Book Review: Heaven in Her Arms

Mary was there the day Jesus was born. She was there the day he was crucified. What happened in between offers a gold mine of faith-building principles for women. In Heaven in Her Arms, author Catherine Hickem shows readers there is much that women can learn from this most famous female in the Bible.

The God of the universe hand-picked Mary to raise his Son. What Heaven in Her Arms unveils are the bedrock characteristics that, in Gods design, empowered her to shape Jesus for his purpose on earth. Women everywhere can peer into this special life and discover a deeper faith, a God-honoring purpose for their lives, and the core of their identity as believers.

This is the first book that has challenged me as a mother to dig beyond the surface, day-to-day struggles of motherhood to ponder God’s desire for me and my relationship with my children. Hickem shook the foundation of my understanding of God’s view of my role and responsibilities to his gifts to me – my children. She has given me much to ponder.

Pondering is a recurring theme and challenge given by Hickem. If I don’t know who I am in Christ, stand firm in that knowledge, and reflect that spiritual confidence to my children, I am not doing the job God requires of me. None of this is possible without taking time alone to ponder: time set aside, away from the frantic, to carefully consider life, my children and my impact on both.

The writing style is smooth, the chapters are short and the study guide is an excellent tool for pondering and discussion. I am now an eager student of Mary, mother of Jesus and deeply appreciate the challenges set forth by Hickem. I will read Heaven in Her Arms again and again and look forward to sharing this book in a small group setting. If you are a mother, I challenge you to read this book, and if you know a mother-to-be, it would be the perfect gift.

I give this book 5 stars out of 5.

I received this book free from BookSneeze.  I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own.

 

Book Review: Saying It Well

Bestselling author and master communicator Charles Swindoll has been effectively speaking to others for over fifty years. In SAYING IT WELL: Touching Others With Your Words he shares his secrets on how to talk so people will listen.

Filled with techniques, stories, and models that clearly explain the formulas for successful speaking, Swindoll teaches readers the foundational principles for how to communicate, from preparing for a speech, organizing thoughts, and filtering out the superfluous to overcoming fears, grabbing the listener’s attention, and knowing how and when to stop. 

Reading this book was like sitting down for coffee with a friend—a wise and knowing friend. Swindoll’s writing style is warm, conversational and direct, and it is obvious that he cares deeply about how the word of God is communicated—whether  in the pulpit or at a meeting of business elites. Swindoll shares from his personal life the wealth of experience he had gained over decades in ministry, both successes and failures.

I am not a pastor (although I am married to one) and spend most of my public speaking time in front of children as a teacher. Despite this fact, I have gleaned many helpful tips from Saying it Well. Because Swindoll has been a pastor/teacher throughout his career, he writes of what he knows—the Biblical text. However, he takes the principles of each chapter and shows how they can be applied to speaking on a non-Biblical subject. What I appreciated most were the foundational principles shared in the Introduction and Chapter One. Here he encourages the reader to: know who you are, accept who you are, be who you are, and be sure of your calling. Without this foundation, the principles and tools given in the rest of the book will be on shaky ground. I strongly recommend this book to every pastoral student as well as to those who have been in the pulpit for years. It is also an excellent tool for public speakers who do not use the Bible as their subject matter. Saying it Well is sure to become a resource that will be pulled off the shelf again and again.

I give this book 5 stars out of 5.

I received this book free from FaithWords, a division of Hachette Book Group. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own.

Book Review: The Blood Sugar Solution

Having a family history of high and low blood sugar issues, I was eager to read The Blood Sugar Solution: The UltraHealthy Program for Losing Weight, Preventing Disease, and Feeling Great Now! by Dr. Mark Hyman. Here’s the synopsis:

The secret solution to losing weight and preventing not just diabetes but also heart disease, stroke, dementia, and cancer is balanced insulin levels. Dr. Hyman describes the seven keys to achieving wellness-nutrition, hormones, inflammation, digestion, detoxification, energy metabolism, and a calm mind-and explains his revolutionary six-week healthy-living program. With advice on diet, green living, supplements and medication, exercise, and personalizing the plan for optimal results, the book also teaches readers how to maintain lifelong health.

