Watch for the symbol

You have all seen it.  It is white dove inside a blue square.


What does it mean?

To me it means my kids can watch it and I don't have to fast forward certain scenes.  I love finding this symbol on movies or on reviews.  It helps me make a better choice as a parent.

Some exciting news for parents and families is that the Dove Foundation is now

Book Review - Desperate by Sarah Mae and Sally Clarkson

Attention Moms everywhere!  
There is hope for the mom who needs to breathe!

I have found a fantastic book for moms that I wish I'd had seventeen years ago when my kids were young. Sarah Mae and Sally Clarkson have discovered a heartbeat of moms that I haven't seen much on book shelves.

This book is different because it isn't one woman telling other moms how to be a "better" mom.  There are no lists of ideas to try, or new recipes that all kids will eat, or discipline that works!  This book is DIFFERENT.

My favorite thing about Desperate is Sarah Mae's crystal-clear honesty.  She shares her heart openly - even the stuff we don't like to say out loud.  Like,

• "I just can't be a mother today."
• "I just want to be alone ..."
• "Lately it's been easier to put on the T.V. than put on being a good mother."
• "I am so selfish!  Every day I see it in myself more and more."
• "When my life feels overwhelming, I escape to the Internet."

The second thing I love about Desperate is Sally Clarkson's

Un- happy anniversary

Can you believe it has been 40 years?

Is it possible to count the true cost after so much time?

On January 22nd, 1973 the courts of the United States decided to legalize abortion.  The famous case of Roe vs Wade changed the lives of many.  Every woman and child (and family) that has been affected by that decision since has their own story of cost to tell the world.  I am certain that when the decision was made 40 years ago with 7-2 vote in favor that no one knew what it would cost us as a whole.

On my blog I advertised and raved about the movie October Baby. I hope that you had a chance to watch that.  It was a compelling story about a young woman who survived an abortion attempt and the long journey to healing and recovery she had to take.  At the end of the DVD movie is an amazing testimony of the actress (Shari Rigsby) who played the birth mother in the film.  She talks about her own experience

You are not alone

It happened again.

Today, our community suffers another blow as a young man took his own life on Tuesday.  He was 19 years old and lived in a nearby town but his family is a key part of our little community and many are left asking the difficult and troubling questions.

Why?

I know I have asked this question before on my blog and I ask it again ... is our community cursed with this awful epidemic or is this happening everywhere?  I have lived here for almost five years and in that time have witnessed the shattered lives left behind by as many suicides.

Likely, many of you remember the headlines that rocked our nation in October, 2012 when a British Columbia girl posted a YouTube video of her pain and distress, then died from suicide ten days later.  Her name ...

A little musical fun ...

You might not know this about me but I am a huge Jeremy Camp fan.  See this post here for more info on who he is.  Or here for a video of my favorite song and a devotional from him.

Last year, in January, I had planned a whole run of "Jeremy" posts to celebrate his arrival in Edmonton, Canada for Breakforth 2012. Unfortunately I suffered many migraines that month and posted very little - only the essentials.  You can watch Jeremy's thoughts on visiting Edmonton in this little video from his YouTube channel.

(That's West Edmonton Mall the band is strolling around in.  Also some photos from their trip to the Phillipines only hours before their concert.)

I have always wanted to still do some of the post ideas I had planned, but it felt very random without anything to report, like a concert or new record.

Now, this January I have some things to report.

Trust me ... I failed.

Did you make any New Year's resolutions?

If you did I must ask the question no one wants to answer.  Have you broken any yet?

You can shy away from the computer now, or click the now glaringly large X in the top corner of your screen ... or you can hear me say I have failed my only resolution ALREADY.

It is only the 8th day into the New Year.  That is only 192 hours I have lived in 2013.  How could I have failed it already?  Well for starters, I knew I would.  But I decided not to let that stop me from making it my new mission.

