At the Library

Posted on August 16, 2013 by Carmen

David loves the library. Unfortunately, this means that he uses his (very) loud voice to express his excitement. We ~~walk~~ run past the people sitting studiously at the computers, and when I ask him to use his “quiet voice,” he gets terribly offended and screams “NOOOO” even louder.

We haven’t been kicked out yet.

Here are some highlights from our bags:

For David: Boats on the River by Peter Mandel.

I am getting a little tired of dump trucks and bulldozers. I picked this one out, in hopes that David will expand his interests to include boats. So far he has enjoyed counting how many people are on each boat.

For me:

Quilled Flowers: A Garden of 35 Paper Projects by Alli Bartkowski

After drooling over this book, I decided I’m going to have a new hobby. Quilling looks fun and inexpensive . . and perhaps it will be something I can get into. I’ve bought some cards at Ten Thousand Villages that were quilled, but little did I know that that is what the technique was called. I decided to go quilling-crazy on Pinterest. We will see if my “new hobby” gets any further than that.

Naturally Fun Parties for Kids: Creating Handmade, Earth-Friendly Celebrations for All Seasons and Occasions by Anni Daulter

Most of this book is geared towards older children than my two-year-old, but I still had fun looking at recipes and thinking of ways to celebrate living in each season of the year. I really want our home to be a inviting place for others, and as David grows I want his friends to have fun playing at our house. This book made me dream a little bit in color of what that might look like.

Saving the Seasons: How to Can, Freeze, or Dry Almost Anything

Posted on August 9, 2013 by Carmen

I thought I’d write a quick post while my tomatoes are in the canner. (85 minutes is just way too long for something to be in the canner when I am trying to do more than one batch!)

This is my guide for canning, freezing, and drying: Saving the Seasons by Mary Clemens Meyer & Susana Meyer (same publisher as Simply in Season). The authors have included the basics – like how to make applesauce – and also more exotic things like hot peach chutney and barbecued beef jerky. (No, I haven’t made either of those things. Yet.)

It is great for the beginner (me!) – it does not assume a whole lot of background knowledge. My only complaint: it won’t stay open! I would suggest a spiral-bound version for the next go-round.

Loving the Little Years: Motherhood in the Trenches

Posted on August 7, 2013 by Carmen

What a title. Some days I love love the little years (don’t grow up so fast, David!) and on other days everything seems to be going sooooo slowly. (Must we have a complete conversation after every step down the stairs?)

Rachel Jankovic captures a lot of this in her book Loving the Little Years: Motherhood in the Trenches. This was a quick read for me (instead of a Sunday afternoon nap). But even if you aren’t a fast reader, the chapters are very short and can be read sporadically and you won’t have to worry about forgetting anything.

Rachel shares hilarious stories (especially from what it is like to raise twins) and some helpful wisdom. I love how she taught her daughters about emotions: she compared emotions to a wild horse that the daughters have been given to ride. “The goal is not to cripple the horse, but equip the rider. A well-controlled passionate personality is a powerful thing. . . But a passionate personality that is unbridled can cause a world of damage.”

Here’s to bridling my emotions as I teach David how to handle his emotions!

7: An Experimental Mutiny Against Excess

Posted on August 5, 2013 by Carmen

I loved, loved, loved this book. Jen Hatmaker is hilarious, challenging, and pretty transparent in her writing. As a spiritual discipline, Jen decides to fast from seven different things for seven different months. So, for example, during the first month, she eats only 7 different foods. (I think I would fail this month terribly!) She then writes about what she discovers about herself and God in the process, including journal-like entries.

In her own words: “I approach this project in the spirit of a fast: an intentional reduction, a deliberate abstinence to summon God’s movement in my life. A fast creates margins for God to move. Temporarily changing our routine of comfort jars us off high center. A fast is not necessarily something we offer God, but it assists us in offering ourselves.”

I wish I could summarize all the hilarious situations that Jen recounts, but I will let you read for yourself. Oh, and I love that adoption is part of her family’s story. Check out her blog for more stories and laughs.

Book Nerds Links

Posted on August 1, 2013 by Carmen

No book reviews this week. . . I have too many books I’m reading at the same time, so none are finished. I thought I would share some fun sites I’ve found, though.

2 blogs: The Modern Mrs. Darcy (this is just the book section of her blog – she does other types of posts as well) and The Deliberate Reader

And, Real Simple (love that magazine!!) has a No-Obligation-Book Club that’s kinda fun.

Here’s a site that you type in a book you’ve read recently (can’t be too obscure), and it will give you suggestions. I found it to be surprisingly accurate most of the time. What Shall I Read Next?

And finally, here’s a photo of my little man who I LOVE to hear reading to himself. (Although I still do lots of reading with him.)

david

Raising Financially Confident Kids

Posted on July 26, 2013 by Carmen

I’m trying to finish my stack of bought, unread books before I go to the library. We’ll see how long I last.

I just finished Raising Financially Confident Kids by Mary Hunt, founder of Debt-Proof Living. I picked it up at Ollie’s last month (a great place to find books!!!). I know money management is important, but I feel almost at a loss for how to teach David financial matters.

