Book Review: Jonah and the Great Big Fish by Rhonda Gowler Greene, Illustrated by Margaret Spengler

Jonah and the Great big Fish, as the title suggests, is a children’s book about the story of Jonah. In this adaptation of the story for children ages 4-8, the author uses age appropriate language and rhyming to convey the highlights of Jonah’s decision to disobey God’s command and the consequences he faced. The book ends with Jonah finally going to Ninevah as God had originally commanded, but does not cover the rest of the story from there.

This book definitely presents the story in a clear manner that is easily understood by children. The author stays true to the Bible, but keeps it simple. Of course, it doesn’t cover the entire book of Jonah with the part about the plant and the worm, but many children’s renditions of the story omit that part as well. I did appreciate that she referred to a fish and not a whale. Of course, we don’t know the exact identity of the creature, but since the Bible calls it a fish, I like to assume it is a fish! Although the book is presented in a simple, easy to understand manner, it is still very thorough. The author makes it clear that Jonah’s disobedience gets him into his situation, and his repentance and obedience gets him out of it.

The illustrations were very colorful and beautiful, and I found the book overall to have excellent visual appeal. Even the print is adjusted to the story, with some words bigger than others or wavy in order to illustrate the story better. This is a book that I would enjoy reading with my child, and I believe that children would enjoy it as well. My daughter will have it as part of her library to read when she is old enough!

I received this book for free from the publisher through the BookLook Bloggers <http://booklookbloggers.com> book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review and the opinions and thoughts I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255

The House - Kitchen and Bathrooms Update

It hasn't been too long since my last blog, but Bruce has been up to quite a few projects in getting the house ready for final inspection. I too have been busy, but more so with cleaning and prepping for the little one! I will try to cover my activities in my next entry!

The last of the replacement cabinets came for the kitchen, and we got the rest of our special ordered doors in (with the exception of a replacement pantry room door, since the one we got is broken). God also worked a miracle with the oven, range, and warming drawer! After the ship date was pushed back a month (see my previous house post), Bruce sent out a last resort email to the president of American Range. We got a fairly quick response from several people within the company, and they shipped out our order that week! It arrived last Tuesday, the 5th! So without further ado, here are the latest developments.

These are the doors to the master bathroom. They will be painted white eventually but the frame is in and the doors are hung!

Here are the doors to the master bedroom (shown from inside the bedroom). They too, will be painted white.

As I mentioned before, the pantry door is broken. The wood it actually split on the backside, but Bruce and his Dad found the crack while they were hanging it, so here it is! The door, but not the frame, will be replaced soon.

Like the master bedroom/bathroom doors, these still need to be painted, and we still need door knobs, but they are in and still looking nice! (Laundry room door below)

The floor to ceiling arrived with the crate labeled upside down and backwards, but it managed to escape major damage this time (although we weren't too happy with the nicks and scrapes cause by shelves moving around). You must admit it looks lovely next to the fridge nook! And yes, we will be installing glass panes in the upper doors!

Drum roll..... The oven! Isn't it gorgeous! The warming drawer will go in soon, underneath.

And the range! It is actually quite impressive! There is a grill top underneath the cover toward the left. You can see the downdraft in the "up" position in the back. The plate sitting on top toward the right is a drip pan that just hasn't been placed inside yet.It won't be fully installed until we get the granite put in, but you get the idea!

Another recent development it the acquisition of granite for the counter top. We had to buy from two different suppliers because we found two absolutely stunning slabs of 3 cm granite from one supplier, but could only get the 2 cm granite for the back splash from a different supplier. Then, when we had to pull teeth to get a hold of one of the two 2 cm slabs that matched our other granite, they decided to ship it underneath some bundles of heavy 3 cm slabs and broke it! We were naturally not very happy since the other similar slab was sold and we then couldn't find a comparable slab ANYWHERE!!!! But fortunately our fabricator came and looked at it, and said he could work with the undamaged portion. We lost a beautiful portion of the slab that I particularly wanted but at least we'll be able to have it match the counter top. Anyway, pictures to come soon!

Over the last few days, Bruce and his Dad finished building the surrounding frame for the master bathroom tub. The cardboard is on top of the tub again, but one of these days I'll have a picture of the inside!

Today, Bruce finished wiring in the bathtub. The four outlets to the right in the picture are the result. 

In order to pass final inspection the main things we've been working on have been the kitchen and the tub and shower drains. Well, the kitchen is now officially the only item left to complete before we can get inspection and turn on the hot water again! Of course the house won't be finished, but we won't need permits open anymore to finish the rest of it, and we will be able to move back in to the mostly finished portion of the house.

Below is the master bathroom shower as Bruce and his Dad were laying the membrane down...

...and again after they finished gluing it all in with mortar:

Then here we have the shower pan finished for the hall bathroom as well!

That's all I have for now! Next time I will catch up on the work my Mom and Dana and I have been doing to prep the front of the house for the baby, as well as the trailer since we'll have her in there for the first couple weeks.I should also be able to show pictures of the granite since that will be installed soon! As I write this, Bruce, his Dad, Mike, and Dana are out in the house working on various other projects, and I'm about to work more on setting up for the baby!