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The Hope Chest with
Virginia Knowles

Books Worth Reading

May 2013

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Dear
friends,

Welcome
to the May 2013 edition of the Hope Chest e-magazine! As promised last
time, this issue contains book reviews!

• The
  Sword of the Spirit: The Story of William Tyndale by Joyce
  McPherson
• Duck
  and Friends: The Dinosaur Bones by Donna McFarland
• Craving
  Grace Like Chocolate: How the Gospel Changes Everything by Ruthie Delk

• Gone
  South by
  Meg Moseley

I
have a few reviews planned for next month, too, that I haven't finished
writing.

In
family news, it seems like this is quite the year
for graduations and travel: 

• Mary
  and her husband Ryan are taking their two sons to Israel for
  over a week this fall.
• Julia
  and her husband Alex are preparing to lead a team of 24 teens and adults to
  southern Bolivia on a mission trip next month.  It will
  be her fifth trip there and his fourth. See To Bolivia with Love poem. Part of the team will do
  construction work in Entre Rios while Julia and Alex lead the others on a
  hiking trip through some of the small mountain villages to do VBS and evening
  services. They are also planning another homeless outreach in Orlando next
  month.  If you want to get involved, let me know!  See Weekend Gratitude: Homeless Outreach in Downtown Orlando

• Rachel
  graduated summa cum laude with Honors in the Major from UCF's nursing school earlier this month.
   She is working in a nursing care center for the homeless, applying for
  hospital jobs, and studying for her certification exam.  See Graduation Week Festivities

• Joanna
  is majoring in Interpersonal Communications at the University of Central
  Florida, and leaves in July for a semester exchange program at the University
  of Canberra in Australia.  Thanks to a generous program
  scholarship, she will get to spend a week at the Great Barrier Reef.  She
  hopes to visit New Zealand as well.
• Lydia
  is graduating from The Regent Academy home school program
  next week.  After spending her sophomore and junior years in public
  school, she re-enrolled in TRA so she could dual enroll at Seminole State
  College, where she did very well. 
• I
  am taking Lydia, Andrew, Micah, Naomi, Ben, and Melody on a road trip to see
  family in Maryland next month.  We are plotting all
  sorts of adventures in the D.C. area.  We'll be driving our "new" 2005 Dodge Grand Caravan after downsizing from a 15 passenger van.  See Downsizing to a Mini-Van

• I
  will no longer be teaching in a home school
  co-op next year, so I'm still planning what
  to do for school with the school age kids.  Some of them will be in public
  school and some home with me doing "regular" home schooling with
  maybe one or two group classes. I
  feel like I am graduating from one season to another, and I look forward to
  this.  Naomi (12) and I are particularly looking forward to an in-depth
  study of the Renaissance and Reformation era, as well as cooking and piano. 🙂
• Nearly
  two weeks ago, I was diagnosed with a severe case of obstructive sleep
  apnea (with
  sleep disturbance 72 times an hour!) and I'm adjusting to using a CPAP
  breathing machine every night.  I am told I have probably had this for
  several years.  My exhaustion is beginning to ease, and within a few
  weeks, I hope to be sleeping soundly all night through and feeling a lot
  peppier.  More on that next time...  
• Yesterday, our family had a Memorial Day campfire in the backyard.  Just a simple thing, but the kids said it was the best ever.

Before I give you the reviews, I wanted to share links to my
blog posts written since the last time I sent the Hope Chest:

 

Virginia Knowles

• Little Gem's First Bloom and the Day of Small Things

• Graduation
  Week Festivities

• ReStore! Putting God's Love into Action
• Mindful in the Moment

• Soldier

• April Showers and Flowers

• Kindnesses Remembered

 Come, Weary Moms

• Downsizing to a Mini-Van

• Our Chill Out Spot
• 25 Years Later, Looking Back on
  a Miscarriage
• "The Blue Bowl" and
  Thoughts on Making a Home
• Decorating
  and Organizing Bathroom Areas on a Budget
• My Hope
  Is In You

Watch
the Shepherd

• Sovereign Grace and
  Saving Face (Amended Sexual Abuse Lawsuit)
• Let the Beauty of Jesus Be Seen in Me (Strength in Hymn)
• I Dare Not Trust the Sweetest Frame? (Strength in Hymn)

• Beside the Still Waters  (photographic post
  on Psalm 23)
  

  

Now, on to the reviews!

