We're back!

We have had some internet problems the last two weeks, but now we're back. As always, computer glitches can be so frustrating, but there was some good too. It gave me much extra time for other things and caused me to think carefully about the time I do spend on the computer.

Mainly, I regretted not being able to tell you about all the fun Bri and I had during her Spring Break visit with Jessie and to show you some of the pictures of her. Sorry this took so long, Bri, but I'm thankful for the extra time we had since I couldn't "worry" about all the important (!) e-mails I was missing.

Anyone who knows Bri even a little knows that her #1 favorite pasttime is jumping. These first two pictures show her in action. The second one was taken at Lost in Fun and I was pretty excited about how my camera caught her in action. And, one of her #2 pasttimes is making silly faces. The other three pictures show this in action.

We did many things not chronicled here--Mexicali VBS at church, fed the kittens, played in the surprise snow, went to library story time, went to the Lincoln Children's Museum, went to Investigation Station at the State Historical Museum, visited great-grandparents, made waffles, baked cupcakes and cookies, and had a tea party! We were busy, but had great fun. I love it when I have each grandchild all to myself!

Thanks, Bri, for being brave enough to come so far for such a long visit. I hope this will be the beginning of a long annual tradition.

Have a great day, everyone reading this!

Nelson's Complete Book of Bible Maps and Charts

Nelson's Complete Book of Bible Maps and Charts, third edition, is probably the finest book, and certainly the book with the most value for the price, that I've reviewed for Thomas Nelson.

The 470-paged book is a wealth of full-color photographs, maps, and graphics for any student or teacher of the Bible. Organized book by book through the old and new testaments, it has information on authors, dates, themes, literary structures, characters, and events, as well as detailed outlines and informative charts for every aspect of each book. For a map lover like me, the maps alone (I counted 84) are worth the price of the book.

To give you a close up of the book, consider these features: the six-page entry for Ephesians contains a paragraph about the author, two about the date of Paul's writing, three about theme and literary structure, a chart of "Ephesians at a Glance," an outline of the book, a map and discussion of the city of Ephesus, and a comment about Paul's phrase "in Christ," which appears thirty-five times in the book. Acts, a much longer book, has 12 pages, including 7 charts and 9 maps, for its entry.

And, Thomas Nelson keeps on giving with this volume. All the maps and charts are available for free download at their website. This feature is invaluable for teachers and Bible study leaders who want to provide visuals for their students. Thank you, Thomas Nelson, for publishing this fantastic resource, and thanks for my complimentary copy and the opportunity to review for you.