A New Project...for me

I stumbled upon this book, Polished Cornerstones, at the homeschool booksale in May. I had seen it online before, but it seemed like something we might use when she's older and it was $48 so I didn't consider buying it right now. For $5 (in NEW condition) at the sale, though, I picked it up just to browse through. After all, I did commit to focusing on raising my young lady this year.
Well, I'm just now getting to really look it over and I love it! It's easily worth the original price. There are literally years of projects in this book for girls from preschool on up. Each chapter (and I think I counted 52) deals with a character trait or skill set and has between 25 and 50 projects to choose from. Everything from "A Patient Woman" or "A Woman Who Handles Money Wisely" to "A Modest Woman" and "A Teaching Woman." Some of the projects will be do-able even for non-readers and some are better suited for young women. All of them are adaptable and it's easy to pick and choose. Brenna and I could easily go through the book over and over again as she grows and, if she were to ever have a little sister (maybe, one day), she could use the book, too.
Actually, reading through it, I was wishing I'd had a book like this growing up. But it's never too late! SO I'm going through and picking out projects for myself as well. I'm hoping to get a project done every week between now and Thanksgiving...and maybe I'll get some batteries for my camera so I can share some pictures!

Reading about boys

Finding out that baby #5 is boy #4 has renewed my determination to raise Godly young men. That, and an influx of jokes about various bodily functions at my dinnertable, made Kay West's How to Raise a Gentleman required reading last week. Each chapter details manners for different situations - everything from sleepovers to sportsmanship. I don't think I can say I learned anything new - my mom was big on manners - but it was wonderfully fun to read through and I really needed the reminders.
My aunt's two boys have incredible manners - not just that they say "yes, ma'am" instead of "yeah," but also the way that they hop up to give up their seat or help entertain my kids without being asked. They're both exceptionally considerate and that's something I really hope my boys will learn.
I'm also re-reading two other books on raising boys. James Dobson's Bringing Up Boys and Raising a Modern Day Knight, both of which are really good.

What's in Your Book Basket?

I love books. I especially love finding children's books that the kids and I all enjoy so when I saw this post over at The Happy Houswife's it was just the kick in the pants I needed to share some of the giant stack of books we brought home this week.
Spring Story by Jill Barklem. Brenna and I love these little books about the mice of Brambley Hedge. The artwork is gorgeous and their little homes are so neat and orderly and beautiful. Is it odd that the housekeeping of mice inspires me? I think yes.
The Quiet Way Home by Bonny Becker. I saw this one over at The Homespun Heart and thought it would be perfect for Brenna and I to read. Jack liked it too. It's especially good to read when we're winding down for Quiet Rest Time.
I checked out Sky Tree, My Favorite Tree and Franklin Plants a Tree to read for Arbor Day. We haven't read the Franklin book before but Sky Tree and My Favorite Tree are favorites. Sky Tree is full of beautiful artwork and science. Science is not usually my thing, but this book even holds my attention. My Favorite Tree has lovely pictures and lots of facts about 27 trees native to North America, including Hawaii. It doesn't include my favorite tree, the Pecan, but it does have the Dogwood and that's a close second:)
We also got Little Farm By the Sea. I just love this book. I talked about it before here. I need to just buy this - we've checked it out a couple of times this year. It always makes me wish we had a farm (I know in real life I couldn't pull it off, but I love the idea!).
I also got lots of homeschooling books to gear me up for planning next year. I got a good start on that the other day when Casey kept the kids to give me a little quiet planning time. I was astonished at how much I got done without anyone around. And we got books on the Celts since that's what we're studying for history. And a math book called A Place for Zero that Levi is reading now. And a bunch more that I don't remember! I know we could homeschool without the library, but I sure am glad we don't have to!

