Julie Elias A Girl Like Me Album Review and Giveaway

I received this CD free to facilitate this review. Affiliate links may be in this posting. Thanks for supporting my blog.

Julie Elias is a Christian singer and songwriter who discovered happiness in Christ when being an actress in Hollywood was not making her content. She had fame and appeared in shows like “Grey’s Anatomy” and “CSI:NY”, but she was not fulfilled and felt like something was missing. She turned to God to guide her and Christian music became her voice to encourage others with her stories in song. In 2014, she founded Aurora Ministries, a 501c3 non-profit that creates Christian material and events specifically for teen and tween girls. Through music, booklets, blogging, conferences and girls’ events, Julie has been able to share God’s role in her life - even when she didn’t think He was there - and find common ground to inspire young women all over the world.

A Girl Like Me is her fifth studio album. It will be available on all digital music outlets, including iTunes, on October 27, 2017. This album is a companion to her girls' events and all the original songs on the album have purpose and stories behind them. This album is for women everywhere, regardless of what stage of life. It reminds us all that despite our failures and stubbornness, we need to “still believe a girl like me could be worthy of a King."

CD Track Listing:

1. Unchained
2. Only For Awhile
3. Awaken
4. A Girl Like Me
5. Alive
6. Forgive Me
7. Lost
8. Run Away
9. Here With Us
10. Wherever You Roam
11. A Wild Rose (2017 Version) *Bonus track
12. In the Light *Bonus track

CD, Jacket, & Inserts.

What I Thought:
This CD is so open and candid. Julie speaks from experience with her heart. I love the song Unchained because it shows her giving herself to God and letting Him take her burdens away. She spells out her vulnerabilities and lets Him help her through them because she knows He loves her for just the way she is.

We are all flawed, but God loves us anyway. This CD helps us remember that God is with us and will help us through troubled times. He knows us better than I think we know ourselves and He will forgive us of our failings if we let Him.

I recommend this album. It is so inspiring and wonderful. Julie has a beautiful voice and I hope she makes many more albums to share her feelings and faith with.

Follow
Official Website: www.julieeliasmusic.com
Supplemental website- Blog: http://aurora-girls.com/

BUY IT
Purchase A Girl Like Me on Amazon for $9.49 for download version.



WIN IT

Prize: a CD copy of A Girl Like Me by Julie Elias
Host: Julie Elias Music and FrontGate Media.
Who Can Enter: Open to US Residents 18 years or older.
Selection Process: 5 winners will be selected on 12/10/2017 and notified by email.
Where to Enter: Go to this link https://www.blessedfreebies.com/enter-to-win-a-girl-like-me.html and fill out the form to enter.

DISCLOSURE/DISCLAIMER: I received this product for free to facilitate this review. My thoughts are mine and my family's own opinion and have not been altered by anyone else. I did not receive any other compensation for doing this review.

Wordless Wednesday Cowlitz County Rocks

Zari and Teela found a Cowlitz County Rocks Happy rock at Lake Sacajawea.

The Cowlitz County Rocks we have found so far.

Ann McCallum Books Eat Your Science Homework Cookbook Review

My family had the privilege of trying the Eat Your Science Homework cookbook by Ann McCallum Books from the Eat Your Homework Book Series for this review to use in conjunction with our own homeschool curriculum. This is a Schoolhouse Review Crew Review. All opinions expressed are my own or those of my family.

Ann McCallum is a teacher and writer of educational books for kids. She has written a number of books about math like: Rabbits, Rabbits Everywhere: A Fibonacci Sequence, The Secret Life of Math, Beanstalk: The Measure of a Giant, and Eat Your Math Homework: Recipes for Hungry Minds. In the Eat Your Homework Book Series she has written three books: Eat Your Math Homework: Recipes For Hungry Minds, Eat Your Science Homework: Recipes For Inquiring Minds, and Eat Your US History Homework: Recipes For Revolutionary Minds. These three books are all Illustrated by Leeza Hernandez.

Have you ever tried doing homework on an empty stomach? The growling and rumbling of your tummy and hunger pains are very distracting. They sure don't help you focus on the task at hand.

