Encouraging Moms Who Homeschool

I received the book The Sacred Slow to review from Thomas Nelson Publishers, and I thought I had a pretty good idea what this book was about. I was completely wrong. The book seems, at first glance, very similar to a personal devotional. There is a brief reading, Scripture references, and some thoughts to personalize and think about. But upon further study, I found that "personalizing & thinking about" each day's topic was just the tip of the iceberg. There is oh-so-much more going on beneath the surface. Let me say two things about The Sacred Slow :           #1 ~ The concept of slowing down & taking an actual Sabbath rest is missing almost entirely among Westernized Christians and this book deals with that lack directly and effectively. There is actual application contained herein.           #2 ~ The was this author draws out of you what is deep inside your inner man - and deeply impacts the way you relate to God. This "drawing out" in

Job 23:10 reads like this: "He knows the way that I take..." Is this verse a reality for you right now, in whatever spot life may have landed you? Are you confident in the certainty that the Lord knows the way that you take? That He knows exactly where you are at this precise moment and that He knows exactly how you got here? Can you trust the Living God to manage the path of your life and believe that He has His eye on you right now? Do you know that He knows the way that you take today? Life does not play out the way most of us wanted it to. Rarely do we get what we planned to get out of our short number of days on this big, blue spinning ball called Earth. But, nevertheless, for those who know Jesus, the long walk of our short life is not walked alone. Not only does He know the way that we take, He walks that way alongside of us. It's a wonderful thing to walk the path of life hand in hand with Jesus. Don't think you have to do this on your own; you don

So, prior to this book review I had not heard of the author Frederick Buechner - this despite the fact that I am a book-a-holic and the additional fact that Mr. Buechner has authored more than 30 books. No idea how I missed him entirely... For this review, I received not one, but two works by this author. I chose to dive into A Crazy, Holy Grace (The Healing Power of Pain and Memory) first because the subtitle was intriguing. After all, who wants to heal by way of pain and memory? Or, worse yet, via the combo of painful memories? Yeah, no...most of us will take a hard pass on that option. In many ways, this book tells the unique story of the writer's life and delves into some terribly difficult childhood experiences and his emotions - or more accurately, his lack thereof. I think many people would relate well to this scenario. Childhood trauma often deals us such a blow in such a formative time of life that we find ourselves ill-equipped to feel what we ought to be feeling

Warren Wiersbe has said that sooner or later, every believer discovers that the Christian life is a battleground, not a playground. He is spot on. And for the homeschooling mother, we have one very intense battlefield. Our enemies are, of course, on the outside. From the checkout lady at the Piggly Wiggly to our distant third-cousin (twice removed on our father's side), we know people are going to question us in regard to homeschooling. (Why, just last night at a banquet where my husband presented five awards, a very kind woman at our table asked me the never-ending question about....socialization. It's like the Dorothy and Toto jokes for those of us who live in Kansas ~ I sometimes was to say, in a voice rich with sarcasm, "You know, I have never heard that one before....!!") Those battlefields, we know how to prep for those. But what about our own internal battlefields? What about those nagging fears that every mother has, but the homeschooling mom has on st

  THIS. This is my ideal when it comes to book reviews.  Pretty cover? Check. Solidly Biblical content? Check. Dealing with prayer? Check. Oh yes, this is my absolute favorite type of book to review. Bible Promises to Live By for Women (by Katherine J. Butler) is truly a work of art. Concise but powerfully written insights fall just before a couple of pages of applicable Bible verses, all sorted neatly by topic. Perfect for reading from start to finish, praying through one topic a day. Also perfect for grabbing in the face of an urgent need, flipping to the area of concern, and praying in the right now. This books is truly wonderful. I believe it would be a blessing for any mom this Christmas - it would be a great stocking stuffer for your teen and older daughters - it would make an excellent "thank you" for any woman you know who serves in any area of ministry.  I love - love - love this book. It has secured it's spot on my boo

#Goals Unless you have been living under a rock for the last couple of years, in the social media sense, then you have most likely seen hashtag/Goals floating around. Millennials seem to love throwing this term around. To be honest, it's not a bad concept. We all have goals, right?  So I was thinking about this idea of goals, and how using the hashtag almost sort of puts those goals "out there" for the whole world to see. It's like a unique form of accountability, in a way. If everyone knows your #Goals, then it stands to reason that everyone can check in with you about how those goals are coming along. Several years ago, when I was relatively new to this whole homeschool thing, I wrote out a list of goals for us. I typed it up in a fun font, cleaned it up and centered it, printed it out and taped it to the kitchen wall (also known as the homeschool classroom). There is was for several years, right at my eye level in the room where I spent the majority of my