just kept getting worse and worse. If I was Angela I probably would have given up hope and just quit praying, but Angela trusted God with all her heart and kept praying and finally there were results, although Christopher had to hit the very rock bottom first. We can all learn something from Angela, whether persistance or faith. Even though this book has some deep and at times, adult content, I feel that this book really impacted my way of looking at prayer and my faith in God.

Waterbroook Multnomah Publishing group provided me with this book in exchange for an honest review through their Blogging for Books program.

Coming out of my Shell

It's amazing how if we look back on our lives we can see how certain things altered us. Whether it was just yesterday or over a span of years. When I look back to just a year ago I realize that I was very shy and didn't really do things on my own or do anything new. In a sense I was very sheltered, I had had the same friends for years. I had gone to the same school and didn't really have any friends outside of the school perimeters. Then my whole life was completely altered when I left Classical Christian Academy. Suddenly I wasn't in my little bubble of safety anymore. Sure I was homeschooling and I'm sure most people would think that I became even more sheltered, but I actually had to come out of my bubble often. My people skills were put to the test and I realized that I really had some hard training to do if I wanted to finish this marathon strong. I now realize that God put me through this life changing year to help me grow, but at the time I was absolutely terrified. I mean I didn't know anyone at co-op besides my mom. I started karate and had to positievly make sure my friend started with me so that I wouldn't freak out and I was like a turtle within it's shell at bowling league every Saturday morning. I guess I started to finally come out of my shell when I started getting better bowling scores, because that is when everyone started to really notice me and talk to me and I couldn't avoid it. Then I started talking with people more at co-op and I now have some great friends there. I no longer dread going to karate if my friend can't make it that day. I feel as if in order to grow God had to take me out of my school and practically push me through the open door of oppurtunities in front of me, but I feel so much the better for it. I guess what I'm trying to say is last spring I wouldn't be caught dead doing volunteer work without someone I already knew doing it with me, but just recently I started volunteering at our library all on my own. I'm finally coming out of my cave and noticing how many amazing people are out in the world that I've never even had the guts to meet before. I praise God every day for showing me how isolated I was and saving me from a life of reading in my room all day (although I still sometimes do that). Remember to always follow God even if you have no idea where he is taking you because you might just end up better off than you were before.