Tuesday

Hercule Poirot's Christmas - Book Review




I am reading through the novels of Agatha Christie in the order in which they were written and writing a review on each one.








Hercule Poirot's Christmas


1938


Description


It is Christmas Eve. The Lee family reunion is shattered by a deafening crash of furniture, followed by a high-pitched wailing scream. Upstairs, the tyrannical Simeon Lee lies dead in a pool of blood, his throat slashed.

But when Hercule Poirot, who is staying in the village with a friend for Christmas, offers to assist, he finds an atmosphere not of mourning but of mutual suspicion. It seems everyone had their own reason to hate the old man…









My Thoughts


This is the 32nd book by Agatha Christie and the 19th Poirot Mystery


Another one of the Poirot murders that is hard to forget once you have read it because of the memorable incident of the death - hint but not quite a spoiler -the sounds!  


The title comes from the fact that it is Christmas time and Poirot is the detective of the story but otherwise in my mind it is not really a unique descriptive title for this mystery, which does happen at Christmas time but could it have happened other than at Christmas?

If you have seen this one as the TV adaptation it must be noted that there are definite differences there to the actual novel Agatha Christie Wrote and again we must ask the question why. 
Why did they have to make those changes?

I love locked room mysteries and mysteries in a similar vein when we need to know how did the murderer get in? when did they get in? 
As is so much a part of Christie storytelling we also need to look for the misinformation and the twists in this one.

Another good murder to solve and of course Poirot is the best detective to do just that.
So we end up with an enjoyable read as we try to work it out along the way and if we read carefully we could solve it.

Agatha Christie is quoted as having said the following about this book and I have to say I imagine her laughing as she wrote the true words - 

‘You yearned for a “good violent murder with lots of blood”. So this is your special story – written for you.’


So another  "TIC"  from me.



If thinking of reading this book in the future why not pin this pic to go back to later.

















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Sunday

How to Learn Psalm 34 v 1-4 - Bible Memorization with FREEBIES


I could never do it!

          Do what?

Memorize Psalm 34 verses 1 to 4!

          Yes you can one verse at a time.


Many people think they could never manage to memorize 4 verses of the Bible together.

 But they might consider learning 1 verse.

 Over the years you have probably memorized some verses from all over the Bible - all individual verses or perhaps two verses like Proverbs 3 v 4-5.

 So why not learn a short passage of 4 verses just doing it 1 verse at a time.


So let's look at 3 things:
  • Memorising Tips
  • Some Freebies to help you.

Memorising Tips

 If you read the blog post on 
10 Ways to Learn Scripture - Bible Memorization
you will know that I shared 10 ways to tackle this but some ways are more helpful than others to different people and to different verses or passages.
If you didn't read that blog post it might be good to go over to it now HERE
and then come back to see which of the 10 ways I would recommend for this one.
I am going to help you with this passage using
        Ways  1,  2,  3,  4,  7,  8,  9,  &  10  
because of the structure and Rhythm of the verses.

1.  Read the verse often, every day, multiple times in the day.
     Repeating it over and over.

2.  Write out the verse often, every day.
     Writing it out over and over and over.

3.  Feel the excitement of a verse that is an exaltation of praise to God.
     Think the praise as you say or write the words.

4.  Personal Testimony - Action from you and result from God.
     Think about the request from you and how God answers our prayers.

7.  Understand the meaning of the verse.
     Think of what it actually says and means and it will remain better in your mind.

8.  Make it easy to see the verse clearly &  regularly each day.

9.  Make or Use Bible Verse Graphics

10.  Sing It.

Each verse in this passage contains 2 parts - yet both make up just one sentence so there is help here of the second part relating to the first so that the verse makes sense.
In fact in the other blog post mentioned above you will have seen me take various verses from Psalm 34 as the examples for the different ways.


So let's look at each of these 4 verses on their own and then you can put them together.

Psalm 34 v 1

 I would use any or all of  1, 2, 7, 8, & 9 

 1.   Read it like it is in two sections

2.   Write it on two separate lines

7.   Understand that the second part of this verse is a natural result of the first part

8.   Stick copies of this verse on the mirror, fridge door, etc.

 9.   Make or Use Bible Verse Graphics 
      (this graphic is available to download as a free printable in my Resource Library)







Here's a video I made just to show you one way and you can use this by replaying it as often as you like to learn it within a day or two depending on how often you practice it.










