some good reads/listens

Happy Friday! I wanted to pop in today and share some good things to read/listen to that I have come across this week!

My top pick for the week is to listen to the episodes of Family Life Today that were on the radio this week. Voddie Baucham was on the show talking about his book, "What He Must Be... If He Wants to Marry My Daughter" which is a wonderful read for parents of daughters AND sons! Awesome stuff. I love how Mr. Baucham reminds us as Christian parents that we are called to raise our children differently than the rest of the world and to have Biblical standards. I have a little catching up to do myself and if you would be interested you can listen to the episodes online right here. Also, if you are looking for another good read I can't recommend enough the book "Family Driven Faith" by Voddie Baucham as well. It is one of those books I think I need to re-read at least once a year for encouragent.

I also started a new book this past week that I am really enjoying it. I am reading it as part of our chuches discipleship program. It is probably the book that I was most nervous to read because it is the topic I feel I know the least about... evangelism. But, so far this book is not intimidating and puts the information in an encouraging and readable format. The book is called, The Gospel and Personal Evangelism by Mark Dever.

If evangelism is an area of your life you struggle in I would encourage you to pick this book up!

Another great read this week is a blog post I found online. I loved Sarah Mae's post, "Leaving the 99 for my 1- What I Know Now". It is a great reminder of how God pursues us and how we need to be pursuing our children when they are going trhough difficult times.

I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend!

Christian Heroes Then and Now

I saw this series of books recently and Pinned them on Pinterest. The series is called Christian Heroes Then and Now and they are short biographies of different heroes of the Christian faith such as C.S. Lewis, Corrie Ten Boom, Elisabeth Elliot, Brother Andrew, etc. I thought they would be neat read-alouds for homeschooling in a few years. And, I still think they will! But, a friend at church mentioned she had been getting them from the library and reading them herself. I hadn't even considered it since they are written for an older children/young adult audience. But, if I can read Twilight and The Hunger Games surely I could read this series!

And oh my goodness I am enjoying them so much! They are easy to read but very informative and encouraging. I love the idea of reading biographies of Christians who did amazing things and finished the race well. So inspiring. I just recently finished Brother Andrew and C.S. Lewis and they were both great.

If you are looking for something easy to read yet encouraging and faith building I highly recommend this series!

Review: Frumps to Pumps

I recently had the opportunity to review Sarah Mae's brand new e-book, "Frumps to Pumps: Your one-month motivational to getting dressed and staying that way!" I was mildly obsessed with her earlier e-book, "31 Days to Clean- Having a Martha House the Mary Way". I gleaned so much wisdom from that book I couldn't wait to get my hands on this one.

Sarah Mae was one of the first Christian mommy bloggers I started reading a few years ago and I have always loved her honest, encouraging, and God-glorifying writing. (And if you do too she is currently co-writing a book with THE Sally Clarkson!)

When I saw what this book was going to be about I immediately knew I would benefit from it. I am one of those people who is much more productive when I am dressed with make-up on, and yet most days I find myself in sweats well past noon... or past dinnertime... Yep.

I read through this book and loved Sarah Mae's practical and encouraging tips. I love that she calls this book a motivational (part devotional part motivation) because that is exactly what it is. Practical wisdom encouraging women to be the best wives, mommies, and women of God that we can be.

I would have to say my favorite thing about this book was that Sarah Mae is very clear that this should not be a legalistic endeavor and we cannot win God's favor buy wearing a cute top rather than our ratty bath robe. But, she encourages getting dressed in order to serve God and our families well and I love that. 

You can get your copy of Frumps to Pumps right here! It is just $4.99 and I think it will be money well spent.

*I received my copy for free in exchange for a review. However, the opinions expressed here are 100% mine.

Linked up at Raising Homemakers and Women Living Well.

On heaviness and not going back...

My blog posts have been a little heavy lately. Mostly because, I feel a little heavy lately. I finished reading Radical this afternoon. It was probably one of the most challenging books I have ever read. Challenging, awesome, terrifying- I can't decide which word fits best. I told some girlfriends this morning after reading the book... "it kind of makes me want to just pick up a People magazine". I mean, you can't read a book like that and not want to do something... well... radical. So, a part of me, can't handle it and just wants to shut down. Go back to the way things were and forget about what Jesus is calling us to and go back to living the me-centered life I have always felt so comfortable with. I kind of liked buying what American Christianity has been selling me. I liked believing that my faith was all about me. But, it is like when you are little and learn that Santa isn't real. You close your eyes that next Christmas Eve and want to believe that you will hear Santa on the roof, but you know you won't. I want to look around at everything I own and think about how happy God must be with me because he has blessed me so much with material possessions. But I can't. You can't go back...

