When Chicks Hatch by Heather Randall A Review

ASIN: B00OZQP3OS| List Price: $2.99 kindle (on Amazon) or $10 print (on author website)|Format: Softcover or Kindle |

I write reviews for Christian Women Affiliate and when I saw that our very own Heather Randall, the CEO of the company was offering up her own book for review, I jumped at the chance to deviate from Day Planners and historical fiction to a good "chick book"! I was not disappointed!



"She had prayed for it in secret, exposing her loneliness only to God. She knew God had heard her, just as he’d heard every other prayer, whether it was a silent prayer from her heart or spoken out loud. Could it be that a door was opening and her life would soon be moving at a faster pace with love front and center?"

This is just one of the heart cries of the five women in this book who come to realize that life has ups and downs. No one is perfect. But there is a God who forgives and when we walk in God's amazing grace, we can find hope once we break free of our shells and cast our cares on Him.

In When Chicks Hatch we meet Nicky, who finds out her boss is having an affair. Sydney, a college student, who gets involved with a married man and lies about it and has to pay the consequences for her actions. Then there's Alexis who's marriage is falling apart and has no happy ending in sight. Alexis' sister, Kristen, a nurse, who has always had guy friends but has she pushed them all away leaving her to be alone the rest of her life? And don't forget the "princess", Jennifer who desires one thing that her husband hasn't been able to give her but maybe her friend can?

At first this book was a little hard to follow because of the five different story lines. But I quickly found it amusing as I learned to follow the lives of these five different women as their stories began to slowly intersect. I won't give away much but I was in tears near the end. The author has written this book so beautifully that you feel so much love for the characters that you wanted to hate in the beginning of the book. There are a lot of life lessons learned in this book. One of my favorite lines comes from the mother of Sydney, Mrs. Flannery.

“You'll learn. It takes time to kill the flesh, honey. It's kind of like those candles your father used to put on Mitchell's cake--the ones that relight when you think they're out. You've got to keep huffing and puffing and maybe even use the help of water before it's over, but eventually it's over, and that candle can't be lit even if you try
-Mrs. Flannery”
― Heather Randall, When Chicks Hatch

That line really drove home the lesson for me about how we don't change overnight. As much as we would love to see others make a 180 in their life or see a 180 in our own life, it takes time to see the results we want. Often God has a bigger plan and the answers to our prayers may not be at all what we were expecting!

If you like a fairly quick read and a good, clean, Christian, chick book, full of twists and turns and want a greater sense of how God works out every last detail of your own life for His greater purpose, you might want to pick up a copy of this book! Better yet, download a copy, now!

About the author:

Heather Randall began her writing career with baby steps, literally. In 2003 she started blogging about her mommy adventures and connecting with like-minded women online. During this time she was also preparing the final bits of a novel that had been written with pen and paper. A friend typed it all up properly for her and, at last, in 2011 When Chicks Hatch was published.

In 2013 He paved the way for her to purchase Christian Women Affiliate.

She now serves as the CEO of Christian Women Affiliate, LLC and all of its divisions including the CWA Radio Network and The CWA Review Crew. She especially enjoys serving fellow writers through her company. Heather still leaves time for God to fill her up with stories and she is currently working on a second novel.

Heather's hobbies include spending time with family, writing, reading, creating and trading mail art, homeschooling and blogging. Heather and her husband, four children, Mom, three cats, a dog, and a frog all reside in Oklahoma.


Website: http://www.heatherrandall.com/ 

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/HeatherRandallBooks

Facebook Fan Page: https://www.facebook.com/groups/CWAreviewCrew/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/HeatherMRandall

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/pub/heather-randall/19/8bb/b61

Google+: https://plus.google.com/u/0/+HeatherRandallCWA/posts

Pinterest: http://www.pinterest.com/heathermrandall/

Instagram: instagram.com/cwaheather

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/11475687-when-chicks-hatch?ref=atw

I received a free Kindle download of this book in exchange for an honest review. I was not required to write a positive review nor was I compensated in any other way. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the FTC Regulations. I am part of The CWA Review Crew.

