Book Review: Longing for Paris

Do you feel the gap between your daily life and your dreams?  Have you struggled with guilt as you long for something more than dishes and laundry and breaking up sibling squabbles?  Sarah Mae has wrestled with and now written about these very issues.

Longing for Paris: One Woman's Search for Joy, Beauty, and Adventure-Right Where She Isis written in much the same style as Sarah Mae's last book, Desperate: Hope for the Mom Who Needs to Breathe.  Filled with authentic stories and real life truths, it reads like you are sitting down with the author and having a conversation about life, mothering, dreams and hopes.

I was intrigued by this book.  From reading her blog, I knew that Sarah Mae had taken a full year off blogging and seriously scaled back her speaking engagements in order to be more fully connected with her family and her "regular" life.  She worked diligently on reaching her children's hearts while setting aside some of her own passions and desires.  This book was written during that time period.

Longing for Paris includes memoir-type writing about Sarah Mae's personal experience trying to reconcile the longings that God placed in her heart and the very real responsibilities and relationships that God placed in her life.  She also wrote some very simple suggestions for bringing the longings to bear into our daily lives with our families.

This book would be an encouragement to any woman who feels "stuck" in her daily life, unable to see forward to the place of her seemingly impossible dreams.  For me, it was an encouragement to continue to walk the path that the Lord has placed in front of me, being sure to include events, people, and recreation that speak to my own heart, bringing joy and rejuvenation through beauty and fun.

I received this book in exchange for my honest review.
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Book Review: Better Than Before

Better Than Before: Mastering the Habits of Our Everyday Liveswas a complete surprise.  I expected it to be a memoir of the author's experiences changing her own habits with some "helpful hints" thrown in.  While that is an accurate assessment in some ways, it is incomplete.

Ms. Rubin is a fantastic (maybe fanatical?) researcher who dove deeply into facets of habit formation that I didn't even know existed.  She thoroughly investigated those whose habit formation was the antithesis of hers, tried to formulate a "why" and offered solutions unique to the individual.

One realization for me is that I am an "obliger" (author's term), one who easily and completely fulfills outside expectations (I return library books, pay my bills, show up to events on time) but who struggles with fulfilling internal expectations (exercise, daily quiet time, limits on media).  The author reinforced how important it is for us obligers to place external accountability on personal habits (Buddy up for exercise, pay to attend a class, etc.)  This has been helpful as I look to grow in areas that will bring me toward maturity in my faith and personal life while limiting those things that are holding me back.  Sally Clarkson referred to this as dropping my nets.  What nets do I need to drop to fully follow Jesus like the fisherman disciples did?  I need external accountability to help me drop my nets.

Better Than Before: Mastering the Habits of Our Everyday Liveshas already been practical in my own life and I can see that it will be useful in helping my children to form their own lifelong habits.

Even if you are not looking to form or break a habit, this is a fascinating peek into one more way God created our minds to uniquely display His glory.  What works for one will not work for all.  Insightful, accurate, well-researched, I highly recommend this book.

I received this book for free in exchange for my honest review.
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Looking Forward to 2015

It's that time of year.  Whether you make resolutions or not, this time of year can be one for reflection on the past and planning ahead to the future.  I always make sure to take a few hours by myself at a coffee shop to ponder and pray before diving back into the regularity of daily life.  For 2015, my planning and goal setting will revolve around this wonderful new book, Own Your Life: Living with Deep Intention, Bold Faith, and Generous Loveby Sally Clarkson.  I will take the month of January to ponder what priorities God has for me, in my unique family, situation, and with my unique gifts and talents.

Here are some of the things I consider in the areas of marriage, parenting, homeschooling, health, homemaking, and ministry:

 -What went well last year?

 -What is God calling me to change?

 -Which routines are still working for our family?

 -Which routines need a tune-up and which can be dropped?

 -What friendships does God want me to invest in this year?  As finite humans, we can only sustain and deeply invest in a limited number of people- listen for those God would have you focus on this year.

 -What books do I want to read this year?  As a book hound, I've found that having a list keeps me on track to read some challenging classics as well as the just-for-fun reading.  I keep this list on the app, Good Reads and refer to it regularly.  

 -What crafts do I hope to complete this year?

Once I spend time praying over these things by myself, I share what I've learned with my husband as well as ask for his input for the upcoming year.  This is a special time of looking forward together and discuss goals for our family.

Another thing I try to do now (or at the start/end of a school year) is to ask my children some questions.

  -What have we done recently that you really enjoyed?  (I focus on homeschooling, but could apply to any area of their life.)

 -What sports are currently holding their interest?

 -Which friendships would they like to invest in more deeply this year?

 -Is there anything I can do differently to help them in their chores/school/family routines?

 -What would they like to learn about this year?

By asking these questions, I am listening to my kids' current interests and can tailor our calendar to include some of them.  One year, they both mentioned wanting to learn more about dinosaurs so we spent an entire week doing nothing but dinosaurs.  It was a special time of fun and learning in our home.   One child was also able to articulate that he didn't like being rushed.  I now try to slow my own words and actions and also to include more "cushion" into our day to accommodate his need for a slower pace.

Taking time to plan and pray gives me focus and intention to move into a new year.  "Where there is no vision, the people perish."  Proverbs 29:18.

Check out #ownyourlifebook on Instagram for some beautiful photos of ways other people plan to own their lives in 2015.

What do you do to move intentionally into a new year?

http://www.sallyclarkson.com/ownyourlife

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"It is Harder for Women"

Another quote from Journal of a Solitude:
p 56
"It is harder for women, perhaps to be 'one-pointed,' much harder for them to clear space around whatever it is they want to do beyond household chores and family life. Their lives are fragmented... the cry not so much for a 'a room of one's own' as time of one's own. Conflict become acute, whatever it may be about, when there is no margin left on any day in which to try at least to resolve it."

I do want to be single-minded about the things that are important in my life. And I have noticed that I am a much better mommy, more focused, more joyful, more able to be 'one-pointed,' when I have just a bit of time for creativity, for something that nourishes my spirit. Take time, ladies! You need it. Your family needs you at your best.