Some of the books we read in August

This was our first month of school and we read thirty books! Well, we wrote down thirty books...I think we probably read a good bit more than that because we didn't count the books Levi takes to bed or the books we've already read a hundred times. I just keep track of the books that were new to us or that Levi read and insisted I write down.
Bread and Jam for Frances falls in that second category. Levi reads this one all the time and Brenna loves it too. I'm especially fond of the descriptions of food...the lunch her mom packs at the end is so lovely! It always inspires me to try to make nicer meals (Frances's mom doesn't serve fish sticks!) and it really helps the kids to be less picky!
The Frog Wore Red Suspenders was full of funny poems. Being a Georgia girl, I especially like the one about peanuts! The pictures were funny, too. Levi picked it himself and he read it several times - always a good sign.
I loved Little Farm by the Sea. Beautiful pictures and I loved the way the family pulled together to do farm chores. It was a neat introduction to seasons, too.
As part of our history study we read One Small Blue Bead and it was very good. I wanted to avoid any discussion on evolution for right now and since the drawings in this one looked a little like Neanderthals I was a little concerned, but the book doesn't mention anything like that. It actually led to a great discussion about the Tower of Babel (check out this book on that) and how in a few generations, people could have come to believe they were the only ones on Earth. Also, the young man in the story shows a real servant's heart and that impressed me:)
Another history book, Seeker of Knowledge, was a very good story. Well worth the read when I overheard Levi telling his granny about the Rosetta Stone! It was inspiring to read about Jean-Francois Champollion's passion for his work.
The last book we read for our list was Brenna's favorite. If Everybody Did is a very funny look at what would happen if everyone had bad manners. The kids were cracking up over the very simple black and white drawings (we checked out the older hardback copy from the library).
Now I have to plan a day to take them out for a pizza lunch and decide on a shape for our September reading window. I'd like to use apples, but do I really want to cut out 30 or 40 apples? But I do have a lot of red construction paper....

How we've spent our summer

Someone in this family has been sick all summer long. Since April. Jack ran a fever off and on for the last two days and now it's hit Brenna. I had to call and ask my pastor's wife to fill in for me leading my adult class at church tonight...again. I'm actually feeling like I should just give up trying to lead this class. I do really enjoy it, but I just hate having to ask someone to fill in all the time!

On the up side, I got to snuggle on the couch with Brenna and read her favorite book. Well, one of her favorites anyway...she's kind of like her mom- we have lots of favorites:)

It's called Elizabeti's Doll and it's one of my favorites, too. I love that Elizabeti makes her own doll and I love that she wears her baby just like her mom wears her baby brother. Brenna does that all the time. It's a really good story and the pictures are just gorgeous. I know, again with the artwork:)