Thoughts on Memorial Day

War is real. Today we set aside this day called, "Memorial Day" to pause and remember and HONOR all those who have gone before us, who proudly served our country and paid the highest price.

It was originally called, "Decoration Day", as a way of honoring those brave souls who laid down their lives in service for our country. In 1873, New York became the first state to recognize this as a National holiday. Soon other states followed. Eventually Congress enacted a law, The National Holiday Act of 1971, which placed this holiday on the last Monday in May.

Here is my own hero. I got to pin his new badge on his uniform. We were so young. This was taken in 1995 I believe. I'm so proud of my Marine. God has truly blessed me with a great man to walk out this life with.

(We have six kids now,--giggle and giddy smile here--I can hardly believe it!)

So many of the fallen heroes we honor today were so young. Many left behind wives and small children while still many others never got a chance to get married and have children. Their lives were cut short. So young. What a great sacrifice! Freedom for our country! 

But Freedom isn't FREE.

It comes at a price.

It takes hard work and dedication and sacrifice.

Here are my guys at Parris Island watching recruits learn how to march.

As we raise these sons, who are we putting before them to look to? As mothers of sons, we need to do the hard things, stay dedicated to our families, and sacrifice our time and lives for our families.

Let's not live lives defeated. Let's live in Victory Lane!

There is a man who went before us, a God man. He came to not only show us how to live in relationship with others, he came to set us FREE.

Freedom from all that drags us down, torments our souls, and wages war in our hearts! Freedom from depression, anxiety, wrong teachings, addictions, powerlessness, shame, hurt, FEAR, rejection, sickness, unforgiveness, torment...

You name it, Jesus came to claim it...

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and set our hearts and souls free!

For there is a war raging in every one of us. A war for our hearts and souls. 

War is real.

 The enemy doesn't create, he plagiarizes. He uses all the fancy stuff, maybe some grand, flashing lights. I know you've seen him. He is never far away. Pleasure Island is always ready to entice us to a life of fun, fancy, and fullfillment. Acts so seemingly innocent at first but enticing us away to commit larger offences, all in the face of no recrimination. Pinocchio knew this place. 

Where are we allowing our boys to wander today?

Russell Moore wrote a great article on this very topic. Titled, "Fake Love, Fake War" he gives his thoughts on the book, The Demise of Guys and lays hold of the truths of the war that our enemy is really waging. 

God calls us to do His will. What is His will concerning our sanctification?

 Paul writes to us in 1 Thessalonians 4:3-8, "It is God’s will that you should be sanctified: that you should avoid sexual immorality; 4 that each of you should learn to control your own body[a] in a way that is holy and honorable, 5 not in passionate lust like the pagans, who do not know God; 6 and that in this matter no one should wrong or take advantage of a brother or sister.[b] The Lord will punish all those who commit such sins, as we told you and warned you before. 7 For God did not call us to be impure, but to live a holy life. 8 Therefore, anyone who rejects this instruction does not reject a human being but God, the very God who gives you his Holy Spirit."

I urge all you mothers of sons to learn more about these areas that are being put before our sons. Be watchful, be ever on guard. Remember that the enemy is out to destroy all of us. He is not your friend.

Freedom is at hand. We know who wins the battle. Go and live today and remember all those who sacrificed their lives for our country. Remember too HE who sacrificed his own Life and Blood for our souls.

Grab your kids, find a parade. Clap and be thankful for those who march today in memory of the fallen. My son will be among the marching feet. He is a good boy. 

with a long history of family who served our country before him.

Here is his great-grandfather on my husband's side.

Here is his great-grandfather on my father's side.

Here is his great-grandfather on my mother's side.

Here is his grandfather on my husband's side

Here is his grandfather on my side

Here is his father-my husband

We thank them all for their service!

But even he, my son, is at war. I pray a mother's prayer that my son would never have to fight in battle for our country, even knowing he was born into a war that was started in a beautiful Garden. We will be victorious!

Happy Memorial Day! Thank a Veteran today!

