Deborah Vogts's Blog, page 92

Book Preview ~ Searching for Sanity

Searching for Sanity by Lindsey Bell
Have you ever looked at your beloved children and wondered, what in the world am I doing? Why did God trust me—of all people—to raise them?
Motherhood is the most difficult job many of us will ever take. Searching for Sanity offers moms an opportunity to take a breath, dig into the Word, and learn from parents of the past. In short devotions designed for busy moms, this book uses the parents of the Bible—both the good and the bad—to inspire today’s mothers.
Lindsey Bell is the author of  Searching for Sanity , a new parenting devotional. She’s also a stay-at-home mother of two, minister’s wife, avid reader, and chocolate lover. You can learn more about Lindsey and her writing on her website: www.lindseymbell.com.
8 Ways to Encourage Your Kids to ReadLindsey Bell
I have one child who loves to read. He will literally sit on my lap for an hour reading a chapter book (and he’s only five years old)!
I have another child, though, who will sit on my lap and read for about … thirty seconds.  Granted, he’s only two years old, so maybe he’ll enjoy reading more once he’s older. At least that’s what I hope.
Here are a few things we have done in our home to encourage reading:
1. Start early.
We read to our kids from the moment they are home from the hospital. At first, the books are short, but as our kids grow, so does the length of our books. One great way to incorporate reading into your day is to read every night before bed. Incorporate a book into your nightly routine. That way it won’t get squeezed out in the busyness of the day.
2. Make it fun.
As you read, use fun voices with different characters. When I read the Bible story of David and Goliath to my boys, I always give Goliath a very deep and angry voice. My boys love it!
3. Choose books they enjoy.
Or better yet…allow them to choose the books they read. I know it’s not always fun to read about tractors and tires. Believe me…the books we read would certainly not be the ones I choose for myself. But my sons love them, so I read them.
4. Do more than just read.
After you’ve finished a story, act it out or do a craft project that goes along with it. For instance, after you read The Very Hungry Caterpillar, go on a hunt for caterpillars or butterflies. Talk about the stories, and ask questions as you read.
5. Build a reading nook.
Using blankets and pillows, make your very own reading fort. Read by flashlight if your eyes can handle it.
6. Get involved at your local library.
During the summer, most libraries have summer reading programs that offer rewards to your children for reading. There’s nothing like the promise of an ice cream cone or new toy to get a less-than-enthusiastic reader more excited. My local library has a summer reading program but also does story hour throughout the year. There are no prizes at story hour, but there are snacks and crafts (something my sons love).
7. Create your very own book club.
Connect with other parents at church or in your network of friends and develop your own book club or reading program to do with your children.
8. Set a good example.
If your child sees you reading, he or she will probably follow in your footsteps and enjoy reading as well.
Let’s Talk: What other ways do you encourage reading in your children? Leave a comment to be entered to win a gift card from Lindsey for her blog tour contest!
This post is part of a Lindsey’s blog tour for Searching for Sanity, her new parenting devotional. You can read other posts in this tour by going to her blog: www.lindsey-bell.com.

This Week's Recipes

Here are this week's new additions at Country at Heart Recipes. Hubby and I are celebrating our 24th Wedding Anniversary today. May you have a Happy Valentine's Day as well! 
Chocolate Peanut Butter Fondue

Strawberry Cream Puffs
Chocolate Fudge Cheesecake

Time with Emma

A few week's ago, we had a chance to visit our oldest daughter and her family, so I thought I'd share some more pictures of our granddaughter--(I hope you don't mind!) She's ten months already.  

She loves to play with her toys.
Here with grandpa.
Enjoying a performance by her aunts, The Vogts Sisters at Groundhouse Coffee in Gardner, KS. 

Book Preview ~ Chasing Hope

Chasing Hope, by Kathryn Cushman
A talented runner fully committed to Olympic dreams, Sabrina Rice’s future was shattered by a devastating diagnosis. One forfeited scholarship and several years later, she has new goals and dreams that have nothing to do with running–something that’s become far too painful to think on.

Until the day she sees Brandy Philip running across the community college campus, easily outpacing security. Sabrina immediately recognizes world-class speed, and it’s all the more painful that it belongs to a teenage graffiti artist.

When a chance encounter brings the two young women together, Sabrina becomes Brandy’s best hope for staying out of juvenile hall. Soon, Sabrina begins to feel an uncomfortable nudge that her new life is just about to be toppled…that God may be calling her to minister to this talented but troubled girl. Purchase the book HERE.

Kathryn Cushman is a graduate of Samford University with a degree in pharmacy, but all her life she knew that she wanted to write a novel “some day”. For her, “some day” came in 2003, when she started writing and never looked back.

Her first two manuscripts remain firmly ensconced in the back of her closet (the dust bunnies tell her they really are terrific!). Her third attempt became her first published novel. A Promise to Remember and Leaving Yesterday were both finalists for the American Christian Fiction Writers Carol Award, and Waiting for Daybreak was a finalist in Women’s Fiction for the Inspirational Reader’s Choice Award.

