I read a whole lot of books, and totally forgot to write anything about any of them!
Dirty Faith by David Z. Nowell (I received a copy of this book from the publisher, my opinions are my own) - This book is life changing! If you want to talk about "putting feet to the ground" when caring for widows and orphans, this is the book. It was a hard read, but a good one. It made me think about how I want to help people, ways that I wanted to love on people, and how love makes you want to help them change their situations. The author has a connection to kids in Brazil, and he tells their story very clearly. It isn't pretty or safe, but its life for a lot of street kids. It'll make you cry, but you'll leave with a "fire in your belly."
Answering Your Kids Toughest Questions by Fitzpatrick and Thompson - ( I received a copy of theis book from the publisher, my opinions are my own.) Do your kids ask questions that make you want to curl up in a ball and pretend like you never heard it? You want to answer the question and help mold their lives, but you just aren't ready to answer yet?!? This book can help, you may not agree with everything the authors say, but this gives you time to think through the answer before they ask. The authors give really well thought out answers, and they separate the answers into age appropriate sections. They give you an idea of what a 4 year old can understand, a 7 year old can understand, or a teenager can understand.
The Year of Learning Dangerously by Cummings (This I checked out of the library.) This is one woman's story of the year she and decided to homeschool her daughter. This was a great read, Quinn Cummings and I definitely don't see eye to eye on everything, but I think we would be friends. :) She tells her story of going into the grocery store and worrying she would be stopped for her daughter's truancy, checking out all the local homeschool groups, dropping in on a homeschool prom, and even "infiltrating" homeschool conventions. She really wanted to see all that there is to this homeschool thing. Seems to me, she mostly found out, that there are no two families that do it the same way. Good funny read, even if you aren't a part of the homeschool movement.
Tried and True by Mary Connealy (I received a copy from the publisher, my opinions are my own) This is book is fiction. If you like stories based in the old west, this is one for you. This is a twist I hadn't read before. It has all of the things you are used to seeing in an old west story, beautiful woman, hard circumstances, hard work, and a whole lot of cows and horses. There is a twist to this though, but you'll have to read it to find out.