Agh!!! I LOVE this book!
First, I love the layout. A collection of 4-5ish page essays, easy & entertaining to read whenever and wherever.
Second, I love Niequist’s insights into the spiritual snippets of every day life. She dives deep into the motives and intentions of her heart and describes with refreshing honesty how God creates beauty in the midst of chaos.
Third, this is a funny girl. Laugh-out-loud, oh-my-gosh funny. I cannot get over the way her brain thinks, her outrageous metaphors and similes, and her witty thought processes. Niequist is relatable and quirky and self-deprecating and clever. And quite intelligent.
Read a few chapters here to get a taste of Cold Tangerines.
Enjoy, and know that as you’re laughing out loud and wiping away tears, you will be richer for the reading.

I love it when friends pass books on to us. This one came highly recommended, with good reason. Read it yet?

In Family Driven Faith, Voddie Baucham challenges parents to disciple their children in such a way as to instill a multigenerational faith that stretches from generation to generation. This book is making the rounds. I started reading it over Christmas and have mentally chewed on the insights for months, intrigued by this author who’s not afraid to push unpopular and un-PC parenting advice.

Baucham is clearly intelligent and well-read. He writes with candor and passion and a spirit of urgency, giving parents a kick in the rear to be intentional and proactive in saturating our kiddos with truth.

My favorite is chapter 4, “Give Him your Heart,” where Baucham describes a biblical worldview and offers practical tools for passing on these truths to our children. Throughout the entirety of the book, Baucham reiterates that it’s the parents’ (not teachers or Sunday school teachers or youth workers) job to spiritually train our children:

“We simply cannot fail to give our children the basic tools they need and expect the “professionals” to get the job done for us.” (pg. 90)

I’ve read few contemporary books with which I wholeheartedly agree. There are typically one or two ideas in any given book that don’t perfectly jive with my opinions, and Family Driven Faith is no exception. The unique thing about this book, however, is that I so totally and completely and fully agree with many of Baucham’s ideas and arguments, and then hugely disagree with about five pages. I read and re-read this handful of pages to make sure I was reading correctly. Baucham’s narrow opinions in one specific area took me by surprise. The thing that saddens me is that while he offers many encouraging and stimulating Scriptural ideas, he inflicts condescending and condemning language along with broad generalizations as he claims this specific opinion to be an absolute Biblical mandate. He thereby imposes an undeniably personal conviction as a standard to which God holds us all. Very disappointing.

So… a stimulating, interesting read, and one I would (for the most part) recommend. Just as with any book, read with awareness. And by the way, if you read Family Driven Faith and can’t figure out what in the world made my blood pressure rise, fantastic. I don’t have a problem with any of Baucham’s methods or opinions, my beef is when he claims them to be TRUTH.
Anyone read this book? Would love to hear your thoughts…

In June 1783, three-year-old Sarah Whitcher wanders into the woods and disappears.

Got your attention? Enough to make you want to read this children’s book describing the true story? What about when you read on that for three long days friends and neighbors search the woods in Warren, New Hampshire with no luck, until a group of men find bear tracks lined up right behind a child’s footprints. Through a series of incredible (miraculous) events, Sarah is found after the search had been called off, and the young adventurer tells her rescuers of the “big black dog” that kept her warm every night.
The Bear That Heard Crying. A must-read. You’ll love it as much or even more than your children enjoy it. The story is told simply but with great expression and detail (my favorite part is when the mommy faints as the rescuer carries a very-much-alive Sarah through the door). The illustrations are colorful and vivid and lifelike. And best of all, the pages are filled with more watercolor illustrations than words.
A friend recommended this book to me, partly because of the content, but mainly because the artist’s drawings of the three-year-old little girl reminded her of our little Esther.
There are some books I hope to never part with. One sure-fire way to tell is when I can’t read the entire story aloud without choking up. Adds a little drama when the nine-year-old neighbor boy walks in our home right as I’m crying, wondering what in the world is wrong with Mrs. Wilson. And my kids don’t blink… they tell him, “She always does this.”
No, not always. Only with a really, really great book.