Audra Jennings

It is time for a FIRST Wild Card Tour book review! If you wish to join the FIRST blog alliance, just click the button. We are a group of reviewers who tour Christian books. A Wild Card post includes a brief bio of the author and a full chapter from each book toured. The reason it is called a FIRST Wild Card Tour is that you never know if the book will be fiction, non~fiction, for young, or for old...or for somewhere in between! Enjoy your free peek into the book! You never know when I might play a wild card on you! Today's Wild Card author is: John Blase and the book: Touching Wonder: Recapturing the Awe of Christmas David C. Cook; New edition (September 1, 2009) ***Special thanks to Audra Jennings of the The B&B Media Group for sending me a review copy.*** ABOUT THE AUTHOR: John Blase’s work includes Living the Questions and Living the Letters Bible-study series, the Worldviews reference book (TH1NK), Real Life Stuff for Couples , and The Message Children’s Bible . A for...

At Cracker Barrel on Friday night, I found something that I wanted to get for Paige, but Dad said if I got it, she'd never speak to me again. I'll have to back up the story before I tell you what it was. On Wednesday, Brian had called Paige about showing an animal this coming spring in the youth expo. Paige's friend Emalee had already gotten her pig. Brian talked to Paige about getting her a pig too. So, Paige had been talking about getting her a pig. Paige now has this spacer/expander contraption in her mouth so that she can get braces in a couple of weeks. She also had some sinus issues so when she started making this noise she started making, I don't think she realized what sound she was making. I asked her, "what is this noise you are making?" Dad said, "she's working on calling her pig." I said, "that's it! It does sound like a pig call!" She did not like that we decided this, yet she kept making this stupid little noise that a...

My mom received an offer for some tickets to Bass Hall and had a certain number of vouchers to exchange for certain shows. So, last night, we went to the "Home for the Holidays" show featuring the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra. All the "Black Friday" shopping I did yesterday is late in the afternoon in Waxahachie on the way up (where my dad had to return something to Belk that he and mom got the week before) to Ft. Worth. Oh, and we stopped at Home Goods in Midlothian . We were there around 4-5 PM, a good 12 hours after the masses were in stores. We decided to do the Friday night show, but didn't realize that the Ft. Worth downtown lighting and Christmas parade were taking place last night. We got stuck in traffic and could not get to our parking garage for Bass Hall. We were driving around block, and block, and waiting for police direction and so forth and so on. I was driving at the time, but my eyeballs started floating from too much Diet Coke at Cracker Ba...

The leftovers are in the fridge. The misery from eating too much has settled in. The football games are over. Thanksgiving has almost completely come to a close. Normally "Black Friday" means I'm missing out on all the "must buys" because I'm sleeping late. Nothing is worth being at the doors to any store at 4 AM, and I find it ridiculous that anyone else would think it is worth it. It usually means it's the day to put up the Christmas tree. I'm thinking I may just skip all the deckin ' of my halls this year. Oh, I think it's a combination of several things, but I have absolutely no desire whatsoever to put up any decorations this year. And that's really strange for me because I normally put up three trees--a big one in the living room and a smaller one in each bedroom along with lights in all the windows. I've broken my personal rule of not listening to the station that starts playing Christmas music all day every day starting earl...

Without a doubt, I will sleep well tonight. Peyton, bless her little heart, has been wanting to spend the night over at my house for months. Every time I have seen her, just about, she's stated, "I want to spend the night at your house. Tonight." It's always been a school/work night, so that hasn't worked. Last night she had her chance. I love she and her sister more than they will ever know. However, I hate to sleep in the same bed with either one of them. You wake up battered and bruised normally from having a foot to the head or elbow to the chin. (Peyton has been known to sleep perpendicular to anyone else in the bed with her.) Not only that, they make noises. Lots of noises. (Talking, mumbling, snoring...) They also have the uncanny ability and amazing tendency to be able to find the exact middle of the bed. I've witnessed this numerous times. Before we even got to sleep, while watching a movie, I told Peyton she was going to have to move towards the othe...

And here's some comments on the latest book that I finished reading this morning -- Debbie Fuller Thomas' Tuesday Night at the Blue Moon. This is one of the books I found for $1 at Mardel's a couple of weeks ago. I was looking for books that looked interesting and this one caught my attention. The back cover sounded interesting: Switched at birth -- and then switched back When Marty Winslow's thirteen-year-old daughter dies of a devastating genetic disease, she discovers the truth--her precious middle child had been switched at birth. After learning that her actual biological daughter was recently orphaned, she decides to fight for custody. Winning the court case was the easy part. This still - grieving , single mom is torn between memories and realities . And wants desperately for god to heal her family. For Andie, tall and blonde like Marty, being forced to live with strangers is just one more reason not to trust anyone. Her soul is as beat up as the rundown Bl...

In case you were wondering if I had anything special planned for my birthday today, the answer is no. Jenny took me to lunch at OMI , and my parents got me pizza for dinner (which actually is a special occurrence ), and that was it. ...other than getting the new sheets I wanted and a Barnes & Noble gift card that I've already used. Mom called me and left me message this morning, Dad emailed me, I received a couple of birthday cards, I got a couple of other emails and lots of Facebook birthday wishes. That was it. That was intentional on my part though. Long story. Though it's not an age thing, I was really trying to ignore my birthday and make it a non-event. I think I achieved that.

