Books!

I love books! Recently I've been trying to go thru and read all of those random books on my shelves that I just haven't gotten to before now. I really wanted to share quickly about the two most recent books I've read. While the theme was almost the same the books were quite different.

The first book I read was "Heaven at Home: Establishing and Enjoying a Peaceful Home" by Ginger Plowman. I had never heard of Ginger Plowman before finding this book; I am definitely looking forward to reading more of her work. Her style is very comfortable, like you are sitting with a good friend, but also filled with much wisdom and practical application. Each chapter in this book is dedicated to one aspect of a home, starting with your relationship with God. She then goes thru topics such as your marriage, in-laws, children and then to household tasks such as organization, housekeeping and hospitality.

I tend to underline while reading books and this book definitely has a lot of underlining. She had many Biblical principles and also many simple, practical ways that can help daily routines to run more smoothly. One big thing that I really appreciated was when there was a topic (such as how she schedules her day) that doesn't have scriptural basis she always stressed that these ideas are what has worked for her but that it was not God's Word so not to feel bad if it was something that just would not work in the readers life/home.

The book also included some great ideas for encouraging unity with your children. One idea that I have since implemented (and has seemed to at least make my kids stop and think) is the truth that they are each others best friends. When they are not being kind I'll ask if they are treating each other as a friend? Would they treat their other friends the same way? In many cases (not all ;) ) just asking those questions helps them to realize their own attitude and change their behavior.

The second book I recently read was an easy fun read "The Duggars: 20 and Counting" . It was fun to read how they have adapted their home to meet the very different needs of running such a large household. I really appreciated them sharing how they try to focus on character qualities no matter what the task.

One example shared is how that they focus on teaching about self-control while potty training and using the fact that God designed our bodies to give us warnings so that we know when to head to the bathroom, avoiding an "accident". They went on to share how that as their kids get older they refer back to that illustration when their children are tempted to exhibit a lack of self-control and how that God has given us a warning system (our conscience) and also a way of escape (I Corinthians 10:13) and that self-control heeds those warnings and makes the escape, avoiding "accidents".