Fall Reading List

Anyone remember this post from way back in ...October? I thought I'd finally get around to a little update. Finally.
1.. Seeking Him: Experiencing the Joy of Personal Revival
Our ladies group is still going to read this one but probably not until February. We started a new study at church that has a pretty good amount of daily reading and so the pastor suggested putting this study off to give our full attention to the one the whole church is doing. I'm just not a read one book at a time kind of girl, though, so I'm still glancing ahead in this one. It just looks too good to keep putting off:)
2. Dumbing Us Down: The Hidden Curriculum of Compulsory Schooling
I had this one read already when I posted last time, but I'm still going to talk about it a little bit. I think it's the best commentary on the public school system that I've ever read. It really addresses the basics that we're teaching our kids in school - not neccessarily the planned curriculumm, but what they're really learning. It really is well worth the time to read.
3. Teaching the trivium: Christian homeschooling in a classical style
I've got to admit that I wasn't so crazy about this book for me right now. It was just a little too much. It's laid out like a here's how (and why) to homeschool your kids for at least the next twelve years. And while that might be really helpful for some people, it's just not me to let someone else make all the plans:) Now I would like to have it on the shelf as a reference I think. And the author's probably didn't intend for it to be followed to the letter, but my brain just wasn't able to wrap around all that information right now - and yes that does say more about me than the book:)
4. Making Brothers and Sisters Best Friends
I still haven't gotten to read this one, even though it's probably the one I was most looking forward to. This is one of my main areas of concern right now so I really have to get this ordered. My three actually get along pretty well except for Brenna squealing every. single. time Jack crawls over to her dollhouse, but since we aren't shipping anyone off for a couple of hours a day it is pretty important to me that everyone plays nice.
5. Crunchy Cons: How Birkenstocked Burkeans, gun-loving organic gardeners, evangelical free-range farmers, hip homeschooling mamas, right-wing nature lovers,
I mentioned before that I really liked this one. I've found myself thinking and talking a lot about this book since I read it. I really feel like God's changing my view point about a lot of things that I never would've thought about before. Especially things like what we spend money on and the way I tend to hoard things. "Well, we might need it one day" is turning into "God blessed us with this, let's see who He'd like us to bless" and " He provided this one, if we need another, He'll provide it too." A very good book.
6. How to Be a Budget Fashionista: The Ultimate Guide to Looking Fabulous for Less
I got this one for Christmas and still haven't had time to crack it open:) But I do want to look fabulous, so it's going next to my reading chair.
7. The Fat Flush Plan
I really liked this book. The diet deals with a lot of the specific problems I have losing weight and I definitly think I could stick with it, but for now I'm just going to be incorporating a lot of very healthy eating into my life. I am keeping up with a few of the suggestions like adding flax oil, lemon juice in water, etc Those were things I had already started that seem to be making a big difference.
8. Small Beginnings
I love this book! I love Barbara Curtis! This book is chock-full of great ideas for toddlers and preschoolers. And she really has a very unique (in this day and age, anyway) view of kids, encouraging moms not to get frustrated with their littles but see things from their point of view instead. She also talks about taking advantage of "sensitive periods" in a little child's life to teach them things (or set them up for things) like independance, order, kindness. It's a great book.
9.Girl Talk Mother-Daughter Conversations on Biblical Womanhood
I'm just about half way through this one and so far it's really good. More on it when I'm finished, but it looks like a great book for a mother-daughter Bible study.
Well, that's the fall books...now that it's January. I really enjoyed making a goal instead of just randomly picking books off the shelf, so I think I'll do this again for winter or spring. I'd love to hear what y'all are reading - I'm always up for suggestions!

Really Beautiful Children's Books

Today was library day and, as always, I let the kids pick out a few books a piece in addition to the ones I had on my list for them. And then I saw a few new books that our wonderful Mrs. Moore was putting out. The artwork on the cover was just beautiful. So beautiful in fact that I picked up the whole stack of them:) The Library, The Gardener, The Friend, The Journey...all lovely. I'd never read anything by Sarah Stewart or seen illustration by her husband David Small, but after spending an hour curled up on the couch with my kiddies, I am sold. I loved these books. The stories are so sweet. It was especially wonderful to read them after finding that I couldn't read the book I brought home about Thanksgiving. I was looking for something that told the story of the first Thanksgiving. I assumed I would have to add to the story to tell about God's Provision. I just wanted a nice basic story. But I was in a hurry at the library and didn't look carefully at what I was picking up. This book, called The First Thanksgiving, looked good. Hmm, maybe I do judge a book by its cover. It begins by talking about Plymouth Rock being a "wandering pilgram" and leaving "its home in Africa two hundred million years ago." It goes on to talk about the Englishmen killing and enslaving the Indians, the great European plague, how the Pilgrams called the Indians savages, and on and on. Now I'm not one to sugarcoat history, but for cryin' out loud. So. Anybody have a suggestion for me about a good First Thanksgiving book? This one is going right back to the library.

