Journey To Christmas - A DVD Review

Journey to Christmas

Five Strangers, The Nativity Is Now Reality

This two-DVD, four-episode program, 180-minutes, unveils five individuals search through the Holy Land for the real Christmas.

A twenty-day journey that takes two men and three women through the mountains and deserts, where they will ride on camels as the Magi did; travel to Bethlehem;  visit Qumran where the lost scrolls were written; venture into ancient life at Nazareth; and touch the place of the manger.

You will rejoice with those who find the real meaning and experience what the Nativity really means. As well as feel your heart break when one individual says all he wanted for Christmas was a real experience with God, and not get it.

The video is commentaried by Bible experts Hugh Ross, Paul Maier, Craig Evans, Claire Pfann and Stephen Pfann.

Beautiful cinematography that takes us to the place where our Savior was born; breathing new life into an ancient story of truth and heavenly love.

You won't want to miss this touching adventure!

Published on DVD by Tyndale.

I give this DVD...

...Five Stars and...

...give it my Thumbs Up!

This program is suitable for individuals of all ages, and for group study.

****DISCLOSURE: This DVD was provided by Tyndale Publishing in exchange for an independent, non-biased review.

A Whisper of Peace - Kim Vogel Sawyer

A Whisper of Peace

Kim Vogel Sawyer

Copyright 2011 Kim Vogel Sawyer

Bethany House Publishers

ISBN 978-0-7642-0785-3

When Clay Selby and his step-sister Vivian travel to the frontier of Alaska to be missionaries to the Athabascan people, one wonders just how they will make it in the rough wilderness.

Clay has a heart for winning the native people to the Lord. Vivian wants to teach.

When Vivian is befriended by an ostracized native girl, their mission almost comes to a screeching halt. But when God has a plan, Man need only hold on for the ride!

This is a must read for good Christian historical novels. It is also a love story, of the very tender and sweet kind.

Be sure to have a hanky on hand. You WILL be touched and warmed through and through by A Whisper of Peace.

I give Sawyer's book...

...Five Stars and...

...my Thumbs Up!

****DISCLOSURE: This book was provided by Bethany Publishers for a non-biased and independent review.

Wishing You A...

Was Jane Austen Poisoned?

Portrait of Jane Austen based on one drawn by her sister Cassandra. Courtesy of the University of Texas Libraries, The University of Texas at Austin/Wikimedia Commons.

Jane Austen, the author of classics such as "Pride and Prejudice" and "Sense and Sensibility," may have died of arsenic poisoning, according to a crime writer who has reviewed the last letters of the British novelist.

The crucial clue lies in a line written by Austen a few months before her mysterious death in 1817.
Describing weeks of illness she had recently experienced, Austen wrote: "I am considerably better now and recovering my looks a little, which have been bad enough, black and white and every wrong colour."

According to Lindsay Ashford, a British crime writer, the description matches the symptoms of arsenic poisoning, "which causes skin spotting if taken in small doses over a long time."

"Known as the ‘raindrop’ effect, it causes some patches of skin to go dark brown or black; other areas lose all pigment to go white," Ashford wrote in the Daily Mail.

The crime writer strengthened her theory when she learned that a lock of Austen's hair bought at an auction in 1948 by a now deceased American couple, had tested positive for arsenic.

"The arsenic in Jane’s hair meant that she had ingested the poison in the months before her death," Ashford said.

Austen's untimely end at the age of 41 has long been a cause for speculation among historians.

Her mysterious and fatal illness was first identified as Addison’s disease, a rare disorder of the adrenal glands; other diagnoses included the cancer Hodgkin's disease, the auto-immune disease lupus, Brill- Zinsser disease (a recurrent form of the typhus the novelist had as a child) and disseminated tuberculosis of bovine origin.

"All these conditions display some of the signs Jane reported, but none matches her description of her face in the letter," Ashford said.

She added that it is very likely Austen was given medicines containing arsenic.

Indeed, the poison was widely prescribed at that time for anything from rheumatism –- something the novelist admnitted to have suffered from -- to syphilis.

"There is, of course, another scenario: that she was deliberately poisoned. Improbable perhaps; but not impossible," Ashford said.