On the homefront, she has been married to the wonderful and handsome Lee for nearly twenty-five years now, and their two daughters are currently braving the worlds of high school and college. They’ve lived in Santa Barbara for over twenty years. It’s a beautiful place and Kathryn feel blessed to be there (although a seventy degree Christmas still leaves her dreaming of a white one—or at least a colder one!) When she's not writing or reading or braving seventy degree holidays, you’ll find her trying her best to keep up with her daughters in their various theater, softball, dance, and filled-with-activity lives. Learn more about Kathryn and her books HERE.

This Week's Recipes

Here are this week's new additions at Country at Heart Recipes. This evening our daughters, The Vogts Sisters, will be performing in Eudora, KS at Cutter's Smokehouse. If you're in the area and craving some barbecued ribs, join us! We'd love to see you!  
Bacon and Egg Breakfast Muffin
Recipe ideas to make for your "Valentine". 

Featured Author Bonnie Doran shares her recipe for Kung Pao Chicken.

What Color is Your Kitchen?

 As the new year rolled around, I was swept up by a cleaning fever that insisted I change my kitchen from blue to red! (Actually, the new colors are a mixture of red, yellow, and green.) Now mind you, I love my Blue Willow Dishes and have no intention of getting rid of them. After all, blue goes with red, right? 

That said, I think I changed everything but my dishes. I now have new curtains, a table runner, towels, utensil holder, and rug, along with a few special touches of red, including an adorable rooster cookie jar. And I LOVE my new colors! 

Now, about those dishes! While I adore my blue dishes, don't you think I should have some new ones to go with my new look? And this set of Villa della Luna from Pfatzgraff might fit the bill perfectly. I've never owned this brand of dishes, but I love that they have so much selection--and color! I could spend years adding items to the set . . . what joy! 
So, what do you think? Should I buy them with my Christmas gift money? What color is your kitchen?

Book Preview ~ A Home for My Heart

A Home for My Heart, by Anne Mateer

Sadie Sillsby works as the assistant to the matron at the Raystown Home for Orphan and Friendless Children and dreams of the day she'll marry her beau, Blaine. But when the matron surprises everyone by announcing her own engagement, Sadie is suddenly next in line for the job. For a young woman who was once an orphan herself, a shot at such an esteemed position is a wish come true.

But the matron of the Home cannot be married. Is Sadie willing to give up her dreams of a life with Blaine and a family of her own? Is she prepared to forgo daily involvement with the children as she instead manages the financial, legal, and logistical aspects of the orphanage? And when it's revealed that the Home is spending a lot more money than it's taking in, can Sadie turn things around before the place is forced to close forever? Purchase the book HERE.

Anne Mateer has a passion for history and historical fiction, and her vacations often revolve around research trips in different parts of the country. She and her husband live near Dallas, Texas, and are the parents of three young adults. Learn more at www.annemateer.com.

This Week's Recipes

Here are this week's new additions at Country at Heart Recipes. Enjoy your weekend! 
Spicy Superbowl Chili
Mollasses-Brined Baked Chicken Thighs
Featured Author Diane Dean White's Pear, Chocolate and Cardamon Cake

Winter Wonderland

Last month we received our share of snow and ice, although not as much as our neighbors in Missouri and Oklahoma. 
I'm hoping for more snow to go sledding or build snowmen, so I'll guess we'll see what Old Man Winter has in store for us in the coming weeks. 
Until then, here are a few pictures for you to enjoy, taken by our youngest daughter. 
A cool shot of our barn and walnut tree.
A small windmill at my grandma's house. I think we had almost 1/2" of ice for this storm.

Book Preview ~ Love's Awakening

Love's Awakening, by Laura Frantz

Ellie Ballantyne, youngest child of Silas and Eden, has left finishing school. But back at her family home in Pittsburgh, Ellie finds that her parents are away on a long trip and her siblings don't seem to want her to stay. When she opens a day school for young ladies, she begins tutoring the incorrigible daughter of the enemy Turlock clan. 
The Turlocks are slaveholders and whiskey magnates, envious of the powerful Ballantynes and suspicious of their abolitionist leanings. As Ellie becomes increasingly tangled with the Turlocks, she finds herself falling in love with an impossible future--and Jack Turlock, a young man striving to free himself from his family's violent legacy. How can she betray her family and side with the enemy? And will Jack ever allow her into his world? Purchase the book HERE.
Masterful storyteller Laura Frantz continues to unfold the stirring saga of the Ballantyne family in this majestic tale of love, loyalty, and the makings of a legacy. With rich descriptions of the people who settled and civilized a wild landscape, Frantz weaves a tapestry of characters and places that stick with the reader long after they turn the last page.

Laura Frantz is the author of several books, including The Colonel's Lady and Love's Reckoning. A two-time Carol Award and INSPY Award finalist and a recent Christy Award finalist, she currently lives in the misty woods of Washington with her husband and two sons. Learn more about Laura and her books HERE.