Book Review-Night Light, by: Guest Blogger Casey O'Hare

This week on Annette’s blog: Guest blogger steals the show! No I’m just kidding. Mom asked me to write a guest book review for the sequel to Last Light by Terri Blackstock. I’ve only had to write a review once before, and that was for Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë. I wouldn’t recommend that book. But let’s see how I fare in this one… I give you: Night Light
May 24, a day that will live in infamy (couldn’t resist). Cars stopped working, cell phones died, and planes fell out of the sky. But these seemed the least of problems for the Brannings as they cope with the loss of their most prized possession: electricity.
Several weeks into the outage, the murderer has been caught, preparations for a well are underway, and the mayor of Crockett, Alabama has shown up at the gates of the Oak Hollow subdivision with some very good, and some very bad news. The source of the outage has been discovered. In 1999 a star supernova occurred and the radiation caused by the event is just now reaching Earth. The rays shouldn’t be harmful to humans, but the government just isn’t sure. Mail is being delivered, FEMA is handing out disbursements of $25 to every citizen in America, and we all know what happened when they gave the Katrina survivors the $2000 cards. Oh yeah, and the draft is being reconstituted, only they aren’t looking for soldiers, but for mechanics.
While the meeting is going on, a small band of thieves, that would make the cast of "Oliver" jealous, try to break into the Brannings’ home. They make off with a few items, but not before son, Jeff can chase them to the Sandwood Place Apartments. The thieves are four small children living alone since their mother, Jessie Gatlin, disappeared. Finding the compassion in their hearts, Kay and Doug decide to take Aaron, Joey, Luke and Sarah back home till they can either find their mother, or a more suitable relative.
Things go downhill when they find yet another body, Jessie Gatlin’s, and the search for a different killer comes about. Eyes turn to Aaron when he keeps pulling guns out of nowhere. The thrill never ends in the exciting sequel: Night Light.

Vacation Bible School 2008

It’s been one week since Vacation Bible School. My job is grade school crafts. It takes me about a week to recover from the week. I don’t know what it is that makes VBS week so tiring. I guess it could have something to do with the 300 plus kids in attendance.

I so look forward to VBS every year. I guess because I didn’t get to go that much as a kid. At least not when I was old enough to remember it. The one year I do remember going to VBS, we made treasure boxes. It was probably around 1973 or 75. We were given a cigar box, pieces of macaroni and glue. The idea was to glue the macaroni to the cigar box. The next day when the glue was dry the leaders spray painted the boxes with silver paint.

I’m sure there was a wonderful lesson from the Bible that coincided with making the treasure boxes. Maybe something like this one:

"Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal.”
Matthew 6:19-20

I really don’t remember the story, but I do remember that shiny silver macaroni covered box that was, I’m sure, eventually thrown in the garbage. I also remember giving my heart to Jesus around that same time—coincidence? I don’t know. One thing I do know is that fourteen kids made professions of faith in Jesus Christ this year in VBS. And that’s a treasure worth taking to the bank.

Here’s a link to a slideshow of our 2008 VBS:

http://blip.tv/file/1037064