by Kimberly | Mar 4, 2017 | Books
I remember making my first trip to Amish country. I was attending a wedding of some friend’s in college…and the bride lived in Amish country of Indiana. It was neat to see a culture within a culture. One so different from normal American culture, yet nestled in the quaint neighborhoods outside of the city. The food was spectacular and the people were friendly. The horse and buggies were iconic.
Now, I read Amish lit because it is fun. Most of the books are filled with a culture I don’t know very well and are in some form religious. Most of them are about romances. Most of them have some form of “coming of age” story.
I think as I get older though, I’m realizing that I’m more removed from young adult fiction. I love a good story, don’t get me wrong. But, I have sensed that most YA fiction is filled with a little drama, but not much. So much of it doesn’t tend to hit on the real hard stuff that hits most of American families.
Home to Paradise was slightly different: stories of God’s acceptance, forgiveness, family, heartbreak, and friendships. Troubled hearts are clearly in this book. If you like Amish lit, you will like this third book in a series by Barbara Cameron and you don’t even have needed to read the first two books. It draws you in and gives you enough of the backstory. Hey, it might even make you go back and the first two.
Cultures are always intriguing.
Litfuse is hosting a giveaway (and thanks for the book). If you would like a chance to win, enter here.
by Kimberly | Feb 10, 2017 | Books
I don’t know of a single person who loves rejection. We may learn from rejection, but it isn’t fun to go through.
I remember having to wear army green orthodic shoes in 3rd grade. Yeah, that’s cool.
I remember being heavier than everyone in my class. Another cool factor.
I remember not making the music group in high school that I wanted to make. Tears for days.
Then I didn’t make the cheerleading squad the second year or the JV Volleyball team – more tears.
Then came guys. Not being the one your favorite guy (at the time) ends up marrying. Not having a real date all the way through college. Not being the one the cool kids want to hang out with when doing youth ministry.
And let me tell you, at the age of 40, it doesn’t get any easier. The rejections are just different. Sure, you may be more confident in who you are or you may be able to get over the rejection easier, but rejection still hurts.
Kari Kampakis writes a great book that would be ideal for mothers to go through with their pre-teen or teen daughters. You need to be talking about these things with your daughters. Know the biblical heart that they need to hear. They will find their worth somewhere and you need to teach them, lovingly, with full compassion, that their worth is set.
She gives you a great tool here. And you can win a copy of this book – just leave me a message telling me one thing you like about yourself! 🙂 . Thanks to Tommy Nelson Mommies for this giveaway opportunity and the book. All opinons are my own.
by Kimberly | Jan 10, 2017 | Bible, Books, mothering, parenting
At the end of the day, motherhood can require a lot of us and we can be exhausted. We might be longing for a glass of wine, a dessert, a bubble bath, or just the ability to sit down and binge on Fixer Upper.
But, if we are faithful in finishing the day well with our children, we will reap the blessings. I am usually the one the put our sons to bed since my mister works retail and most evenings he gets home after bedtime. Depending on how the day has gone, I’m really just ready to turn off their lights and shut their doors. After brushing teeth of course!
I want to improve on my daily time with them at bed time. If my mister is home, we read a Bible story and each have time with one of our boys. I usually take the older and tuck him in or read him some Little House (we are working through this series). He sings the younger one a song and tucks him all in nice and tight.
The area I want to improve is the nights when I’m by myself, to actually read them a Bible story, pray with them, and then spend time with each of them in their rooms. Singing or reading or just talking. It may take an extra ten minutes, but I know that time is precious and I won’t get that back.
The resource we are going through now is the Bedtime Read and Rhyme Bible Stories. I like it more than I thought I would – and I usually continue the rhyme well after I’m done reading. It is note quite as crazy as Dr Seuss, but still fun. The pictures are engaging for the kids and the rhymes make it fun. Then the prayers at the end of each story allow us to focus our prayers at the end of the day.
How do you need to rescue or reprise bedtime? What have you read at bedtime or done that makes that transition easier?
You can answer the questions above for an opportunity to get this hardcover book for you and your family. Thanks Tommy Nelson Mommies for the book. All opinions are my own.
by Kimberly | Dec 31, 2016 | Books
Marriage is a blessing…and marriage is tough. Marriage takes a lot of work and you don’t get a break. Having little ones makes every marriage harder. And having kids adds so much more love and fun into a marriage. And every marriage looks different.
One of the things I love about Ashleigh Slater and her little family is that they play by their rules. They are a unique family who is on a unique journey. They live and love well. And she has written a book called Team Us. In it she shares some mentalities to implement in a marriage. “In the coming chapters, I’ll share with you how Ted’s and my decision to adopt a team mentality has shaped our marriage. How it’s helped us remain united as we’ve encountered things like annoying habits, different hobbies, conflict, job loss, and parenting.” (pg 16)
I love Ted’s little comments throughout each chapter and their real life experiences to help us remember that no marriage is perfect – and their questions to consider at the end.
