Hello and happy last day of January! This year looks like it’s going to fly by faster than 2019. I stared at the calendar today and thought, “I’m supposed to get my wrap-up done today…and a devotion tomorrow…yeah, that was poor planning.” 😉

Today, I’m going to share a few highlight from my month with you, a few story prompts and a special Freebie…more on that later.

January in Review

Verse of the Month: 11 Chronicles 32:7-8: Be strong and courageous, be not afraid nor dismayed for the king of Assyria, nor for all the multitude that is with him: for there be more with us than with him: With him is an arm of flesh; but with us is the Lord our God to help us, and to fight our battles. And the people rested themselves upon the words of Hezekiah king of Judah. (King James Bible)

These verses are literally the theme of my series on the War Between the States, even though it isn’t discussed until book 2. So many times, these verses have encouraged me to press on fearlessly for the Lord, because He is with me and no one can come up against Him and win!

Book of the Month: I read several books this month (most were short stories) but I must say that my favorite was Tattered Wings by Kassie Angle. I’ll be writing a review of it when it releases next month, but please, go ahead and pre-order your copy today! Request it at your Library! Spread the word! It’s a fantastic story!

Ministry Highlight: This year, our Pastor Clyde Eborn turned 90! We were privileged to attend his birthday party and help with the set up and take down 😉 It was an honor to celebrate a man who has dedicated his life to his Savior and has been instrumental in leading so many people to Christ! If you feel led, swing by our website and use the contact form to send him a happy birthday message!

Writing Update: Wow! Y’all, my mom and I got to spend three solid days reading through my manuscript for A Song of Home! She gave me so many good ideas, helped me straighten out some plot holes and unneeded storylines and helped me craft a (hopefully) satisfying ending *grins mischievously* We laughed too hard over one scene in particular, and later this month when working on a certain scene, we cried together. Currently, we are fixing two lasts scenes before a read-through next week. I have almost finished my outline for book 5 and plan to start writing it tomorrow! TOMORROW PEOPLES!!!!! *deep breath* I might be slightly excited and nervous and just over all overwhelmed by trying to pull off a happy ending to such a depressing year in American History. I know I’m going to cry at some point. There's so much sad stuff! But I have an idea for this story, a theme I really want to present…and hopefully, it’ll all come together.

Song of the Month: I purposely saved this for last! This song is a new one by Evangelist Byron Foxx of Bible Truth Music. Give Me a Vision, Dear Lord is a beautiful song that can be sung hymn style or as a special and let me tell you, it has a powerful message. And Bro. Foxx has graciously given me permission to share the music with you! Click here to download your free copy! Share it with your loved ones and Church members and let the message of the song speak to your heart. If it doesn’t stir you to do more for God, something is wrong.

And now, Story prompts for you!

Well, that's all for now! Have a blessed Day!
Ryana Lynn
Jude 22

And here is the final book review in this series for now! I still don’t have book 5, 6 hasn’t released and 7 doesn’t even have a cover yet (and even now, I’m rooting for a number 8). Today’s book features an unlikely hero…I mean, this is not what comes to mind when you think of a war dog. At least I don’t. So without further ado, lets jump right into this review!

My Rating: *

My Review: This was such a good book. It ties with book 3 for me. It’s set in France, D-day to be exact, and includes the French Resistance! That was enough to get me hooked on the story. This one also showed the other side of a Doberman Pincher’s personality (Read book 3 for the good side 😉). It was so sad reading about how WWII and the Nazi occupation effected the children of France specifically.

It sounded to me in the beginning that this was going to be a dissertation on the treatment of Japanese-Americans during WWII, and I was prepared for a lot of editing to make sure my siblings knew the truth about it. But thankfully, there was just two mentions of the sergeant not liking Tanaka, and they didn’t even say it was because he was Japanese-American. So for this book, the author stayed off the anti-American band wagon!

Anyway, back to how good this books was! I love all the scenes with Ace (he's a bull terrier)! He’s so sweet and so no nonsense. And the ingenious way he rescues…something/someone was so intriguing! I was concerned about the characters, that perhaps the Nazis would catch them and all would be lost in the end. The author was great at plot twists and the ending was satisfying. (I mean, Americans to the rescue, so how could I not love it 😉) A great look at working together, loving and serving your country and promoting freedom for all. The climax though! Heart-stopping! A great way to introduce kids to the French Resistance! (But I’m not a huge fan of Charlies De Gaulle; too flirty for my taste.)

