Tina The Storyteller

I'm going to be taking the rest of the month off. But when I come back in May, there will be a giveaway! Click here for a little hint

Today is Maundy Thursday.  A time when we as a church celebrate the last supper.  There can be all sorts of festivities including foot washing and anointing.  I'm thankful that we're having a meal and communion together as a worshipping family. I am thankful that when the stress increases at our home, there are things that we can do that reduce the stress and allow me to focus on doing things that help my husband laugh.  I am thankful that I have a cat that has a special morning purr, that must be the human equivalent of sleepy voice.  It's like a throat clearing and it doesn't happen any other time of day. I'm thankful that my house is like a barbie house in that the furniture is rearrangeable depending on what's happening and who's coming over.  Now, I could just look as good in skinny jeans as her! I'm thankful that even though this week has included no running what so ever, that summer is sure to arrive and there will be more fun running arou

Hannah loves movies and she loves dinosaurs, so what could be more natural than creating movies about dinosaurs? 

I am always amazed at the number of toys that Hannah has in her room, in storage, down stairs, at other people's homes and that come in the mail.  But what is even more amazing than that is some of the things that she has collected and continues to find and play with in the midst of all those toys.  And one that was almost guaranteed to be a lost purchase before it was even paid for was this thimble that Hannah wanted from a fabric store about a year ago.  I don't know where it goes and how it gets found but every so often, there it is in the midst of her play.  It's been a tea cup, a hat, a horn cap, more things than I could have imagined.  It just keeps showing up.  How is it that a child can keep track of something so small and I worry that I won't be able to keep track of her.  And then I realize that it's not even me that's really keeping track of her because God is keeping much better track of her than I am.  All I can do is within four of my five sense

Max on Life is a compilation of questions that Max has taken the time to answer, 172 questions to be exact. I read the e-book version of this and I am glad to say that at the end of the book, there are a topical and a scripture indexes, making the book easy to navigate. The questions are ones that Max states he has received throughout the years and has taken the time to compile together along with some previously published answers. With that in mind, this book is best as a resource, not a cover to cover read. It will be a great book to have around when pondering different life questions and wanting to get someone else’s perspective on them. My favorite question was probably about forgiveness and confession. Or maybe it was the addendum about writing that I enjoyed most. Max has done a great job of collecting and sorting through the thoughts he has had to provide concise Bible based answers to some of life’s most common questions. And that may be one of the most encouraging things a

Has  The Veg Bad Challenge  been a whole month now?  Wow, that's amazing!! But I don't know that it's true that a month makes a habit.  I am thankful that vegetables are coming into season and the variety of fresh is definitely increasing each week.  We've been enjoying asparagus, artichokes and mangos a lot lately.  The recipe that I'm sharing this week is something that the men's group at our church likes to serve for fundraising, Chicken Caesar Salad Wraps.  I don't know how they make theirs, but mine was a super easy meal.  I didn't serve it with anything but will add chips and salsa next time or just plain old potato chips.  Chicken Caesar Salad Wraps 10inch flour tortillas 1 bag of Caesar Salad kit Chicken breast grilled and sliced (you can get this ready to go in the deli or freezer now a days) shredded cheese of choice if desired Mix up the salad in the bag, with half the dressing and the included cheese. Save the croutons for anothe

I am very thankful for answered prayers.  I was not feeling up to going anywhere this morning and God provided a way! I am thankful for a little girl that likes to run and new running shoes which we'll break in tomorrow. I am thankful for an awesome husband who provides for all our needs and a lot of our wants. I am thankful for text messages I am thankful for a few extra minutes that let me do something caring and unexpected for someone else. I am thankful that I don't have a single cavity this time, but it's likely that the dentist will want to replace some old ones very soon. I am thankful that my sweet husband is taking care of somethings that he's been putting off for almost 2 decades. What are you thankful for?

Hannah loves Billy Quan videos.  Here's a look at one she came up with recently. She definitely says "Pool Ball of Fury" not that other thing you think you hear her say.

Last Wednesday we discussed service in our class.  Service is a hard topic.  And I think part of that is because there is something in our society that people have come to believe is what God requires of us in regards to service.  That this is community service.  It's prolific in our society, people calling us down to soup kitchens on Thanksgiving and Christmas to serve dinner to those who can't afford it.  Visiting nursing homes and bringing smiles to the residents.  Helping small children and little old ladies cross the road.  Schools have even put community service into their graduation requirements, colleges have an entire section to fill out on how you've served the community.  These are all wonderful and needed things, but the problem is that community service is something you go do and then come back home and do something else.  I believe that the service that God calls us too is a little more mundane and day to day than community service. It's not necessarily

The Final Summit is a continuation of David Ponder’s story from The Traveler’s Gift . Having just met David Ponder in this story, I think that Andy Andrews does an excellent job of introducing Ponder to those of us who have not read the first novel. In The Final Summit , David is taken to lead a summit of all the travelers to determine “What does humanity need to do, individually and collectively, to restore itself to the pathway toward successful civilization?” There are several historical figures that are present at the discussion table. My favorite was, Winston Churchill. I enjoyed reading about his depression or as he called it, “the black dog.” As someone who has suffered from depression, it was encouraging to read how not only Churchill but also Abraham Lincoln fought against “the black dog.” I feel that my fight will be victorious more often armed with this knowledge. The Final Summit does an excellent job of discussing the components of striving towards a full life. The h