The crime writer explores the murder theory in her new novel, "The Mysterious Death of Miss Austen," focusing on Austen's family, which she believes is a source of shadows and doubts despite being thoroughly investigated.

****Read the remainder of this article on Discovery News here.

Comfort Food Fix - Ellie Krieger

Comfort Food Fix

Ellie Krieger

copyright 2011 - Eliie Krieger

John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Comfort Food Fix promises to take our favorite comfort foods and remake them into healthier dishes.

I have used some of Krieger's recipes in the past and been well pleased with them. However, this book has been a bit of a disappointment. First, I found few recipes that resembled anything that I call comfort food! [I said few... there are some, however.] These were the more sophisticate of choice, evidently! [Perhaps it's simply my own down to earth choice of comfort foods that makes these seem a bit beyond what I like.]

I also found that while fats were reduced in almost every recipe, sodium seldom took more than a minimal dip,  with a few exceptions. However, those exceptions substituted other items that totally remade the dish instead of simply allowing the dish to remain as true to original form as possible. [Give me Diabetic Cooking magazine any day!]

The recipes were "okay" that I tried, and I am sure there will be more that I will yet try, I just do not care for the four I picked at random to sample, and I especially can't call them "comfort food".

The layout was superb in the book, and the photography was excellent.

While I did not like the few recipes I have tried thus far, I still have to give this book...

...Five Stars and...

...a Thumbs Up!

****DISCLOSURE: This book was provided free of charge by Amazon Vine for exchange of a non-biased, independent review.

Honoring Our Heroes

Woodstock Handmade Houses - Robert Haney, David Ballantine and Jonathan Elliott

Woodstock Handmade Houses

Robert Haney & David Ballantine with Jonathan Elliott, photographer

Copyright 1994 Robert Haney & David Ballantine

Printed 1994 - Korea

Little text mars the brilliant photography of Jonathan Elliott as page after page of idyllic and natural, woodsy, Woodstock-like homes are shown!

From the all natural built of natures bounty and natural materials, to that of recycled items.

Earth, stone, timber, and even canvas are highlighted with interior and exterior shots.

A great coffee-table book. Or one to dream through on a wintry afternoon while curled up next to the fire.

Each page will make you "wish you were there!"

I give this book five stars

and my thumbs up!

DISCLOSURE: This book was a private purchase and under no obligation for review.

All New Slow Cooker - Easy Home Cooking

All New Slow Cooker

Easy Home Cooking

Copyright 1999 Publications International LTD

Publications International LTD

I've been looking for some recipes that would truly taste like the dishes that Grandma used to slave over the old hot cook stove for. This is about the best I've found yet!

Yummy chicken and dumplings, stews made with beef, lamb, meatballs, casseroles, pastas and turkey!

I have already made the chicken and dumplings, and look forward to making every single one of the rest of the recipes in this wonderful 94-page hard-back book.

I got this book for a steal in a local thrift shop for only $1. It's already paid for itself in yummy goodness! And the recipes are super easy, and straightforward. No guessing!

All are made in your convenient slow cooker!

I give this book five stars

 and my thumbs up!

****DISCLOSURE: This book was a private purchase and was under no obligation for review.

Night of the Living Dead Christian - Matt Mikalatos

Night of the Living Dead Christian

Matt Mikalatos

Copyright 2011 by Matt Mikalatos

Salt River Publishing

ISBN 978-1-4143-3880-4

What can I say about this book?

I truly did understand the author's analogies of Christians lacking in today's world, and comparing them to zombies, werewolves and vampires.All well and good.

However, unless one delves into the study material at the end of the book, which I fear younger readers will not do, then this is nothing more than a funny, comical Christian oriented book. And I fear the author is merely cashing in on the whole vampire craze of modern teens and young adults in America.

The message he brings is an important one. And if one already knows where to look with the analogies, the book is excellent. But I fear it is those who are reading it, simply as a fictional comedy, who will not benefit.

Therefore, I give this book...

And while I can't give it my thumbs up, neither will I give it a thumbs down. I believe the intent was good.

****Disclosure: This book was provided by Tyndale Publishing free of charge in exchange for an independent and non-biased review.