April Book of The Month~12 SIMPLE SECRETS REAL MOMS KNOW

Okay everyone...prepare yourself for this. I checked this book out at the library last week and have begun to read it a second time. This book is the wake up call I very desperately needed in the life of my family and in my journey to yielding to the high calling that the Lord has placed on me as a mother. This book is unbelievable I tell ya! Rest assured, I am a big reader...but only of good books. If I say its good girls...the book is GOOD!!! I will close a book in Chapter 1 so fast it is not even funny. Im a major discriminator of books...if its not good I will not finish it. You can trust me!!

So what does all of this mean????

I guess I'll just go ahead and tell ya...

Because of the direction parenting is going, I feel very compelled to share this with you. When I first started my blogging journey it was because I truly want to start a revolution of sorts to bring us back to basics when raising our kids and to join moms together all across the country to change the way of life as we know it as far a parenting goes. I don't know about you but I am not interested in teenage pregnancy, smoking, drugs, and sex in 6th grade. THIS WORLD IS BROKEN and only we can fix what needs to be fixed within our own families to make a difference for our kids.

Now that I got that off my chest, our April Book of the Month is

12 Simple Secrets REAL Moms Know.

I am going to accompany this book with an intense study that I think will bring you back to where all of our hearts want to be with our families!! I hope you will join me. This is reality, girls. This is a huge wake up call. This is what EVERY mom needs to know and nobody in our "BROKEN" world is going to tell us.

This study will last all month and I will post as much as possible (Lord willing). I hope to post each morning so that you will start your day with a simple secret of REAL motherhood. Please don't hold me to that though yall...Im not good with the pressure...LOL!!

This study comes at the perfect time for me since Season 4 of Jon and Kate Plus Eight is over, so I will not be sharing any of my Gosselin thoughts (but before we close that book, let me just say that I am extremely disappointed in Jon and Kate. They are really not what I thought they were and I am starting to believe that they are not doing as well in their relationship as they would like for us to believe. I hope its not true but I am starting to think that Kate has let a little bit of fame go to her head. Isn't it funny how all satan needs is just a little crack...BRUTAL). I think that this book is so absolutely necessary for moms today...I just can't even tell you. So please prepare your hearts for this. If you can make it over to your local library see if you can pick it up because there are lots of charts and worksheets in there that just are not feasible for us to go over in this format.

We will begin with an introduction tomorrow morning. Please consider joining us. There is just so much to learn. I promise you at least one Ah-Ha moment and am certain that this will make you feel like you are not alone and give you the courage to parent the way you know is right...OOOH its just so good!! If you think there is something here for you or for someone you know, please consider subscribing/following my blog and you won't miss a thing. Also, encourage a friend to join us as well. It is that good. Younger moms or newbie moms, this can save you years of heartache. Older moms or veteran moms, this could potentially change your life and how your kids will view you much later in life. Its never too late!!

UNBELIEVABLE!!

Okay so you know I can't leave you hanging...here is an excerpt on what you can expect from JUST THE INTRODUCTION!!!

"Of course we love our kids to pieces and would do anything in the world for them. That's never been in doubt. But many of us feel torn, pushed, and pulled in different directions. Whether we work full time or part time or are stay at home moms seems to make no difference. Most mothers are feeling the same. There are so many parenting choices and opportunites these days, so many new mothering options and strategies, so many new products that are supposed to make our kids brilliant and successful. And all that new research keeps hitting us in the face with what we must do pronto or else. And then there's the pressure of trying ot keep up with all the other moms and all that they do for their kids that could give them an edge over ours.

So, we are running around making all these appointments...and we're trying to play all these different roles: we're the limo driver, the party planner, the wardrobe mistress, the volunteer car washer, the super organized woman with the longest to do list on the block. The more we do , the more there is to do. The more we try to keep up with the latest parenting trends and competition for status and achievement, the more pressure and anxiety we experience. The more we wish we could keep it simple the more complicated and difficult it seems to become.

...Are you at all concerned that the complicated and demanding roles we're playing, however unintentionally, are being dictated to us from somewhere else, by some expert or guru or lady down the block?

...Okay, have I got your attention? Do you agree that all the stresses and pressures of being a mother today can wrench us away from being real and sticking to our intuition of what's best for our kids? So how do we get back in touch with what really matters to our kids? How do we know what is real?

I'll tell you."