I am the first to admit that I approach any wellness book with a grain (OK, a pound) of salt. There will never be a magic meal plan or pill that will make a person lose weight and feel great. Any permanent results come from hard work – eating healthy, whole foods and getting off the couch. I was not expecting too much from The Blood Sugar Solution, but was hoping to understand more about blood sugar levels and foods that help to stabilize it. This book, however, proved to be more. It was refreshing to read a book that challenged the reader to create his or her own health through education, nutrition, exercise and balanced self-care, including stress management and having fun.

I was overwhelmed with the number of questions given to evaluate present health and there are very few people I know who would not score off the charts and start to believe they were in imminent danger of hospitalization from some of the evaluations. However, once past Part 1, the advice given was balanced, practical and encouraging. I enjoyed learning about the natural supplements available and which foods were more toxic than others as well as the section on taking action to be more aware of health dangers in places of work, learning, worship and health care. Many of the recipes included in the meal plans look fantastic (Minty Hummus – yum) and the website has many resources and links for further education.

While a little extreme in some areas, I was pleasantly surprised by a more reasonable approach to health and wellness. I will be passing this book along.

I give this book 4 stars out of 5.

I received this book free from Hachette Book Group. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own

Book Review: Almost Amish

Have you ever stopped to think, Maybe the Amish are on to something? Look around. We tweet while we drive, we talk while we text, and we surf the Internet until we fall asleep. We are essentially plugged in and available 24 hours a day, seven days a week. 

It’s time to simplify our lives, make faith and family the focal point, and recapture the lost art of simple living. Building on the basic principles of Amish life, Nancy Sleeth shows readers how making conscious choices to limit (and in some cases eliminate) technology’s hold on our lives and getting back to basics can help us lead calmer, more focused, less harried lives that result in stronger, deeper relationships with our families, friends, and God.

Almost Amish: One Woman’s Quest for a Slower, Simpler, More Sustainable Life by Nancy Sleeth is a much needed breath of fresh air. When my children were small I read volumes about simple living in a quest to make life more intentional and less frantic. It worked for a while, but the busyness of everyday life in an active household became too much and the search for simplicity became a distant memory. After moving from a small town to a mega-city, the pace has become unhealthy and I have been looking for some answers. God’s timing is perfect and Almost Amish arrived as an answer to my prayers.

Speaking from experience, Sleeth challenges us to simplify in every area of life – in our homes, technology and finances. She then gently encourages us to spend time focusing on what really matters – nature, service, security, community, families and faith. Using the Amish communities as an example, we are given practical examples of how to achieve simplicity in a modern world. No, she does not recommend living “off the grid” and giving up our cars in exchange for horses, but she does show us how to tread lightly on the earth and readjust our priorities to become ones who live a life actively seeking after God and showing him to others through our actions.

Short chapters and a down-to-earth writing style made Almost Amish easy to devour in a day. I have started to ponder the changes necessary to make life less frantic once again and, although it will be a slow process (my daughter informed me that she cannot live without technology), I know that the benefits will far outweigh the sacrifices. I encourage you to slow down enough to read Almost Amish – it just might change your life.

I give this book 5 stars out of 5.

I received this book free from Tyndale House Publishers. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own.

 

CBC Heaven

While Jason was here we spent a day downtown. Jason had a co-worker that would have had fits if he didn’t visit the Hockey Hall of Fame (definitely NOT on my bucket list, but proved to be SO worth it). On our way, we decided to have lunch in the food court in the CBC building and show Jason the CBC museum – everyone needs to reconnect with The Friendly Giant and Mr. Dress-Up. On our way out of the building we saw Scott Russell from CBC Sports setting up to go live! We were watching the prep and he told us that after he was done we could come up onto the set and have our picture taken – Woot! It was fun to watch him talk to Carole MacNeil and here’s the link to his tweet of our visit: http://yfrog.com/od84hhwj What a friendly guy and his cameraman was super, too!