My reading list lately

I have been a little reading machine lately. In the last week I have read two books and am now in the middle of one. It all started when a few Bible verses, all with similar themes started coming up in my quiet times and in other ways. Verses like Matthew 34-46, and Ephesians 2:10, and James 2:14-26. These verses and ones like them just kept coming up and I felt God really speaking to me about my faith. 
A few books had been recommeded to me and they all seemed to be close to the issues God was working on in my heart so I started reading, hungry to hear about how other people were living out their faith in Jesus. All while knowing verses like Romans 11:6 are true, "But if it is by grace, it is no longer on the basis of works; otherwise grace would no longer be grace."
I read

this book and

and this one. And I am currently in the middle of

this one.
It has been awesome. I have been so challenged in my faith and have had to really take a hard look at why I believe what I believe. There were several times (in each book) where I have found myself disagreeing with a point and what comes to mind is something a pastor or religious leader has said and then actually going to the Bible to see what is says about the issue and finding that I have been believing some things that just aren't Biblical. It has been eye opening and overwhelming all at the same time.
Have you guys read any of these books? What did you think? I think I have a lot more thinking to do!

What I am reading lately

I just love to read. I always have. I remember in first grade my mom buying me the Babysitters Club- Little Sister books and I would read them in a day. Having young kiddos has definitely made me cut back on my reading. But, as they are getting a little older I am starting to get back into it.

I recently read the Hunger Games trilogy. I read all three in like a week. Loved it!

I actually read the second two on Nick's Kindle. Which... I might need to get one of those. For awhile I wasn't so sure if I wanted one but they really are so nice. One of my favorite features is that you never lose what page you are on!


I also started reading this little devotional book to go along with my reading the Bible in a year plan.

It is awesome. Very encouraging and the devotionals are super short. This would be great if you are in a crazy season of life because you can easily read the devotion and look up the Bible passages in under 5 minutes.

Right now I am also reading Real Marriage by Pastor Mark and Grace Driscoll. It is no secret that I am a big fan of Pastor Mark's teaching and I am finding this book to be no exception.

I haven't read a marriage book in quite awhile. Our marriage has been in such a good place for the past year or so that I was feeling like I didn't need to work on it. Why mess with a good thing, right? And let's be honest... a lot of marriage books are the same old thing... I am so glad I went ahead and got this book anyway. I am about 30% in and already have learned so much and I know that our marriage will be blessed because of this book!

Speaking of... Most of you probably saw that I posted Pastor Mark's first Real Marriage sermon on Facebook the other day. Nick and I watched it together and we were so blessed and encouraged by it.We decided to make a regular Monday night date of watching this series together. Here is the link if you want to check it out.



Here is a pic of those cute little R's on Halloween! We had a great night. My parents and sister and brother-in-law came over for dinner and we took the kids to a few houses to trick-or-treat. Like always it is wonderful to be able to celebrate with family! And the kiddos had a blast!

I haven't posted a reading list in awhile but I thought I would share my two favorite books I have read/been reading!

"The Well Trained Mind"- I am loving this book. When I first learned about Classical Education a few years ago I knew it was the direction I wanted to go in teaching my children. This book really reinforces my views and gives step by step, year by year instructions. I checked this book out from the library but will be buying myself a copy for reference for sure.

I actually checked this book out from the library and then ended up buying a copy too. This book has a lot of great practical tips for raising kids to know and love the Lord. And above all I am so inspired by Michelle Duggar's calm and patient parenting! After reading this book I have been able to apply a lot of what I learned and have found myself parenting with more love and kindness. So good!

The weather here today is super rainy and dreary so I am currently trying to find the motivation to get some housework done and dinner going. We have spent the majority of our day doing crafts and reading books! My favorite kind of day!

What I am reading this week...

I had fun making my little reading list last week so I thought I would share what I am reading this week! And obviously, I read A LOT of books at once. When I sit down to read I usually have at least two books with me. What can I say, I love reading but I have a short attention span! And, thanks to the wonderful library I can read as many books as I want! Yay for free things!

So, on tap for this week:





As you can tell I don't read much fiction outside of super easy to read Christian fiction these days! I love good books (I mean, Hello! English major over here!) but my time is a little limited right now and if I have time to read fiction I want to make sure it is going to be uplifting in this little season of my life!

So, what are you reading?

a new post!

Our Little R's are keeping us pretty busy these days! And Jack has started walking which has added another demention of CRAZY! But, it is super precious!

See for yourself...

Don't you don't want to SQUEEZE him until he is all squishy? No? Just me. Okay. Moving on...

In other news, I have been re-reading one of my favorite books of all time, "Boys Should be Boys". And I am telling you now if any of you have boys or know boys or anything you HAVE to read this book! Whenever I tell people about this book they say, oh, that is nice, I read "Bringing Up Boys" by Dr. Dobson. Now, I LOVE "Bringing Up Boys" but they are totally different books! So, just humor me and read this one. I really don't think you will regret it. And if you have a daughter, while you are at it, read her book about girls, "Strong Fathers, Strong Daughters" which is also amazing!

Okay, so to recap this post...

Life is busy.

Jack is walking and squishable.

Read "Boys Should Be Boys".