Don’t Make Me Count to Three

The pleasure I find in reading literature has grown as I have grown.  There is now a sense of overflow.  Please do not misunderstand me.  I can never be full of literature and come to a stopping point.  What I mean is that I want others to enjoy reading the written word as much as I do.  We can all benefit from a good story.  That is why I want to share with you Bookworm Mama.

In this space, I am going to overflow a bit and send some good reads your way!  I have no intention of bashing authors or a style of writing or someone’s story.  Primarily, what I say here will be about books I have read and think others will enjoy reading as well.  In each Bookworm Mama review I will provide a synopsis followed by 2 reasons I think you should check it out also.  Nothing fancy, just my thoughts.  I hope you enjoy!

Title:  Don’t Make Me Count to Three
Author:  Ginger Plowman

A mom’s practical approach to biblical parenting.  Shepherding a Child’s Heart by Ted Tripp definitely made me rethink the way I look at parenting.  In my opinion, Don’t Make Me Count to Three takes Tripp’s book and puts “feet” to it.  Plowman addresses many “issues” that I as a mother struggle with or have questions about.  She addresses these “issues” with scripture.  It was extremely encouraging and a great resource!  Reading Tripp’s book first, was very beneficial for the reading of this book.  However, it is not necessary.

Practical.

I like theory, philosophy, foundation, etc. but when it comes down to it I am a practical girl.  I want things black and white, yes or no, up or down.  This book is practical.  As I said in the synopsis, in my opinion, it takes the foundation of Ted Tripp’s Shepherding a Child’s Heart and puts “feet” to it.  Plowman gives examples of how to handle certain situations in the home.  She literally writes out conversations between parent and child.  It is so very helpful!  Probably my favorite part is in Chapter 8 she provides a resource in the form of a chart for addressing certain sins in your child’s life.  The chart includes questions to probe the child’s heart and scripture to use in reproof and encouragement.  This has been great for B and I to work on together so that we ensure we are using God’s word in correcting and teaching our little ones.

Connection.

Plowman points out the connection between how training our children to respond to parents is preparing them for a future relationship with Jesus.  Noel Piper also addresses this in her book Treasuring God in our Traditions, “When we train our children in godly patterns, godly traditions, we’re helping them to get ready to move with the responsibility into adulthood.”  (Piper, 2007) When we teach them to obey immediately, completely, and with a joyful heart we are teaching them to respond to God in this way also.  This doesn’t have to be a secret we keep to ourselves but we can share this with the child as we teach them.  God uses his Word to discipline and guide us and so we must do the same with our children.

Favorite quote

“Children will rise to the standard that the parents set.”

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image credit

Plowman, G. (2003). Don’t make me count to three. Shepherd Press eBooks.

Piper, N. (2007). Treasuring god in our traditions. (pp. 17-18). Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books.

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On the Edge of the Dark Sea of Darkness

The pleasure I find in reading literature has grown as I have grown.  There is now a sense of overflow.  Please do not misunderstand me.  I can never be full of literature and come to a stopping point.  What I mean is that I want others to enjoy reading the written word as much as I do.  We can all benefit from a good story.  That is why I want to share with you Bookworm Mama.

In this space, I am going to overflow a bit and send some good reads your way!  I have no intention of bashing authors or a style of writing or someone’s story.  Primarily, what I say here will be about books I have read and think others will enjoy reading as well.  In each Bookworm Mama review I will provide a synopsis followed by 2 reasons I think you should check it out also.  Nothing fancy, just my thoughts.  I hope you enjoy!

Title: On the Edge of the Dark Sea of Darkness
Author: Andrew Peterson

The young Janner, Tink, and Leeli find themselves at the center of a battle over “the lost jewels of Anniera”. Along the way, there seem to be more questions that arise for these three siblings than answers.  The answers they find, however,  are more than they could have ever imagined.

Let me just be honest.  When I first heard the names of the “bad guys” were Fangs, Toothy Cows, and Horned Hounds I have to admit I was skeptical.  But boy was I wrong.  This young adult (suggested for 10 years old and up) fiction book by the acclaimed storyteller Andrew Peterson hooked me from the beginning.  This story of adventure caused me to stay up a bit too late several nights in a row in an effort to find out what happened next.  A great read for all ages.  Oh, and what’s even better, it’s the first in a trilogy!