The Sword of the Spirit: The Story of William Tyndale by
Joyce McPherson 

I'm so delighted to see a new children's biography by Joyce McPherson,
published by Greenleaf Press.  Her newest
title is The Sword of the Spirit: The Story
of William Tyndale.  The Reformation Era is my
favorite time period to study in World History, and Tyndale's is a fascinating
story about the translation of the Bible into English at great peril.
 Tyndale studied Hebrew under Martin Luther, constantly fled
persecution by the English government, and was eventually betrayed by a friend,
arrested, and executed as a martyr for the gospel in 1536.  His dying
prayer? "Lord, open the king of England's eyes..."  Two years
later, King James authorized The Great Bible, largely Tyndale's work, for use
in the Church of England.
I am most familiar with Tyndale through Scott O'Dell's novel The Hawk That
Dare Not Hunt by Day, which I've taught as literature in a home school co-op a
few times.  Most of our reading selections this coming school year will
wrap around The Mystery of History Volume
3: The Renaissance, Reformation, and
Growth of Nations (1455-1707) that we (my 7^th
grade daughter and I) will be using for history.  That's why I'm so
glad to now have a well-researched factual account of his life written for
children ages 10 and up. (Independent reading level is 5th/6th grade.)
 Beyond the fact that I want my children to be versed in this essential
history, I find I myself am more easily able to grasp the concepts at this
level.  This is not a dry theology book, but a story with vivid
descriptions of people, place, and plots.  Sprinkled through the book at
the start of each chapter are key quotes from either Tyndale or another
theological giant.  Here is one quote from his prologue to the 1525 New
Testament in English: 

"When the
gospel is preached to us, he (God) openeth our hearts, and giveth us grace to
believe and putteth the spirit of Christ in us, and we know him as our father
most merciful, and consent to the law, and love it inwardly in our heart, and
desire to fulfill it, and sorrow because we cannot... the blood of Christ hath
obtained all things for us of God."

I first read A Piece of the Mountain,
the author's biography of scientist Blaise Pascal, back in the late 1990's,
when my sister passed it along to me.  Later, after I met Joyce at the
Florida home schooling convention, we realized we (along with her husband) had
been classmates in AP American History in high school in Virginia as well as
friends from the Christian fellowship there.  Since then, I've read her
biographies River of Grace (theologian
John Calvin), Artist of the Reformation (Albrecht
Durer), and Ocean of Truth (scientist
Sir Isaac Newton).

As a home schooling mother of 9, Joyce has an amazing grasp of European
history, helped by the fact that she is also fluent in French.  You will
also love her amazing Homeschooling Toolbox on-line,
which is full of over 100 free worksheets, charts, flash cards,
notebook materials, booklists & tips on getting started in home schooling.
 I'm looking forward to digging in there! 

 

Duck and Friends: Dinosaur Bones by
Donna McFarland

"I originally ordered this book for my youngest daughter, an emerging
reader. However, I laughed all the way through it myself, so I decided to bring
it into my classroom and read it aloud to my 5th and 6th grade students. They
all agreed that is is hilarious, and they profusely thanked me for sharing it
with them. I agree with the other reviewer: this is not your typical dull early
reader book. The content is fresh and imaginative, and adds spark and sparkle
to a child's life. As a mom and as a teacher, that's just what I want to see in
a book. We also loved Ms. McFarland's book for slightly older readers, The
Purple Elephant."

That was my review on Amazon.  Here is a little more for my blog
readers...

Truly, though this book is written at the 1st-2nd grade reading level, is not
your typical basal primer reader with "See Dick run!  Puff, come down
from the tree!"  Instead, you have the quirky duck pleading with the
cows (who have been frightened by his T-Rex skeleton) to come down from the
walnut tree.  He promised them cookies, "To go with your milk."
 Then you have the chickens who, while attempting to paint Duck's new
dinosaur museum, fall into paint cans, get sprayed clean with fire hoses so
hard that their feathers fall off, and then wear sweaters knitted by the kindly
alpacas who live on Duck's farm.

I loved this book, and I'm even more delighted
because it was written by my childhood friend Donna (Gielow) McFarland, who is
also the author of the just-as-delightful Purple Elephant.  You can read
that review and interview here: The Purple Elephant
and an Interview with Donna McFarland

Cheers!