Psalm 34 v 2

 I would use any or all of  1, 2, 7, 8, & 9 

 1.   Read it & Concentrate on the two first words in each part and then get the "what each will do" straight in your head to go along with it.

2.   Write it on two separate lines

7.   Understand that the second part of this verse is a great result of the first part

8.   Stick copies of this verse on the mirror, fridge door, etc.

 9.   Make or Use Bible Verse Graphics 
      (this graphic is available to download as a free printable in my Resource Library)






Psalm 34 v 3

I would use any or all of  1, 2, 7, 8, & 9

 1.   Read it like it is in two sections but making a request

2.   Write it on two separate lines.

3.  Feel the excitement of this verse because it is an exaltation of praise to God.
     Think the praise as you say or write the words.

7.   Understand that the second part of this verse is reinforcing the first part.

8.   Stick copies of this verse on the mirror, fridge door, etc.

 9.   Make or Use Bible Verse Graphics - because this is portrait shaped it will make a good phone screen saver 
      (this screen saver is available to download as a free printable in my Resource Library)








Psalm 34 v 4







I would use any or all of  1, 2, 7, 8, & 9

1.   Read it like it is in two sections - there is excitement here over what happened.

2.   Write it on two separate lines.

4.  Personal Testimony - Action from you and result from God.
     Think about this as a prayer from you and how God answers our prayers.

7.   Understand that the second part of this verse is God responding to the first part which was a prayer.

8.   Stick copies of this verse on the mirror, fridge door, etc.

9.   Make or Use Bible Verse Graphics - because this is portrait shaped it will make a good phone screen saver 
      (this screen saver is available to download as a free printable in my Resource Library)



Bible Verse Graphics

I post a Bible Verse Graphic every morning on my
 Facebook Page for Sandra's Ark  
so if you want to be encouraged by a verse each day or have a graphic you can Share to your timeline or Save in Facebook then click through to my Facebook Page and be sure to like and follow the page to see those graphics in your feed each day.




Did you notice something was missing?

For the 4 separate verses I said we would use
1,2,3,4,7,8,9,10

and as we went through the verses above we did not include no.10

because no. 10 is going to be the way to reinforce the whole passage for us

We are going to pull all 4 verses together in a song.





Rhythm

 Often we see rhythm in verses of the Bible and especially so in the Psalms.

 They were meant to be sung but we can use the fact of the rhythm of the words to help us learn this passage.

 As I said above each verse contains 2 parts

 v.1   I will bless .....
        his praise shall .....

 v.2   My soul shall .....
        the humble shall .....

 v.1   O magnify the Lord .....
        and let us exalt .....

 v.1   I sought the Lord .....
        and delivered me .....
and if you say the words aloud you will notice the rhythm between them repeating throughout.

 When we recite something rhythmically it really helps us to learn it.



PLUS

Let's not forget the best and easiest way for most people to learn scripture

We sing it!

Watch the video below of Fred and I singing this passage as a song we learnt as teenagers and have not really forgotten over all these years.

This song is fantastic for this passage as it does not leave out any words or add in any words but takes the exact verses straight from the Bible.


 

You can come back anytime and replay the video here to practise or you can find it on my YouTube channel  Scripture Memorization in Song at Sandra's Ark




We can also pull all 4 verses together by repeating them straight through as we colour a picture around them.


Here you will see an example of a colouring page I made for Psalm 34 v 1-4 and it is also available as a freebie on the Blog with the link at the end of this post.





Here you will see the 4 Word Search Puzzles I made for Psalm 34 v 1-4 and these are also available as freebies on the Blog with the link at the end of this post.









Other posts on the Memorization of Scripture are












FREEBIES

Don't forget to get all your free downloads to help with memorizing this verse

or pin the appropriate pics to remind you to come back later.


We have your  




ALSO









 








AND 



  




Don't forget to download your free printables of Psalm 34 or pin this pic to come back later



 




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Wednesday

How To Be More Encouraging on Facebook - A Dose of Encouragement


I want to be more encouraging to others.

I want to share items that will make others laugh, smile, learn something worthwhile, help, and encourage people.  


You probably want to be a good friend to others too!

