The Talens' Tales

Lady Selene is heir to the House of Ravenwood and the secret family gift of dreamwalking. As a dreamwalker, she can enter a person's dreams and manipulate their greatest fears or desires. Soon after the gifting, however, Selene discovers that the Ravenwood women have been secretly using their gift to gather information or to assassinate those responsible for the fall of House Ravenwood to the Dominia Empire hundreds of years ago.    As she becomes more entrenched in Ravenwood's dark past, Selene longs to find out the true reason behind her family's gift, believing that its original intent could not have been for such evil purposes, but she is torn about upholding her family's legacy--a legacy that supports her people. Selene's dilemma comes to a head when she is tasked with assassinating the one man who can bring peace to the nations--but who is also prophesied to bring about the downfall of her own house.   This book was an interesting read for me. I like the p...

Kaely Quinn's talents as an FBI behavior analyst are impossible to ignore, no matter how unorthodox her methods. But when a reporter outs her as the daughter of an infamous serial killer, she's demoted to field agent and transferred to St. Louis. When the same reporter who ruined her career claims to have received an anonymous poem predicting a string of murders, ending with Kaely's, the reporter's ulterior motives bring his claim into question. But when a body is found that fits the poem's predictions, the threat is undeniable, and the FBI sends Special Agent Noah Hunter to St. Louis. Initially resentful of the assignment, Noah is surprised at how quickly his respect for Kaely grows, despite her oddities. But with a brazen serial killer who breaks all the normal patterns on the loose, Noah and Kaely are tested to their limits to catch the murderer before anyone else,including Kaely herself us killed. I am always drawn toward suspenseful novels like this one....

In this deeply personal account of her first year as a missionary, Elisabeth Elliot shares the challenges she faced as she worked in the jungles of Ecuador to bring the Word of God to a people virtually untouched by the outside world. With fascinating detail, she captures the stark realities of life in the jungle, the difficulties she encountered while developing a written language for the tribe, and her confusion when God didn't "cooperate" with her efforts to accomplish what she believed was His will.  More than just a memoir,  Made for the Journey  is a beautifully crafted and deeply personal reflection on the important questions of life and a remarkable testimony to authentic Christian obedience to an unfathomable God. I know a just a little bit about Elisabeth Elliot and her story through other works like Through the Gates of Splendor  and The End of the Spear . So it was very interesting to read about her life before she was married and when she was just st...

We had a wonderful holiday season this year. The winter weather has been rather crazy, but that made for great time at our house with family. We had a nice looking tree. Made Cut-out Sugar Cookies...with all hands on deck for decorating. Joash and Mataya decorated gingerbread houses. Once they were assembled, they were both able to indepently put on the icing and candies! We opened gifts with our family, with a scavenger hunt for the kids to find their final gifts. Christmas day found us with a turkey and lots of lovely company. Boxing day was a great day for our almost annual Boxing Day walk on the beach. Wilbert's brother and family were here for the week following Christmas. That means lots of music... Cousin time (all of the kids LOVED Nieko)... More presents (including the gift that has been circling the family since at least 2010)... And a family swim followed by an early supper at Boston Pizza. The kids sure changed a lot in that week...