The Good Life

The Postage Stamp Vegetable Garden is a must read for new gardeners! My four year old son and I have been wanting to start a garden and when I saw this book up for review on Blogging for Books I just knew I had to get it. And it did not disappoint! I learned everything I need to know to plant an awesome vegetable garden. The book is chock full of great advice and information including garden maps and a list of every vegetable with information on how to best grow each variety. The author gives great advice on soils, compost, where to plant, how to plant, and when to harvest. I can't recommend this book enough! Do yourself a favor and pick up a copy. I will have it with me year-round as I am growing my first crop of veggies. I received this book for free from Blogging For Books. These opinions are my own. 

The Wholehearted Wife by Erin, Greg, and Gary Smalley is such a great read! I loved the 10 keys to a more loving relationship because they were authentic, Biblical, and easy to apply to your life. This book took me a while to read because each chapter was so full of great ideas, questions, quotes, and stories. I loved going through the book with my husband and asking him different questions from The Wholehearted Wife. I do wish that Erin was the only writer only because she was so good she didn't need the other two :) I really appreciated her perspective on so many issues and was thankful to have read her book! I recommend The Wholehearted Wife to anyone who is married, counselors, and pastors. It's a great read for yourself or to recommend to others. I received this book for free from Tyndale Publishers.

Bunny's First Spring by Sally Lloyd-Jones and illustrated by David Mcphail is just beautiful. I love the way Lloyd-Jones writes in The Jesus Storybook Bible and knew this book would be written with the same captivating language.  Bunny watches the seasons change and worries about winter. But in a lovely parallel it shows that just as seasons change and things live and die, God will always have the "final Spring." All things will be made new by Him and I can thank this book for helping me to show my preschool son this incredible truth. I was amazed that a 3 year old could grasp these concepts on his own, but he really understood what the bunny was feeling. It was such a neat conversation to have with him. The illustrations are beautiful and add to the book! I received this book for free from Book Look Bloggers in exchange for my honest opinion. 

Are you constantly wishing your home was cleaner and more organized? Do you struggle to keep things  tidy  once you do get your house organized? I feel like this all the time! I would get so discouraged by my lack of organizational skills and my house would stay in a state of disarray. When I saw The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up  as a choice for a book I could review, I was so excited. I just moved and knew it would be the perfect time to get my new house in order. Let me just say, I loved this book! The KonMari method really does work and it's so simple! The book itself is a very quick read and you learn so much! I had a few favorite take aways: -ask yourself "Does this spark joy?" for every item you pick up. It was a really freeing question for me and enabled me to give away or throw away bags of clothes, papers, toys, and other household items. - Tackle your house all at once. Don't take things slowly, but rather pull out all of your clothes at one time, pape...

As a mother of two boys, I love learning new ways to pray for my boys and encourage them. Brooke Mcglothlin does a wonderful job of relating to mothers of boys and providing an incredible resource for how to pray for our sons. She is funny and relevant and gives great wisdom from the Bible. Different sections include topics such as wisdom, pride, honor, purity, peace, and patience. I highly recommend his book to mothers, fathers, grandparents, and anyone who works with boys and wants to see them grow in the knowledge of the Lord. It's a great resource and an engaging read! I received this book for free from Bethany House. These opinions are my own.

Answering Your Kids' Toughest Questions is an incredible read! It is broken down into different sections based on common topics that children of all ages ask about Christianity. I love that each topic is broken down into age appropriate responses. This book is a great resource for churches and families. I have talked with my 3 year old son about topics in this book and my husband has used it in his role as elementary director at our church. I highly recommend it to anyone wanting a clear and easy to share book on hard questions. The authors do a great job of not glossing over the fact that there are very real and difficult issues that we face in this life, but each topic brings the reader back to the Bible and to Christ. I received this book for free from Bethany House. These opinions are my own.

I almost didn't want to read this book because of the very fear that Anna Whiston-Donaldson verbalized in the first pages of this incredibly sad and real and hopeful account of her son's death. It's so true that as mothers we shy away from stories of loss about children because we have our own irrational fear that simply by reading about it, it can allow it to happen to us. But Whiston-Donaldson takes these fears head on and reminds us in the most real way that God is still good and He can be trusted even in the most horrific of times. The author's writing style is engaging and authentic. I found myself unable to put Rare Bird down and read it all in one night. I highly recommend this book to anyone suffering a loss of a loved one, or even someone like myself, just a reminder that God is there even in our most low and trying times.