The Best Christmas Gift Ever

Last year I got my most favorite XMas gift ever.. my mini or netbook... I really thought it didn't get better than that.. until I got this year's gift.. my new Kindle!

I love to read.. I would rather read than watch TV sometimes... When the Kindle came out I thought it was the coolest thing out there since the iPod... but I kept thinking to myself if I was ready to trade books for an electronic reader.... books are magical, they have that special smell, the sound of the pages as you flip them.... I really thought I would miss all of that if I ever got an ebook reader... well, I was WRONG!! I do not miss it at all!!

I just read the entire Hunger Games trilogy on my Kindle and it was so easy, no heavy book to drag around, no bookmark to keep in place, no opening and closing... and reading the books was just as magical... I had no problems getting into the story, I soon forgot were I was reading the story from... Thank you Nina and Grandpa for my new Kindle!!!

The Giraffe that walked to Paris

The giraffe that walked to Paris is a Five in a Row book. It is one of the most difficult books to find because it's out of print and if you want to buy it used you have to pay over a hundred $ for it. Today, as I was browsing the internet for this book I found a different book that came out last week. The tittle of this book is; Zarafa: The Giraffe Who Walked to the King.

It is the same story as giraffe that walked to Paris.

Synopsis:

Zarafa is a beautiful and gentle giraffe . . . so wonderful, in fact, that the ruler of Egypt offers her as a gift to the king of France But how to get her there? Why, she sails up the Nile by felucca, crosses the sea by brigantine, and, yes, walks the last five hundred miles to Paris. People love it. And they love her, meeting and greeting her along the way, cheering her on. Afterward, the grateful French king places Zarafa in his own royal garden, where all of Paris comes to visit and love her. Judith St. George brings this amazing but true journey to life with help from the whimsical art of Britt Spencer.

This book is The Giraffe that walked to Paris.

What is the perfect gift for the king who has everything? In this fact-based picture book, the unusual present is a giraffe. In 1826 the pasha of Egypt offers to ship a giraffe to France as a gesture of peace and friendship. Travel arrangements are made and passage secured for the animal, her attendants and the three cows necessary to provide her with milk during the journey. The logistics become a bit sticky when the long-necked creature arrives in Marseilles. The only conceivable way to transport her to see the king in Paris is to walk--which she does. A zoo becomes the giraffe's eventual home and all of France enjoys seeing her there for many years.

You see!! It is the same story! So, since I don't have over a hundred $ to spend on the first book I went ahead and spent $12 on the new book.
Which means come next school year we are finally going to be rowing The Giraffe that walked to Paris, we'll just be using a different book, but the same story!!

I'm Done!

I just finished reading Breaking Dawn!
I went to Borders at 11:30pm Friday night and I was #212!
Once 12:01am came they started to sell the books, it took about a half hour and I had the book in my hands!
Once I got home I could not put it down, I finally went to sleep around 4am.
This book and Twilight are the best books of the series... it had everything.
My DH is reading it now!!

Going Away! and Desperately Waiting...Again!

We are headed to Nina and Grandpas today, we'll be gone for a few days! The kids are very much looking forward to going,
I'm looking forward to Aug 2nd!!
I remember last summer, I was desperately waiting for book 7 to come out (Deathly Hollows). I honestly thought I was never going to be so desperate to read another book like that again, WRONG!!!!
One year later, Breaking Dawn is coming out on Aug 2nd!!!!
I CAN'T WAIT!!!!!
I'm sure next summer I'll be desperately waiting for Midnight Sun!

Twilight

I've been reading so many books lately that it's hard to blog about all of them, but I have to blog about this one.
Twilight is a story about this girl Bella who falls for this boy Edward, who just so happens to be a vampire.
Edward loves Bella but can't decide whether to kiss her or kill her... so of course I loved the book!
There are four books in all, the fourth and final book is coming out sometime in August.




There is also a movie in the works, which also looks good.
I found this picture and I love the way Bella and Edward look in it.
Seeing this pic made reading the book so much easier for me.
















I've also been reading the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series, they are great books as well, the fourth book in that series is coming out in a couple of days..I can't wait.
This book is also being made into a movie!

I'm going to be reading The Land of Elyon books next...so many books, so little time!

Book List

I just finished reading; So you don't want to go to Church anymore by Jake Colsen
(actually that's not his real name, it is a pseudonym for the combine work of Wayne Jacobsen and Dave Coleman)
It is a fictional book, not a self help, resource book or anything like that.
I know there's a lot of people that have been hurt by the "Church". Unfortunately some Churches forget that the real Church is people going for Christ, and they start caring more about the building, the institution and how to keep "it" going.
This book is a fictional story about an Associate Pastor in a very large "successful" church, who meets a man who may or may not be John the Apostle.
This man "John" talks to the Pastor about the true Church and what Jesus really set us free from when he died on the Cross.
It is not anti church, it just reminds us to keep our focus on our relationship with God through Jesus and to not settle for being just an audience, but to be actual participants.
I really enjoyed the book, it got a little repetitive towards the end, but overall an excellent book!

The Shack

I just finished reading The Shack by William P Young! There are too many things to say about this book, I need to read it a second time. If you want to read a great book about what its like to have a real relationship with God through Jesus, overcoming grief and God's real love for us, this is the book you should read!

Book List

I've been reading this book by George MacDonald; The Fisherman's Lady. I have to say I'm really enjoying this book. Now one thing you need to know about this book, it was published in 1875.
The edition I'm reading's actually an updated version of the book published in 1982.
The book starts with a dead body and so of course there's a mystery surrounding this death.
The first few chapters were a bit hard to get into because of the language. I'm just not used to reading old English or Scottish, whatever it is. But once I got used to it I was able to really get into it. The funny thing is, even though this book is over a hundred years old some of the themes are alive and well today. It amazes me to see how far we've come in terms of technology, education, and so on but as far as people we are all still the same. If you ever come across this book go ahead and read it, you won't be disappointed!
I've been told that if you love C. S. Lewis you'll like George MacDonald.