Remember the Liebster Blog Award? I had to forward it to 11 other bloggers with less than 100 followers, with some questions for them to answer. So I decided to broaden the group and include practically anyone! I want to interview bloggers and learn more about them- and I came up with the idea to start a “Interview a Blogger Challenge”. I want to interview my blogging friends, advanced bloggers who I admire, my subscribers, and even just regular readers and friends who visit my blog!
I can’t wait to hear what you all will answer! I got so excited writing down the questions that it was hard to limit them to a reasonable number 
.
Are you a blogger who just stopped by here? Then, I would be glad if you want to join in! A reader who likes visiting different blogs? You’re more than welcome to comment and answer the challenge questions!
Also, I am tagging these lovely bloggers to answer my questions :
How it works:
Please copy and paste the picture and the questions in a post on your blog and answer the questions. If you want, include a link to this blog. Please post a comment here when you published your post, so I (and my readers) can come by your blog and see it too! As an optional thing, you can pass on the challenge to other bloggers.
And Now! Here are the questions:
If you are just a reader, subscriber or a person who stopped by, and want to answer the questions too- then step right up! Copy the questions and answer them by leaving a comment. I would love to hear from you!
Riddle me this: What is the most important day in May?
Don’t know yet?
Hint: It starts with Mother’s Day!
And I know just the right way you can show your mother how special she is to you! Indeed, there’s something for the whole family, or people of all ages. You can use this right off your android smart phone or tablet!
The Doodle Family Apps. There is a collection of really neat apps designed to allow you to express your creativity and instantly share it with your friends and family.
The best thing about it? They’re all free!
I like this one best! You can select a beautiful greeting card template for any occasion, personalize it, and send it via email or text to that special someone. The card templates have cute little quotes on them, and nice designs. Now you won’t have to rush in the store to find the perfect Mother’s Day card, just grab your tablet, choose your card, write a personalized note and send. They even have stickers, and fonts you can add to your card, and you can scribble on it with your fingers. They have a lot more greeting card templates coming up- from baby announcements to anniversary, and the 4th of July! You’ll be sure to find something to send.
Instagram Friendly. To all the Instagram users out there- guess what? You can import pics from instagram, personalize them and send them as greeting cards!
Sample:
This is a neat app just for kids! It has a lot of colorful images and pictures. The kids use their fingers to scratch on the tablet screen and watch as the picture gets colored in. Or they can have the image hidden behind a color, and “scratch away” the color to discover the image underneath. It’s really fun! My younger sister loves it and she can spend hours just coloring in, and going from one picture to the next. It can get addictive even for older kids
This is another really fun app for kids! You can scribble and paint with your fingers, and add effects like like neon colors, funny sounds, mirror effect, rainbow colors and other stuff. You can also turn off the sound effects and vibration as you draw and doodle . You can save your drawings and post them on Facebook, or color on top or your own pictures in your gallery! Don’t miss out on the fun!
This app is similar to Doodle Scratch- but you can also use your own pictures! You can color with your fingers, save the image, add sound effects. It turns a picture from gray and white to its original colors! All the busy mothers out there, I can tell you it will keep your kids quiet and occupied for a good while! I know this because I’ve seen it firsthand on my little sister.
So what do you think? I told you there was something for everyone! Visit the Doodle Family Google Play page and install the apps. Let me know which you like best. Share with your friends too, like I shared with you!
If you really like these free apps, give something back and put a nice rating on there so others know how neat they are.
NOTE: Applewood Books sent me a complimentary review copy of this book
in exchange for my honest opinion.
This little novella is a historical book- it was published all the way back in 1922. The story takes place during the Revolutionary War, and introduces famous figures such as Thomas Jefferson and Lafayette in the adventures of two little cousins. One of them, Rose Elinore is a spoiled little girl who lives in a lovely mansion, and she must learn to share and stop being selfish when her cousin Mary Lou must come live at her house. Mary Lou’s father is a soldier and her mother died when she was young.
The book is written in the style of “Little Women”, in third person narrative. Readers can visualize the strains and conflict relatives and neighbors had when they chose side of Tories or Patriots.
As most of my readers know, I believe that “you are what you read“, so basically I think believers should be very “conservative” in their criteria for choosing the kind of books to read. In light of this, I will mention what I disagreed with in the story. There was a chapter titled “Defying a Witch” where the girls say that whenever they get angry or feel like being mean to someone, it is because a bad witch is putting a spell on them, so they have to say a charm to make that go away. This charm is mentioned a few more times after that and there is also mention of how one of them thought she was in an enchanted castle. Of course, this is a secular book, so I am not expecting the author to necessarily write Christian themes. But I was disappointed to see that spoil the book for me. I would like to repeat again, as I said before, that I do not promote books containing these subjects/elements in them.
Yet, to my blog readers, I can tell you there are other historical books you can check out from Applewood Books! They have titles both for children, and adults. You can request a free catalog from them and browse through their collection. I saw quite a few interesting titles in there, from novels, to cookbooks to Almanacs. It could be a good source for teaching history to the little ones. Or check out the catalog online here: Applewood Books Catalog
Here are a few interesting titles. For the mothers and home-makers, they have books like “National Cookery Book” or “Cheese and Cheesemaking“, “Hungarian Specialities Cookbook” or ”Etiquette”.
For young children, there are books like “Navy Alphabet Book” or “Mary Frances Cookbook“, “The Official Handbook for Boys” (first Boy Scout Handbook), and many other books! I have to mention I have not read any of these books, so I don’t know the content, but the titles look interesting!
I hope this review was helpful. Let me know your thoughts in the comments below!
NOTE: P&R Publishing sent me a complimentary review copy of this book
in exchange for my honest opinion.