It’s fiction.

I really like nonfiction.  When I read nonfiction I feel like I’m “bettering” myself.  I tell myself I’m learning from what God has taught others and hopefully being pushed more toward Christ.  And in a lot of ways these things are probably true.  However, that doesn’t mean I should never read fiction.  Russell Moore writes a wonderful blog post entitled “Why Christians Should Read Fiction”.  In this article he quotes David Mills’ thoughts on how stories can even play a part in shaping the “moral imagination” of children (Moore, 2013).  (see quote below)

“As he pointed out, moral instruction is not simply about knowing factually what’s right and wrong (though that’s part of it); it’s about learning to feel affection toward certain virtues and revulsion toward others. “

I too, as an adult, can learn to “feel affection toward certain virtues and revulsion toward others” (Moore, 2013).   So, I’m thankful for appropriate pieces of fiction such as “On the Edge of the Dark Sea of Darkness” for this reason.

Grows young readers.

There is no “boring” in this book.  If a young boy or girl start reading this, I venture to say that it would greatly encourage them of the adventures they can find between two covers.  I will definitely hold on to this trilogy for my little ones.

Favorite quote

“He didn’t believe it, in fact. But he knew it. And now he realized that he had always known it, but the thought hit him with as much fear as wonder. “
-thoughts of Janner Igiby

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image credit

Moore, R. (2013, March 25). [Web log message]. Retrieved from http://www.russellmoore.com/2013/03/25/why-christians-should-read-fiction/

Kisses from Katie

The pleasure I find in reading literature has grown as I have grown.  There is now a sense of overflow.  Please do not misunderstand me.  I can never be full of literature and come to a stopping point.  What I mean is that I want others to enjoy reading the written word as much as I do.  We can all benefit from a good story.  That is why I want to share with you Bookworm Mama.

In this space, I am going to overflow a bit and send some good reads your way!  I have no intention of bashing authors or a style of writing or someone’s story.  Primarily, what I say here will be about books I have read and think others will enjoy reading as well.  In each Bookworm Mama review I will provide a synopsis followed by 2 reasons I think you should check it out also.  Nothing fancy, just my thoughts.  I hope you enjoy!

Title:  Kisses from Katie: A Story of Relentless Love and Redemption
Author:  Katie Davis

I know I’m a little behind.  It seems so many others finished reading Kisses for Katie months ago.  After much encouragement from family and friends I finally read it.  It is a beautiful picture of sacrifice for the sake of Christ.  Katie shares her journey of leaving her comfortable world behind and being obedient to the desire God gave her to serve the people of Uganda.

 

 Adoption. 

When this book was written the author, Katie Davis, had adopted fourteen girls.  So naturally adoption is woven throughout her story.  When referring to adoption she says, “And it comes with huge heartache and huge God-wrestling.”  Oh how I can relate to this as I’m sure so many other adoptive families can as well.  It’s so nice to read someone else’s words and be able to see yourself in them, knowing that you’re not alone.

When wondering why these children have to come from hurtful places she remembers “that all of this, even this hard part, is working for the good in their lives, for the good of God and His kingdom”.  She goes on to say that “hardships are gifts that He is using to strengthen us as a family and in Him so that He may transform us into His likeness.”  What an encouragement to not only physically adopted children but spiritually adopted children as well.

 Scripture. 

It infiltrates her life, her daily living.  It is not something that is separate from who she is and what she does each day.  It is her lifeline, her breath.  As I read, this was such a challenge for me and my daily life.  Do I live like this?  It seems that Davis is living in a constant state of dependence on God’s word.  Even though I don’t live in a third world country I still should be just as dependent on His word.  It should still infiltrate my life, my daily living.