Chapter 10 No Ordinary Home

Dawn sent us all some coffee to enjoy this morning while we chat about chapter 10. Isn't she the sweetest:)? I really needed some caffeine to get me moving this morning!
Speaking of my adopted big sis Dawn:), she wrote a great summary for us of this chapter. While you're checking that out, check out what she wrote about weight-training. Very motivational (and just what I needed this morning), but then hop on back over here because this chapter is chock-full of stuff to talk about.
First let me tell y'all that last Easter for me was so so similar to the Easter that Carol describes at the beginning of the chapter. We had a new baby and I was just starting to settle in to a new routine. Many family members and church family members were having health problems or one type of crisis or another. It just seemed like no one was in a worship sort of mood. And that went for me too. The night before Easter I was at Walmart (I despise going to walmart the night before anything - although it is a family tradition!) buying Easter clothes because it's always been our tradition to wear new clothes on Easter. But do you think I was enjoying myself? Do you think I was focused on the reason for those new clothes? Celebrating that we are born anew in Him? Not hardly. We made it through the next day - church service, sing all the Easter hymns, hurry home to finish making dessert and rush over to my sil's for dinner and an Easter egg hunt for the kids. When Carol writes "Today was another mad dash to get hats and gloves, diaper bags and Easter baskets. Once there, the music was stirring, the sermon impressive. But my spirit was flat. I feel flat...fat and flat," well that was me! I prayed and prayed over the next few weeks that God would never let me experience another Easter with so little attention to Him, so little praise, so little appreciation. I asked Him to show me how to worship Him and how to teach my children to worship Him. Reading this book has been one of His many answers to that prayer.
An idea that Carol heard from her friend Wendy (so glad that I'm not the only one with brilliant friends who don't mind sharing their great ideas!) was making an Easter tree. When I lived in Germany as a little girl, they had Easter trees - beautiful spring blooming branches tied with intricately painted hallow eggs and little wooden figures of bunnies and birds. Very beautiful, but not exactly what this Easter tree is all about. This Easter tree is a wonderful way to focus on God's covenant with His people throughout the season of Lent. Let me let her explain it.
"She would trace His promise, beginning with creation and ending at the empty tomb. She would trace His faithfulness and His children's unfaithfulness. Each night John and she would teach the children the biblical story, and then they would put an ornament on the tree to represent the story. She would begin the tree on Ash Wednesday and finish it the Monday after Easter."
This idea just really grabbed me. I was so excited when I read it - something we could do! I could just picture all of us gathered around, Casey reading the Biblical account, the kids solemnly taking turns hanging the ornament on the tree...Then I came back to reality and remembered that my kids are little! And we're all lazy! And no one around here ever takes turns! So perhaps my vision needed some tweaking. So I went to the Father and asked Him what to do about Easter (and about Christmas while I was at it:) ) and He's still telling me. If I took anything away from this chapter I hope it's forever chiseled in my brain to go to Him first and not just start making my own plans about how to worship Him or serve Him or even live for Him. So often I assume I know what He wants for me without even asking...
So let's talk some about how we can spend the time leading up to Easter focusing on Him and preparing our hearts for Him. Maybe for some of us, making an Easter tree is going to be a definite possibility - if so, how do you think you'll go about it? Or if not, what other things will you do? What kinds of Easter traditions do you already have that may need to be refocused? And, most importantly, what is our Father leading you to do to worship Him?

