March Reads

Ah springtime!  The time when my reading becomes mobile and I can be found reading in such a fun variety of places.  Once the weather warms up, the possibilities for outdoor reading never cease.  I spent a good amount of time reading from this stack outside watching my children giggle as they played.  

The Pastor's Wife: Strengthened by Grace for a Lifetime of Love by Gloria Furman: As a fellow young pastor's wife I was thrilled to dive right into this book.  (I received it as a gift for my birthday this month.)  It is is unlike most "pastor's wives" books that I have read in the past but it does a fantastic job of encouraging the reader in what really matters: the grace that God has so graciously lavished upon believers.  In so many ways the book seems applicable to any woman in any season of life.  So much so that I am half tempted to pass it along to my friends who are not pastor's wives.  I do wish that the book was about twice it's small size.  The fact that it is on the small size makes it so that even the busiest woman should be able to find time to read it during small snippets of time.  It actually fit in my purse so I read much of the book in the stolen moments of my day.  I absolutely loved her encouragement to pray for elders.  I spent time copying down her suggestions on on pages 139-140 into my journal along with the Scripture referenced.  I look forward to putting the author's suggestions of exactly what to pray for your pastor into practice on a more regular basis.

Call the Midwife: Farewell to the East End by Jennifer Worth This book was an incredible disappointment.  There were parts of it that I found a little unsettling and I would not recommend it.  This was the third book in the series and I actually really enjoyed books one and two.

Hope Unfolding by Becky Thompson:  This book started out pretty good and then I'm not sure what happened after the first few chapters.  It was just kind of eh.  Maybe it was my mood or maybe it was something else.  Hope Unfolding just wasn't the type of book that I think, "Oh wow I have to share this with at least five friends."  I love sharing and swapping books with friends so I really do think that.  :)  (I really do hate leaving a negative review.)  Please note that I did receive this book from Blogging For Books in exchange for my review.

Breaking Busy by Alli Worthington: I was first introduced to the author while listening to the Inspired to Action podcast where she told her story.  This book is essentially almost everything that she shared during the podcast.  The book is good but I was a teeny bit disappointed that the book didn't go much further than what I had already heard her share.  I did appreciate some of the things that Worthington had to say.  She hit gold with her remark, "We think busy is a badge."  I think I have been working for the past 10 years to rid this thought from my mind.  I do wish that when she wrote about priorities she would have stressed the importance of a believer's involvement at church and with other Christians.  I am all about prioritizing and cutting back but don't cut back on your church involvement until you have cut out everything else first.

Letters to my daughters by Barbara Rainey:  I came across this book at a Family Life Conference my husband and I attended together in February.  Imagine my delight when I found it in my mailbox the very next day as a book I had chosen to review.  This book is simply adorable and beautiful.  It is written from the perspective of a mother writing letters to her daughters about being a wife and all that it entails.  I think a wife of any age can glean so much from the letters but I think it would also make a phenomenal bridal shower gift.  Not only does it contain solid, godly advice, but the book is just gorgeous with it's beautiful artwork and lettering.  Please note that I did receive a review copy of this book from Bethany House Publishers.

Mason Jar Crafts With Kids by Linda Braden: I picked up this crafty book at our library and was completely mesmerized by how much Eli enjoyed looking through it.  This book is fun and contains a lot of neat ideas.  We have some green paint and a mason jar sitting by the kitchen sink just begging to be decorated.  Hopefully we can complete our first painted mason jar craft this weekend.

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Children's Read Aloud Books:
These are the chapter books that I read aloud to my children this month in addition to a number of  picture books we enjoyed.  I always welcome your suggestions for future read alouds.  

The Missing Bible by Janet Sensenig:   We really enjoyed reading this short collection of wholesome stories every afternoon before rest time.  I think there are 23 stories in this book.  The children related well to the stories and I appreciated the opportunity to speak more about being children of character after reading each one.

Who Was Helen Keller? by Gare Thompson: Eli has been so fascinated with the life of Helen Keller for the past few months that I knew we needed to read a biography about her.  We all enjoyed hearing the remarkable story of Helen Keller's life.  Even Eva would bring the book to me and ask me to read from it.

Who Was Harriet Tubman by Yona Zeldis McDonough: We read this book before visiting the National Underground Railroad Museum in Cincinnati this month.  I felt like the level of detail in this book was appropriate for my young children whereas an older biography might have shared a little too much.  Since our library owns a number of the biographies from this series, I anticipate that we will also read a few more before summer.

What books did you read last month?  I think I am just about due for some type of classic.  Any suggestions?