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Bookworm Mama

Throughout my life I’ve often been dubbed as a bookworm.  I have worn this label proudly since I was a child.  Honestly I think my hunger for reading began even before I could read.  Sounds impossible doesn’t it?  My mom is who I thank for this.  She started reading to me at a very early age.  Some of my favorite childhood memories are of my sister and me snuggled under a brightly colored quilt on a crisp fall morning waiting for the bus.  My mom would sit next to us and read aloud Superfudge.

In 1st grade Mrs. Ligon had shelves of books she encouraged us to take home.  I can remember eagerly picking out which ones to load in my backpack and enjoy at home with my mom.  While the 1st grade reading contest did motivate me (I’m slightly competitive) even after the contest I didn’t stop.

In 7th grade, Mrs. Ballard was my reading teacher.  Each week we were expected to write a letter to her about what we were reading.  I loved having the chance to pour my thoughts out on the particular novel I was engrossed in at the time.  What I loved even better was the fact that Mrs. Ballard wrote back to me.  She would even give me suggestions of books to read that I still love today.

In high school Mrs. Cates made us read a classic for our college English class.  I picked out Jane Eyre and probably would have quit about 50 pages in if she wouldn’t have kept pushing me to continue.  Boy am I glad I took her advice.  To this day it’s a novel that I’ve read over and over.

Today, it seems I can’t find enough time to get lost in pages of words.  The problem is now I have responsibilities that get in the way.  Things like a changing diapers and vacuuming.  However, I still manage to squeeze 15 minutes here and there throughout the day to dive into my book of choice.

As you can see, the pleasure I find in reading literature has grown as I have grown.  There is now a sense of overflow.  Please don’t misunderstand me.  I can never be full of literature and come to a stopping point.  What I mean is that I want others to enjoy reading the written word as much as I do.  We can all benefit from a good story.  That is why I want to share with you Bookworm Mama.

In this space, I am going to overflow a bit and send some good reads your way!  I have no intention of bashing authors or a style of writing or someone’s story.  Primarily, what I say here will be about books I have read and think others will enjoy reading as well.  In each Bookworm Mama review I will tell you a synopsis followed by two reasons I think you should check it out also.  Nothing fancy, just my thoughts.  I hope you enjoy!

Click here to go to all Bookworm Mama posts.

Star shaped sugar cookies

Growing up there was never a birthday celebration skipped.  Typically, mama would cook a meal and cake of our choice.  Some years we had the entire extended family to join us for supper, some years an “attempt to stay up all night”, squealing girls slumber party was included (which I’m sure my parents are thrilled those are only a distant memory).  Regardless of the way we celebrated my mom always did her best to ensure I enjoyed the special day.  Now that I’m a mama I have the responsibility of planning birthday celebrations for Roxie Kyle.  We weren’t sure we were going to be with Roxie on her first birthday so when we found out that she would be home, my mind started spinning.

The meaning of Roxie is “star; bright; dawn” so it seemed only appropriate that we celebrate with a star theme.  So the planning began.  We would have star shaped sugar cookies, a big number one cake decorated with stars, star suckers, star garland . . .

One night when I was checking things off of my party to do list I began to think about this little girl we were celebrating.  She truly was a “star” in our lives and had “bright”ened our home so much!  As much as I wanted to celebrate her first year of life, I had to stop for a minute and ask myself what all this work was for.  You see the decorations and food and hoopla is fun, but I’ve found it’s so easy to get wrapped up in all the extras, the things that truly don’t matter.  I don’t necessarily think there’s anything wrong with the star garland streaming from every corner of the room or dozens of star shaped sugar cookies.  Who doesn’t like a big old sugary piece of cake piled high with ice cream at a birthday party?!

However, is that overshadowing the true source of our celebration?

“Through him we have birth and life and every thing and every person in our lives.  So God is the reason we have anything to celebrate.  He is the ultimate source of any of our celebrations.”  -Noel Piper

Roxie Kyle is a gift from our Father.  She is made in His image, knit together in her birth mother’s womb, planned before the creation of the world to be a part of the Wilson family.  The type of celebration may vary from year to year but what should not vary is that we will strive to demonstrate God’s love for her and say to her “we are thankful to God for giving us you!”

Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights with whom there is not variation or shadow due to change.  James 1:17