Books for the Believing Parent

Before we had Ford dedicated to our church (The Austin Stone), we had to take class where we studied Deuteronomy 6:4-7 and wrote rhythms and goals for our family. They gave us a list of recommended reading to be helpful as we seek to lead and shepherd our children. I know it is tough to make time to read a book as a mama but I know how important it is to fill yourself up before you can take on the never ending demands you have. I mean, thank God for Kindles and the Kindle app for iPhone!  The Jesus Storybook Bible is our favorite and is such a child friendly yet true depiction of the bible.I'd love to know if you've read any of these books, your thoughts on them, or if you have any more suggestions for me.
Jesus Storybook Bible by Sally Lloyd-Jones

Give Them Grace by Elise Fitzpatrick & Jessica Thompson

*I had the honor of listening to Jess speak last year at The Influence Conference last year and started this book this week!

Grace-Based Parenting by Tim Kimmel

Come Ye Children by Charles Haddon Spurgeon

Age of Opportunity by Paul David Tripp

Shepherding a Child's Heart by Tedd Tripp

Instructing a Child's Heart by Tedd Tripp

Big Truths for Young Hearts by Bruce Ware

Setting Their Hope in God: Biblical Intercession for your Children by Andrew Case

The Missional Mom by Helen Lee

A Praying Life by Paul Miller

Bloom

I read a blog post a couple of weeks ago and it was along the lines of, "you know you're a blogger when..." and one of the bullets was "Kelle Hampton is a household name". I could relate to all the other bullets, camera in tow, pictures of food, tweeting like crazy, but I had no idea who Kelle was. After a simple google search, I came across her blog, Enjoying The Small Things. It didn't take more than 2 minutes for me to fall in love with Kelle's story...

via

Yes, Kelle wrote a book. In short, Kelle and her husband welcomed their second baby girl 3 years ago and discovered she had Down Syndrome. I don't want to give away her entire story (because I want you to read the book!) but it is a beautiful story of heartache, love, triumph, family, faith.

I immediately ran out to grab Bloom and read it quickly. I feel like finding Kelle's blog and reading her book was meant to be for me. 

A blessing and a little bit of comfort. 

As Jon and I talk about our future and plan for when we want to grow our family, to be totally honest, my heart is weighed down by worry. Not once do I worry about being a great parents, providing for our children, and guiding them to Christ but I worry a lot. I worry first and foremost about not being able to conceive a baby, losing a baby, the hundreds and thousands of things that could go wrong with pregnancy, birth, life in general. What if I can't handle it? And this book gave me so much hope, and strength. The Lord gives you what you can handle. And Kelle was so lucky to get to mother Nella.

Kelle is such a beautiful writer. She is so honest and real about the pains she felt when learning of Nella's DS. She shows raw emotion, she is human. And Nella is perfect. She is nothing short of a bright, sweet, gorgeous baby who is doing so much teaching and inspiring, just by existing. Kelle talked a lot about how our stories are written. How we all strive for that white picket fence but that she has learned to embrace the color that's been splashed on hers. You can't live for the "what if's". Life is happening right in front of our eyes. 

I pray that I can be as strong of a mother as Kelle. And live honestly and out loud. The pages of this book are filled with warmth, growth, togetherness... and beautiful pictures of her family and girls. I seriously couldn't wait to turn the page.

 via

via

A dear friend told me recently, the truth about children is they are a commandment from the Lord... Genesis says "God blessed them and said to them, 'Be fruitful and increase in number, fill the earth and subdue it.' God put it in most of our hearts to desire to have children and that parenting will teach you the glory of God. It will teach you to fear and trust in Him, more than ever before. I am so grateful I heard those words and am growing from them. I am praying for peace. I will be a mother one day and my God has a wonderful plan laid out for me. 

via

So friends, take my advice and read this book. It will teach you about the power of family, the love of a mother, and the incredible journey of the Hampton family. Your soul will get lost in the depth of this wonderful book.

Dream Big

I am so excited to be a part of Heather Boersma's Dream Big Book Tour. Today I am sharing my thoughts on her wonderful book.

via

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I had just finished leading a small group studying the book Soul Revolution that challenged us to spend time with the Lord every 60 minutes for 60 days, I was finding myself yearning for something more. I wasn’t being held accountable by a book or group but still wanted fulfillment and time with my Creator and I prayed. Heather answered my prayers. I was so honored when she asked if I would read and review her book, Dream Big. I said yes in a heartbeat!