 Craving Grace Like Chocolate by Ruthie Delk (Review)

I love chocolate.  A decent piece of the dark stuff can
lift my spirits like no other food.  Craving Grace
Like Chocolate: How the Gospel Changes Everything might
seem like an odd name for a book, but it gets the point across.
 Fortunately, God's grace is a whole lot healthier for you than chocolate!
 And, as the subtitle suggests, it's also a whole lot more life-altering.
I've been a Christian believer for nearly 37 years.  You would think that
by now I would always be rock solid in my faith.  I am not.  Like so
many of you, I've experienced multiple painful crises in my faith journey. But
I keep going.  
I recently found myself in a workshop by author Ruthie Delk at the Books and
Beyond conference, listening again to the basics of grace, and thankful for the
fresh reminder.  Ruthie, too, had a deep crisis of faith. Raised as a
missionary kid in Belgium, she was an expert in keeping pace on a spiritual treadmill.
 Then, while her husband David was in seminary (of all places!), she came
to the point of spiritual exhaustion and questioning. 

"I believed
the gospel had the power to change people; it just wasn't changing me.
 And I was miserable.  This disconnect showed up in questions like
these: If I believed His love was unconditional, why did I feel loved on the
days I "got it right" and feel abandoned on the days I "got it
wrong"?   If I really believed He was in control, why was I so
fearful?  If I really believed He was with me, why did I feel so alone?
 If I really believe His grace saved and forgave me, why couldn't I extend
that same grace to others? My head was filled with brilliant
knowledge about all the wonderful attributes of God, but my heart was not
convinced he even knew my name."

Ruthie shares that her simplistic
view of the gospel as a mere entryway into salvation needed to deepen into an
expanded perspective of God's holiness, love, and grace.  She had viewed
herself as an orphan rather than as a beloved daughter of a compassionate
Father.  Now, the gospel became not just a doorway, but a pathway.

 

It is every
promise, every fact, every attribute of God, and everything we need to know,
understand, and experience about God and his grace.  As described in
Ephesians 1, the gospel encompasses every spiritual blessing
we have in Christ.

A picture is worth a thousand words,
and Ruthie has developed a wonderful diagram called The Gospel 8 to show how
Christians can either walk in grace and restoration (convinced that God is our
Redeemer, Healer, Defender, Provider and more) or descend into a cycle of
despair (defined by rejection, abuse, bitterness, fear and anger) as they look
to false gods like work, money, family, approval and performance for their
security and satisfaction.

 

 

You can watch videos of Ruthie describing the Gospel 8 concept here.
A few more factoids to round out this review:

·        
Ruthie, who is based in Orlando, is available for speaking
engagements.

·        
Her husband David is
president of the Man in the Mirror ministry.

·        
Much of the book was inspired by concepts in Fear to Freedom: Living as Sons and Daughters of God by
Rose Marie Miller, which I read many years ago and highly recommend.

·        
You can read a sample chapter.

·        
There are Digging Deeper discussion questions in the book,
making it quite suitable for a group study.

·        
The web site Craving Grace is full of great resources.

·        
Ruthie recommends the article True Spirituality: The Transforming Power of God by
Steve Childers, president of Global Church Advancement.

I recommend this book!

 

Gone South by Meg Moseley

 

When author Meg Moseley offered me an advance copy of her second novel, Gone South, I
jumped at the chance.  I loved her first book, When Sparrows Fall, about a widowed home schooling mother
of six emerging from years of spiritual abuse in her family and church.
 Meg's new novel, quite different in subject matter and certainly a
lighter read, is definitely a book to pack for a lazy day on the beach.
The book cover is amazing.  So is her likable character, 35 year old
Tish McComb, who, on a whim, moves from Michigan to Alabama and buys the Civil
War era home once owned by her ancestors.  Unfortunately, unbeknownst to
her, said ancestors have a nasty and still well-known reputation as
carpetbaggers.  Nobody except for the antique store owner is willing to
give her a chance. 
One thing I love about Tish is that her frosty "welcome" in town
doesn't prevent her from taking in a very troubled homeless local girl who has
been rejected by her family, even though it only makes everyone even more
suspicious of her.

Meg
Moseley weaves a tale of redemption without being preachy or trite.  It's
all about overcoming prejudice, grief, family dysfunction,  and whatever
other else life throws at you.  (As someone who lives with Attention Deficit Disorder, I especially appreciate her
sensitivity to those with learning disabilities.) This book is about finding
authentic friendships, living a full life, and confidently doing what you know
is right no matter what others think.  Throw in a stubborn little dog, a
vintage black dress and a few fast cars, and I'd call this a winning story.
 Keep them coming, Meg!
Want to read more?

• More about Gone South

• First Chapter

• It Moseley
  
• When Sparrows Fall
  
• My Review of When Sparrows Fall

• Meg's Essay "Homeschooling Praise and Pitfalls"

  

That's it for this edition of the Hope Chest!  Don't forget to check out my other blog links above!

P

eace and joy to you and yours,

Virginia Knowles

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