Katrina's Big Idea

Katrina at Callapidder Days had a great idea and, as usual, I'm quite a bit behind on joining in. The idea is to actually plan what we're going to read this fall so that we can accomplish something. Now that will be a big deal for me:) I'm always reading, but it seems I never get to really process what I've read. I hurry and get it back to the library on time (yeah, sure I do) or I hurry through so I can start something else. But all the great books in the world aren't going to do me any good if I don't remember what they said. So my goals for this fall are to read these books and either write a review for here (if I think y'all might be interested) or at least make some notes for myself). All these before January1st!
1. Seeking Him: Experiencing the Joy of Personal Revival
My ladies' group at church is going to use this one for our next study. It's supposed to be a twelve week study but we're going to stretch it out over the next year because we only meet once a month. I really (REALLY!) wish we could meet once a week, but that's just not happening right now. I'll definitely be reading ahead though:)
2. Dumbing Us Down: The Hidden Curriculum of Compulsory Schooling
I just finished this one (and no it's not cheating to add books I already read if I read them this fall, cut me some slack people!) and it was great. I expected it to reinforce our determination to homeschool, but it was full of insight about how education could be handled for all our nation's children. Really got me motivated to think a little more about what we need to do for all children and not just what I want for my own kids.
3. Teaching the trivium: Christian homeschooling in a classical style
I'm working on this one and it is a BIG book:) I've done a lot of reading on homeschooling and educational theories and all that jazz. After reading The Well-Trained Mind: A Guide to Classical Education at Home shortly after we decided to teach our own kids, we had settled on the Trivium or Classical approach to use as the backbone for our homeschool. I knew I would be pretty eclectic, but I really liked having the Trivium as sort of a guide to go by. Teaching the Trivium is great because it really makes the distinction between teaching something because it will make our kids well-educated and teaching them because it will help them in the Christian walk. A side note - after reading the chapter on languages, I told Casey I really thought I'd like to make Greek the first foreign language we work on (possibly the only depending on how much affinity any of us show for languages). He said "I thought we decided that a long time ago." Apparently he'd decided a long time ago and just hadn't mentioned it!
4. Making Brothers and Sisters Best Friends
This book is written by an actual brother and his sisters and I just have to check it out. It is so so so important to me for our kids to be friends. My brother and I were grown before we really became close - we fought like cats and dogs most of the time growing up (although I loved him back then; I just couldn't have admitted it!). I hate to think of all that time we wasted and how close we came to killing each other...
5. Crunchy Cons: How Birkenstocked Burkeans, gun-loving organic gardeners, evangelical free-range farmers, hip homeschooling mamas, right-wing nature lovers,
I actually already read this one, too:) It was quite good. I enjoyed knowing that there are enough people out there who are living out values similar to mine to warrant writing a book about us:) I certainly didn't agree with everything the author had to say (differences over religious ideas come to mind) but I would still really recommend it. It's so great to hear Christians calling other Christians to think through what they believe and then Live.That.Way.
6. How to Be a Budget Fashionista: The Ultimate Guide to Looking Fabulous for Less
Lest y'all think I never read anything fun:) I'm slowly (but surely! but did I mention slowly:() losing weight and I have to start dressing better. I'm sick of jeans and a t-shirt or jeans and a sweater 6 days a week and the same old dresses or skirts on Sunday. really I just can't take it any more!
7. The Fat Flush Plan
Barbara Curtis has had such fabulous success using this that I can't wait to read up on it. I'm not officially dieting just yet, but Jack will be a year old soon and I think by then I may be ready to wean him either entirely (sniff, sniff) or enough so that my dieting won't be an issue.
8. Small Beginnings
Speaking of Barbara, I love her writing style, especially when she writes straight to moms. I think this one will be a big hit with me.
9.Girl Talk Mother-Daughter Conversations on Biblical Womanhood
Brenna is only two, but I figure it can't hurt to go ahead and start thinking about these kinds of conversations. And there are lots of other young women in my life that I'd like to positively influence. I've heard a lot of good buzz about this one - I think I'll enjoy it.

Well, that's it for the fall. I know I'll probably read a lot of other stuff this fall. I usually have a couple of books going at a time. But these are the books I'm committed to really delving into. And making this list has been such a blast (yay nap time!) that I might do it every season:) Thanks, Katrina!

Next Week's Discussion

We're still talking about No Ordinary Home right here, so feel free to continue commenting. I just wanted to remind everyone to check with Dawn here for the location of next week's discussion on Chapter 5. We're going to talk about the Sabbath and it is an awesome chapter!

