S Club Mama

I first heard of Jennie Allen a few years ago through Jen Hatmaker's blog. A friend and I co-hosted an if:gathering in our local church (Allen is the founder of if:gathering) and it was amazing. Then I borrowed Allen's book, "Restless," and wanted to mark it up so badly (worst part of borrowing books) because it just spoke a lot to me. Restless. I feel restless in my journey with God, like I don't know my exact place. image via jennieallen.com When I had the opportunity to read " Anything " by Jennie Allen, with a new Bible study included, I jumped on board. Years ago, she and her husband prayed to the Lord to do anything in their lives. Jennie said she felt numb in her walk with the Lord and in life and wanted not this mediocre life she was truly living (aren't we all???). I want that. I want big things out of my life but not for my glory but His. Through reading this and Oswald Chambers' "My Utmost for His Highest" I am more ...

Just the title of Dikkon Eberhart's book is enthralling: " The Time Mom Met Hitler, Frost Came to Dinner, and I Heard the Greatest Story Ever Told ." Right? Who wouldn't be curious to hear these stories? I was and so I read. Dikkon Eberhart is the son of a Pulitzer Prize winning poet, Dick Eberhart. I have honestly never heard the name until I read this book. I'm not huge into poetry, though. Like, at all. I did recognize many of the names thrown around in this book: Frost, Ginsberg, Woolf, Hemingway, etc. Truly this Eberhart (the younger, the author of this book) grew up knowing many artists and walking alongside giants, it seems. image via Amazon While the stories in the book, about his family's past and his mother's meeting with Hitler and his and his wife's conversion to Christ, were very interesting, I just couldn't fall in love with the book. I don't know if it was just too slow in most parts or too wordy. I'm not quite sure w...

Kayla Aimee brings laughter to the scary story of her daughter being born (after years of trying to have a baby) at 25 weeks. I am writing this at almost 34 weeks and cannot even imagine my baby being born today let alone almost 10 weeks ago! Reading " Anchored: finding hope in the unexpected " by Kayla Aimee really was a great read while on this pregnancy journey of my own. image via Icon Media Group  As Aimee and her husband struggled with the NICU stay of their daughter, Aimee's faith was really shaken. I just love her honesty in this book. I felt like she was my friend, telling me her story. Her story of fear, love, surrender. It's so beautiful. And funny. Strange, right? But she weaves this humor (and not dark humor) into the story in such an authentic way. I was just entranced with this story. Hearing about the procedures this poor baby went through, the sweet nurses that worked with her, the way God was with them through it all. Just really an incredible...

Squirt is our family artist. He makes really detailed drawings and colors nicely. He dislikes that his brother scribbles, but hey, art is not all of our thing! I thought Squirt would like this "Laugh Out Loud Pocket Doodles for Boys" by Rob Elliott . Something to do in church or in the car. image via amazon.com Basically, you have a joke: "What do magicians like to eat for breakfast?" An answer: "Trix cereal." Then an incomplete picture to go along (this one is a table with a magicians hat full of cereal with a rabbit peering over the edge of the table). Then there are directions on the bottom of how to doodle the rest of the picture: "Finish the magician. Make his absence disappear." Super cute idea. Not all kids like to draw but maybe they like to complete a drawing. Not all kids like to draw but maybe they will because of the jokes. Some kids love jokes and drawing so this is right up their alley! I gave this book to Squirt for a read...

I thought the "My Sing-Along Bible" by Stephen Elkins would be a great resource for the new baby and my boys to learn parts of the Bible together. The book itself has a paragraph about a Bible story (Moses in the river or Elijah being taken to heaven). Then it has a Bible verse followed by the words to the song that goes along with that story. I was afraid by the simplicity of this book that it'd be too little for my boys, but they actually enjoyed the music. image via Tyndale.com I think this will be a very useful resource to help raise my children up in the Lord. I like that some of the songs are ones I haven't heard before, others use music I'm familiar with, and some are songs I know. It's exciting to find a resource to be used from ages 0-8. Disclaimer: I received this complimentary book from  Tyndale House Publishers  in order to write an honest review. Others may not have the same experience(s) with it as I've had.

Comparison. It's everywhere! We in America get thrown into Glimpses every day of people's lives: their perfect living rooms, their perfect recipes, their perfect baby showers or birthday parties, their perfect families. What's a Glimpse? Well that's something I learned in "I'm Happy for You (Sort of...Not Really)" by Kay Wills Wyma . A Glimpse is exactly what those things mentioned are: glimpses of the good things in people's lives. We see what people (friends & strangers) want us to see on social media - on Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest. Those are their best moments. And what do we compare them with? Our worst moments. I see my friend who is ever patient with her children. I see her in public and compare that with our private moments. I'm sure she has her moments she'd rather not everyone see, too! image via amazon.com  Wyma's book really forced me to look at how comparison runs in my life - and has the potential to ruin it! ...

When I was pregnant with Moose in 2006, I was taking education classes and we discussed autism. I remember thinking, "oh Lord, anything but that." My husband remembers me praying about it, too. It wasn't until 2010 his autism was diagnosed. It was hard and full of emotional questions: was this my fault for past transgressions, was this my fault physically, why, now what. In those 5 years since, I've learned SO much about being a mom, a wife, a human being, a Christian that I otherwise would not have learned if I'd had a "normal" kid my firstborn (Squirt does not have autism). I have learned to pray that God be glorified in these really hard moments (when our firstborn had his first seizure this year and subsequent epilepsy diagnosis). Whether He is glorified in how we handle the situations presented, in our parenting, in our struggles, in our lives. We want Him glorified and so I say "anything" as we await this third child this summer. ...