From there we went to the Hockey Hall of Fame. Interesting enough, but not my cup of tea (especially on Spring Break and the Toronto Marlies signing autographs). While waiting for Andrew to finish at an interactive booth, I was sure I saw Brian Williams walk by – he was too far away to hear his voice and I couldn’t be sure enough to try and get a picture. We were just getting ready to leave (read trying to get the boys to finish up already) when I heard his voice – and there he was! I was right the first time. When we got upstairs to the gift shop he was still there and I got Derwyn to ask him if I could have my picture taken with him. He was so very gracious! Here he was trying to spend time with his son and grandsons and this crazy fan wants a picture. He asked where we were from and when I said BC, he asked where in BC. Turns out he’s from Invermere and was in Nelson often as a kid. He was thrilled that we actually knew where Invermere was and had been there. He spent quite a while talking with us – he was so happy to talk to people from BC.

So, for a CBC junkie it was almost too much! I think if I had seen Suhana Meharchand it may have put me over the edge… (She is my all-time favourite – compassionate, sassy, fun – but I digress). Here are the pictures of our day…

Officially Spring

At our house, we judge the arrival of spring by different criteria – the calendar has nothing to do with it. Here’s how we know that spring is officially here:

What a Week It’s Been

I cannot believe that spring break is almost over – the week has flown by and we’ve had a BLAST! Uncle Jason is here (he leaves tomorrow) and we have been busy. I will have more blog posts next week when I’ve recuperated a bit, but for now, here’s a shot that shows what we were up to today. Enjoy the last two days of break everyone…

Redeeming the Time

Music class this year has been a bit of a challenge for Laurenne. Having musical parents and being a “giftie” means that if the teacher doesn’t move fast enough she starts to lose patience and is bored to tears. What doesn’t help is that she is also involved in the extra curricular Junior Strings orchestra outside of class time that has more challenging music than the regular classroom. Today was one of those bored to tears kinda days. When I asked her why class was so boring, she said that it was presentation day and each student had to present a song (the same one) – many asking to start over because they made a mistake. How did Laurenne pass the time? She drew four strings on her arm and practised her favourite song from Junior Strings – Pachelbel’s Canon in D! One of the myriad things I love about my girl is her ability to make me laugh – she is clever, subtle and hilarious!

Feelin’ the Burn

I must confess that I did not have much faith that today would go well… I have not skied for almost twenty years and I didn’t enjoy one minute of it when I went last time. Thanks to my patient and very handsome ski instructor, I had an amazing day. I came off the bunny hill with a screaming knee and raw ankle bones – turns out my ski boots were too loose. Derwyn tightened them for me and I was off to the races (OK, not quite…) I was so afraid that my old lady knees would take me out long before I was ready. Thankfully, the adjustment made all the difference and I finished off the day making it down a blue run without ending up on my bottom!

The only thing that took me off the hill sooner than I wanted was my extremely out of shape legs. I had a great morning, a relaxing lunch and then only a few runs before my legs gave out. I’m sitting now and am not sure if I’ll be able to actually get up to get to the car – I may need more assistance from that handsome ski instructor again…

I am thrilled that the day went so well. I see skiing in my future and look forward to getting used to speed and turning so that I can enjoy runs with Derwyn and kids together. No more staying home while they are out having such a great time. What a difference it made to be out in nature with no civilization in sight and actually see relief in elevation! We are not in the “mountains” but it sure is a beautiful sight compared with the yucky old city.

So, if I can walk tomorrow and am not going to be in paralysis for the next month, I can see loving this downhill skiing thing. I had no idea that my 40’s would be SO amazing – here’s to the best decade yet!

(Later and at home now) I have pictures but can’t get them downloaded off of Derwyn’s phone tonight – it’ll have to wait until much later (tomorrow is gonna be a looooooong day and I’m pretty sure it won’t get done then). Anyway, I’m stiff and exhausted and very soon off to dreamland….

Green Stripe and Proud of it!

Tonight was Laurenne’s third belt testing in tae kwon do and the most challenging so far. Sparring has proven to be something a little more than Laurenne bargained for, but she has not given up and tonight she received her reward – her Green Stripe belt. I am very proud of her – there is no way you would get me out on that floor and she loves it. Tae kwon do gives her great satisfaction and will benefit her for the rest of her life (be warned boys – she has full permission to take you down if you give her any trouble!) Way to go girl! YOU ROCK!