Last year at the beginning of 2012 I told you about adopting a word  instead of a bunch of resolution statements.  I did that last year. I chose ETERNAL. (You can read about it here.)  That's a good word, a well chosen word to challenge me and stretch me. However I discovered something along the way that is very telling about my own life and spiritual journey.

It is almost impossible to let the eternal mindset rule in your mind and heart when you don't trust what that eternity is.

There I said it.  Big sigh.  I have been a Christian for over twenty years, a Pastor's wife since 2001 and I had no idea that I never believed "it" in the areas that counted.  There are a lot of things I know and believe, such as:

Book Review of A Year of Biblical Womanhood

It isn't ironic that as a New Year begins and I reflect back on the past year that I can write a book review for the best book I read in 2012!

It filled all  my reader wants - humour, intrigue, love and of course learning more about my Saviour.  All in one book.

Rachel Held Evans wrote a book about her journey to follow the instructions to women in the bible literally for one year.  When I requested the book I was on a journey of my own - questioning who I was as a mother, wife, pastor's wife and friend.  I felt like I had not only missed the boat, but I had never made it to the right dock.  I thought maybe this book would point me in the right direction.  Who says you can't learn new tricks at 40?

So I ordered the book, opened it and was amazed at this woman who most likely changed my life without changing my direction one bit.

 Here is the Publisher's blurb:

Strong-willed and independent, Rachel Held Evans couldn’t sew a button on a blouse before she embarked on a radical life experiment—a year of biblical womanhood.

Intrigued by the traditionalist resurgence that led many of her friends to abandon their careers to assume traditional gender roles in the home, Evans decides to try it for herself, vowing to take all of the Bible’s instructions for women as literally as possible for a year. Pursuing a different virtue each month, Evans learns the hard way that her quest for biblical womanhood requires more than a “gentle and quiet spirit” (1 Peter 3:4).​ 

It means growing out her hair, making her own clothes, covering her head, obeying her husband, rising before dawn, abstaining from gossip, remaining silent in church, and even camping out in the front yard during her period. With just the right mixture of humor and insight, compassion and incredulity, A Year of Biblical Womanhood is an exercise in scriptural exploration and spiritual contemplation.

What does God truly expect of women, and is there really a prescription for biblical womanhood? Come along with Evans as she looks for answers in the rich heritage of biblical heroines, models of grace, and all-around women of valor.

Overall, I recommend this book to any woman.  The content is light-hearted and filled with wit, while teaching context and depth to the biblical scriptures related to womanhood.  Rachel puts all our fears to rest as she comically works through the ideals and traditions that tend to plague women.

I thoroughly enjoyed her writing style - honest and real.  She admitted her failures and mistakes and made my heart feel at ease.  I cried when she failed and I cheered when she succeeded. Her year long project covers topics such as homemaking, motherhood, marriage relationships, purity issues and social justice to name a few.

Just to give you a teaser I will share one of my favorite parts of her book.  In the month of May Rachel tackles the large looming issue of motherhood.  She had reservations about if she should start a family, when she start a family and so on.  So, she tackled it head on by ordering an electronic baby from Virginia. During the project she blogged about her experiences and her thoughts, receiving a wide array of comments.  This particular time she shared her fears about motherhood and was amazed at the comments she received.  They were from real life moms struggling with real life mom issues - not ideas and tactics from a parenting book.  She concludes:

"There's a certain security that comes with feeling like you've found a magic text, be it authored by Sears, Ezzo, or God Almighty, that tells you exactly when to have children, exactly how to raise them, exactly how to love them and exactly how to be a good mom ... right down to the last detail.  But no such text exists because faith isn't about having everything figured out ahead of time; faith is about following the quiet voice of God without having everything figured out ahead of time."

This book is a great read, easy and fun to wade through the adventures and mishaps Rachel finds herself in.  The book also includes comments from a journal kept by her husband during the year and lots of links to more information and details on line.  A fantastic book for anyone ... woman or not!

This book was provided to me free of charge in exchange for my honest review.  I was not required to review it positively.