The Talens' Tales

Last week, I hosted a fun and unique event one evening. I had a Shoe Cutting Party for Sole Hope . The basic idea is simple. Invite your friends over. Have everyone bring a pair of jeans they no longer need or want and a pair of scissors. Then spend the evening tracing and cutting out pieces of the jeans you brought for the top half of shoes for kids in Africa. I had fully intended to take cute and fun pictures of my friends cutting out shoes during the party. Then, when I realized I had forgotten to do that, I made a mental note to take a picture of the piles of shoes we had cut out. Unfortunately, I remembered that after I had packaged the shoes in a box and taped it all up really well. So, the above pictures is what you get. A box with 25 pairs of shoes to be sent to Sole Hope's office in the States before being shipped to Uganda where the Ugandan shoemakers employed by Sole Hope will put these shoes together.  But, the party was great. I kept all of my materials beca...

At the urgent request of an old school friend, Drew and Madeline Farthering come to Bloodworth Park Lodge in the midst of the Yorkshire moors, a place as moody and mysterious as a Brontë hero. There have been several worrisome incidents around those lonesome rolling hills--property desecrated, fires started, sheep and cattle scattered. Worst of all, the vicar has been found dead on the steps of the church, a crime for which Drew can discern no motive at all.  Few in the town of Bunting's Nest seem like suspects, and Drew can't keep his suspicions from falling on his friend's new bride. Do her affections lie more with her husband's money and estate, while her romantic interests stray to their fiery Welsh gamekeeper? As the danger grows ever closer, it's up to Drew to look past his own prejudices, determine what's really going on, and find the killer before it's too late. I did enjoy reading Murder on the Moor by Julianna Deering. I did not realize wh...

 M(om): Hello, Gideon! You are 9 months old today! As Dad reminded us at coffee time, that means you have been out in the world for the same amount of time you were inside of me. G(ideon): Really? It feels like I have been around a lot longer than that. M: For me, too. What has been happening lately? G: Well, lots things I guess. I have been growing a lot. At least that is what everyone keeps telling me. And I have been talking a lot. I can say "Da da" pretty well, which seems to make Dad very happy. I like to play lots of different toys, especially ones that make sounds and play music. They are just so interesting! M: Have you learned anything else new lately? G: I can stand up! I think it is so much fun to pull myself up to stand by things. And I am getting better at getting down now, so I think that you like it more now too. M: I must say your surprised me when you first stood up by things. What are you eating these days?  G: Food is so yummy! I will eat ...

Gideon experienced his first extended period of time out in the snow last week. Overall, I think he was a fan. This has been a strange winter full of  quick storms that bring lots of snow and very strong winds. And then just a few days later another storm comes through, but from the south, so it brings strong winds and rain and lots of the snow melts. It was nice to finally have a day that had some snow on the ground but wasn't so windy and cold.

We hope that you and yours had a wonderful holiday season. We had a great time with lots of family visiting. Wilbert's brother and his wife were visiting from Calgary and Wilbert's sister was home from the Bible college she is attending. We all love when they visit and my kids love having all of the extra attention. Kids on Christmas Eve before we opened gifts Opening gifts with Wilbert's family. A gift from our family from Wilbert's brother...a place to display the kids art work. It is nicely hanging on a wall in the play room now.   Wilbert and Jander spent a good chunk of a morning working on playing "I Will Wait" by Mumford and Sons. It sounded quite good by the end. Mataya really enjoyed playing games with everyone and she can play a modified version of Spot It quite well.  We also had a small gathering at our house for New Year's Eve. We let Joash stay up until midnight for the first time this year. He thought he was p...

When a day trip out of Las Vegas with his wife takes a turn for the worse, Jack is sure he has the ability to get them home. But he has driven into something far beyond reason. Rescue comes in the form of a desert hermit, but hope fades as the couple comes to realize that the nomad has no intention of letting them leave. A chance encounter with a kidnapped runaway and her crazed abductor leads them all farther into the wilderness--and closer to the cold brutality that isolation brings. At the edge of his sanity, Jack begins to learn that playing by another's rules may be the only way to survive. This was an interesting book.I can see how it would really grab some people, but I didn't enjoy it very much. I read it quickly just to get it over with, really. I found the character of Jack really annoying. I also didn't like the supernatural elements in the modern day setting. It was almost to vague to make sense or make an impact. The redemption and power of God at the end w...