Dream Big was exactly what I needed to quench my thirst for the Lord. My husband and I are in a total sanctification season of our lives and believe that God is preparing our hearts to do something big whether it be in our marriage, our future as parents, ministry, church, community outreach. We have been praying for him to guide us along the way to success in His kingdom. But why is it so hard to commit 100% of our lives to Him. “Many of the challenges we face in our friendship with God are directly related to the fact that we can't experience Him physically”- Dream Big. The fact is as humans we are skeptical of an invisible faith. We are scared to trust something we can’t physically grasp. “Our priority shouldn’t be to build our earthly kingdoms but to usher his eternal kingdom”. – Dream Big

Heather & her sweet baby Cohen

Reading this book and studying The Word with Heather’s guidance made me learn so much about myself and the plans God has for me and the world as a whole. The book is broken up into 3 parts. God’s Dream For the World. God’s Dream For You. Unlocking Your Dream.  

And here’s what I learned from each part

Part 1: God’s Dream For The World

• The 10 Commandments: who hasn’t spent time trying to memorize and live by these? But did you ever take the time to dissect them and understand God put this in place to show you love? Heather taught me that the first 4 commandments are about closeness with God and the last 6 are about closeness with others.

• “All of the elements of creation praise God by just being what He created them to be”- Dream Big. The sun, the moon, flowers. God speaks to us through His creation and I know he sent Ernie to me and my husband to show us unconditional, everlasting love (and patience!). After realizing how He can mold and encourage your thoughts and beliefs with something as simple as a sunrise, I found myself thanking Jesus for His simple and beautiful creations.

• We cheat on God. But He has a never ending pursuit for us and always draws us back with his incredible love and commitment.

• “God brings people into our lives for a reason, for a season, or for a lifetime.”- Dream Big This gave me time reflect on the relationships that have come and gone in my life realizing that the ones that have gone, were gifts from God.

Part 2: God’s Dream For You

• “Are your current dreams in line with the world’s dreams? Or is there still room for God’s way in your heart?”– Dream Big. This got me thinking, ‘are my dreams and aspirations compliant with the way the Lord wants me to use my spiritual gifts and talents?’. I prayed that the Lord had motherhood in his plans for me because it is a part of my forever plan. And I will continue to pray that prayer and that I am living out His word in every facet of my life.

• Proverbs 19:21- Many are the plans in a person’s heart but only the Lord’s plans prevails. His word is above all, no matter how perfectly I’ve built my intricate plans. And I pray that I can learn to accept that and trust His word over mine.

• Jesus calls us to love the people who don’t even like us but he makes it possible and worth it. Even when Jesus was beaten, mocked, tortured, and ultimately murdered, he spoke words of love to his killers, "Father forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing" – Dream Big. Love your neighbors. Love your family. Love your enemies. Hard but necessary.

• “Each of us carry a dream because each of us carry the image of God”- Dream Big

• “Through Christ, your greatest weakness will become your greatest ministry”- Dream Big. How many times has someone said to you, “if it doesn’t kill you, it only makes you stronger” or “learn from your mistakes”. And it is such a true statement! The Lord wants us to take what we’ve learned from our pain, struggles, defeats, and heartaches and minister those who are going through similar events. This will not only help you see what God was doing by putting you through this but also turning pain into something so beautiful. 

• Learning to say no. How many times do we do the right thing for the wrong reason? We put money in the offering basket so people will see we have extra cash, we get involved in a charity to make a name for yourself. The list goes on and I fall victim to it at times. Obedience is saying Yes to the Lord whereas sacrifice is saying Yes to what you think/others think is “right”. “Learning to say No is a skill God values”- Dream Big.

Part 3: Unlocking Your Dream

• Be patient!!! Okay I am still working on this but Heather made a great point that really helped me understand why patience is a virtue. Jesus waited 30 years before He began His public ministry and it only lasted 3 years before He was crucified. “How you live toady shows God whether or not you are ready for what He has for you tomorrow”- Dream Big

• “Anything the devil meant for evil, God can use for your good if you let Him.”- Dream Big. Heather made it clear that choosing to love and be joyful when life isn’t going your way is a choice. I love those prints on Pinterest that say “Choose Joy”. The devil cringes when we do life with God. Keep choosing joy!

• We aren’t alone. I was so amazed to learn more of Heather’s story and how she got to where she is now. Opening up about family, past relationships, lust. It made me feel human. We are in this together! 

• “It's not about making our name known, but to make Jesus' name known and give Him all the glory”- Dream Big

No matter where you are on your walk with the Lord, I encourage you to pick up a copy of Dream Big. Not only did the book have such an impact on my heart and my prayers but I am still blown away that I have a true friend that is such an amazing writer. Heather, you have a gift that you are using to not only encourage others but glorify God!

 via

Hunger what?

Okay friends, please don't hate me...but I have one question...

