Reading, Writing & Pondering

      My son is 23 now but I sure remember the excitement of when I was expecting him. I Dream for You by Kate Wood is a well written Christian children's book that captures the wonder and excitement of having a little one. The prose in this book is nicely written in rhyme. The words go together nicely without sounding forced or hokey. It definitely took me back to the days when I was expecting my son and all the hopes and dreams I had for him as both a baby and a child.  This book is definitely a Christian book as it mentions God. As the cover says, Imagining God's love and plants for your life" is the main subject matter. There are also Bible verses on a full page at the back of the book to pray for your child.  The illustrations are bright and nicely done. I like how they are inclusive of children and parents of all colors.  This is a fairly large children's book measuring a little over 9 by 11 inches in size with 32 pages of content. While the book is a...

   Most Christian parents want the best for their children. They especially want them to follow the Bible and live a Christian life. In Help Your Kids Learn and Love the Bible , Danika Cooley offers great advice on how to do just that. Help Your Kids Learn and Love the Bible is divided in to three parts: You're the Leader, Faithful Reading, and A Daily Walk. Cooley writes as both a parent of four children and as an educator who both homeschools her children and also develops Bible curriculum. She offers solid advice on how to overcome any fears you may have to guide and teach your young ones from the Bible. I especially like that she gives different ideas to make it interesting to young children in a way that inspires them to get more involved. She also teaches parents how to prepare lessons, crafts and other ways to make the Bible interesting so that children learn and grow at their own levels. If you have young children that you want to help learn the Bible, you will want t...

I could relate well to the introduction from Inspired Mama by Sez Kristiansen. In this part of the book she shares how she is tired and worn out from trying to keep up with demands and be a mama while putting herself last. It was a wake-up call and she realizes she needs to make some changes in order for her to enjoy life and to be who she really is at her core. Inspired Mama is divided into three parts: Freedom of Mind, Freedom of Life, and Freedom of Comfort Zones. In each section she shares exercises to live a more inspired intentional life through journaling, meditating, mindfulness, living according to your purpose and more. It is a book best used alongside a journal as she encourages readers to do. Kristiansen expects readers to take and make notes of their thoughts and things they have learned through exercises she offers in the book. Many of the exercises involve deep thinking, intuition and subconscious thought processes. For me, Inspired Mama offered some interesting...

If there was ever a book that was made for this time in history, it is this one: The Big and Little Activity Devotional by Rachel Swanson. This book has activities for both adults and children to do at the same time. Along with the activities, there is a short devotional to read and think about together. How fun is that? Each of these devotionals is pair for an adult and a child to do together. There is a short devotional reading with a few short questions or something to think about for both the adult and the child. And then there are similar activities that are either for an adult or a child: crossword puzzles, word search puzzles, mazes, search and find pictures, coloring pictures, word scrambles and more. The Big and Little Activity Devotional is a fun book to use with a variety of ages. It gives parents a little one on one time with each of the kids as you sit across from each other and do the activities and the readings together. I think this is a great idea to spend ...

When my son was little, I remember hearing this phrase, "The days are long but the years are short." As I reflect on my son turning 18 a couple of months ago, I believe it is true. The years sure did go by quickly. If you are in a similar position as I am, you may want to read Empty Nest, Full Life by Jill Savage. This book covers a lot of aspects of how to live a better life after your kids leave home and how to love them best as adult children. Empty Nest, Full Life is divided in to two parts: Let Go! and Hold On! In the first part, Savage talks about how to let go of expectations, guilt, opinions, traditions, your child's problems and idols. She goes in to detail in these chapters on some concepts that I hadn't really thought about. I could relate to so many stories she shared. Reading Empty Nest, Full Life kind of felt like having a mentor woman take me under her wing and to give me some great advice over coffee/tea. The second part, Hold On!, encourages em...

If you have young children, you probably want to do all you can to help your child be an academic success. Kathleen Burns in Top Students Top Parents offers a whole lot of advice on helping you help your child(ren) be a success. Burns begins Top Students Top Parents by sharing her experience as a teacher and a mother and grandmother. She divides this book in to three sections: Laying the Foundation for Success In Infancy and Above, Reading and Writing, and School Success. As the sub-title states, Good Students are made at Home. . .Not at School, according to Burns. Throughout this book, she shares advice and activities to do at home to help your child be a success in nearly every area. She encourages parents to start while the child is quite young. She backs up her advice with findings and research that she has gleaned from. Top Students and Top Parents would best be read by young parents in order to get the most benefit from the book. However, there are helpful hints, tips and ...

It has been said before, and also in this book, that everybody has a story. In Before and After by Judy Christie and Lisa Wingate, the authors share the real-life stories of orphans who survived the Tennessee Children's Home Society. I was immediately drawn in to Before and After as I started the book. I struggled to put this book down just as I did Lisa Wingate's book, Before We Were Yours. Before We Were Yours is a fictionalized account of orphans similar to the real-life stories in this book. I found these stories to be fascinating. It is hard to believe that anyone could be as unkind and unfeeling as Georgia Tann who ran a black market child adoption business in Memphis through the Tennessee Children's Home Society from the 1920s until 1950. Over 5,000 orphans were cleared for adoption through her agency so literally thousands of orphans and families were affected by this corrupt agency. If you haven't read Before We Were Yours , I would encourage you to re...

Are you looking for a family adventure? Like our family, you probably would like one but you live on a budget so you don't think it is possible. In Randy Southern's new book, 52 Uncommon Family Adventures , there are a bunch of adventures that are fun without breaking the bank. Gary Chapman writes the forward in 52 Uncommon Family Adventures sharing about love languages and how they can come in to play with the adventures. Chapman is the bestselling author of The Five Love Languages which you may have heard of previously. The book has enough adventures to do one a week if you choose to do them all. Each adventure includes information about the time commitment it will take, the cost, the location and the love language that could come in to play through the adventure. Some examples of adventures include a family volunteer day where you all work together to help an organization in need, a family challenge day where you challenge another family in an afternoon of silly compe...

