hot chocolate in june :: a review
I must say, it really feels like this year, the Lord is bringing the exact books into my life that I need to read. I review books for Ambassador International, and when I received the monthly e-mail advertising which new books were available for review, I gave the message a quick scan and nearly deleted it, having determined that I had already committed to doing too much during that month. Then an author’s name caught my eye. Holly Mthethwa. Mthethwa. I know that surname, I thought. I recognized it as a South African name, and having spent a decade living in that breathtaking country, my...
guest post by lisa-jo baker, author of surprised by motherhood
It is my great honor to host Lisa-Jo Baker on the blog today, author of the memoir, Surprised by Motherhood: Everything I Never Expected about Being a Mom. I had the privilege of writing for Lisa-Jo on her blog in the lead-up to her book launch, telling everybody why I think her book is so brilliant -- and now, today, she's here! I got to pick my favorite post of Lisa-Jo's to feature here. The words below have hit the target in my own heart as a motherless daughter. This week, as Mother's Day approaches, I hope they will be as encouraging to you as they have been to me. So without...
holy holes – revisited
I had forgotten about this post that I wrote over a year ago, until someone found it on my blog by searching Google for 'purposeful holes in socks.' 😉 Reading it again was like glimpsing through a window into my soul, and it was refreshing to realize how the Lord has worked in my heart in the past several months. I originally wrote the words below shortly after our family had moved from South Africa back to my hometown. I'm re-posting this today as part of my Memoir Monday series. For more Memoir Monday posts, click here. A handful of people have asked me what it has...
the definition of a friend
They are the ones who show up on moving day, scrubbing toilets in the dingy rental that doesn't even belong to them. They are the ones who say they will pray ... and actually do. The ones who bring you food when you break your foot and when you have a cold and when you're just plain tired and feeling down. They love your kids like their own and show it. They are the ones who sleep over on your birthday when your husband is away on business. The ones who take time off from work to drive for hours to sit in a pew during your mother's funeral, then turn around and drive hours home again....
the pros and cons of cross-cultural living
I was recently asked to share some thoughts with a college group about what it’s like to live in a cross-cultural setting. So far I’ve had the privilege of visiting Mexico, Honduras, India and Lesotho before spending a decade living in Cape Town, South Africa. Perhaps I should preface this by saying that cross-cultural living is not for everyone. There are those who might thrive in a foreign setting but never get the chance to travel. Others might live in foreign contexts for work or as a result of other, external circumstances, but struggle the whole time. Nevertheless,...
the easter donkey – a review
The Easter Donkey is a lovely children's book written by Donna Thornton, illustrated by Lynne Pryor, and published by Ambassador International. It's a story about a donkey named Drupelet who gets chosen to play a role in a reenactment of Palm Sunday, then witnesses the sadness and mourning of Maundy Thursday and Good Friday at a local church before seeing the joy of the resurrection celebration on Easter Sunday. What I appreciate about this book is the portrayal of the sadness before the joy. Without the cross, there would have been no resurrection. Without the mourning, there...
celebrating the release of a promise in pieces
Today I'm celebrating with Emily Wierenga on the release of her new novel, A Promise in Pieces. I had the privilege of reading an advance copy of this book, and it is delightful. While Emily has written several non-fiction books, this is her first published fiction work, and her voice is perfect for the story. I enjoyed it so much, I wrote a previous post about the book as soon as I finished reading, because I just couldn't wait until launch day to tell you about it:http://reflectiontherapy.wordpress.com/2014/02/21/a-promise-in-pieces-a-book-review/"With masterful grace, Emily carries...
remember when – a memoir for my daughter
It's Memoir Monday, and this week I'm changing things up a bit. Instead of writing about a memoir of my own, today I'm writing to my daughter in hopes that one day she will look back and this memoir will be hers: Remember that time when you were eight years old and you taught me how to crochet? And remember how you used money that you made from selling your crocheted work to buy knitting needles and we checked out every book in the library that had anything to do with knitting? And then remember how I looked on Craig’s List and found a used sewing machine for twenty-five bucks, and we...
paint
We semi-circle the supplies around us at the table -- newspaper, paper towel, the empty, rinsed out salsa jar filled with clean water. Brushes, white paper. We are going to paint. And they start out doing their own thing, and then their eyes wander over to my paper, and they stop. They set their brushes down on the table, defeated. They compared, and their nascent creativity has been hindered by my years of learning and experience in their young eyes. And I understand. I have long watched those artists who could sway the paint across the canvas, their entire arm set free in abstract...
for the stay-at-home moms
This one is for all those whose workplace is behind the steering wheel of a minivan — those who are privileged to call themselves stay-at-home moms and yet wonder why they’re always in the car. When my daughter was three years old, some generous friends of ours gifted us with an eight-week session of preschool music classes. My daughter adored it, counting hours until it was time for another session of Tots in Tune. There were only two challenges: one, the classes were at nine o’clock on Monday morning; two, my little girl happened to have a one-year-old brother, and we all went to class...
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