Amazing Jewel of Persia

Last year I posted a book review for A Stray Drop of Blood, by Roseanna White. I loved that book and was super impressed with the style and research of the young author.  After reading A Stray Drop of Blood, I met the author at a conference and learned of another book she'd written, The Jewel of Persia. I bought it and had a fun photo taken with Roseanna.

Last week, I finally read Jewel of Persia. Holy cow it's good! It took me so long to START because of other projects, lots of travel, and a stack of books ahead of hers. But once I started reading, I finished it fast. Putting Jewel down was near impossible.

Roseanna has completed extensive studies on ancient Middle East history. She knows her stuff. I mean she really knows her stuff!  I just completed a super in depth Precepts Study on Daniel and thought I understood it well. But the true history in fictional Jewel of Persia amazed me and really brought life to the history I learned in Daniel. This story is about a fictional Jewish woman who becomes part of King Xerxes's harem. King Xerxex was the real King of Persia who made a Jewish girl, Ester, his queen. As you know, Mordecai and Ester are real Jewish people documented in the Bible who foiled Haman's plan to kill all the Jews in Persia.

Roseanna mixes real historical people with fictional characters and centers them around true events and real battles. It's amazing how she's done it.  Again, I am super impressed! I loved Jewel of Persia. I laughed. I cried. I cringed. I felt convicted for my lame prayer life compared to Mordecai and Kasia's. Read this book. You'll learn a lot about history while being highly entertained!

Congrats to the author, Roseanna White, for her great accomplishment in writing Jewel of Persia.  It really is amazing.

Home from Workcation

I had to go to Pensacola for work and was able to talk a friend into coming with me. We flew in early for a couple days of vacation before I had to work. We toured the Bragg-Mitchell Mansion in Mobile Alabama.  It is beautiful. Mr. Bragg cut down the oaks during the civil war so the Confederate Soldiers could shell the Union Army. After the war, he replanted the oaks. They are nearly 250 years old now, and lovely!

 It was fun to go through the Naval Museum in Pensacola, home to the Blue Angels.

The sand at Pensacola beach is super soft and white.

 On Trisha's birthday, we went parasailing—an item on both of our bucket lists.  Here is our take off.

And now we are 600 feet in the air. Super scary! I shot a little video, which is at the end.

My high voice is kind of embarrassing now, but the adrenaline was surging at the time.

We shared a huge dessert on Trisha's birthday.  Fun workcation!  Beats going to paradise alone!

Ladies Tea

Our annual Ladies Spring Tea was held this past weekend. And let me tell you, they sure know how to throw a tea at the Salem Evangelical Church!!!!!!  This year our theme was Tea Around the World. Each table hostess was encouraged to decorate their table from a different place on the globe. They did not disappoint. Amazing! Creative! Beautiful! I could go on and on to describe the table creations.

Missionary Cindy Linker from Haiti keynoted our tea. She was fabulous. Although claiming nerves, once certainly couldn't tell. I laughed, cried, and grew convicted under her teaching. Cindy hosts a blog about her time in Haiti and is the director of the awesome Starfish Kids Program, which feeds and schools Haiti children.     

Check out these little chocolate shoes on each plate at the Holland table.

   I loved the beach tables.

The above table was set up by a lady who grew up a missionary kid.  The plates, goblets, cups, and some decorations were authentic from the missionary field.

 I did the African table above, which contained things truly from around the world. Joan brought back tea from France for our table, the brassware was from Siam, which is now Thailand. I brought the giant elephant back from Oaxaca, Mexico, and the runner in the center was a gift from our missionary friends in  Mozambique, Africa..  

The above table was created by a young girl in her twenties. I don't think I could have some up with anything close to this creative when I was in my twenties. We had many young girls hosting tables this year, which really blessed me. We have a great generation coming up in our church. It brings tears to my eyes.  (Is it menopause to get teary eyed over a pretty table set by a young girl at a tea?  OMW!)

This is a picture of a picture on the Scotland table, featuring our speaker, Cindy Lenker (front left) and her husband, Bud, as well as John and Kristyn Noble during their trip to Scotland many years ago. Very cute!  (I went to high school with John.)

There were 36 tables, so I can't post all the pictures. Just know each table looked fantastic. The ladies really poured their hearts into the decorations.  Half the fun entailed touring around all the tables before the tea started.  I probably walked through them a dozen times and saw something new each time through.

I can't wait for next year. My table mates and I already planned how we'd decorate!

Mr. Master

Dusty graduated yesterday from the Pacific Evangelical School of Ministry with his Master's in Ministry.  This is the boy who always struggled in school, thanks to his dyslexia type condition. Praise God, for helping Dusty more than concur that!  Check out the video at the end. Very special! (Except for the end, I had trouble shutting off the camera.)

