Review of Love You More by Jennifer Grant

This is a delightful book detailing the personal story of one family as they adopt their daughter after having three children. I loved this book and found it highly readable. I really liked that the point of the book was not to shame the reader into adopting. I also really liked the way Mrs. Grant relates to her children. Her visible love for each of them and the way she loves each one individually and equally was a great bonus in this book.

She candidly speaks of the impatience to have her daughter home and the blows that adoption made to her peace of mind. Though her story doesn't seem all that unusual to me, (knowing many people who adopted) she seemed genuinely and totally surprised that the adoption took so long, that it was so emotionally draining, that it cost her so much in emotional reserves, that she went through the motions day after day.

I enjoyed it. I don't plan to adopt. But I love to read well-written true stories about family life, and this book fits that description.

I received this book from Thomas Nelson in exchange for an honest review. I received no other compensation for the book.

Eggplant Ravioli

Here's the recipe I am planning to have tomorrow when my company comes. When I was in Italy, I had a wonderful dish of Eggplant Ravioli at some small restaurant. That was one of my all-time best meals EVER. I looked for years for a recipe for Eggplant Ravioli. I did find one, but it was really difficult. You had to make the raviolis by hand.

I had finally given up, and happened on this recipe in a magazine. (I am sorry, but I have had the recipe for years, and I didn't cut out the reference information for it. It does have calorie information and amounts for protein, fat, fiber, etc. so it might be Southern Living magazine, but that is just a guess.)

This recipe is almost as good as the meal I had in Italy, and the directions are really easy.

The eggplants I am using are from my garden. 

This is the meal before I cooked it. (I'll cook it tomorrow, once

my guests get here.)

Eggplant Ravioli


Vegetable Cooking Spray
2 t olive oil
1/2 pound eggplant, peeled and cut into 1/2 inch cubes
1 cup chopped onion
2 cloves garlic, minced
2- 15 ounce cans of tomato sauce
2 T sliced ripe olives
1 T balsamic vinegar
1 t dried thyme (I'll use fresh tomorrow, since I have so much thyme growing in the yard.)
1 t to 1 T of fresh oregano
2   packages of refrigerated cheese-filled ravioli, uncooked.
3 T grated Parmesan cheese

Coat a large nonstick pan with cooking spray. Add olive oil, and place over medium high heat. Add eggplant, onion, and garlic. Cook, stirring constantly, 5 minutes or until tender. Stir in tomato sauce, ripe olives, vinegar and thyme. Remove skillet from heat.

Cook ravioli according to package directions. Drain. Rinse with cold water, and drain. Toss with vegetable mixture and place in 1 1/2 quart shallow baking dish.  Sprinkle with cheese. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.

Revew of George Washington Carver by John Perry

George Washington Carver is someone I really like and admire. His work has been really beneficial to people in my area. I actually know people who testify that they have personally benefited from his work with peanuts and sending out Jesup Wagons.

I was looking forward to reading this book, because I expected to learn more about his admirable qualities. Unfortunately, I did not enjoy this book by John Perry. His view of Dr. Carver as a petty, self-promoting person who happened to be kind, but rather uninformed was really disturbing to me.

There were some things that were good about the book, but in order to find them, I had to look past the author's bias against Dr. Carver. For instance, I really liked finding out that Dr. Carver believed in direct observation of nature and hands-on experiences as essential to learning. I liked learning that he felt the student must encounter nature, that nature is both entertaining and instructive, and that nature both encourages investigation and stimulates originality. Dr. Carver's teaching style was to lead walks through the woods, and bring specimens to class. He felt that hands-on is better than lecture or text book learning.  These are points I can actually use in my homeschooling.

He also felt that nature was a window through which to view God's glory, and that nature is a way through which God speaks to us every day, every moment and every hour of our lives. I can see that.

I received this book from Book Sneeze in exchange for an honest review. I am thankful to Book Sneeze for sending me a copy for review.