So that's all of my reviews for this series so far! Don't be surprised if the others pop up on here before too long though!

Next post will be my January In Review! See you then!
Ryana Lynn
Jude 22

Books and a new year just seem to go together! Today, I’m sharing 5 books that I plan to read this year…at some point anyway. Some I’ve had for a little while, others, I just got and one I haven’t bought yet, because it’s not in print yet. So, without further ado, let’s dive in! (Disclaimer: These aren’t exactly endorsements; I’ve only read a draft of one of these. So don’t take this as a recommendation until a positive review goes up 😉)

Speak Truth in Your Heart by Sarah Mally

I received this book for Christmas, and I am so excited to read it! Sarah Mally is a favorite of mine (though I wish all her stuff was King James) and I adored her book Before You Meet Prince Charming. This is her most recent book and teaches how to immerse yourself in the truths of God in order to avoid belief in the lies of the devil…even the ones you don’t realize are lies. I’ve started this one already and I’m loving it so far!
 
The Last Jihad by Joel C. Rosenberg

I read his book The Auschwitz Escape last year and enjoyed his writing style. After reviewing it, so many people told me I had to read The Last Jihad. And I just happened to have it. (Goodwill finds, y’all!) I know it’s supposed to be about the possibility of a terrorist overthrow, but other than that, I’m actually not quite sure.  So…we’ll see if I end up liking it or not 😉
 
Unbroken: Young Adult Edition by Laura Hillenbrand

Since I enjoyed the original (minus some edits…) I figure this one will be even better, since I know certain words won’t be in there and probably a few scenes as well. Looking forward to proofing this one for my siblings!
 
Through All Things by Malachi Cyr

This is a historical fiction I bought in a sale in 2018…so yeah, I need to read this. From what I read about it, it’s set about the time of the French and Indian War and may involve a character going on a search for a kidnapped younger sister and her friend. I’m thinking along the lines of Alone, Yet Not Alone, though that is another book I haven’t read…
 
Tattered Wings by Kassie Angle

I cannot wait for this book to release! I was privileged to get to beta read this book prior to final edits and let me tell you, even there it was good! I can’t wait to read the final copy…and hold it in my hands! The cover is just gorgeous too!

So that's it for today! Have a blessed Weekend!
Ryana Lynn
Jude 22

And I’m back with the third review out of 4 (so far! Book 7 was just announced!) of the Soldier Dog Series and y’all! This one was one of my favorites! I’ve mentioned this before, but our ministry is located near Cherry Point Marine Air Station, so when I read this story, I couldn’t help but picture some of the fellows that have attended our church over the years! It made for a fascinating reading experience! Let’s dive right in!

My Rating: 4.5 Stars

My Review: I’m gonna break tradition and tell you the one thing I didn’t like about this book first, that way, I don’t have to break from all my squealing later *grins*. The one thing that stood out to me was the fact that the author really doesn’t seem to like the fact that America owns the country of Guam. Did we get it fairly? I have no idea. Should we let the people be independent from us? I don’t know. All I know is that the author is planting the idea of American’s being good bad guys subtly in this story and I didn’t like that at all. But it was a minor issue touched on maybe twice towards the beginning and is easy to fix. Maybe this is a conversation that should be had, whether Guam should be it’s own country or not, but this isn’t a conversation that should involve impressionable kids, who are already being attacked with anti-American sentiment enough through various media/education outlets. Let the kids love their country! *clears throat and steps off soapbox 😉*

Now, on to the good stuff. First off, can we just adore that cover? There is something so pleasing about a jungle, all the green and that gorgeous dog! Okay, Dobermans are not my favorite, per say, but they are cute in a dorky kind of way! And this dog in the story! He’s so good!

I loved how we got to see the plight of the natives on Guam without it becoming too violent or gory for children. And even though there were battle/medical sequences, I don’t think the descriptions were too much for young ones to stomach. It has a good balance of valor and reality of war to make children admire the GIs and realize war is not a game.

