The Talens' Tales

This is our new house. Joash and I would like to take you on quick tour. When you walk in the door we use as our main entrance, you can go up the stairs to the hallway,  or down the stairs to the basement.  We will start upstairs. The first room you come to is the playroom. Joash uses this room quite well already. We have misplaced one tractor in the move. I am sure it will show up sometime, but I have yet to find it. Joash has not noticed that it is missing and happily plays with all of his other tractors, cars and trucks.  The hallway then opens up into the dining area.  Here is the kitchen from the far wall in the dining area.  This will be the guest room. "But right now the guest is the new dishwasher," says Joash. It is just waiting for the first cut of silage to be over to be installed.  The main floor bathroom. That's right. We have a lavender tub. I know you are all really jealous.  The living room/offic...

What would it be like to be called to serve as a prophet? How does it feel to be that intimately connected with God? Is the reward worth all of the pain and work? In Prophet by R.J. Larson, Ela is a seventeen year old girl from the city of Parne who answers the call of her Creator to be his prophet. Even though she is reluctant to serve, she cannot imagine living without His presence. She leaves her home to bring the Creator’s word to nations torn apart by war and led by people who have turned their back on the Creator. Along the way, she joins forces with Kien who is seeking justice for his own people. Ela bring the word of the Creator to many people and prayerfully waits to see if they will turn their hearts to follow the Creator. Prophet is a great story, but not one for everyone. It is a fantasy allegory, so you have to be open to the world the author creates. It is an interesting and believable world and the parallels to this life are clear. As Ela went through her j...

Love and courage in a time of war. This combination made Flames of Resistance one of the best books I have read in a long time. It is World War II and Tom Jaeger is a fighter pilot who is shot down over France. He is picked up by the Resistance and his striking German features make him the key to a plan to get information from a sympatric French woman who runs a German only brothel from her home. But quickly things change not only between the fighter pilot and the woman, but also between the members of the Resistance as someone has betrayed them.  Will the unlikely French woman have the courage to change it all? Like I said in the opening, this was one of the best books I have read in a long time. It had a gripping story and once I was hooked, I could not put it down. It was a bit confusing in the beginning to keep every character straight with all of the names, nicknames and code names being used, but once it was all figured out, it made sense. And while I was able to...

A quick up date, with pictures this time! We are currently in process of moving to our new house, so I thought I should update quickly before we get lost in the craziness of a move. Life is good. Joash is learning at least three new words a day. Today was "watch," "dolphin" and "juice." It is so fun to hear him talk. Though now when you ask him what his name is, he responds with an enthusiastic "tractor!" Here is Joash showing his cheesy smile and that he is wearing his dad's watch. He loves that watch for some reason. Today he also learned how to drink from a straw, so I envision lots of smoothies in our future! Well, that is all for now. The next time you hear from me, we will be in our new house!

I am a fan of reality TV. Especially competition shows like American Idol and The Voice .  So when I was given the chance to read By Faith, Not by Sight , by Scott MacIntyre, a contestant on American Idol, I jumped at the opportunity. I was hoping for a nice story that would tell me a little bit about the behind the scenes of one of my favorite shows. In the end this books showed me that and so much more. Scott MacIntyre has been blind since birth. From a very young age, it was clear he had an ear for music. His parents provided many opportunities and great support to Scott has he grew up. With this support and encouragement, his musical talents continued to grow both in singing and playing the piano. Scott also excelled academically and by the time he was nineteen, he had graduated from college and was on his way to complete a Master’s program in England. However, God had other plans, which started with a devastating disease diagnosis. This put all of Scott’s plans in jeo...

Sorry. It has been a little while since I posted. I have been busy with: 1) My little boy. Now that he only takes one nap a day, blogging time can be hard to find. But Joash is great and he has learned to say his name and has mastered the word "cracker." 2) Usborne Books. I have had some great home shows and school sales as of late, which means I driving all over to deliver the books. 3) Church stuff. I am on the VBS committee and we have been having lots of meeting lately getting ready for VBS in July. 4) Packing. We are moving in the next few weeks to a house across the road from the farm. So, I have been packing up books and other things that we don't use all that often to get ready for the move. Packing is certainly a long process when you have an 18 month old who is very good at UNpacking. 5) Reading. I am reading a really good book right now. You will see a review about it soon. All of this has also made me neglect my camera for a the last f...

Joash and food . I think I could write a book about this. When he was born, he wasn't getting enough. Then he was getting too much. He has gone from being a bread monster, to a cheese monster, to a fruit monster and now we are back to the bread monster. And he currently is a vegetarian. He will not even lick a piece of meat. But, I cannot complain really. My child eats for the most part. He is growing and healthy and strong. He does eat a decent variety of things. And he likes to share his food: Today we did our first baking together. Joash kept sticking his finger in the bowl, so I let him have his first spatula to lick. I think he liked it!