So we all really want to be good encouraging friends on Facebook!
I just thought I would share a little story with you because if we were out for a coffee together I would have told you this.  I love sharing little things that happen to us (or rather mostly me) if they are funny as it is good to laugh.

I love my slippers.

For years now as soon as I get into the house off come the shoes and on go the slippers.  


But last year I got worse!


Yes I started getting into the car in my slippers and taking a pair of shoes with me for putting on at my destination.

Before anyone starts to worry about safety in the car let me assure you this is perfectly ok as I am not driving very much now and my husband Fred does wear his shoes as he drives.


So one day I opened the hall cupboard and grabbed my black sling backs and headed on out to the car in a hurry.

However when I got to my destination and went to put on my shoes I discovered I had lifted two left shoes.
Yes I have two pairs of the same shoes!






They must have both got thrown in to the same part of the cupboard and in my hurry I did not look closely enough to make sure I was bringing out the correct pair of shoes.

Now the thing is 2 left shoes are very useful if you have the two right ones to match up with them but 2 left shoes on their own are not good.

Firstly they are exactly the same shoe but my feet are not, no way is a left shoe going to fit properly on my right foot.  I could get my foot in but it would not be the correct shape so not a good fit.

Secondly it would not be wise to try to walk with the wrong shoe.  Of course I did try but it is so uncomfortable especially around the toes and the arch.   Wearing shoes like this would end up injuring my foot.



What do we learn from this little story?


Not everything is what it immediately looks like!

 Be more careful!

 You must look carefully at what you are going to use!
In a pair of shoes, both will look exactly the same in colour, size, design but they are not identical.  We have to look closely at them to see which is the right one for each foot.

Something like this happens as we scroll through our facebook.
We will see posts that look like great Christian posts but we need to look closely at them to know whether they are the "right fit" for us.

 Remember there will always be imitators of all good things and there are plenty of them on Facebook

 but it may be a while before you see their true colours

for example

 A.  In a group of what were supposed to be "Christians" I had a lady private message me and call me "the Devil" because I had spoken to her friend about the reference for a verse she was using to instruct other women.  She was actually taking a verse out of Job and using it wrongly but did not want us to know so she just said it was in the book of Job and then scoffed that we obviously did not know our bibles well enough when asked for the reference.  I gave her the reference of the verse and then asked her to treat it properly in context with the verses around and that is when she got mad at me and her friend messaged me (twice in fact because she claimed this lady was very holy).
Obviously these two ladies had to be blocked by me on facebook so that I would not have to put up with being cursed at on messenger and called names and I also left the group because being in it was going to bring me into contact with more of this type of person - trying to teach the word wrongly.







B.  Then there are the lovely pictures we see on Facebook but they are not being shared by Christians - they are being shared by people who just want more attention and followers and have sometimes even stolen other people's pictures to use - as was the case a few years ago when someone took a picture I had made and shared it but they had removed my name from it before they put it on their page.

These people are not there to help or encourage others but to gain something for themselves.

They don't care if they are sharing misquotes of the Bible or of well known Christians, they don't care so they don't check their pictures or words are TRUE.

(This is completely different from the people who share pictures of mine straight from my page and I have several people who do this regularly and I do appreciate their support.)


I don't want to share things on my Facebook personal page or on Sandra's Ark Facebook Page 
that would not be fun or educational or encouraging or beneficial to others and I certainly don't want to share posts that are advertising/promoting something I do not believe in.

So I am very careful to avoid certain posts on Facebook.



How can we we tell which posts to avoid?


1.  Take a little look at the bottom of the picture or in the corner and you may see the credit given to whoever or whatever organisation created this picture, you may have a good hint from this name whether it is a Christian post or NOT.

NOTE. 
Almost anything with "Spiritual" in the name will indicate other religions and not true Christianity. 
Spirituality does not = Christian and if you don't know what I mean here take a look at all the categories in bookshops - Spirituality there will present you with Mysticism and Occult and other Non-Christian Religions.

I actually wrote a previous short blog post about    Spiritual = Christian?



2.  Look and see who originally posted this on Facebook and you may get a clue about whether or not this is a Christian post or NOT.

NOTE. 
If they regularly tag loads of people they are looking for lots of likes and shares, if they are looking for an amen comment or if they are trying to make you feel bad for not commenting, liking or sharing their post, they are using a form of blackmail so just let it pass by.