First picture is Joanie adjusting Dusty's hood. The Family

 Two pretty grandma's with pretty hand bags.

Vaca Pics

After being gone 10 days, I'm still not caught up at home or at work, even though I've been back a full week. In the words of my brother-in-law, "My suitcases have puked all over the house." They may be back in the closet, but still have piles of things to put away.

Our family cruise was wonderful. We went to the St. Thomas, Tortola, Antigua, and the Bahamas. I had never been to Tortola or the Bahamas before. I can tell you that out of all 12 of us, the Bahamas was every one's favorite.

Above is Dan's brother, Mark, his lovely wife, Jeanette, and their daughter, Emma.

Below we are pulling into the Bahamas. This is truly a place one needs a whole week to see.

Snorkeling at the Bahamas was the best of any of our stops!!!

Above is a typical street in Tortola and below you see the boys eating shark fritters one evening as their appetizer. I have lots of pictures of the boys with funny faces. Those kids don't know how to smile normal. Of course, neither does Dan's brother Dave as show above and below. Here's the whole Bowers Clan on one of the dress up nights. We had a fabulous time, despite my mother-in-law getting hospitalized and not able to go. Next I'll post a few pictures from my new Coolpix under water camera.

And the diagnosis is??????

After returning from Boise last week, I woke up very early because my bedroom started spinning. How did I get on the set if Wizard of Oz? I tried to stand up and was so dizzy that I actually fell back down. Since then, I've fallen three times, or crashed into the wall. I thought it was simply a little dizziness from my high cholesterol meds (congenital.) So I stopped taking it. But eight days later, I am still spinning. So I decided to see my doctor before leaving on vacation. She checked my ears, really checked them, I'm healthy. Then she checked my eyes. Usually the doctor flashes the light in each eye a second or two, then is done. But this time....holy cow. She shined the light into every little white part of my eye, then stopped and stared. And stared. And moved in closer when I thought there was no more room, and shined that bright light into my eye some more. And more. I started to get worried and finally spoke up. "All right, what the heck do you see in there? You've never taken that long before." She chuckled and explained that one can see the optic nerve at the back. If there is swelling, then it could be a brain tumor causing my dizziness. Fortunately, I had no swelling of either optic nerve.

So, what's the diagnosis? Just vertigo. So weird. I've never had anything like it before. I only have a mild case, a little over the counter meds are all I need. The good news is that it will probably be gone in a few weeks.

I've learned the difference between light headedness and vertigo. They are very different. Also, I've learned that severe vertigo causes nausea or diarrhea. I don't have severe vertigo. I'm leaving for a Caribbean cruise and want to be in the sun, not in the bathroom! (No, my house is NOT sitting empty while I'm gone. Lots of bodies--canine and human--will be protecting that place.)

What causes vertigo? Stress, brain tumors, ear infection, brain injury, and excessive alcohol. Although the bed spins like excessive alcohol, I have none of those except stress. And plenty of it between work, work travels, upcoming WCCA seminar, more work, pressure to do this or that, but I didn't think it was any more stress that usual. I guess my body disagrees.

So, I can add vertigo to my short list of new illnesses plaguing me this year. I also think I'll add the movie Vertigo to my Netflx Que, since I don't remember much about the old Hitchcock movie starring Jimmy Stewart.

Have a blessed week. I'm going to rest in some sun rays and recover from my stress induced vertigo.

300 Jumping Jacks

Vacation is 10 days away. Swim suits and sun dresses. Did I meet my goal to lose 30 pounds? No! Bad Girl! I lost some, 20 pounds, but that isn't as good as it sounds since I had started higher than ever before.

So this evening, I sat in my hotel room in Idaho watching The Biggest Loser. This is a season of no excuses. What was the topic of Biggest Loser episode tonight? Losing weight on vacation. The contestants are in Hawaii, yet they all lost weight. It really started motivating me again. I got up every commercial to do jumping jacks.

Last year, I saw a work friend who looked thin and fantastic. She said every morning when she gets up for work, she does 300 jumping jacks before she gets into the shower. I decided tonight to do 300. I couldn't do them all at once, but I did 100 the first commercial set and 50 every one after that.

So, while I was doing jumping jacks, Trainer Bob gave a training tip to help lose weight on vacation. He said to do 20 jumping jacks, 20 squats, and 20 push ups, repeating it three times. On vacation with no gym is not an excuse!

For some reason, this really hit home with me tonight.

And by the way, Guggel did nothing!