Love Lives Here

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        It's Tuesday, and that means "trash day". As I hear the rumblings of the "Trash Man" making his way down our dirt road it reminds me of how Jesus came to take away our trash.

                "casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you",
                                              1 Peter 5:7

                  So I throw open the front door and sweep the dirt from my home,

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                        I cast my cares on Jesus. He really does care for me.
              The door wide open, sunshine on my face, this is the day
              that the Lord has made! Let's rejoice!

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                  As I sweep away the dirt, I smell something NASTY!

                  It is my older sons' shoes! Outside they go! Phew!

                   I turn to go back inside now that I have outed the culprit of the nasty stench,
                                  and I notice the smudge marks.

       These are leftover from a day of painting on the front porch with my girls.

                 My daughter's beautiful impromptu art class.

                           This is my world, Welcome!

                                 Enter at your own risk!

             Our floors are a reflection of our lives, marked and scarred...

                Our ceilings are covered in smudges left from boys growing too tall too fast...

                            There is hidden talent everywhere...

                           And marks that never seem to end...

                          But LOVE lives here.

             "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son,
           that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life."
                                          John 3:16

                      Be nearer to us this day Jesus, and He said, I AM :)

Have You Seen the movie "180"?

Have you seen the movie "180"?

I watched the trailer this morning (see below) and it prompted me to want to watch the full 33 minute movie. What on earth can change all these people's minds about abortion?

If you watched the trailer and are as curious as I was you can see the full movie here:

"180" What Changed Their Minds? If the link doesn't work you can find it at http://www.180movie.com/

I believe I have always been pro-life but everyone seems to want to make the case about women's choice. This is an excellent video to watch people right off the streets with real strong opinions about pro-choice completely change their views.

 I have taken it one step further after reading Be Fruitful And Multiply. Nancy Campbell's book was like a 180 movie for me. She helps the reader to realize that not only are babies being aborted by the MILLIONS every year, but even more than that is the tragedy that many good couples calling themselves Christian would choose to use drugs and even permanent surgery techniques in order to thwart God's design for conceiving children.  I sadly, have done BOTH. I will never know if my use of the PILL unintentionally aborted a baby or babies. I have since asked God for forgiveness and He has healed my brokenness and not only restored my health but I am making preparations for our THIRD tubal reversal baby! God is so good. Raising children IS hard work. It takes time, sacrifice, commitment, money, etc. but none of these are good enough reasons to NOT allow God to form new life. Jesus said, "I am the way, the truth, and the Life." God is all about LIFE because He IS LIFE! Our pastor and his wife have a wonderful way of retelling scripture, "When we are about God's business, He will be about our business." When we open our eyes to the harsh realities of the Holocaust and abortion, how can we not see that we too play into this picture of DEATH and destruction when we PREVENT life? How many Christians are missing today because good Christian families decided that the standard two children was "enough" I wonder?

I don't know if this is my last baby. I have given my fertility back over to the Lord where it belonged in the first place. He is the giver and sustainer of life alone. We all have a choice to make. What will your "180" be?

Party of EIGHT?!!!

17 1/2 years ago my husband and I began the most amazing journey. We promised before God, family and friends our blessed marriage vows and we set out toward California with everything we owned that could fit in our "new to us" Chevy Lumina.  The entire country awaited us. Our honeymoon was driving from Maine to California where my husband's newest duty station was in El Toro, California.

We've done some amazing things together, we've seen the Grand Canyon, hiked to the TOP of Yosemite Falls, been to Niagara Falls (twice now), and as we have been blessed with children we have toured the gator filled Everglades of Florida by airboat, hiked through the Diamond Caverns in Kentucky and many other amazing trips.


We didn't set out to have this many children. My husband wanted three, I kind of wanted four, because my mom had four.

God blessed us with two amazing little boys just as we were embarking on a huge adventure into home ownership! With the help of family and friends we built our own home where we currently reside.

We started out with just a two bedroom cape with an unfinished upstairs.

