Let me just start out by saying that I am not a gifted writer who can write enthralling book reviews but I do love books and reading and I also would love to help myself and my children to better memorize God's Word. So when Jenn at The Purposeful Mom offered to let readers have a free ebook in exchange for a book review on their blog, I jumped at the chance. Her ebook is called "Hiding God's Word in My Heart". Her book is an easy read, only 20 pages, not too overwhelming, with no incrimination if you aren't memorizing God's word with your children but with encouragement and help to jump in and get memorizing. Included in her book are instructions for using the book, ideas for teaching Scripture to baby on up, list of songs and other go-alongs for learning Scripture, specific songs for verses in "God's Word in My Heart" and printable memory verses. I like the ABC verses as that is where I am at with my Preschooler and soon-to-be Kindergartener. We also enjoyed starting the memory verse caterpillar that she mentions making, although we didn't get very far with it because a certain small person in our house tore some body parts off of it. Maybe we will try again once we start back to school. I also have older children at home and while this book didn't provide what I need to really help my older children, I do think it had some fun ideas for little guys and it is helpful that she has done the leg work for you in providing the verses and printables to make getting started very easy. Jenn has graciously offered to let me do a giveaway of a free copy of her book in which ever Bible version you prefer. Now I am not a big-time blogger so I don't really know much about doing a give-away but if you are interested, just leave me a comment and in a week or so I will do the old fashioned "pull the name out of a hat" version of a drawing. If you don't have little ones at home, feel free to enter so you can give your copy to a friend with littles or maybe grandchildren.
The second book I want to "review" isn't necessarily a review and I am not even finished reading it yet, but I am loving what I am reading so I wanted to let you all know about it. It is called " Three Decades of Fertility". It is written by 10 ( I believe) different ladies on how they chose to allow the Lord to be in control of their fertility and the struggles and blessings that have come with that. I have found it to be a very encouraging book in many ways. I have only read from three of the ladies so far but my favorite for now is Natalie Klejwa's testimony. I love this bit from her:
"The key to a healthy family and healthy relationships, I'm convinced, is humility . It is the willingness to admit sin, repent of it and ask for forgiveness. The families I know that practice this are just like every other family in that they sin against one another. But they maintain emotional and relational health because the individual members grieve over their sin, saying they are sorry and asking for forgiveness.
"The families that struggle are the ones that have difficulty admitting sin. IF the parents are prideful and refuse to admit wrongdoing, blaming other family members or making excuses for the ways they hurt others, the family as a whole will suffer untold ways. So let me be clear. Healthy families are not sinless. All families sin and they do it everyday in numerous ways. We can make a difference for eternity by simply humbling ourselves before our family members and learning the art of saying sorry and asking forgiveness."
Anyway, I am far from being finished with the book but wanted to put in a plug for it if you are interested. You can find it HERE at the Visionary Womanhood website.
Learning to enjoy Truth, Beauty and Goodness Together