Though Waters Roar - Lynn Austin

I was first introduced to Lynn Austin's books from a cousin of mine, who became friends with Lynn when the Austin family was living in Manitoba.  I read the book with no expectations, simply doing so because my cousin had mentioned it.  Well I quickly realized the friendship factor aside, why my cousin so loved her books, and I became equally enamored with Lynn's writing.

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I crave salt.  I salt everything twice, which I know is not healthy for me.  

According to Laura J. Lefkowitz, M.D. "Every major health study on hypertension conducted in the past five years points to high sodium as a top health problem in the U.S.  Nutrasalt is quite interesting because it provides the perfect balance of sodium and potassium without increasing sugar and caloric intake.  It really is a better salt."  

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Fiber has important health benefits for children:

•     It promotes regularity and prevents constipation

•     It helps reduce risk of cancer and heart disease later in life

But how much fiber do kids need? The recommended daily fiber intakes are:

Kids 1 to 3 years: 19 grams
Kids 4 to 8 years: 25 grams
Boys 9 to 13 years: 31 grams
Girls 9 to 13 years: 26 grams

If your kids are picky eaters, it may mean that you have to supplement their fiber intake.   Some kids go through spurts where they are fixated on only one type of food, so while you continue to try and get them to eat healthier foods you're at a loss on how to get the recommended  amount of nutrition values into them.  

When it’s time to look for a supplement, the well known name of Pedia-Lax is there to help. 

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muvee Reveal 8 automatically edits your videos and photos to make the movies you always wanted to make - in four clear steps.

1) Add your video and/or photos.
2) Choose a style.
3) Add music.
4) Click “Play” to preview.

Then all you need to do is rest and take pleasure in your creation!

muvee Reveal features:

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Take along just what you need when you go traveling with this mini travel set by Artistry Essentials, available at Health and Beauty Zone.

You won't want to leave this behind! The Artistry Essentials Hydrating Travel Set is a perfect size for your skin care needs on-the-go!
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Amber is entering her third year of orthodontic treatment.  When she had her Herbst Appliance it wasn't too difficult a job to brush and keep her teeth clean.  The full set of braces on the other hand has made tooth brushing a challenge for her.  After outlaying as much money as we have, we want to try and ensure as much as possible a bright smile when the bling has been removed.

One would not think a 13 year old would get excited over a Waterpik Ultra Dental Water Jet.  Yet this new acquisition of hers is shown off to everyone who walks through our doors.

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Christmas is a time for family gatherings, and that's just what one of the latest Chicken Soup for the Soul books is all about...families that is!  Accept an invitation to read stories, some which might seem familiar to your circumstances, and others will make you appreciate your family a little more I bet ☺.

All in the Family contains 101 Incredible Stories about funny, quirky, lovable & dysfunctional families. 

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I was so excited when I received this amazing and totally personal handmade pendant in the mail the other day!

I would love to be more crafty but I just don't have the time or the ideas to make handmade gifts for people.  

When I had the chance to review Our Handmade Gifts custom pendant service, I knew right away what I would put on a custom pendant.  Amber draws such wonderful characters in her sketch books all the time, and I was so excited to put one of those on a piece of jewelry for her.  (I ♥ handmade items!)
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I received Qwirkle from Growing Tree Toys which is an online store that sells educational toys.

Qwirkle is a tactile wooden block game that combines the logic and strategy of Set® with the creative multi-maneuver game play of Scrabble®. You'll be creating columns and rows of matching colors and shapes in no time! Look for opportunities to score big by placing a tile that touches multiple pieces and matches both shapes and colors; the player with the most points wins. 108 blocks.

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Ojolie.com contacted me to use and review their E-Card site, which features the hand painted works of Frederikke Tu.

I was especially interested in this, as I generally wait too long to send cards for occasions to my friends and relatives in Canada, and then they usually don’t get acknowledged for their birthdays or other occasions at all (oops).

Frederikke Tu spends weeks designing the ecards, and you can tell.  There is great attention to detail in her work.  After she hand paints many of the parts, they are then scanned, combined with Flash animation and voila, you are presented with a visually stunning story.

What sets Ojolie.com apart from the other dozens of E-card sites out there, is the originality of the flash cards they offer as well as the designs.  These aren’t your basic e-cards that most of the other sites offer, they are truly artistic and when you view them you will see what I mean.

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I have a lot of things on my list every year that I want for Christmas, sometimes I get them, sometimes I don't, but they are on my list every year.