We had an okay week as far as veg goes.  Poor Hannah woofed down a tremendous amount of Green Beans Greek Style.  Needless to say, she thought they were tasty and I even enjoyed what little bit was leftover.  But the recipe that I'm sharing for this week is Cobb Salad with Roasted Red Pepper Vinaigrette.  I must say that I don't really know if it's kid friendly, because we had it on the day that Hannah didn't eat a single thing, but Joel and I really enjoyed it. Cobb Salad with Roasted Red Pepper Vinaigrette lettuce (bibb or romaine, just about any kind will work) chicken breast couple slices bacon hard boiled eggs avocado (if in season) cucumber cheese (shredded or cubed) Tear up the lettuce and put on a plate.  Cook bacon in a pan.  After bacon is cooked, cook the chicken breast in the same pan the bacon cooked in.  This adds a ton of flavor. Dice cooked chicken, place on bed of greens along with crumbled bacon, chopped egg, sliced avocado, sliced cucu

This Thursday seems a long time coming.  Is that just me or does everyone else feel that way, too? 1.  I'm thankful for my church.  We had a great time on Sunday bowling.  It was wonderful to spend time with them outside of the church walls and just hang out. 2.  I'm thankful for God being able to work with/through committees!  If He couldn't then my denomination would be utterly lost. 3.  I'm thankful for a clean room and an awesome husband to share it with. 4.  I'm thankful that even though Hannah got sick this week, she recovered quickly and even took a nap. 5.  I'm thankful for finding purposes for things that I've held on to with no set idea. 6.  I'm thankful that the USPS actually works and delivers things for me, because I would spend all my time on the road if they didn't. What are you thankful for?

...read so much?  I've been thinking about this one quite a bit lately, especially when I had a glut of books in the review queue and even more that I want to read.  I had to set up some boundaries this last time of focusing on a specific titles until they were finished.  I generally have 2 to 4 books that I'm reading at any one time plus reading the Bible and the internet.  But I only finish one book a week.  I don't read them all at the same rate or even side by side.  Just what ever I see I read.  It's actually quite a bad habit, because I pretty much read anything that has writing on it.  How do I make time for this? I don't watch the news.  I don't watch morning, evening or late night news.  It pretty much gives me three hours to do something else with my life.  And I use those three hours interspersed throughout the day to pick up a book and read.  I still get news, it's via CNN updates on Twitter or by word of mouth or Facebook or surfing the intern

This past week, we studied solitude on Wednesday.  The idea behind solitude is that you spend time alone with God.  Lately I have been reading 2 Corinthians and chapter 12 verse 9 gave me a new perspective on solitude.  In that verse God says, "my power is made perfect in weakness"(NIV 1984) This idea of weakness really struck me.  Especially with the idea of solitude already bouncing around.  I have been under the impression from different books that I have read that solitude was something that I should seek out and enjoy.  And it is, but the first time is not like that at all and I don't know if I really understood why solitude was so difficult to seek out until I read this verse from 2 Corinthians and then it hit me that being away from the world and its duties and obligations is a place of weakness for me.  And not just for me, but for all of humanity.  In Genesis, God created the world and he made numerous things and called them good.  He even made humanity and dec

I am a student of the Bible, having read various tomes on the canon, history of the church, reformers galore, but  The Story of the Bible by Larry Stone is the best book I have ever read in regards to the complete story of the Bible. What makes it the best? It’s complete, concise, and understandable; it has easy to share information as well as tons of images. Our daughter is a fan of the book of Kells because of the animated movie The Secret of Kells and I believe she wanted to take the pull out page of the book of Kells and hang it up as a poster in her room. There are various pull out inserts throughout the book to help bring to life the size of the various Bibles and texts that are referred to in The Story of the Bible . Larry Stone does an excellent job of journeying through the written word starting with papyri and going all the way through to Wycliffe’s current work in translating the scriptures into previously unwritten languages of people groups around the world. I marve

The one thing that I have discovered in the midst of these past two weeks of the Veg Bad Challenge , if you eat veggies, you get hungry ALOT!  I feel like I'm always battling tummy growls.  And not the dieting kind of growls that have to be brought into submission and satiated with thoughts of fitting into a new pair of jeans.  These growls are more of the I just ate a ton of veggies, why am I still hungry kind of growls.  We had some pretty good vegetables this week.  The family favorite being an adaptation of a recipe from our dear Mari! Orecchiette with Bulk Sausage and Baby Broccoli Serves: 4-6 servings Ingredients • 2 bunches baby broccoli , stems trimmed (sub small broccoli florets or any form of greens) • 1 pound orecchiette pasta • 1 pound bulk sausage (Jimmy Dean works nice or you could use Italian sausage and remove the casing) • 3 garlic cloves, minced Heavy cream or Parmesan Cheese to garnish Salt to taste Directions Bring a large pot of water

I guess the best part about editing is that sometimes, you need to fix things that don't make sense.  I knew all along that Nate's attitude needed something, but was not satisfied with what I had.  Today, after talking with those in the know about what Nate is struggling with, I think I found an answer.  Today's post is born out of that and should help all of us understand what it is that has encased Nate and caused his desire to escape... The moving truck held the last of the house. Nate looked at all the boxes filling up the space that was empty just a few hours ago. The emptiness had taken over Nate as he saw his room leave box by box. His grandparents were walking through the house, checking to see if the movers had left any boxes. Nate’s parents had already gone ahead with his brothers and sisters. Nate had volunteered to stay with his grandparents and start the drive to their new home after the movers left. The truck pulled away with what felt like Nate’s heart