3.  If you are not sure about the poster/page when you find out who originally posted it, just click through to "about" on their Facebook page  (about is sometimes now under "Community" on the side) and then scan through what you find.

NOTE.
You will most likely see a link to a website with a strange name, or a website which when you click through to it and scan down a page or two will obviously show you whether you can trust it or not.

EXAMPLE:

You may see "Project Happiness" and it looks like a good name.

These two links will indicate what it is like

https://www.facebook.com/projecthappiness

http://www.projecthappiness.org/

(you don't have to scan far on either of these two sites before seeing a person or a small logo of a person in a sitting yoga meditation position - and no you cannot have Christian Yoga)




4.  Not everyone who calls themselves
 Apostle / Prophet / Prophetess / Pastor / Pastrix (new term used for a female pastor) / Minister / Elder / Deacon / Deaconess, 
are actually ordained by a true Christian Denomination. 


Matthew 7 v 21-23
21 Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.

22 Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works?

23 And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.

NOTE.
Most Christians worth following on Facebook rarely mention their true titles.



5.  One thing that stands out to me is if the picture or the cover pic of the page that shared it has angels or a type of celestial look to it just avoid.


 Another Tip!
Look at quality of the picture that is shared - if not good or looks like it has been altered then think twice before you click the like or share button.




I know this all takes a bit of time but it is worth it not to be passing on something that is linked with someone or some organisation you really would not intend to advertise to others.


And remember EVERYTHING we do on Facebook
 actually does promote ourselves and others
 whether we mean it to or not.


I make a point of not feeling that I have to just share anything I see.

I make a point of not feeling that I need to daily fill up my personal page or my Blog Page.

I make a point of thinking twice about whether the item is good to share onwards.



When we have a safe, friendly, encouraging page or group or personal profile on Facebook 
we will be an encouragement and blessing to others. 



For further help in checking out other FB pages see my earlier blog post  Spiritual = Christian?








Here are some Facebook Accounts to avoid:

Jen Hatmaker
Heidi Baker
Paula White
Christine Caine
Ann voscamp
Joshua Mills
Bill Johnston - Bethel (California)
Joseph Prince

Here are some Facebook pages to avoid:

 Letting Love Flow  by Mary Ruth Velicki
Wisdom of the Women rising
Soul Awakenings
Butterflies rising
Embracing yourself
The Warrior within You
Project Happiness

Here are some Words / Phrases to avoid:

 Angelic
Spirituality
Christian Yoga
LDS - Latter Day Saints (Mormons)
Good Thoughts
Sensing your spirit
Spiritual energy
Crystals




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Monday

What & Where is True Happiness & Joy? - Coffee & Conversation






Do we need something complicated or elaborate to make us happy?

Do we need something beautiful or intricate to make us happy?

Do we need something expensive or outlandish to make us happy?







No I believe that mostly the simplest of things make us happy.

A Silly Picture


 This picture that I saw on Facebook one day really made me laugh out loud.
Photo Credit - Holiday Spirit

 A Funny Word that makes us Laugh

 A Familiar Taste


 So happy that there was one Mr Frostie ice pop left in the box because I don't like the Mrs Frosties




A Sense of Satisfaction over something we Achieve.  


The highest score I have ever got for one turn in a game of Wordfeud.






When we try and plan things to be happy events or special moments or fantastic pictures, they can be spoilt by the simplest of things as well.  But some of the best events, moments or pictures are the ones we haven't thought out or planned or hoped for but have just happened when we are not thinking about them.

I am definitely a person who likes to plan things but I have to learn to sometimes just let things happen and enjoy the moments that God gives me and not just the ones I plan.


Often I have been struck by the different things that I would chose as happy moments. 

It is great to think that the majority of them do not involve spending money so who can possible claim that money brings happiness.  

Often things that bring happiness are things I have made or achieved or took part in with others and memories.

These things were perhaps not perfect and not the most beautiful but I learnt new skills and I am always ready to take some time to enjoy my memories.



There is the contact with friends and family that make me happy.   


We were happy to have all our family together for summer holidays for the previous 3 years


A hug that made me very happy when I had a headache



Then there was that ordinary day when I was very happy to be able to embed this
 Gospel Presentation Video
 by Glen Scrivener
 in my blog sidebar.


This was not something that made me laugh or was cute & made me smile.