One of the points I really love is you have to cultivate a lighthearted marriage. You have to incorporate non-heavy moments in your marriage. Every marriage will have its lows. Our marriage has had its share of lows brought on by outside influences. But, then we get away and have a date night, stay overnight somewhere to just enjoy sleeping in without preschoolers coming in at 5am, we eat meals together without kids, we go to the playground with kids, we have taco night once a week, we enjoy cocktails together while watching Netflix. Whatever it takes – we enjoy being with one another and we don’t always have to have heavy conversations.
This would make a great marriage book to read in 2017. Here’s to your (and my) better marriage in the year ahead!
Thanks to Moody Publishers for the book and Ashleigh and Ted for your friendship and example. All opinions are my own.
by Kimberly | Dec 30, 2016 | Books
The answer to the title of the blog is yes!
I am not the best housekeeper. In fact, it really isn’t one of the reasons my husband married me. When I first walked into my boyfriend’s (now husband) home it was spotless. He was a late 40s bachelor and it was so neat and clean. Wasn’t dust anywhere, there were no dishes in the sink, I mean seriously, his home was cleaner than the apartment my roommate and I shared.
I come from a home that had some help with the cleaning work because my mom was disabled. I did grow up doing chores, cooking, folding clothes, etc. I knew how to keep a house clean, but had never workout at a schedule or read books on the subject. And I like things clean, but not near as clean as my husband would like things.
Whether you are married or not, I do think that the Bible encourages women to be keepers of the home – making sure your home is tidy, picked up, and hospitable. Doesn’t mean your home needs to be magazine worthy at all times. in fact, I think if you have kids, and your home is spotless, it makes it hard for kids to be kids because they might be afraid to get anything dirty.
Dana White, in How to Manage Your Home Without Losing You Mind, encourages women who don’t know a single thing about cleaning their home, to start somewhere! I think for me it is definitely too basic. But, I do like how she takes the thoughts that we have and helps us move to actions.
One thing that I do love that she emphasizes is “That’s all that matters: finding what works in your home for your unique family.” What I like to tell other wives and young moms: ask your husband what is most important to him in a home – and do that first. For my husband: he wants things decluttered and the clothes washed and food. So I try to do those things then work out time to do everything else.
No matter where you fall in the realm of tidy or slob – we all are given much to take care of – and we need to be good stewards. That possibly means doing the dishes!
If you would like to win a copy of this book – just leave a comment with your least favorite chore to do. Mine: cleaning the showers.
Thanks to Tommy Nelson for this book and the giveaway copy. All opinions are my own.
by Kimberly | Dec 28, 2016 | Books
Many times life just seems to stop in between Christmas and New Years. People take vacations, couples sit by fires, being warmed by the flame and the glow. People slow down from shopping and in turn spend more time with family, on vacation, playing with new Christmas presents, or indulging in sweets or fun activities.
God is such a gracious God to give us a time in the calendar that work slows down and friends and parties and time to chill increases.
My friend Trillia Newbell, author of Fear and Faith (one of the best books I’ve read in the past 2 years), has written a new book that will help you make sense of what to do with all this free time, how to enjoy everything that is at your disposal, not feel shame in enjoying it, and how to be grateful for all these gifts.
I often feel that in some religious circles, it is just not ok to have leisure time. To not be working (outside of one day a week for a rest day). Many will say that watching tv is a waste of time, exercise or the arts is only good for functional reasons (and you can’t really enjoy them). Enjoyment is severely underrated – yet God gave us everything for our good and His glory. So, why shouldn’t we enjoy it.
Trillia takes on many different good things in life – and seeks to show us how we can not only have them for function – but also for enjoyment. And in enjoying these good gifts – that actually brings God great(er) glory!
“We must not take ourselves so seriously that we forget the wonder, we forget to delight, we forget the joy of living, and most important, to forget the God who gives it all to us.” Oh how I love this quote, and I think Trillia rightly sums up her book this way.
Some of the areas she invites us into for a closer look are work, relationships, marriage, food, art, nature. We need to think about our work as enjoyment and not task driven or a punishment. My husband has just finished a great book that Trillia also recommends on this subject. Relationships. With this – I think its ok to just enjoy one another without turning everything into a heavy religious, discipleship, sin conversation. Yes, those are needed. But, what is often missing in my world is good friends just to enjoy tacos, guac, pancakes, coffee and good conversation about life. Food is the hard one for me as enjoyment can lead to indulgence which is sin for me. Art – all types of music and art can lead to glory for the Creator of music. And nature – same way – I love to be outside just because the colors or sometimes even the gray is gorgeous and soothing and invigorating (and my boys can run off energy).
So, going into the New Year, maybe one of your New Year’s resolutions can be to enjoy the great gifts of God that He has given you.
Thanks to Blogging for Books for this book (and Trillia of course for her thoughts). All opinions are my own.