No Ordinary Home discussion

Welcome everybody! It's time to discuss Chapter Four of No Ordinary Home. I hope y'all are enjoying this as much as I am. Thanks, Dawn, for getting us all together - this is great!

The Dailies
I could've written this chapter. Casey and started our home together with vastly - vastly! - different attitudes about housekeeping. He was fanatically neat - I recognized this when we were dating and he paused a movie we were watching to take the popcorn bowl into the kitchen, wash it!, and put it away before finishing the movie - and I was, well, less fanatical. I had no problem vacuuming once a month instead of once a week, for example (this was before we had rugrats, by the way). When Levi came along I was thrown for a total loop - not only was I dealing with some health issues, a brand new baby, a lot of (I hate to admit) anger and guilt about having a c-section, a total reordering of my life plan and a (perceived) big power shift between me and Casey, but now I was supposed to KEEP THE HOUSE CLEAN, TOO!!!
For a long time I thought that having a clean house was surely a sign that I wasn't using my brain - it was a pride thing. Surely I was too...whatever...to be scrubbing toilets, right? But when I finally (listened to my Father and) changed my attitude to reflect Colossians 3:23-24 - And whatever you do, do it heartily, as to the Lord and not to men; knowing that from the Lord you shall receive the reward of the inheritance. For you serve the Lord Christ - I started to see that life is in these details. The toilet has to be cleaned, so clean it well, clean it with style! About that time I was reminded of an illustration that I read in one of Mary Pride's books (I think All The Way Home) about Cinderella. In the old Disney movie, Cinderella is singing and swishing and swabbing the floor with class and beauty. Because she is faithful in her work, she is fit to go before the prince (along the lines of Proverbs 22:29 Do you see a man diligent in his business? He shall stand before kings; he shall not stand before unknown men.) Well, my Prince is coming to sweep me away one day, too. How do I want Him to find me? Diligently doing my work with grace and a thankful heart or whining about how hard my lot is and how no one helps me?
But how do we go from knowing so little about running a home to doing it with grace and style and love? I really liked what she said about having a committee. I think we often feel like we need A Titus 2 woman to show us how to do everything, but that doesn't work. We aren't supposed to be carbon copies of one another. And no single older woman is going to know everything we need to know. We have to be *picky* - picking a little from this woman about scheduling, a little from this woman about cleaning, a little from this woman about cooking and a little from this woman about doing it all with joy:)
Carol (the author - I feel like we're friends now so I'm going to call her Carol:) ) left us with some great practical questions to ponder so that we can make some changes in the areas where we see a need.

List the areas of your life that feel disorganized, cluttered, chaotic.
Who can help you organize or learn the tricks of homemaking in those areas?
What areas of your life feel sacred to you?
How can you enhance them? Make them more regular? Share them with others?
What areas of your life feel ordinary, mundane, and definitely not sacred?
I think I'll think and pray about these tonight and share about them tomorrow in the comments. Please, everyone, feel free to make yourselves at home here. Share about your thoughts on the chapter, how you felt as you started making a home, your answers to the above questions-just anything:)

