Reading, Writing & Pondering

Has your path to motherhood looked different than the other women around you? While many women do have "normal" pregnancies, for some women, there can be challenges. Perhaps getting pregnant was an unexpected challenge. For others, things don't go as planned with the pregnancy resulting in miscarriage or other difficulties. Jamie Sumner in Unbound shares her journey to motherhood, which involved a lot of courage through unexpected challenges. Through her story, I believe other women can gain courage. Unbound is sort of a motherhood memoir of her story from trying to conceive to giving birth paired with women throughout the Bible. It is divided into four sections: The Wanting, The Waiting, The Getting and The Appreciating. She shares her story in detail but with beautiful prose as she and her husband struggled through infertility to having their child. It is a beautifully told story where she bares her heart and soul. Through her story she effortlessly tells the sto...

I don't know about you, but there are days I wish someone would give me a letter of encouragement as I do this mothering thing. A Letter for Every Mother by Kara Lawler and Regan Long is a book full of encouraging letters for moms written by moms who understand the challenges of mothering. A Letter for Every Mother contains letters for moms of all ages and all types. Some of the letters include: To the Mom on the Sidelines at the Water Park, To the Mom of the Autistic Child (they nailed this one and had me in tears!), To Every First-Time Parent, Dear Tired Mother, To the Good Mom, the Bad Mom, the Supermom, and I'm Just a Mom.  One of the letters I especially wish I had had when I was a younger mom, For all of my fellow busy mothers. . .to be given the freedom to let go of all of the busy-ness that I felt I had to do to please every one. For the purposes of this review, I read A Letter for every Mother all the way through. These letters are so encouraging and uplifting...

Coloring is still one of my favorite things to do. The Big and Little Coloring Devotional has something to offer both children and adults in one nifty package so both the young and the older can enjoy coloring. This dual age coloring book devotional allows adults to read a short uplifting devotional reading and to relax while coloring a more complex coloring picture. On the opposite page, there is a simpler picture for children to color that is age appropriate for younger ones. The Big and Little Coloring Devotional has 112 pages of uplifting pictures and readings to do together. I love the idea of this intergenerational coloring devotional. I have to be honest and say that I don't have little ones to color with me right now, although I am not above borrowing nieces or neighbor children to color with me with a mom's blessing. However, I still found the readings in the Big and Little Coloring Devotional to be encouraging and fun as an adult. They are short and refreshin...

Many of us do think of our moms when we think of our homes. Home is Wherever Mom Is is a beautiful new coloring book honoring moms. This book is quite eye catching with its foil cover. Home Is Wherever Mom Is has more than 90 beautiful illustrations to color. The pictures are all nice homey type pictures and most are more intricate that some coloring books so you will want to use fine point markers or well sharpened colored pencils for your work in this book. There are a lot of nice Bible verses and quotes relating to moms throughout this book as well. Part of the quotes are to color within the coloring pages and part of them are part of the Hand Lettering tutorial. The front page in the book explains how to learn the hand lettering and it has a practice page in the back of the book. I wish it had about 3 practice pages but you can practice on your own paper too. This beautiful coloring book would make a nice book for mom to use to relax with if she enjoys creative p...

Between Us is a beautiful 52-week devotional journal book for mom and daughters to use together. The cover and the whole book is quite nice and is larger than I expected. It is nicely bound and the format is well done. There is plenty of space to write a do the activities for each week in a book that could become a special keepsake down the road. Doing one devotional a week seems do-able in our busy world today. Between Us has a Bible reading, a devotional reading for both Moms and daughters to read, questions to ask moms, questions to ask daughters related to the reading for the week and a small activity that is different every week but related to do the reading that concludes the week's work. There is also a plan of salvation in the back of the book. The weekly readings relate the Bible verses to something both moms and daughters can relate to--having confidence but not boasting, praying and how God answers prayer, sharing salvation with others, what has lasting value in o...

Desperate: Hope for the Mom Who Needs to Breathe by Sarah Mae and Sally Clarkson is a book that I wish I had when I started out as a mom. I appreciate these ladies sharing from their heart about some of the challenges that they faced as well as the joys of mothering. In one chapter of the book, the ladies share some advice on which "voices" to listen to as you are learning to parent. . .Their voices are ones to listen to, speaking words of encouragement to this mom. Sarah Mae and Sally Clarkson have been to the edge and back. Desperate is the story of one young mother’s trials and one experienced mentor’s priceless exhortations. I like how this book offers each mother's view and experience without telling you how it MUST be done. . .I know I have had a lot of advice from other moms that meant well but left me feeling like I just couldn't do it "right.". These moms share from their hearts their thoughts on parenting, keeping house, listening to thos...