This was not something that involved my memories.

This was not something that I had accomplished.

No.

This was something that I knew would help to bring true happiness and in fact true joy to others.


What could make us happier than to know that others are happy too!

What can make others happy?

Where does our true happiness come from?


                   Not money and not perfection anyway!


Our true happiness is really deeper than happiness it is pure deep joy that comes from the Lord 






What and Where is True Happiness and Joy?




Can you say that you are truly happy?

 Do you have this joy that nothing can take away from you?

 I hope you take the time to watch the short 321 video
and share it with others too.








You may enjoy reading some more Coffee & Conversation Posts from this Blog


You may be interested in reading more encouragement around Happiness  at

Thankfulness & Happiness go Hand in Hand - A Dose of Encouragement 
 
Happiness, Happiness - A Dose of Encouragement  

What Makes us Truly Happy - Coffee & Conversation




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Tuesday

The Little Boy Who Wouldn't Eat Cheesecake - Kids Book Review


It's time for another Children's Book Review.

Today it is a book for young children about a young boy who did not understand that something could taste good because of it's name.








We went to spend Sunday afternoon with our son and daughter-in-law and our 3 grandchildren.

Who was the most excited?

We were not sure - Matthew (almost 5) & Ruby (3) were very excited and so were grandpa and I.


Not long into the afternoon Matthew and Ruby asked if I had a new book to read with them because I had been hinting about it when we talked last week.

So we settled down on the couch as they always like to do one on each side of me and this time I got out my iPad instead of an actual real life book.



Disclaimer:  I received a free pdf copy of this book to read and give my honest review - this was in pdf form because the book was published in the US and we live in the UK.



So let's have a look at


The Little Boy Who Wouldn't Eat Cheesecake


You can see from the picture below that this book is very bright and colourful.






This is the front cover and it gives you a good idea of the type of illustrations throughout.



As with other Children's Books I have reviewed

SSHH Don't Wake The Baby! - Christmas Children's Book Review



I like to get our grandchildren involved in the reviews because if a book is for children then they are the ones it should be tested on.


Grandpa is the designated reader while we are on Face Time calls and nanny does the reading of new books when we are all together in the one place.

So the kids and I got comfortable on the couch and we opened the book in my iPad Pro.

Bigger screen for us all to see.

This was actually a treat for Matthew and Ruby because they do not do a lot on the iPad.

Meanwhile grandpa had got my phone and started to take pictures and very short videos







Inquisitive minds always want to know what's happening straight away so we stopped at the cover page for a little while to see what info we could get from the picture there as well as the cheesecake and chocolate cake you heard about in video above.







So let's start testing out the story.



It's definitely a family story, grandchildren hearing a true story from their grandpa which is all about the grandpa when he was a young boy with his mum and dad.








The book is about a story being told within a story.

You can see in this next video that Matthew and Ruby learnt something new at the very start of the story.







Later  about halfway through the story and Ruby was pointing out something about one of the pictures but I'm not going to give you too many spoilers about this story book.







There are some pictures that are like pencil drawings that show great expressions on the boy's face like this page below











Then we came to the time when Matthew told us he hadn't tasted cheesecake yet either.






So a brief discussion then took place about how we should have cheesecake for desert some time soon but we would have to do some careful checking of which cheesecake we could all eat together because Ruby and baby Sarah both suffer from allergies to some food products and dairy items are a big problem.



Now what do you think happened?

Did the boy ever eat some cheesecake?


At the end we have another type of food for the boy to have to think about but you need to read the story to find out what that is.







My Thoughts

I would say that this is a very enjoyable and relatable story for families to read together.

All children have to come across food they have never eaten before and then they will also come across people they have never seen before, places they have never gone to before and it can be hard for them to do some new things.

This is a gentle down to earth story that helps them see past their preconceived ideas or their uncertainty of accepting something new.


This book is written by Christina Myers who is a blogger friend and is illustrated by Katherine Carver

Christine wrote this true story because she often heard her father-in-law tell his grandchildren the story of this incident between him and his mother and father many many years ago when he was a little boy.



So Deciding thought on this book?


Yes it's a big Tick from nanny, grandpa and the grandkids.






Disclaimer:
I was given a free copy of the book to read and write an honest review but no other compensation.  
The views expressed here are completely my own.







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