A few years ago, I started adding more "comfort" things to the list.  Items that were fuzzy, warm and comfy.  My family knows that they will have a happy girl on their hands if a gift contains all three of those things.  So imagine my delight when I was asked to review the Chenille Lounge Socks from PatientStyle.com.
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God's love and grace covers unexpected pain in life.  What He does reflects how He created pearls to be formed.  He uses the grit and dirt to make a pearl, much like He transforms the pain in our lives into victory.

Margaret McSweeney recognized that many of us can relate to being Pearl Girls, because we've been there ourselves, or we're currently going through it, or we'll be there in the future, and so she put together a selection of stories written by women, many of which you may already be familiar with, to share their "pearl" story.
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This newly launched company sells fair trade, organic teas and has exceptional, chic and elegant gifts.

I was able to sample a couple of varieties of tea that The Tea Set - New York offers, a green tea and a chai.

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I'm a big fan of Tyson products. From chicken fingers to the Heat N' Eat Entrees I featured on my blog last month. They always provide quick, filling and tasty meals and snacks.

From Tyson:

Available in your grocer's frozen food section, the new Tyson® Any'tizers varieties include Chicken Breast Chunks with General Tso Sauce, Chicken Breast Chunks with Spicy Sweet & Sour Sauce, Crispy Breaded Wings with Citrus Fire Sauce and Crispy Breaded Wings with General Tso Sauce. Made with the highest quality chicken, these bold new flavors offer protein-packed options that can be customized with the two included sauce packets to satisfy any snacking occasion.

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It is time for a FIRST Wild Card Tour book review! If you wish to join the FIRST blog alliance, just click the button. We are a group of reviewers who tour Christian books. A Wild Card post includes a brief bio of the author and a full chapter from each book toured. The reason it is called a FIRST Wild Card Tour is that you never know if the book will be fiction, non~fiction, for young, or for old...or for somewhere in between! Enjoy your free peek into the book!

You never know when I might play a wild card on you!

***Special thanks to Lynnette Bonner for E-mailing me a review copy.***



LYNNETTE BONNER, the daughter of missionaries, was born and raised in Malawi, Africa, graduated high school from Rift Valley Academy, a boarding school in Kenya, and attended Northwest University in Washington, where she met her husband, Marty. A few years after their marriage, they moved to Pierce, Idaho. While studying the history of their little town, Lynnette was inspired to begin The Shepherd’s Heart Series with Rocky Mountain Oasis.


Visit the author's website.



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I was sent a mini Mickey Mouse cookie cutter from http://www.cheapcookiecutters.com/ to review, and yes I'll admit, it made me a bit giddy!
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I admit to not having "tough" laundry loads. Meaning that except for food stains (I do have sloppy eaters in my home), I don't have a lot of outdoors or grease type stains to deal with when I do laundry. Maybe that's why laundry is my favorite household chore! It's always a good thing when I can find a detergent and stain removal products that don't just work and smell good, but are also friendly on the environment.

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Do you ever get a craving for a really good donut? I grew up chowing down on yeast donuts on a regular basis. When we moved to the city we're living in, all I could find were cake donuts. That didn't leave me overly pleased. Finally, finally a donut shop opened in town, but it didn't last long (what is wrong with all the people in the city I live in!?!) and closed up. Which left me with that elusive hunt for a good yeast donut
And then I got to experience Holey Donuts (okay well I actually got to try their cinnamon buns, but I'm absolutely positive they sell the donuts I'm looking for). Get this, not only do their baked goods taste delicious, they are ...low in fat and calories! No joke.
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Typically one always thinks of turkey for Thanksgiving, but just a month later we're celebrating Christmas and ham is always a great option so the bird doesn't need to get roasted again. There are so many different cuts of it, and the glazes you can use to enhance ham are as unique as they are plenty.  Trust me, it's as good as it looks too!

Take a look at your grocery store's coolers, and you'll find many different brands of ham, and Cook's is likely among them, and that's because Cook’s is the nation's leading brand of traditional and spiral sliced smoked bone-in ham, corned beef and smoked picnics.
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Recently I was able to try a couple of eco-friendly products from ecostore USA.  Completely natural with no chemicals, their products are all safe for your home and family.
One of the products I got to try was the Auto Dish Powder.  Ecostore USA's Auto Dish Powder only requires 1 tbsp. to do a full load of dishes.
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