Sabbath Silence for May 25th

Shabbot Shalom!

Five Question Friday for May 24th

It's another week for linking up with Five Question Friday...these are always fun because you never know the questions more than an evening in advance! So here goes!

1. Do you wake before the alarm or stay in bed until the last possible second?

Usually I don't budge until the alarm goes off...lately though I've gotten into such a routine that I wake up like 3 minutes before the alarm goes off. Seriously, body??? Three minutes?? But you know--when I have something important to do and getting up with the alarm is CRUCIAL, it always seems that my body wakes up sporadically before it ever goes off. Like 1 hour in advance. Or 20 minutes early. So weird how that happens.

2. Who should get a baby shower? Is it just the first baby or all babies?

Oh now that's a good question! I have always loved showering moms with their first babies...or, if they have a new little one after a LONNNNNG gap or if they've had lots of troubles getting pregnant. I went to one where the mom had a surprise baby after 6 other kids...so she really just needed new stuff. It had been over 10 years since her last child of that sex. That was fun. I also like little online showers for when you are far away and can send the mom something. I'm doing that for a friend who is pregnant with her 4th.

3. How will you spend Memorial Day?

With my family! If I was still living back in WA, we would be going camping with the extended family at the beach...but sadly we don't go camping over Memorial Day out here. I wish we would. We love to camp.

4. Do you have a Storm/Hurricane/Tornado/Fire plan for your kids, house..?

We have a tornado plan. Everyone knows where to go if we would have a tornado. Even my oldest knows. For fire---we need to review the plans for that. We recently attended a field trip to a Fire Museum and they spoke about fire safety so I know the time is right.

5. What is your favorite morning drink?

Mmmm...I ADORE a nice coffee mixed with hot chocolate with whipped cream!

Love these questions as they give me a fun post to share during the week about totally random stuff!

Fresh from the Bookshelf: The Rainbow Egg (Childrens Book Review)

I am excited to start reviewing books here on my blog! I love books and read so many of them, that I knew this was an area I could easily enjoy. I decided to cut my teeth in this new venue with a children's book.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from Westbow Press as part of their book review bloggers program. All opinions expressed are my own and I was not required to write a positive review.

The Rainbow Egg is a very sweet heartwarming story celebrating the beauty of adoption. The first thing I did was flip through the pages and look at the illustrations. They are beautifully done with a whimsical feel. My seven year old son really enjoyed looking at them and especially enjoyed the illustrations of the chicken house with all the chickens having different patterns and colors on their tummies.

I would say that The Rainbow Egg is written for about a level 2 or 3 reading level based on the sentence structures and vocabulary. I found that there was a better flow to the story when I read it aloud which makes it the perfect book for a parent to read to their child.

The story is very sweet as it follows the journey of the little chicken who lives all alone in the woods with the other woodland animals and then one day lays a beautiful rainbow egg. It chronicles in pictures and simple words, her struggle to care for the beautiful egg without any nest or any help. As she journeys along she finds a chicken house—and needing a rest from carrying her egg, she ventures inside. Little does she know she will find her help inside from Mr. and Mrs. Rainbow who have no egg of their own.

The ultimate theme of this story is one of the powerful love that is involved in adoption. It is subtle in the way it talks about infertility issues as well as how it deals with the choices made by families who adopt--and those who give up children for adoption. I think it would be a beautiful book for a family to have venturing into the world of adoption—or for any child who has been adopted. I think that any family involved in the adoption process would love this book's message.

Would I buy The Rainbow Egg? Not for myself. It isn't anything that would connect with my family dynamics—however, I have friends who have embraced adoption in their families and I know that this book would find a cherished spot on their bookshelves.