S Club Mama

Time is flying by this year - almost Halloween, Christmas things in the stores. And I find myself the busiest I've ever been. I hate that. I really dislike being busy. I want days where I can stop by a friend's house without worrying about the time. Ahhh the pre-school days. Speaking of...I need to run to a haircut.... Wow, I wrote that first paragraph a few days ago. See how time flies? We here at the S Club have been busy with storytime (me), school (boys), work and helping with harvest (Big A). We spent yesterday at Big A's parents' farm, helping with harvest. He helped with harvest, I helped wrangle the 5 grandkids. Each boy took a turn riding in the tractor, which they loved! We also did 4-wheeler rides. It was more fun than I anticipated. Mostly I didn't anticipate it being fun because I've been a little overwhelmed and in need of a restful day. I've been doing a lot for storytime lately and that actually takes up quite a bit of time. I need to bal...

The above is a podcast from John Piper. Don't be scared if you think he's a really deep theologian (which he is); it's worth the listen and it's not full of scary apologetics (which you shouldn't be scared of anyway but I know I used to be). This link is to a wonderful piece on motherhood. You are a good mom. Say it out loud. Say it every day. Do it. Then share it with your mom friends and remind them that they are good moms. If they aren't good moms, encourage them to be... And be praying for me and the other moms in our school. This starts a 5 day break from school for the kids. If you hear a weird noise, kind of like yelling but far off, it's probably from the state of Kansas. Slightly kidding.

Last year, I had the privilege to hear Angie Smith speak at a Women of Faith conference. I am a fan from her red hair to the wise words given to her to share from the Lord. I first heard of Angie during the time prior to their daughter, Audrey's birth. I cried in their grief and rejoiced at their blessings. I loved reading Angie's book, " Mended ." I was overjoyed to be able to read " Audrey Bunny ." I really enjoyed the illustrations in "Audrey Bunny" by Breezy Brookshire that accompany this story. I really enjoy the moral of this story = that you will be loved by somebody even with your imperfections.  I even loved that the story was told in the person of the bunny who wants to be loved but has an imperfection. via Amazon I did enjoy this book from the bunny to the little girl who loved her. I love that the bunny is named Audrey after their daughter. I don't know how much of this story is true or not (Caroline is another Smith daught...

Winner of "My Mama and Me" devotional/book by Crystal Bowman is Kayla ! Also only 4 days to enter my giveaway for the Grace UnPlugged CD . Really great, Christian music!

A few years ago I had an idea to do a clothing swap but had no interest, so I canned the idea. Then I read Jen Hatmaker's book 7: Excess Against Mutiny. In her clothing month (wore 7 pieces of clothing for one month), she mentioned that a friend of hers put together a clothing swap for women where the leftover clothing was donated to a local women's shelter. My idea was back! I emailed to get a feeler out and got about 10 positive responses. I figured that was good enough! So I put it out there on Facebook. This last weekend was the date. I had 4 women volunteer to help me set up Friday night. This may have proved the best of all. This girl time with girl talk that I needed so badly I didn't know I needed it was restful for my soul. Thank you Yalana, Kim, Rachel, and Mary! It was so lovely to chat between folding. Saturday, I had a few lovely ladies trudge out in the early lights (again, thanks different Kim, Mary, and Rachel) and spend some time mostly chatting. It w...

I wrote about the book Grace UnPlugged here. Although my giveaway was highly underrated (as in low entries), I'm still pretty excited about this movie . And even more so now that I've heard the soundtrack . AJ Michalka plays Grace and sings on the soundtrack - wow, what a voice! Here is the trailer for the movie (releases October 4). The first song Michalka sings is called All I've Ever Needed . Watch this! I think this is such a classy video and her voice is so stirring. The music is just so good on this soundtrack. And not just the actors but big name Christian artists: TobyMac ("Steal My Show") and Chris Tomlin ("Our God"). Some of my other favorite songs on here are: "You Never Let Go" and the "Amazing Grace" instrumental. I have been listening to this CD whenever I'm doing dishes or making supper or need some tunes. I usually flip on my audio book but I really enjoy this CD. Luckily, one of you can walk away with ...

Boys. If men are from Mars and women are from Venus...where exactly are boys from? They are definitely a type of their own, right boy moms? I have read many books concerning boys and raising them and shepherding them and teaching them and disciplining them. I'm well-read (and getting to be well-experienced in the 0-6 age group) about boys. Having read so many books, I will say that "Raising Boys by Design" by Gregory L. Jantz, PhD and Michael Gurian is probably the most boring I've read. They have the right idea with the subtitle "What the Bible and Brain Science reveal about what your son needs to thrive." But the actual writing in the book did not hold my attention well. Here are the few things I gleaned from this book. When boys are at rest or zoning out, their brains mostly are in a resting state. Girls' brains, in opposition, still have much activity even in a resting state. My question to this is then, is it possible for boys to obey right away...