Holy Home

How do we bring the Holy home? That's what andwe asked us as we started our bookclub today. (We're reading No Ordinary Home, btw, if anyone wants to join in.) It's also kind of what they're talking about over at Choosing Home so be sure you check that out this week. It's a topic that's really close to my heart. I want to have a home filled with His presence - I want people to feel Him when they walk in the door and I want to equip us to take Him to the rest of the world. But how does it look? What do we do?
Right from the beginning with Levi we've had daily prayer times. My dad always said our prayers with each of us at night and that's a really special memory of mine so I wanted to be sure and include that in our family. So every evening Casey and I pile all the kids on our bed to talk about the day and say our prayers. We start out teaching them to say "now I lay me" but also pray for people we know or specific situations that have come up in our talk. Levi is starting now to forego the "now I lay me" part and pray in his own voice. He amazed the people at church on back to school prayer night by praying outloud in front of everyone (and cracked everyone up by praying that God would help me make more milk for his little brother!).
We've recently started having a family prayer time in the mornings, too. Our days are so much smoother when we start off that way.
Another thing we do is have scripture all over the house. I'm still working on painting on the walls. I only have one verse painted on so far, the Train Up A Child verse in Levi's room. Complete with a train:) I have framed caligraphy all over the place though with scriptures from the "fruits of the spirit" to "choose you this day". I can't wait to paint even more - I'm especially looking for a good marriage one for our room, if anyone has any suggestions.
We're also both very careful to make sure that the kids see us reading our Bibles and hear us talking about our Bible study (even if it's over their heads). We want them to understand that reading the Word is a daily thing.
I've been thinking a lot lately about celebrating the Sabbath in a new way. We've always gone to church on Sundays and usually spend time either as a family or with our church family then, too. But I think I would like to do something more. So I hope to spend some time looking into that soon. I'm really excited to see what ideas other people are trying, too. You never know where a great idea is going to come form:)

What a busy week:)

Vacation Bible School went very well. Levi was grown-up enough to get up front with the big kids for the closing songs on Sunday morning! I couldn't have been prouder as he sang and did the motions - until he started pulling his hat down over his face and talking to the kids around him during the pastor's part, anyway:) At least everyone else still thought it was cute:) brenna did great too. I was very excited that she stayed with her nursery class the whole time and didn't cry for me once. Well, excited and a little tiny bit sad since it's a pretty good sign that she's starting to grow up.
Casey and I have been reading Dave Ramsey's Total Money Makeover and we've made the big decision to get completely out of debt. We actually are not in too deep, but hubby does have to work awfully long and hard to keep us floating along. The more I think about not owing anyone anything, the more excited I get. It will mean some belt tightening around here, which is what we're currently working on. I've always been pretty frugal in principle:) so I guess it's time to really put my money where my mouth is! I think the thing that has me most excited is having hubby at home more. It will be so wonderful to have him only working 1 job when baby#3 makes his/her appearance this winter. I also can't wait to be able to pay for things with cash. We can actually invision the day we pay cash for our new (to us) minivan and the day we have our mortgage burning party! I've been rereading The Tightwad Gazette (by Amy Dacyczyn - if you haven't ever, read this book) and rereading some money articles that Amy posted on the MOMYS digest (I'm not sure if these are on her blog or not, I need to check). Both of these are full of great advice.
All righty I'm off to start supper. I hope you're all having a wonderful week!

A Book Review

First let me say that this book was a gift given purely out of the author's generosity and kindness of heart. She certainly didn't ask me to review it and, actually, has no idea that I'm about to so I hope it's all right with her:) But this is one of those books that, once you read it, you just can't help talking about it.
The book is The Mommy Manual by Barbara Curtis - and it's fabulous. I was thrilled with the whole thing - start to finish.
Barbara draws on her experience as a mom (and she has a lot of experience! - 12 kids!) to teach mommies all about building up your children and your family. I got so many great ideas for creating traditions and discipline. She talks a good bit about uncovering the potential God put in each of our children, too, and that's such an important thing for me to keep in mind when my little ones are causing me to pull my hair out:) She also includes a great list of children's books to read aloud - one of our favorite traditions - and a list of really good family night movies. I think Christian mommies have an especially hard time finding books and movies for our kids because in addition to wanting quality, we also want something that reinforces the values we want to pass on. This list was really helpful for me.
The greatest thing about this book is just how real it is. I'm always on the lookout for a "Titus 2 Woman" to sit down and chat with - about raising godly children, about what I need to be doing now so they'll be responsible, loving adults later. There aren't many women around who are willing to sit down with you and say "this is what I did and my kids turned out pretty great." It's just a great practical and inspirational book and Barbara is a great writer. I recommend it whole-heartedly!