The Eat Your Science Homework cookbook helps turn your kitchen into a laboratory, recipes into experiments, and food into science. It is a 48 page paperback book that teaches bits and pieces of science while making stuff to eat. The book starts off with an introduction with a page on safety in the kitchen. Then it goes into six science themed recipes for children ages 7-10 to make with adults. Recipes range from popcorn balls to lasagna that has pizza ingredients. Each recipe has a page about the science, what ingredients and equipment you will need and the directions on how to make it, and lastly a page or two of science facts and a science sampler which gives more activities and experiments to do. After the recipes there is a section in the book that is a review of the science learned, a glossary, and an index. On the website you can also download an Educators Guide to expand upon the science concepts even more and give the student extra activities to do. Not only do you get to do fun science experiments, but you get to eat them too! This edible science will get your student thinking and make their tummies less grumbly.

How We Used This and Our Thoughts:

My girls who are 5 and 7 years old made the Sedimentary Pizza Lasagna recipe from this book with me for one of our dinners. We had fun tuning our kitchen into a science lab, making this meal for our family, and learning about the science behind rocks while we baked it. My kids love helping in the kitchen and researching all things scientific, so this was the best of both worlds. We learned about sedimentary, metamorphic, and igneous rock properties, what a mineral is, and the Mohs Scale of hardness while making this delicious food. The recipe turned out perfect and it was super yummy as well.

Making Sedimentary Pizza Lasagna from the Eat Your Science Homework cookbook.

Eat Your Science Homework is well written and the illustrations are adorable. The approach is easy to understand, even for my 5 year old. With help from parents or other care giving adults kids can have fun in the kitchen while learning key scientific ideas.

With Eat Your Science Homework I found that my girls understood the scientific concepts better than just telling them because it is makes the learning very hands-on. Besides the science it teaches, it also shows the student how to read and decipher recipes and how to use the equipment properly in the kitchen. I believe that all children should be able to know their way around the kitchen and recipes. My girls got to mix, stir, measure, layer, pour, spread, etc. The skills involved in preparing food, cooking and baking are skills that all children should acquire so they can grow up eating homemade, healthy well-balanced meals. This is the reason I involve my kids in the kitchen as much as possible.

Sedimentary Pizza Lasagna...look at the layers!

I highly recommend the Eat Your Science Homework cookbook for anyone who wants to help teach science in a fun, positive way with something more than just a science experiment in the end. We absolutely love this book by Ann McCallum and we are planning on purchasing the rest of the series.

BUY IT
You can purchase Eat Your Science Homework for $16.95 on the Charlesbridge books website.

Follow Them on Social Media:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/annmccallumbooks
Twitter: https://twitter.com/eathomework

Read other homeschool curriculum reviews for Ann McCallum Books...

Joy Williams Venus Album Review #JoyWilliams #O2O

I participated in the Joy Williams Venus album review program as a member of One2One Network. I was provided an album to review but all opinions are my own. By posting, I am eligible for incentives. Affiliate links may be in this posting. Thanks for supporting my blog.

You may know Joy Williams as the other half of four-time Grammy-winning folk-rock duo, The Civil Wars. The group had a hiatus in 2012 and eventually broke up in 2014. Williams undoubtedly felt like she was drowning with the band's break up, having a baby, fighting to save her marriage, and her Dad's terminal Cancer diagnosis. Through all her trials Williams reevaluated and reinvented herself and made a new album.

Her new album, Venus, is her first solo album. This album is something totally new and different than The Civil Wars' two albums. I love that this album brings out Williams' vocal range and now her style is becoming all her own. Williams opens her feelings to all of us. This album comes from her heart and what she was/is still going through. By the lyrics in her album I can tell this was an excruciatingly painful time for Williams. Break ups rarely are easy and with everything else going on in her life the making of this album must have been a fantastic release for her. I love that this album is also about reclaiming yourself after hardships, not letting them cage you in, and moving beyond them.

My favorite songs on this album are Before I Sleep, Until the Levee, and Welcome Home. I love the imagery both of these songs create. Before I Sleep has great percussion. This was the first song she created for the album and it fits so well after the breakup. I love the beautiful lyrical symbolism in Until the Levee. Welcome Home is such a great ending to this album. It is such a powerful song.

This whole album is a wonderful emotional ride. The lyrics are very passionate and healing. I have enjoyed listening to the songs over the past few weeks and I believe that it is the perfect addition to my music collection.