A royal princess growing up in the middle of difficult, changing times that would shape the history of Christianity. There are two sides- two faiths. Her heart is put to the test- which side will she choose?
Many of us are familiar with the lives of heroes of the Reformation like Luther, John Calvin, John Knox. But there were female heroes during the Reformation too- heroes who had roles just as important as the men, and who stood up just as courageously. One of them was Jeanne De’Albret, a princess/queen in Navarre, France in 1528.
I have researched about Jeanne De’Albret’s life before I read the book Wings Like a Dove, and I wanted to learn more, and see a “novel” style perspective. So I requested this book to review.
The book chronicles Jeanne’s life from a young girl to adulthood, through little adventures and significant moments in her life by adding fictionalized details to make it like a story.
The relationships royals had with one another during that time period was interesting. It was like a pendulum relationship, sometimes surprisingly warm and loving, just like a regular family, but most often cold and official- almost like strangers.
As the tale goes along, it climaxes to where Jeanne must make a choice between the new Reformation or remaining with the Catholic religion. The readers are briefly introduced to John Calvin and the Huguenots (as the protestants were called), and they are mentioned a few times throughout the book. I wish the author would have mentioned more about Jeanne’s interaction with the Reformers in the story and her contribution to the Reformation, because she had an important role. The epilogue contained a few more details about her life.
As most of my readers know, I believe that “you are what you read“, so basically I think believers should be very “conservative” in their criteria for choosing the kind of books to read. In light of this, I will mention what I disagreed with in the story. There are some parts in the book with romance, husband-wife relationship between queen Jeanne and her husband, which were added in the tale by the author. It would have been better if those were left out altogether. I would like to repeat again, as I said before, that I do not promote books containing these subjects/elements in them. So I hope this review was helpful to you all!
Heritage of Grace has been awarded a Liebster Award by Jessica the Baker!
What is a Liebster Award?
The Liebster Award is an award given to rising bloggers who have less than 200 followers. Liebster is German and means sweetest, kindest, nicest, dearest, beloved, lovely, kind, pleasant, valued, cute, endearing, and welcome.
A big Thank You goes to…
Jessica the Baker, who kindly chose to award my blog! You’re very thoughtful, and I appreciate it! This is my second Liebster award!
What holiday do you cook/bake the most food?
Hmm, maybe Christmas and Easter. Although I like baking more than cooking, I don’t get to spend much time in the kitchen doing either. I’m just too overwhelmed with other responsibilities, and besides- there’s already a talented baker in my kitchen who makes amazing sweets (aka Jessica the Baker)!
Cookies or Cupcakes?
Ah, so hard to choose! Probably cupcakes, but cookies are definitely a favorite too.
What is a family recipe that is passed down through generations?
Veggie soup, marble cake, sweet walnut bread and lots of other mouthwatering things.
What is your favorite food to cook/eat?
Goodness, that one is hard to answer. To sum it up in one word- italian food.
What is your favorite kitchen tool that you absolutely can’t do without?
My fork, plate, and spoon I couldn’t eat without those tools!
When did you start your blog?
In October 2010. But I blogged before that on a ministry blog, so I entered the blogging world around 2008 and loved it ever since.
What’s your favorite part about Oreo cookies, the cookie or the cream?
The whole thing. But if I were made to choose, it’d probably be the cookie.
Ever had a birthday without a cake?
Well let me see…I had birthdays where I had substitute cakes. Like, we had a dessert, or a pie, or something home-made, but not an actual 100% cake.
Are you a travel bug?
Am I ever!
Sweet or Salty?
If you haven’t guessed by now- sweet 10 times over salty.
On a scale of 1 to 10 how much do you like cinnamon?
100,000!
Come visit again soon! Next week I will present the blogs I chose to nominate for the Liebster Award!
The first week of April, on my spring break, we had the delight of attending a youth conference! It was a 3-day event held at West Coast Baptist Church in Lancaster, CA. The church is pastored by Dr. Paul Chappell. It was our very first time going there, and I’m quite excited to share with you dear readers about it.
The theme of the conference was “Launch Out” at His Command based on the passage in Luke 5:1-5 where Christ told Peter to launch out for a catch of fish.
It was amazing to see how in the middle of a bare Californian desert…
The Lord raised up a testimony of His grace through the establishment of a church and Bible College…
…along with a wonderful aesthetic campus
It was refreshing to see so many conservative youth and people all gathered in one place, and you could see many among them were genuine, respectful, modestly and elegantly dressed…
There was good preaching…
An inspiring and well played drama of the pilgrims combined with a story contemporary of missionaries…
And complete with authentic looking costumes,
It was also nice to see the church promoted God-honoring music to worship the Lord…
Despite these wonderful aspects of the program, there were a few things that shadowed the joy. There were many “game sessions” at the beginning of the services which were loud and got the young highschoolers agitated, some games that were inappropriate, so we did not participate in them. A few other things too, like “funny commercials” that really weren’t funny. I have to be honest and mention these negatives as well, because they were part of the conference, and I must tell my perspective as a first time visitor. In light of this, I pray for the church and pastor that they will realize the need to change those aspects.
Now back to the positives, here’s a glimpse of their College Choir singing on the last day of the conference…
Oh, but there’s more!
Each person attending receives a little gift…
You can visit the little cafe and bookstore on campus…
We explored the lovely classrooms and premises…
Fellowshipped with like-minded believers…
A highlight of the 3-day conference is that you can attend sessions of classes taught at their Bible College. They have classes on subjects of hymnology, the Life of Paul, Romans, etc. I really didn’t feel like I was studying. It felt like I was in church! 
All too soon we had to say farewell…
And everyone launched out back to our little corner of the world where God wants us to make a difference…
But maybe next year we could go back again…