Am I the only one who is not all about The Hunger Games right now?

Take a deep breath while that settles in. Now don't get ahead of yourself and accuse me of not reading the book because I read it. I read it over 2 weeks or so. Honestly I didn't want to finish it. It was so disturbing. And even more disturbing was the thought of elementary school kids reading it! When I watch scary movies I feel physically ill so it wasn't surprising that this was a tummy aching book to read. It was not a page turner for me. I made myself finish (I hated Harry Potter the first 50 pages I read and then became obsessed so I wanted to give it a chance). And yes the ending was intense but I didn't run out to get the 2nd book. And I still haven't read it. 

via

I usually am right there on the book/movie bandwagon (Harry Potter, Twilight...okay books NOT movies) but I just can't get into this one. I don't plan on seeing the movie in the theater (it takes a lot for me to go to the movies in the first place, I like watching at home), I will probably wait for it to come out on Netflix. Elizabeth Banks was on Ellen yesterday and said the movie is projected to make $100M this weekend! 

Please don't hate me and unfollow my blog :-) I just want to know what draws you to the book. I have heard of people getting mockingjay tattoos, camping out for days and doing some crazy things for this book/movie. So if you are a Hunger Games fanatic, tell me! 

Speaking of books, last night I finished Taylor Armstrong's memoir

via

I will now watch the show with such a different heart for Taylor. I cannot believe what she went through but her character all makes sense to me now. I am so grateful for a loving relationship with my husband and I pray for women experience what Taylor did. I highly recommend it.

Follow me on Good Reads to see what I've read, what I'm reading and what's on my list.

Packing, Crafts, & Hiding From Reality

So I am a crazy lady and have already started packing. We close in less than 4 weeks and I want to be on top of things. I kind of feed off of organization and I actually had a lot of fun doing it (weird, I know). Our current home is now up for lease and I wanted to declutter a bit and I also felt weird having people in our house seeing all of our stuff. I have been collecting boxes from work and want to make this move efficient and easy! Jon was on the road for work Tuesday night and came back late last night so it gave me ample time to go OCD on packing. I ended up taking down 43 picture frames....yes you heard that right, 43 frames. In barely 1100 square feet. If my whole house could be covered in pictures, I would be happy! I also took down wall decor, random accessories, and pictures off of our fridge. 

Back in May I did an entire post dedicated to photo booths and our love for them. We had one at our wedding and every wedding we've been to after has had one. They are a BLAST. Most of our photo strips are on our refrigerator along with 4 save the dates, our wedding invite and more pictures. It's a lot!! Our new fridge is stainless steel and is only magnetic on the sides (and only one side is showing). I'd rather not plaster the side with junk so I got a little crafty last night...

I used a shadow box and simply glued down the tiny little pictures. Not all of the photos fit but I picked my favorites. I was thinking this would be a great way to collage any type of picture, not just a photo strip. Saves space and makes for a clean refrigerator :-)

Last night I also started this book. Okay I only read 3 pages because Jon was almost home but I have a feeling I will finish it quickly. Beverly Hills is my favorite Real Housewives group for sure. 

Jon got home late last night but I still managed to show him 4 of the songs I've choreographed for Zumba :-). I can't wait to start teaching!! Jon said after seeing the songs he is intimidated to ever go to a class (yeah right like he'd ever go!). 

You Had Me At Woof

I just finished one of the most amazing books

Julie Klam wrote this book about her life as a single, 30 year old living in NYC. She visits a psychic in search of a lover. Little does she know that a man would soon enter her life. That little man was a 2 year old Boston Terrier rescue who she instantly fell in love with. The book follows her life with Otto- the joys, the hardships and the lessons learned. It is such a beautiful book. 

It is no secret that I love Ernie. He is more than a pet, he is my sweet baby boy. He is so much greater than the expectations I had for bringing a puppy into our home. This book helped show me that I am not the only one with such a strong, emotional love for my dog. 

"Everyone talks about it, but animals are so selfless and their love is unconditional. They aren’t angry with us for more than a few seconds and their actions don’t mask ulterior motives." page 148

"A very wise dog woman once told me that dogs find owners, not the other way around. They pick you and they choose to stay with you. In that way, they are also giving you the end of their life. The deeper the bond, the harder it is to say good bye. I know I’d rather have any amount of time with a dog I love and suffer the mourning than not have the time at all." page 151

"The National Institute of Heath has proven that owning pets has significant health benefits including the boosting of survival rates for coronary care patients. Dog ownership promotes regular exercise, being near a dog lowers its owner’s blood pressure, and when a person interacts with a dog, the central nervous system releases several hormones that cause feelings of pleasure- included in that is oxycontin." page 258