I've been tagged:)

1)What is the amount of the most books you've ever owned?
I think I probably own the most now that I ever had (although I am trying to weed out the lesser tomes). I would guesstimate about 250. Not including kid's books.

2) What was the last book you purchased?
The Excellant Wife by Martha Peace. I'm really excited about starting it - I've heard great things. And I'm excited because I found an autographed copy for $2 at a local booksale:) I love a bargain!

3) What was the last book you read?
The last thing I read...all the way through? The New Elegant but Easy Cookbook (2 thumbs up, btw), Celebrate Home: Great Ideas for Stay At Home Moms and Created to Be His Helpmeet. I'm reading now... Once a Month Cooking, Train Up Your Children in the Way They Should Eat, and Teaching Montessori in the Home.
4) What are the five books that meant the most to you?
This is a tough one! Of course the Bible. The NIV study Bible that my Grandma gave me for my 16th birthday is especially special - it has 13 (wow that's a lot!) years worth of highlighting and underlining and questions in the margins. I would hate to ever lose it just because it really shows how much work God's done on me through His word. Four more, huh? Let's see... Gone With The Wind - I reread it all the time. I'm starting to identify more with Melanie than with Scarlett - I think that's a good thing. Mary Pride's The Way Home. This was the book that introduced me to the idea of staying home with my kids, of "letting" God control our family planning, of homeschooling. Don't read it if you don't want to be convicted:) The Tightwad Gazette by Amy Dacyzyn (I hope she'll forgive me mispelling her name) - turned our whole way of looking at finances on it's head and taught me how to use what God provided for us so that I could stay home with Levi and not feel like we were "doing without" all the time. The Well Educated Mind by Susan Wise Bauer. This was the first real homeschooling book I read and it just gave me such a vision of the kind of education that is possible. I was astounded by what I didn't know and what I hadn't been exposed to, especially considering I believe myself to be well educated:)

5) What is the current book that you are reading together as a family? (If you don't do, you want to? Why, or why not?) We have been talking about starting this. My oldes is just three and always before I convinced myself he was too young to really pay attention, but I think he would enjoy it provided we started off kind of slow. I'd love some suggestions on this one.

This was fun...now who to tag? :)

One of those weeks...

Well, my copy of Created to be a Helpmeet finally got here at the end of last week. I'm almost finished with it (remember I have little ones so excuse the slowreading). And it's already made a huge difference in our relationship. So if anyone wondered where I've been, let's just say that my house is a wreck, my kids have watched a good deal of videos this week, I haven't had much computer time, and I'm just now getting around to grocery shopping, but hubby is happy;) We're getting back on schedule now, but I've had a big priority shift. It's not that I ever conciously put my husband last, mind you. I know hubby is supposed to come right after God on my list. But in the day to day you know what happens. The kids need me. The house is messy (and hubby likes a clean house, right?). And I need time to myself, don't I? I mean if I don't unwind a little I'm not going to be anygood to anyone. So hubby keeps getting pushed back further and further. But after spending the majority of a week with him and remembering how great he is and how much fun it is to be his wife, I'm not going to be giving that up any time soon. So instead of trying to work time with Casey onto my calender, my calender is going to start working around time with Casey.

Must-reads for wives

Check out what (link removed), Kristen, and Jenna are working on. Look under "Created to be His Help Meet." And check back every Tuesday for updates!

Plans for our preschool-at-home

Levi and I are ready to get back in the swing of things now that the holidays are over so we'll be starting "preschool" back next week. I've planned a new unit for us -we'll be reading a different book each week and doing activities that go along with the book. The books we're planning to read are: If You Give A Mouse A Cookie, The Little Red Hen, Goodnight Moon, Curious George, and Where the Wild Things Are. Some of our activities will include baking "mouse-sized" cookies to count and add/subtract (by eating, of course!), discussing opposites w/ Curious George, having a "wild rumpus," and baking - and sharing - bread. If anyone has any ideas for activities, I'd love to hear them.