I don't know about you, but I started praying for my son and our parenting of him when we found out we were expecting. My son is a teenager now and I continue to pray every day for him. I think he needs those prayers now more than ever. Rob and Joanna Teigen have a new book, Powerful Prayers for Your Son , that can guide parents through prayer in all sorts of situations through the year5s as your son grows up and even in to adulthood. Powerful Prayers for Your Son starts off with an introductory word from Joanna and one from Rob. In these short pages, they introduce themselves and share how this book came about. Following the introduction, there are 77 prayers through the book--prayers that cover your son through all sorts of life situations through the ages and stages of your boy. A few examples of the many prayers included in the book are: when he is looking for God, when he is stressed, when his faith is shaken, when he goes online, when he considers dating, when he is atta...

It is no easy task to raise a child and prepare them for adulthood. While some rules need to be in place, our teenagers need a different sort of parenting than when the children were younger, according to Connie Albers of Parenting Beyond the Rules . In Parenting Beyond the Rules , Albers talks about how we need to create relationships with our teenagers. She starts with the foundation of relationships and how to help your teen see that they are part of the family team. She shares how to love them in the midst of the changes and challenges and hot to equip them to use their gifts and skills that are unique to them. She also offers advice on listening and talking with teens and tackling challenging topics. I found a lot of solid advice and helpful information in Parenting Beyond the Rules . Albers gave me some good information to think about and to talk about with my husband as we seek to better parent our teenage son. I especially like that she shares her stories of things that w...

Kids Say the Wisest Things by Jon Gauger. Instead of writing a book about how to be a better parent, Gauger helps us see how to be a better parent and a better Christian by sharing real-life stories from children that help us think about how we are living and parenting. Kids Say the Wisest Things is subtitled 26 lessons you didn't know children could teach you. As you might expect this book has 26 chapters, each with a real-life story from children and thoughts about how to learn and grow from something a child did.  Some of these stories are funny but mostly they just make you think and consider how to do the Christian life a little better. Kids Say the Wisest Things was an enjoyable read all the way through. I like that the lessons were easy to read, a few at a time. Then I took time to think about them and came back to the book for some more. I like that this book is fairly small and easy to tuck in my purse or book bag to read on the go too. Some of my favorites were:...

Two special ladies that I know are pregnant right now. As a mom, I want to share positive things with them and not negative. Often we do that and that can be good. Yet, we honestly know that not every moment of having a baby is positive, if we are living a "real" life. Midnight Lullabies: Moments of Peace for Moms by Lauren Eberspacher shares both positive moments and moments that remind moms that they are not alone if they have a few challenges along the way. Midnight Lullabies has 31 days of devotional readings. Each reading includes a Bible verse, a short reading, something to do to apply the reading, and a prayer to end with. Eberspacher shares from her heart in Midnight Lullabies and I think her words are encouraging. At the same time, they also share realistically. Not in a complaining way. But in a way that reminds you that you are not alone in your struggles. She reminds you that there are lots of good things about being a mom but there are some challenges as ...

The Daily Question For Your And Your Child is a fun way to create a special keepsake journal with your child. The Daily Question For You and Your Child contains 365 questions, one for each day of the year. However, this book could be started any time of the year. Open up the book to the current date and start asking a question. This interactive journal has space for asking the question for three years. The idea is that you are creating a time capsule of responses and can see how your child's personality and interests have changed over time as the vary year after year. Here are a couple examples of questions that are asked in the book: What is your favorite smell? What do you do when you are bored? What do you know about Jesus? This is a spiritual journal so there are a few Christian-based questions asked. I like that the Daily Question For You and Your Child journal has a place to slip a picture into the front cover to turn it into a frame. One could change the picture ev...

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...

Amy Morin's latest book, 13 Things Mentally Strong Parents Don't Do is a mixture of parental coaching, parental strategy reference book, parenting exercises and ideas to improve your parenting skills. In other words, it is a great book to read and to keep for further reference. Each chapter of 13 Things takes one tenant of Morin's advice to help readers become better parents. Chapters include: They don't parent out of guilt, They don't expect perfection, They don't confuse discipline with punishment and they don't take shortcuts to avoid discomfort. Every time I would read a chapter, I thought, "Wow, this is the best chapter." Then I would go on and think that about the next chapter. Each chapter is truly loaded with solid stories from other parents or Morin's experiences working with children, along with advice and ideas on how to help the chapter work for your parenting, whether you have a pre-schooler or a teenager. Morin's boo...

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...

  https://a248.e.akamai.net/f/1611/26335/9h/dramsey.download.akamai.com/23572/daveramsey.com/media/common_images/plugs/xternal/smsk.lt.mhuyser I was thrilled when I was notified that I was on the Launch Team for the new book from Dave Ramsey and Rachel Cruze called Smart Money, Smart Kids. Their new book is out today, April 22. Visit the website to found out more:https://www.smartmoneysmartkids.com/?ictid=smsk.rc.hp My husband and I graduated from Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace University about 4 years ago. We continue to apply the Ramsey Principles as we see to "change our family tree" and live debt free. We aren't where we want to be yet but we are continuing to move in the right direction.One of the ways I was excited about being on this launch team, is that I can have a resource to teach our 12-year old son how to be a better money manager than we were before he leaves home. Smart Money, Smart Kids offers a dialogue throughout the book with voices fro...