Title: Moving is Murder: A Mom Zone Mystery (Mom Zone Mysteries)

Author: Sara Rosett

ISBN: 0-7582-1336-0

Genre: Fiction/Mystery

Pages: 264 pages

Publication: Kensington Books 2006

Rating: 4 stars (you can look here to read about my rating system)

Title: Staying Home Is A Killer (Mom Zone Mysteries)

Author: Sara Rosett

ISBN: 978-0-7582-1338-9

Genre: Fiction/Mystery

Pages: 275 pages

Publication: Kensington Books 2007

Rating: 4 stars

Title: Getting Away Is Deadly (Ellie Avery Mysteries)

Author: Sara Rosett

ISBN: 978-0-7582-1340-2

Genre: Fiction/Mystery

Pages: 249 pages

Publication: Kensington Books 2008

Rating: 4 stars

Title: Magnolias, Moonlight, and Murder (An Ellie Avery Mystery)

Author: Sara Rosett

ISBN: 978-0-7582-2681-5

Genre: Fiction/Mystery

Pages: 250 pages

Publication: Kensington Books 2009

Rating: 4 stars

Sara Rosett did a great job with these books – the series was a really fun read for me.  They are all about Ellie Avery, a professional organizer, a mother, and wife of an Air Force pilot.  In each book she finds herself in the middle of situations that make her curiosity grow to the point that she gets involved and tries to figure out the truth of the matter.  As result of her investigations she finds herself in very precarious situations.

I loved how the author incorporated a glimpse into military life as well as a glimpse into motherhood.  She does a fine job of both and it makes the stories very real.  These books are very well written, very entertaining, and suspenseful enough that they kept me reading and not wanting to put them down. Another thing that I liked is that they were clean and did not have bad language or inappropriate topics.

The author also includes organizing tips at the end of most chapters in all four books.  These tips had a theme in each book and each chapter would deal with a different aspect of it.  Honestly, after reading them in the first book I tended to skip over a lot of them in the rest of the series.  Not because they were bad or anything – I was just too into the story to take the time to read them. 

I would highly recommend these to anyone who loves a good mystery!

I especially want to tell my hubby (who served in the Reserves) that I am so proud of you for your service to the military!

God bless you all!

My husband was in the military (he has been honorably discharged and is no longer serving) and I was always very proud of him for that. I am very thankful that he was never deployed overseas. The three months that I had to live without him while he was in boot camp and in school were hard enough – I don’t know if I could have handled it for much longer! (Our children were very young at the time so I was a single parent to two small children while he was gone.) I say all that to say, it really makes me appreciate the sacrifices that the families make (which is why the line at the top in in italics) as well as the soldiers. The wives and children, as well as parents and siblings, that get left behind have a hard job!

So, thank you and may we remember the ones that have given their lives for the sake of our freedom!

Compassion and the Decline of America
(by Dennis Prager, Townhall.com) – This past weekend, a friend of mine attended his 13-year-old son’s baseball game. What he saw encapsulates a major reason many of us fear for the future of America and the West. His son’s team was winning 24-7 as the game entered the last inning. When he looked up at the scoreboard, he noticed that the score read 0-0. Naturally, he inquired as to what happened — was the scoreboard perhaps broken? — and was told that the winning team’s coach asked the scoreboard keeper to change the score. He and some of the parents were concerned that the boys on the losing team felt humiliated.
To continue reading this story click here.

Let’s Smarten up on Teen Rebellion
by J. Michael Smith
HSLDA President
We all have heard the term “teenage rebellion.” It’s conventional wisdom that teens go through a period of turbulent adolescence before—it is hoped—they settle down and become mature, productive adults.To continue reading this article click here.

How Often Do We Hear From the Media About These Heroes?
To read this article click here.

Interview with Presidential candidate Sam Brownback
Click here to read interview on 5 different issues.

I read this in the Sunday paper a couple of weeks ago and I wanted to share it. We need to make sure to support our military and their families no matter what we believe about the war. They are putting their lives at risk every day to make sure that you and I have the freedoms that we so enjoy in this country.

ARMY WIFE ANSWERS ONLINE CRITICS OF SOLDIERS AND WIVES

DEAR ABBY: My husband serves in the U.S. Army. I am a proud Army wife. Lately, more and more people are openly speaking out against the war in Iraq, as is their right. However, people are also speaking out against soldiers, and now, even their wives.I was recently confronted by a message on MySpace. The writer, a woman, called Army wives everything in the book. I was heartbroken. She said we were all uneducated. (I have my degree in psychology.) She said we all just sit home and spend our husbands’ money. I am a stay-at-home mom, but I do not ever get to sit.

She also stated that the Army paid us to have kids. This is not true, either. We do not get paid any more for having one child or seven. She said Army wives whine about missing their soldiers overseas and that it’s not that dangerous — you could die from any job. Not many wives outside the military have to go weeks without talking to their spouses and not knowing if they are OK. Jobs outside the military can be dangerous, yes, but people are not trying to harm them.

I just want people to know you can disagree with the war, with our leaders, with what happens in the world, but please do not group people together and look down on them. We military wives have it hard, but we keep things together the best we can. Our men fight for the rights some people take for granted. Please keep that in mind. — KATRINA IN FAYETTEVILLE, N.C.

DEAR KATRINA: Although many people are against the war in Iraq, and it is their right to speak openly about it, that does not give anyone the right to scapegoat the wives of the people who are fighting there. Scapegoating any group reveals more about the ignorance of the person doing it than the target of the nastiness.

Just because something appears on the Internet does not mean that it is true or factual. There is a lot of misinformation floating around out there, and the statements you quoted in your letter are part of it.

I am pleased to help you get the message across. But please do not stop with me. Spread the word on any site you feel the need to — and that includes MySpace.