A Wife After God's Own Heart By Elizabeth George (7/44)

I saw this book on my sister-in-law's bookshelf one week when I was helping her clean.  The title jumped out at me and I borrowed it.  It took me a few months to get around to reading it, but I finally finished it.  And I would highly recommend it to any wife out there who desires to better serve God and her husband. (Which is all of us right?)

Not only is this book packed full of Biblical wisdom and truths, at the end of each chapter are several practical ways to carry out in real life what the chapter talked about.  I think that is what I appreciated the most about this book. 

Some practical advice that was very helpful to me was:
*Show greater respect for your husband. i.e. look at him when he's talking, don't interrupt, ask him nicely for things etc.
*Encourage your husband.
*Take care of yourself and make yourself more attractive for your husband i.e. fix your hair, dress up, exercise.
*Make the beds daily.
*Pay attention to times of the day when you tend to get 'tired' (or feel lazy) and figure out the things that get you going. 
*Get enough sleep at night so that you aren't too tired for your husband.
*Work on your attitude.
*Get up before your children do.
*Visit your parents.
*Plan one fun activity a week with your husband.
*Make a list of things you've always wanted to do, and then do the things together.

Of course she had a lot more suggestions, but these specifically spoke to me and where I'm at. 

Again, I would highly recommend this book to any wife out there.  You will definitely be challenged to be a better wife and better follower of Christ.  I have to return this book to my SIL, but I wish I had a copy of my own to reference again in the future.

Be Your Own 'Doctor' by Rachel Weaver (6/44)

I got this book a couple of years ago, and have been working my way through it for quite a while now.  Kevin and I take a naturalistic approach to our health care, and this book has been a wonderful resource for me in knowing how to remedy many things ourselves. 

Roughly the first half of the book goes through many different herbs telling the healing properties of each, and ways they can be used.  Many of the items listed are common things you would find in your kitchen i.e. onions, garlic, cayenne, ginger, parsley, apple cider vinegar.  The second half of the book goes through several topical sections such as pregnancy, respiratory difficulties, colon health, and others.  This section gives you herbal remedies for many areas of health.  Then it the back of the book are some recipes for teas, salves, tinctures, etc. and how to plan ahead to treat things with herbs.

Every chapter has at least one story about how she has used the herb being discussed and what the results were.  She also gives resources of where to order the herbs and items that she talks about.  

I think the one thing from the book that I have used the most is called 'People's Paste Powder'.  It's a combination of comfrey rood powder, slippery elm powder, myrrh powder, bayberry root powder, and garlic powder.  You use it to put on cuts or wounds.  All you do is pack it into the wound, and it forms a scab like thing.  The comfrey root increases circulation to the area which results in faster healing.  I have used it several times, and had situations where I was somewhere else and wished I had it with me. 

I would recommend this book to anyone who is interested in 'herbal home health care'.  It does take a little bit of preparation and work to do, but in my opinion, it is well worth it.  I always keep this book within arm's reach because it is so quick and easy to reference something that comes up in our family.  If you are interested in the book, you can order it on Amazon.  I believe it's $24.

Thoughts for Young Mothers by Elsie D. Holsinger (5/44)

My sister-in-law and I take turns helping clean each others' homes each week.  A couple of weeks ago, we were at her house, and I was helping her move some books onto a bookshelf.  I came across this book, and the title intrigued me.  I'm a young mother, and hearing someone's thoughts for me sounded great.

It was a pretty quick read (only 128 pages).  It's an older book printed in 1953, but the Biblical truths it contains are timeless. Each chapter begins with a verse that goes with the theme of the chapter.  Actually, every chapter is filled with verses.

I think the first few chapters were my favorites.  In them, she talks about being like Christ, choosing to be content, keeping our spiritual nourishment a top priority, and learning from the example of Hannah in the Bible.

One quote that really spoke to me was this, "We Christian mothers are more than cooks and housekeepers.  We are children of God and joint heirs with Christ.  We are His representatives, His ambassadors.  God has given us our home with our children as a special place to serve Him.  Glorify and praise the Lord just where you are."

This whole book was an encouragement, and a good reminder of ways that I can be a better mother to my girls.  I was reminded that I, as the mother, set the tone of the household.  Meaning, if Mom is happy and cheerful showing patience and love, the home will respond in the same way.  If Mom is tired, cranky, irritable and cross, the home will respond in that way as well.  This was a good look in the mirror for me to realize that when my children are getting on my nerves, it's probably MY attitude that needs an adjustment.

I would definitely recommend this book to other young mothers.  And I found out from my S-I-L that the book actually belongs to our Church library, so you can borrow it from there!

The House That Cleans Itself By Mindy Starns Clark (4/44)

I finally finished this book today.  I have to admit that I didn't ready every single page.  This book is about arranging, organizing, cleaning, and setting up your house in a way that helps your house tend to be clean.  I think that for the most part my house tends to be clean, but there are several problem areas that I have that I wanted some ideas for.  This book is definitely chock full of ideas and helpful hints.

I didn't read all of it, because I felt like a lot of it was common sense and things that I already know.  I didn't want to waste time reading about things that I already do.  Also, I felt like some of the information in the first few chapters was a little bit quacky.  For example: Hanging signs in your house so people know you're under organizing construction, going on a prayer walk through your house, doing a self-assessment to find out how clean and neat you are, etc.  I found that I was taught how to clean growing up, and am by nature a person who tends to keep things clean and so much of that was not needed for me to understand the HTCI method that Mindy presents in the book. 

In the beginning of the book it has you draw a map of your house and divide it into different areas to tackle and organize.  I divided my house into 25 different areas.  I want to tackle at least one area each day, so that my entire home will be transformed in 25 days or less.  I think I will try to tackle several smaller projects in the same day as big ones like the Kitchen may take several days to finish.

I decided to make a blogging adventure out of it.  It may be slightly embarrassing for me to share my before pictures, but hopefully the after transformation pictures will be well worth it.  Now off to take on section 1 and probably section 2 because they're both smaller sections.

This book is one that I actually borrowed from my mom, so I won't be putting it on my bookshelf, I'll be giving it back to her.  At this point I don't plan on purchasing my own copy of it because I see it as one of those once-in-a-while-reference-books and I'm over at their house often enough that I can reference anything I need to over there.  Maybe someday I will add this book to my personal library, but until then...