In the early fall of 1999 I was running a little daycare out of my home and I came down severally ill. It turned out I had a severally infected appendix and I had to have emergency surgery, which saved my life. I had a few complications with the recovery due to infection but I survived the ordeal and my hubby chalked that one up to our "in sickness and in health" vow. He stuck by me, changing my bandages and cleaning out a severally infected wound in the middle of the night that had burst open, while I hung my head out the bathroom window!

About a year after my surgery we began talking about wanting to "try" for a girl. We knew it would have to be okay either way if we had a boy too but we decided to try again to conceive. This time was much different. I didn't get pregnant right away like I did with my other pregnancies. We waited over a year before finally consulting with a fertility specialist who ran all kinds of tests and determined I just might need a little "boost" in my hormone levels so my doctor put me on clomid. After three failed cycles of clomid, we opted for one more cycle with a stronger medication that was injectable. This also failed. I left the fertility clinic devastated. Weren't they supposed to just "order me up a baby" because I had a problem needing fixing, like with my appendix?! But modern medicine could not "fix" me so right then and there I decided to lay it all out before the Lord and let Him lead our family. The next month I found I was pregnant...all on my OWN! Without the help of fertility drugs, I had conceived another blessing from God and I didn't care if it was a boy or girl, this was my gift from God!

One meaning of my son's name means, "much wanted" for he truly was. We found out we were having another boy, a third son, and my husband felt we were complete. No little girls would ever run around in little princess dresses or have tea parties in our house. We were raising boys and that's how it was going to be. After having two c-sections and an appendectomy the thought of a third c-section scared me so much that I reluctantly agreed to have my tubes tied during the delivery of my third son. It was final. It was complete. Three boys! Who could ask for more?! My husband was so proud and I remember he even high-fived the doctor, "tied, cut and burned!"

But as I looked over at my precious little son in the cradle in the hospital something inside me began to question. "Had I done the right thing?" I didn't have any Christian people in my life telling me it was WRONG to have a tubal ligation. I was pratically a martyr for having had THREE c-sections so I was kind of entitled, right?
Two weeks later at my infant son's check-up I had already regretted my decision to go ahead with a tubal ligation. I asked the doctor how to get it reversed. He informed me that what I had done was PERMANENT and that I needed to give it some time. I would heal and move on. Yes, the procedure IS reversable BUT with only about a 60% chance of success. I was heart broken.
Over the next two years I researched alternative methods of conception including IVF. Every thought about IVF lead me away from God's design for children and marriage. Making babies in petri dishes and then discarding or freezing the "left overs"? What kind of world was I walking into? That just didn't seem right!Ultimately, through much prayer and discussion my husband leaned over one night and said to me, "I think we should take our savings and get your tubes fixed." You could have knocked me over with a feather!
I wasn't looking forward to having the tubal reversal as it was not going to be just a laproscopic procedure. It entailed a full c-section scar, "hip-to-hip", hospital stay and then I got to come home with no baby.
The recovery was painful but I continued to pray that God would heal my brokeness and bless us with another child. But I soon realized that this journey we were on was less and less about us having another baby and more and more about learning about who GOD is and what HE had planned for our lives.