It is time for a FIRST Wild Card Tour book review! If you wish to join the FIRST blog alliance, just click the button. We are a group of reviewers who tour Christian books. A Wild Card post includes a brief bio of the author and a full chapter from each book toured. The reason it is called a FIRST Wild Card Tour is that you never know if the book will be fiction, non~fiction, for young, or for old...or for somewhere in between! Enjoy your free peek into the book! You never know when I might play a wild card on you! Today's Wild Card authors are: Gary and Mona Shriver and the book: Unfaithful: Hope and Healing After Infidelity David C. Cook; Revised edition (November 1, 2009) ***Special thanks to Audra Jennings of The B&B Media Group for sending me a review copy.*** ABOUT THE AUTHORs: After going through therapy to save their marriage from a devastating affair, Gary and Mona Shriver searched in vain for another couple who could offer them tangible hope that they could heal...

In honor of upcoming holidays and time with family, I present to you the latest book I finished, Flies on the Butter by Denise Hildreth. The author will be happy to know that I paid more than 49 cents for this book (that's what I paid for the first book of hers that I read, and she happened by and replied to the post). In fact, I believe I paid full price for this one. Back cover: Rose Fletcher's come a long way from her South Carolina up-bringing of Sunday church and Mamaw's fried chicken. As a high-powered child advocate in Washington, DC, Rose has put her Southern upbringing behind her. But the peace and happiness she sought has eluded her. With her marriage on the brink of disaster, her mind races with the chaos her life has become. But now Rose must head South for home-a place where the mother she headed north to escape still resides. She'll face her demons, relive her coming-of-age, and confront the issues that kept her away all these years. It'll take the in...

The stillest that Peyton must have been at Paige's soccer game last night must have been just as the game started, as she watched for me to ascend up the hill to the soccer field. I heard her from a distance and as I looked up, Peyton ran for me, arms outstretched. Running, running, running with her arms in the air for probably 30 yards or more. I paused where I was standing and threw my arms in the air in dramatic pose before proceeding, ready for a hug. And a hug I did get. The first words to proceed from her lips? "Do you got some gum?" (This coming from the 5 year-old child who when she first went to the dentist when she was 3 had to have gum dug out of her mouth full of cavities.) "Is that why you were so glad to see me? You just want gum?" "Yea-us! But I still love you!" Sometimes you just have to take your love however you can get it. It was her lucky day - I don't always bring my purse out to the soccer games. "OK, just a second....

Will I have another jury duty story to tell by the end of the week? You never know. My mom has been summoned for municipal court tomorrow. There's something about my whole experience that has had to her non-desire to be a part of it. Watch out... maybe it's the Doritos case... or Cheetos... you know they would have left an orange evidence stain.

I'm on vacation this week and have really not done anything to speak of. That's good and that's bad at the same time. It's good sometimes to do nothing, but at the same time I wanted to do something this week. I have had some time to read, and yesterday, I read about half a book in a few hours time. This time I picked a book from my random stack of unread books. Some of these books were given to me by a friend from a publisher back at a book convention in February. I do have some books from work. I have some books that I've bought or used gift cards to get. (But, no one has paid me for any reviews, in case you were wondering FTC.) My random selection was When the Day of Evil Comes by Melanie Wells. This is a book that I was given from Melissa at Multnomah . She gave me books 1 & 3 on purpose because now that I have read book 1, I have to buy book 2. (Should I wait to see if I get an Amazon gift card later this month for my birthday?) Product description: Bizarr...

There are a few authors that I run out and buy their books when they come out - or hope they release close enough to November (my birthday) or December (Christmas) so that someone will buy them for me. Did you catch that FTC? I bought this book that I'm talking about on my blog. Oh, wait. Technically, my mom bought it when we made a stop at Barnes and Noble in September, and Paige, Peyton and I all got a book that day. I had planned to buy it myself, but Mom paid for it. The point is, someone PAID for this book. (I just have to be sort of snarky about this because some people do buy the books they talk about.) The story description: #1 bestselling author Nicholas Sparks' new novel is at once a compelling family drama and a heartrending tale of young love. Seventeen year old Veronica "Ronnie" Miller's life was turned upside-down when her parents divorced and her father moved from New York City to Wilmington, North Carolina. Three years later, she remains angry a...

My experience as a juror last week confirmed in a very real way that the world is just filled with some stupid people that do stupid things for stupid reasons. I'll start by explaining the basic facts, and then go further into the details and how the things got truly ridiculous. On March 25, 2009 at around 5:30 PM, a 20-something-year-old male African American cashier was working the express check out lane at H-E-B. This is the express lane on the south side of the store closest to 7 th Avenue in Corsicana , Navarro County, TX next to the produce. (For some reason the exact location of this particular lane was of the utmost importance.) An 11-year old girl was in line starting to put groceries up on the belt when her mother catches back up with her to check out. In the buggy, there were more than 20 items, and this was the 10 items or less lane. Evidently, there were items towards the front, and items towards the back of the buggy. A number of items were hidden underneath a large ...

At long last, I'm finally going to tell the jury duty story that I promised would come. Saturday before last, Mom checked her mail, and a jury summons for me was included in the stack of mail. It had been forwarded from their old address, but I have no idea why the municipal court had that address for me. I've not had anything (driver's license or voter's registration included) with that address on it for over 6 years. I wish the stupid thing had gotten lost in the mail. It had been sent at least a couple of weeks before, and just got to me five days beforehand. If they had hunted me down for not showing up, I would have been able to explain why I didn't get it since I had not lived at the address it was sent to in that many years and my parents didn't even live there anymore. Municipal court only handles misdemeanors that are punishable by fine. The last time I had a summons for municipal court, it was for the afternoon, so even though this was for the morning,...