Oh boy, and that is just 2 pages of the intro...See yall in the morning...HAPPY READING!!

Book of the Month Club

The Excellent Wife by Martha Peace

Hey Everyone! Can you believe it is March already?? Time is just flying by! I am so excited to share a book with you this month that absolutely changed my life. I first read The Excellent Wife by Martha Peace when I was first married...almost 12 years ago. I was anything but submissive, as I grew up in a house where my mom ruled the roost and both of my parents were extremely unhappy. I am also a bit of a control freak, by my own admission, so submission was not even in my vocabulary. But, the study began at my church and I had to go. I learned so much from this book that it is now a given that it will be my gift at any and every bridal shower I am ever invited to. With chapters on issues like home, love, respect, intimacy, communication, conflict, anger, fear, and loneliness this book pretty much covers it all. I cannot tell you what this book has done for my life and how many people this book has affected in that same way in my little circle. This book has been passed around and passed around and believe it or not, I had to buy a new one because I couldn't even remember who had mine last to get it back. If you are struggling with submission, or if you think you have it all under control, I can promise you this, you will be humbled and amazed by what Martha has to say about God's plan and purpose for us in our homes. This is one of those books though that may touch a nerve. You must humble yourself and remember why you are reading it because the author does not go easy and wastes no time digging up those underlying issues that you may not even be aware you have. Please consider going over to Amazon and at least reading an excerpt from the book. You can get to it by just clicking it in my Amazon widget. I saw this morning that you can get the book for less than $4.00 plus shipping which is nothing in comparison to what you will gain from it. Enjoy!! And if you read it, please post back and let me know!! Happy Reading!!

Book of the Month Club

I will be recommending a book to you every month that I feel is a must read for today's Christian woman and mother. For February, I am so excited to recommend one of my all time favorite books, "Having a Mary Heart in a Martha World" by Joanna Weaver. This book gives us practical ways to spend more time with the Lord amidst our extremely busy days. In each of us lives a Mary, who wants to spend more time with the Lord, who longs for that quiet time with our master, that hungers to know more about him. But in each of us is a Martha as well, who has clothes to fold, kids to feed, boo boos to kiss, and a job to do. How do we balance it all? That is what the books aims to teach us and Joanna Weaver does a phenomenal job helping us along the way. Sometimes for me, my studying time in God's word just seems like one more thing on my to do list and there is no better example of this tug of war than with the two sisters from Bethany Mary and Martha. I am so much of a Martha...it is scary. Jesus is coming?? Are you kidding me?? Well I have this to do and that to do and a perfect supper to cook and a house to clean and I must wash everything and plant new flowers and get new tablecloth, etc. But inside me there is a Mary that I long to be so badly. Someone who can just sit at Jesus' feet and let the rest of the world slip away. I'm a perfectionist so when I read the story in Luke, I also get aggravated the Mary won't help Martha, and I just want Jesus to compliment Martha on a job well done. She just wants a little kudos for all of her work in preparing this perfect showplace for her guests. She is the Biblical Martha Stewart, don't ya know. But that is not what she gets at all.

I encourage you to go back to Luke and read the story of this visit again while thinking about yourself. We each a little Mary and a little Martha inside of us and this book will help you balance the two!

One Mom's Book of The Month - January

January's book of the Month is one that I just picked up at a local thrift store but is amazing!! It is called The Book of Virtues by William Bennett. This is a book of stories to read to your children that are written by classic authors like Benjamin Franklin, Emily Dickinson, Aesop...you get the idea. The values and character traits that are built into this book will NEVER be taught to our kids in a public forum...in my opinion. The stories are awesome!! Just so that you will not think I am off my rocker with some "Four score and seven years ago" bedtime story, let me just give you a glimpse of the very first story. It is about the "pleases" that live inside your mouth and if you don't let them out they will leave your mouth because they have to get fresh air and light to survive. If you don't let them out (as the rude children do not) they will leave your mouth forever and go to someone elses. My kids thought that this was the funniest thing ever and every time they have said "please" this afternoon, they have gotten the biggest kick out of it. Some of the poems and short stories, just like with any other book, will be skipped over because of one reason or another and some are too mature for my kids, but with virtues like Self Discipline, Compassion, Courage, Loyalty, Faith, etc...the book is well worth the money. It is over 800 pages long and is chock a block full of great stories and poems that the kids just love! This books shows that Character does matter!! I think you will really like the book and will keep it around for a long time!!