Marriage, Homemaking and Parenting

Back to my love affair with books. I'm up to marriage. Now I'm sure you're thinking, when you're married to such a perfect guy like Wayne, why on earth would you have to read books on marriage? Of course I totally agree with you and Wayne is quite wonderful. And I'm grateful to be able to say that our marriage has improved through these long 12 years of wedded bliss. However, the beginning had quite a few rocky moments I'd like to forget about but they also made us stronger. And like any good relationship, we have to work at it. So the following books have helped me/us in some way.

The 5 Love Languages - Gary Chapman - we read this together years ago and even went through the study guide in the back. I'm thankful he was willing to do this because we really learned alot about each other that even now we still reap the benefits from.

Creative Counterpart - Linda Dillow - this one I could probably stand to read again but I remember it giving me some clarity back in the early days of parenthood when I was trying to balance God, husband, child, home, church, self, etc.

The Power of a Praying Wife - Stormie OMaritian - while I didn't always agree with her Biblical beliefs on prayer, I certainly appreciated it opening my eyes to what I could be praying for in the key areas of his life. I like to think of myself as my husband's personal "prayer warrior":)

Fearlessly Feminine - Jani Ortlund - not just about marriage but God's plan for womanhood in general. A book I studied on the phone with my Mom (I have a good phone plan)

The following books are homemaking and stay-at-home mom encourgement -

The Hidden Art of Homemaking - Edith Schaeffer - a classic!! Written by the widow of the late Christian philosopher Francis Schaeffer. The back cover says "I would define 'hidden art' as the art found in the ordinary areas of everyday life. Each person has, I believe, some talent which is unfulfilled in some hidden area of his being - a talent which could be expressed and developed."

The Stay at Home Mom - Donna Otto

Celebrate Home - Angie Peters

Every book I've read by Sally Clarkson -

The Mom Walk

Seasons of a Mother's Heart - my personal favorite (I think)

The Mission of Motherhood

The Ministry of Motherhood

This author is a mentor to me. She also has the benefit of perspective as her children are getting to the age of moving out but all these thoughts and experiences are still fresh in her mind.

And now we get to parenting. I have a read many, many, many books hoping to find the "right way" to parent. Guess what I've discovered? There's no such thing. No matter what I do it will be by the grace of God these kids survive in one piece and end up on the "other side" with me for eternity. I pray alot. Having said that, there have been some insights into parenting that I have found helpful through various resources and here are some of them.

What to Expect the First Year - has to be my first parenting book. Gave me something to go by and some expectation of what is "normal" (whatever that is)

Bringing up Boys - Dobson - because now that I had a boy what was I going to do with him?

The New Dare to Discipline - Dobson - good advise

My favorite books when the kids were really little were the books my Mom gave to me from when I was little - so from the 70's. This read with the assumption that the Mom stayed at home, Dad worked and things were pretty "traditional". This was good for me because so were we! I especially loved the pictures depicting what a day in the life of an infant, 1 year old, 2 year old, etc could look like. Hey, I needed all the help I could get. Yes, some of the info was outdated but I referred to these often.

Boundaries for Kids - Cloud and Townsend - very good. They also have more "Boundaries" books available for all ages in case you have an issue - ha! Really useful read with good examples.

The 5 Love Languages of Children - Chapman and Campbell - yes, they have one for parents too. Another good read. While I may feel I'm showing love to my children in a certain way they may not be getting their needs met. Interesting.

Loving Our Kids on Purpose - Danny Silk - has changed our parenting 10fold. I'm not kidding. A friend passed the CD's on to us as her copyright allowed the sharing of it to 10 friends. Wayne and I downloaded it to our iPod. Parenting works best when we're on the same page! This guy is great to listen to and his ideas work. Bottom line. It's hard to implement sometimes because it is different in many ways from what we were doing before and how we were raised so it's good for me to listen to again every so often. Highly recommended.

Parenting with Love and Logic - Cline and Fay - I am currently reading. This book is actually what inspired the previous book mentioned so the ideas are similar.

Gotta go - speaking of parenting, my daughter is throwing a hissy fit.