I enjoyed reading how Hunt and her husband gave their boys a monthly “salary” from which the boys could choose how they’d spend their money. (This was essentially the money that they had been spending anyway on their boys.) Each year, the boys would receive more money, but also more responsibility (more areas that they’d have to pay for – clothing, school supplies, etc.)

Hunt also included very practical tips such as ways to work with children and money at their developmental ages. She recommends that when going shopping with your preschool children to always use cash instead of a card, so they don’t get the idea of a “magic card” that gets you whatever you want. This is something I will have to work on. I always seem to be without cash.

Some parts of the book were a little long-winded and repetitive for me, but there was enough practical food-for-thought for me to keep this on my bookshelf.

And the Mountains Echoed

Posted on July 22, 2013 by Carmen

When I heard that Khaled Hosseini (author of The Kite Runner and A Thousand Splendid Suns) had written a new book, I immediately had to look it up in my local library’s database. Bah!! There were probably 70 holds. So I decided to wait til next year. Then, this past Thursday, I just happened to be at another library, glancing at the new book shelf, and there it was. . .And the Mountains Echoed. I snatched it right away.

I had a little more trouble getting into this book than Hosseini’s other two, but last night when I was about halfway done, I reached a point when I just HAD TO FINISH THE BOOK BEFORE I WENT TO BED. Josiah luckily was just as into his beekeeping book so I was able to finish it.

I don’t know what to say about it without ruining your reading experience. . . just that it is a beautiful story about family – messes and all. I love that I felt like I was traveling with the characters to Kabul, Paris, and San Francisco. My only regret while reading this book is that my favorite Afghan restaurant is not closer.

2 Authors I’ve Discovered Recently

Posted on July 18, 2013 by Carmen

Have you ever found a writer you like and then immediately need to devour everything they’ve written? I’ve just discovered two authors I’m into: Kathy Harrison and Jodi Piccoult.

I just finished Kathy Harrison’s One Small Boat. I found this one even more interesting than Another Place at the Table (my post here). . . probably because this book is more focused on one particular foster child. I love Kathy’s heart for children and her incredible honesty with her fostering and adoptive journey. She needs to write another book!! (I see she wrote one about preparedness, but I’m not as into that.)

Another author I discovered is Jodi Picoult. Now, there are aspects of Picoult’s work that I don’t appreciate – such as some language and sexuality — and perhaps I will find more of that the more I read of her work. But I have loved the stories she’s decided to tell, and how she’s told them. My first read was My Sister’s Keeper. I can’t believe that they didn’t stick with the story when they made the movie! I read House Rules next. Because of my interest in Aspergers, this was a fascinating read for me. I just checked out Plain Truth from the library and we’ll see how I like it. I feel like I’m doing a dance between wanting to read novels that make me think . . . and novels that make me wonder if I should be reading them, let alone blogging about them. I’m just so tired of “Christian” novels that are about girl meets boy with a little bit of church thrown in.

How do you decide if a book is something you should be reading, (or shall I use the term “appropriate?”)

In Which I Join A Book Club

Posted on July 15, 2013 by Carmen

I joined a book club. Before you tune me out because you think I have gone too far in the nerd realm, let me explain.

There is a wonderful site called meetup.com that puts you in contact with groups in your area. It is not a dating site. Obviously I’m not interested in that. So, for instance, right now I am a part of three meetup groups – a crafty one, a moms one, and a book club. I went to my first book club meetup last night and I had a blast.

I didn’t know anyone and that was the best part. Normally when I go somewhere and I don’t know anyone, I freak out and forget that I am able to talk to people that I don’t know. But in this particular situation, most people didn’t know each other, and we had specific things to talk about – such as the food we were ordering and eating and the month’s book selection: Where’d You Go, Bernadette? by Maria Semple.

All the women were so different from each other. I need more of that in my life! I tend to run around in the same circles, and since I’m not working outside the home, I rarely come into contact with new people. (Besides all the people that talk to us in grocery stores because I have a handsome toddler who ALWAYS behaves himself.) Last night was refreshing and fun. And I came away with a bunch of scribbled notes: books to read, bookstores to check out, events to go to. . .

And Where’d You Go, Bernadette? It was a fun read. Not necessarily a book that I’m going to recommend to all the readers I know – I was disappointed in some aspects of it – but some parts are laugh-out-loud-hilarious and that is good for something.

Another Place at the Table: A Story of Shattered Childhoods Redeemed by Love

Posted on July 9, 2013 by Carmen

Finally. I had been looking for a book like this for years: Another Place at the Table.

Kathy Harrison shares from her experiences as a foster parent. This is not an easy book to read; the children came into the Harrison home from very difficult pasts. I’ve read multiple books written by previous foster children, but this is the first book written by a foster parent that I’ve been able to get my hands on. Although the individual stories are obviously different than the stories of the children that have been in our home, so much of Harrison’s story was the same as mine.

The love for the children. The difficulty.The broken heart from hearing their stories, and the broken heart from saying good-bye. The phone calls and quick decisions. The relationships with biological parents. The meetings with therapists and life-altering court decisions.

Not knowing if you can handle another child from the system, and not knowing if you can handle NOT having another child from the system.

This is part of the journey Josiah and I are on. We’re glad we don’t walk alone.