AND THE MARINES! Okay, I’m a total Army girl, but the hospital scene at the end was so good and so Marine Corps! I could go on and on about it! It was so good! I told my family about it and all of us are like, “That better be a true story, because that is true Marine Corps Spirit, right there!” You have to read the book for no other reason than to read that one scene! I still haven’t found out if it really happened or not, but I’m looking into it!

So yes, this was one of the best books in the series! Be sure to check it out!

Be sure and keep your eye open for our next post about 5 books I want to read in 2020!

God Bless!
Ryana Lynn
Jude 22

I’m so excited to be bringing back another post in my Soldier Life Series! This series (for anyone not familiar) is a compilation of posts I’m writing about the life of a soldier during the War Between the States. These are unbiased posts (North and South pretty much ran their armies the same way) and are meant to be a help to those writing about the War Between the States, or to inform those who are just interested in 1860’s of some of the inner workings of nineteenth century soldiering. It’s not an exhaustive guide, but I do hope it saves another writer from having to run all over the place to get basic information! Let’s get into it!

Captains were in command of a company, which could be infantry, cavalry or artillery, respectively. A company consisted of 100 men, divided. He would also accompany his men to battle, giving orders and acting under the commands of the Colonels (Regiments) and Generals (Brigades, etc.)

 (Information Sourced from: Here and Here. You can find more details on this site that I won’t be covering here for the sake of brevity 😉)

As Company commander, the Captain is responsible for keeping up the morale of his men, through whatever justifiable means he can. He is also responsible for recommending promotion and demotion of non-commission officers (Sergeants and Corporals) and for meting out punishments for misbehavior and rewards for valor and service.

Not only did they enforce the discipline of his company and lift the spirits and stir the heart of the warrior, but the Captain was also expected to be well versed in military tactics and insure that his subordinates knew how to train the men in the performance of these tactics. One was never to stop learning. It was also a means of controlling the men and insuring that they behaved as befitted soldiers of their respective countries.

The Captain had to have his colonel’s agreement to promote or demote a soldier in his command. This prevented favoritism from taking hold of the chain of command, as even the best of commanders could fall to.

An interesting point on the relationship between the Captain and the First Sergeant was noted from this Source …

“The Captain must always sustain his First Sergeant, and the other non-commissioned officers, as far as is consistent with justice; above all things he should not appear to take sides with the men against them.  If the non-commissioned officers do wrong, they may be punished for it as any other man in the company, but where the matter is simply an error of judgment, the non-commissioned officer should be privately corrected, instructed, or reproved, as may be deemed necessary, but never in the presence of the men.  The men must be taught to respect their non-commissioned officers, and to recognize their authority to the fullest extent.”

When a soldier was mistreated by his First Sergeant (ex. Struck by the sergeant unjustly), he did not have the right to fight back. Instead of lowering himself to that level (unless, of course, the officer intended him fatal harm), the soldier was to personally report the incident to his Captain, who would investigate and punish the offender, just as though he were one of the men.

One of the things that made the Captain close with his men was the fact that he was (supposed to be) always there. He was to be there for any and all matters of business, great and small, to hear of grievances and requests and encourage the men to maintain discipline and a fighting spirit. His attitude greatly effected his men. If he seemed not to care about the success of his company in battle, neither would they.

More than anyone, the Captain has control over his men. It’s his job to make sure they understand their duty, follow it, and if they fail, investigate and punish the guilty party to insure no repeats from the offender or his fellows.

The men look up to their Captain. He needs to be brave, fearless even, assuring them that they can accomplish their goal. He needs to foster a respectable relationship with his men by seeing to even the simplest of issues that are brought to his attention. The men need to know he cares about them and that they can trust him.

There is also administrative duties the Captain must attend to, supply issues, reports to write, review or send out, but for sake of brevity, I’ll not give you the laundry list 😉 Refer to this link if you wish to know more (scroll down to the point that says “Administration”).

There is also the role of Officer of the day, which is basically an honor bestowed on different Captains in the regiments, with additional administrative duties attached to it. But because this can tend to get a bit dull, I will give you this link in case any of you would like more details.

That’s it for now! Next time this series roles around, we will be taking a look at the Major!

Have a blessed day!
Ryana Lynn
Jude 22