Track Listings

1. Before I Sleep
2. Sweet Love of Mine
3. Woman (Oh Mama)
4. One Day I Will
5. Not Good Enough
6. What a Good Woman Does
7. Until the Levee
8. You Loved Me
9. The Dying Kind
10. Till Forever
11. Welcome Home

Here is the Woman (Oh Mama) Music Video...



Follow Joy Williams

Official Joy Williams website: www.joywilliams.com 

Twitter - @joywilliams

Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/joywilliamsmusic

YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/user/JoyWilliamsVEVO 

Instagram - https://instagram.com/joy__williams/

BUY IT

iTunes

Amazon

DISCLAIMER: Thanks to One2One Network for sending me a free full album download of Venus to listen to and review and the information to share with my readers. My post is also eligible for a gift card via random drawing by One2One Network. My thoughts are mine and my family's own opinion and have not been altered by anyone else. I did not receive any other compensation for doing this review. Affiliate links may be in this posting. Thanks for supporting my blog.

UNICEF Market Review and Giveaway

I received a $50 gift card free from UNICEF Market to facilitate this review and the opportunity below to giveaway a $50 Gift Certificate. Affiliate links may be in this posting. Thanks for supporting my blog.

I got the Natural Onyx Fruit Figurine Sculpture, 'Tempting Pear' on the UNICEF Market website, made by the Sierra Family. Their town of Puebla is renowned in Mexico for its carvings in onyx and marble, which is mined in the Mexican states of Puebla and Oaxaca. This pear I found to be exceptionally beautiful and unique, even more so when I saw it first hand. I love the natural grain of the stone in which the Sierra Family highlighted when they sculpted it and polished it smooth. The lovely white, honey, brown, red, and orange colors in the stone pear are brought out by the shape of the fruit figurine sculpture. A shiny brass leaf and stem top off the masterpiece. It now sits on my bookshelf and reminds me of harvest time of our own pears on our orchard trees.

UNICEF Market is a wonderful online store that has partnered with Novica to bring you unique handcrafted items from artisans around the world in a fair trade environment. Each item purchased from UNICEF Market will benefit UNICEF's humanitarian programs that provide lifesaving nutrition, medicine, education, clean water, emergency relief and more to children in need around the globe.

Remember Mother's Day is coming up soon! Get something unique for your special motherly figure in your life and save children in need while you shop. UNICEF Market is waiting for your purchase.

WIN IT
Prize: Win a $50 Gift Certificate from UNICEF Market (This GC Expires July 31, 2015)

I am trying out Rafflecopter on my blog. Please click on this post link if you do not see the script for it below. Also, if there is anything that is wrong with it let me know by emailing me: finamoon AT gmail DOT com I will try my best at fixing it. Thanks for being awesome readers!

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DISCLOSURE/DISCLAIMER: Thanks to UNICEF Market for sending me a $50 gift certificate for free to review an item off their website and one $50 gift certificate to give away for free. My thoughts are mine and my family's own opinion and have not been altered by anyone else. I did not receive any other compensation for doing this review of their website. Affiliate links may be in this posting. Thanks for supporting my blog.

The Red Letters Project: Gospel of Matthew Review

The Red Letters Project is a performance of rock music based on the words of Jesus (sometimes written in Bibles as words in red letter text so one can distinguish these words from others) from the Book of Matthew in the New Living Translation (NLT) of the Bible. This is definitely a one-of-a-kind listening experience that has 40 tracks—both sung and narrated. The NLT of the Bible is a translation of the Bible into a clear, readable form of modern English. If you don't care for the NLT version of the Bible or rock music this probably isn't for you. I am used to the King James Version (KJV) and this version follows pretty well, but in my opinion the beauty and eloquence of the words from the KJV are lost in the NLT. The music of The Red Letters Project is Christian rock, but is harder rock than I am used to as Christian rock. I found this rendition to be quite interesting and definitely unique.

Produced by Symbionic Entertainment
List Price: $29.99
ISBN: 978-1-4143-1729-8
Binding: 3 CDs
Release: June 2010

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DISCLAIMER: Thanks to Tyndale House Publishers because I am a part of the Tyndale Blog Network for letting me know about this product and for sending me a free copy to listen to and review. My thoughts are mine and my family's own opinion and have not been altered by anyone else. I did not receive any other compensation for doing this review.