Book Giveaway - Spreading Joy Daily

Life is busy. I get caught up in the shuffle. Put my nose to the grindstone. And don't look up sometimes for days. It is easy to have tunnel vision. It is easy to forget that people matter. Because my list just keeps getting longer and longer and longer. And even if I do remember, I am overwhelmed by the thought of any more effort exerted. Tell me I am not the only one who feels this. I want to make a difference. I want to be a light. But so often I just live and work and breath in my bubble without even thinking about the people who brush past it. But no more!
I have the pleasure of reviewing and giving away a true treasure of a book. Spreading Joy Daily by Marie Wikle is an easy to read, easy to follow plan for bringing joy into people's lives. Most of the ideas are easy and inexpensive to implement. They range from reaching out to strangers by paying for their order in line to putting smiles on the faces of family members by taking the time to cook them a nice breakfast. It is such a great eye opener. Causing the reader to evaluate previously unnoticed opportunities to bring joy into people's lives.
What I think I love most about this book is how very easy Marie has made it to be a blessing. There is an activity for every day! Thus eliminating any excuse for not getting out and spreading a little joy. :)
Another thing I love is the organization behind the book Spreading Joy Corp. They have a great website with lots of resources. And 100% of the purchase profits goes right back into helping others. They have no paid employees. Including the author! Every one of them is a volunteer. They just care about encouraging others and giving back. Pretty cool, huh?  To get you started you can check out these two articles (1 & 2) about 50 ways to make a difference without spending a single penny.
You should also check out these links to find out more...
Twitter – http://twitter.com/spreadingJOY Facebook – http://facebook.com/spreadingjoycorp Pinterest - http://www.pinterest.com/mariewikle/

So now that you are all pumped up and ready to spread joy like Marie encourages us to do it is time for our giveaway! One luck reader will be getting their very own copy in the mail!

The Deeper Life -- A Book Review

I recently read The Deeper Life: Satisfying the 8 Vital Longings Of Your Soul by Daniel Henderson. This is a very insightful book. It explores how to live a life of meaning by accomplishing your God given purpose. I thoroughly enjoyed this book.  In a spirit of complete honesty, it was not always riveting. There were definitely times I felt I was slogging through and it is definitely not a book you would read on one sitting. But even in the slower portions of the book it was a good read. The information is this book is practical and easily implemented with a thick appendix in the back providing all relevant worksheets and activities to implement each step the author suggest. I would have preferred these at the end of each corresponding chapter but was glad that they were available all the same. It is all laid out nice and logically, building upon each chapter before. This is a great book to study and would work really well for a group study as well.
I would recommend this book if you are looking to provide more focus to your life. The author does a fantastic job of laying out the groundwork and steps necessary to do so.

(This book was provided to me for the purpose of review by Bethany House Publishers. All opinions are my own.)

Little Pilgrim's Progress - A Book Review

Little Pilgrim's Progress by Helen Taylor is an excellent book! I am highly recommending it. It is a re-telling of the original story by John Bunyan, but meant for a younger audience. I have been enjoying this book as an adult but the thing that really sold me on this book is how much my six year old loves this book. Everyday he would ask me to read about Christian and his adventures. His only complaint was that the chapters were too short.
As mentioned before this is a re-telling of an old story. It is written very well and as I have read the original I felt that it stayed pretty true to form. I really appreciated it's ability to bring what is normally a difficult read to a younger audience without losing the classic nature of the story. It tells the story of young Christian and his friends on their way to the Celestial City.
I highly recommend this book for those who have children. It is a really fun read. It definitely gets two thumbs up in our home. This is a great way to introduce children to classic literature and stir their desire for more.

This book was provided by Moody Publishers for the purpose of review.

Book Review

I just finished A Draw of Kings : The Staff and The Sword by Patrick W. Carr. I am a fan of fantasy fiction and was looking forward to reading this book. Unfortunately, it was not at all what I was hoping for. Fantasy fiction is often complicated with lots of characters, worlds and story lines. This makes sense because it is not a known world/realm. This book was no exception, but I found that it was not only complicated it was tediously so at times.
I considered stopping several times at the start of the book. But pressed on because I was given the book for the express purpose of reviewing it. Things improved as the story unfolded and I began to acclimate to it's rhythm. By the end of the book I was interested in the outcome and was enjoying the book. Overall, I feel that while it did pick up speed and I did enjoy the book, I was not overwhelmed by it's awesomeness. It was ok. Not fantastic. Not terrible. Ok. And in my humble opinion, when a book is 457 pages long it should be a little better than ok.

(This book was provided by Bethany House Publishers for the purpose of review)

Tuesday's Book Review

I am a reader. I enjoy reading and over my 30 year lifespan I have read hundreds if not thousands of books.
As we prepared to become adoptive parents there are things that you can do that make you look better. (Note to reader: they will tell you it is not a competition, lies I tell you lies! :) ...) Because we realized that they would be comparing us to other potential parents the Hubs and I decided that we would do everything that we could to get the upper hand. (Let's be real, we wanted a kid and we were willing to do just about anything). So we plunged into parenting/adoption education, taking every class, reading every book and watching every movie that we possibly could so that we could add it to THE LIST (the piece of paper that told the committee why were so much better than everyone else).
I, especially, read book after book after book. What we lacked in parenting experience I made up for in parenting books. Some of them were absolute gems and others weren't worth the paper they were printed on. That is the way of books I suppose.
While my reading on topics related to parenting/adoption has slowed somewhat now that we have a child I have continued to delve into this topic frequently. (Read here...now that I know that I don't know anything I seek the wisdom of others).
Recently I have read two books that I am going to tell you about today.

The first book is Lost in School: Why our Kids with Behavaioral Challenges are Falling Through the Cracks and How We Can Help Them by Dr. Ross Greene

Photo is from www.lostatschool.org

This book is excellent! (I have also read is first book The Explosive Child, also a great read). It is not your average parenting methods and let me tell you when you have children that you can't use traditional parents methods on or they just don't work this book is a God send. I don't necessarily believe that this is the only way to parent well, but I do believe that he offers insights that are often overlooked. He is an advocate of actually listening to your child and working with them to make school and home a better place. I highly recommend this book!

The second book I read is called Unconditional Parenting by Alfie Kohn. 

Photo taken from http://www.unconditionalparenting.com/UP/

Let me start by saying that I was excited to read this book. I has high hopes. Sadly my hopes were dashed. This book has some good points, I don't want anyone to think that I think everything that Alfie Kohn says is wrong. However, by and large I was hugely disappointed. The author spends the first 6 chapters talking about why every parenting method except for his is wrong and in effect makes you a bad parent. The part where he officially lost me was when he said that the Bible sadistically describes God's conditional love. (Yes, sadistic is his word not mine). I am all for kids feeling unconditional love from their parents. They need to know that no matter what they do they are always loved and accepted. What I did not appreciate was the judgement on my belief system, which according to him makes me a bad parent. His book is also humanistic in its approach. He believes that overall people are good and it is wrong for a parent to think that a child's motives may not be pure. I do not recommend this book. The cons overwhelm the pros in my opinion. 

Until next time...

Happy Reading!