Nine months after my surgery my husband was involved in a head on collision while on patrol. A lady turned right in front of  him and my husband had to be life-flighted to the nearest hospital. As my husband clung to life I was on the phone calling all my prayer warriors and the Christian school where my children were attending asking for prayer. Anne Angell (that's her REAL name) prayed right there on the phone with me that my husband would be okay. The accident was horrible and so many things COULD have happened, but God truly spared my husband's life that day.
While my husband was out of work for the next 6 months we had quite a bit of time to reevaluate our lives and the direction we were headed. Three months after the accident I found out I was PREGNANT! The tubal reversal had worked and we were being blessed after such a horrible accident! We were so excited...we told EVERYBODY! Then about a week after finding out I was pregnant I miscarried. We were devastated! How could God take this precious life from us after having suffered so much? My husband was barely out of his wheel chair and now a miscarriage?! I wanted to just crawl into a hole and die!
Thr truth is God IS good all the time and He had the perfect timing in His hands. After my miscarriage I searched the web for anything on overcoming miscarriage, and I came to the web site "Above Rubies", http://www.aboverubies.org/. They were advertising a book titled, "Be Fruitful and Multiply: What the Bible Says About Having Children".
This book transformed my thinking and really brought me back to God's Word and His truths about children. How did GOD feel about us having kids? Maybe the more important question was, "how did God feel about us trying to PREVENT children?" I learned all about birth control methods and what we have done to our bodies to prevent children. I had no idea that when I was using the birth control pill I was using an abortificient drug. In other words, if I DID become pregnant my body would not be able to support the fetus so I would abort it as though nothing had happened. I would never know how many children I may have lost due to using these drugs! When I explained all of these new truths God was showing me to my husband he slowly began to come around and agreed with me. We had never been walking in step with God and His design for our lives. We were just doing what every other family was doing around us.
But we are called to be so much more! God loves us so much and He wants so much for our lives! To be blessed by God may look different than what man sees as a blessing. We decided to take a leap of faith and stand on God's word and believe that God really would like to see us have more children, IF He was ready to move and heal and forgive us for our selfish ways. We would embrace the three beautiful boys God had already given us and mourn the loss of life we would never get to hold and know this side of heaven, but we would move on and heal and trust God in our lives.

A few months later, we had some close friends from our church who had already begun homeschooling invite us to go on their field trip to Plymouth Plantation. We thought that homeschooling was nice for them but hadn't really considered homeschooling for our family. 

It was an incredible day! We had so much fun seeing our homeschooling friends learning hands on and had the chance to really get to know one special friend, Tammy Gisel. She is my rock. :)

She is the one who cemented the idea of homeschooling into our hearts! I went home and bought about $100 worth of homeschooling books on Amazon.com. I needed to educate myself as to what I was really getting not just myself but our entire family into! My two older boys begged me to homeschool them, but I was still reluctant. I was basically going to have to GIVE UP MY life for these kids. Was I really willing to do that? (It all sounds so silly to me now, but I really thought these things!) Because what I could never have realized that in my "giving up" my life for my kids to homeschool them and train them in the ways of the Lord, I was actually GAINING so much more. The scripture found in Matthew 10:39 spoke volumes to me, "whoever finds their life will lose it, whoever loses their life for my sake will find it."

So we began homeschooling after Christmas in 2006.  And just like the Pilgrims had set out and landed at Plymouth Rock to start a new life in unchartered territory we began the amazing journey of homeschooling!We were allowed to still keep the kids in their extra curricular activities at the Christian school. In doing so we also helped the school develop a homeschooling partnership with the school so other homeschooled children could come in and enjoy what our kids were already a part of. The program is going into it's 5th year now and the homeschoolers continue to be a blessing to the Christian school.

It was while we were on this new homeschooling journey, getting to know our kids more fully that I conceived once again.

 God blessed us with a precious little girl. All the desires of my heart were fullfilled! Here she is with her Daddy viewing the very helicopter that helped save my husband's life. We named her Madeline Elizabeth after Mary Magdeline and my mother-in-law whose name means "God is my oath". Only 18 months later we conceived AGAIN, another girl!

We were now doubly blessed! We named our second daughter Isabella (an Italian form of Elizabeth) and Gloria (after my grandmother which means glory-to give God the glory!) She was born around Christmas time which is extra special since "Gloria-in-excelsis Deo" is a favorite tune this time of year.

Which leads me to last week...

Our family is about to get bigger! We found out I am now pregnant with our 6th child. We are very excited and our praying for a healthy pregnancy and healthy baby! I am due January 27th!

So as you can see, this pregnancy isn't really about me, it's about God and what God has done and is doing and continues to do in and through our lives. We continue to look to our Heavenly Father to sustain us through the hurts and the blessings. We praise Him even when it hurts to pray, we praise Him in the good and the "bad", because we know He is working it all out for His higher purposes.

I wouldn't trade any of these precious faces for anything in the world. They are each so unique and wonderful.

God only knew these two hearts so young and in love nearly 20 years ago had so much adventure waiting for them!

We look forward to meeting our newest addition to the family to see what God has been "knitting together in my womb"! Praise God from whom all blessings flow!