A Year of Biblical Womanhood by Rachel Held Evans

Words cannot express how much I loved this book, but I'll give it a shot!  Rachel Held Evans is a nationally known blogger committed to promoting theological conversation and advocacy, especially for women and others who may find themselves oppressed by the traditional evangelical church.  I've read her blog for a couple of years now, and have really respected her views, her way of asking great questions, and her theological mind.  I was really excited when her book was released this past fall, but if I'm honest I didn't pick it up right away because I was a teensy bit wary of how "heady" it would be.  I love her blog but sometimes it's a bit over my head--the conversation gets a bit deep for me --not that I can't follow it but some of her posts take a lot more thought and concentration to get through than I often can contribute!  I downloaded it to my Kindle and there it sat for these past 3 months.

I started reading about a week ago and let me just say I am glad to be finished--because I have gotten NOTHING accomplished around my house this week!  I. Could. Not. Put. It. Down.  I devoured this book.  So many times my husband found me laughing hysterically laying in bed reading, and at other times I found myself tearing up as she shared stories.  This is by far one of the best non-fiction books I have read in a long time and I can't recommend it enough.

Rachel grew up in the "bible belt" and spent most of her life hearing about being a "biblical woman."  Sermons were preached on being a biblical woman, Christian book stores have entire sections devoted to helping women be "more biblical," and Christian colleges around the country often encourage their female students to pursue "biblical womanhood."  The problem though is that no one seems to agree or even really know what that means.  So Rachel chose to dig deeper.  She devoted an entire year to pouring over scripture and living out as literally as possible every command given to women or about women--both in the Old and New Testaments.  She studied every female in scripture thoroughly and then studied evangelical Christian culture to understand what they mean when they talk about being a biblical woman.  It's not a shock that what scripture actually says about women and what Christian culture often requires of women don't exactly line up.

She writes with candor, honesty and vulnerability as well as with a great deal of humor.  She brings to light many of the texts we ignore--and helps unpack some of the biblical and Jewish culture that surrounds scripture.  I promise, if you pick up this book you won't be disappointed!

Review: The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin

This is one that I was really excited to pick up, every time I have passed it in a bookstore I find myself intrigued by the title and cover, so this year I finally added it to my list.  I don't know that I loved it.  In fact, on Good Reads, I gave it 3 stars, but I don't necessarily think it's the book's fault.  What I mean is that I've read quite a bit of non-fiction this fall, and while I was really excited about this book I think what I needed instead was an amazing story to get lost in for awhile.  I found myself skimming a lot of this one, anxious to finish it to pick up something more "fun" (a novel).  But I wish I had spent more time on this one because it's actually a pretty good book I think.  Gretchen Rubin decided to spend an entire year devoted to studying happiness.  What makes people happy, what areas of life contribute most to one's happiness?  She chose 12 areas of life to focus on, one for each month, and set goals for herself each month to work on to see if those things really did make her more happy.  I did find myself gleaning small tidbits of information that were interesting and helpful, and someday I may pick this one up again and devote more time to it, because it really was intriguing.  If you're looking for a fun non-fiction that has practical information in it, this would be a great book to pick up.  If you've been wading in a lot of non-fiction for awhile, maybe read a novel or two and come back to this one!

Review: The Penderwicks on Gardam Street by Jeanne Birdsall

Last year, at the recommendation of a book loving friend, I read the first book in the series about this quirky family of a single father and 4 spunky daughters.  Jeanne Birdsall won the National Book Award for her book The Penderwicks, and I loved it.  This fall I picked up the sequel and was equally as enchanted.  It's been a long time since I picked up a children's novel that seemed to transport me back to my days of lazy summer reading as a child.  The Penderwicks had that effect on me.  In this delightful sequel, Mr. Penderwick's sister has decided it's time for her brother to start dating again, a plan which does not amuse him as much as it does her!  His 4 daughters come up with a "Save Daddy Plan" to prevent him from having to endure the agony of blind dates, and the outcome of that plan surprises all of them.  This book is sweet, funny, and would be a fantastic read-aloud for any family! 

Review: Mom Connection: Creating Vibrant Relationships in the Midst of Motherhood by Tracey Bianchi

Each year MOPS International (Mothers of PreSchoolers--an evangelical ministry to moms of young children) has a theme that each MOPS chapter structures their program around.  This year's theme is "Plunge: Diving Deeper with God, Family & Friends."  We have spent the fall looking at how to be more intentional with each of these areas of life, and have started some good conversations around these topics in our MOPS Chapter.  As the MOPS coordinator at our church this year, MOPS International sent me this book that connects with the theme.  It looked like a conversational and easy read, so I picked it up and flew through it.  While probably not the most profound or well written book I've ever read (okay, it's not), it did help me think through some good ideas and some new ways of creating connections.  With a baby who needs to be in bed by 7 and a husband who works long hours, motherhood can be lonely if one isn't intentional about creating connections with other moms (who, in my experience, are also lonely and sitting home wondering what to do with themselves and a new baby!)  One of the things Bianchi talks about that really caught my attention is the idea of "living an invitational life."  Bianchi says, "to live invitationally is to live with an eye toward connecting with others." She goes on to say that, "some of the daily elements we take for granted can profoundly move another mom to a healthier place. To live invitationally is to view our daily routines as a way to create warmth where loneliness reigns." I have always been one who thinks having people over needs to be a big production with a clean house, a home cooked meal and hours of conversation.  What I've learned this year is that it can be so much simpler than that, and so much more spontaneous.  Last minute play dates over a lunch hour where we both bring whatever is already in our fridge and let our babies crawl around a room scattered with toys or calling someone saying "want to go for a walk in an hour?" has become much easier for me.  Mom Connection has helped me look for more spontaneous moments of connection and for that, I've been really grateful. 

Review: Wild by Cheryl Strayed

This was our book club's book for November, and it was one I was super excited to read.  I had heard great things about it from other readers I generally agree with, and saw that it had gotten pretty good reviews from the media.  So it was actually one I had suggested to the group, and when November rolled around I jumped into Wild prepared to be in love with it.  I'm not quite sure it achieved all I expected! 

Wild is the true story of one woman's decision to hike the Pacific Crest Trail from the Mojave desert to the Oregon/Washington border on her own one summer.  She had experienced a lot of trauma in her life--loosing her mother to lung cancer at an early age, her marriage falling apart (although this was her own dumb fault...), and her family disintegrating after her mom died.  I loved the beginning.  She captured my attention on page one and kept it through the back story of how she ended up on the trail.  She had never been backpacking until the day she set foot on the trail, and her description of trying to lift her pack, trying to stand up with "A VW Beetle on my back" was hysterical.  I thought she was a great writer who managed to bring me with her onto the trail, I could picture her journey, and feel her body aching as she adjusted to the rigors of hiking miles each day. 

I have to be honest though, about 1/2 way through this book I was ready for her to be done.  I lost interest and thought it was about 100 pages too long.  It was fascinating listening to our book club's discussion about this one--some really loved it and some really really didn't.  I was somewhere in the middle.  I liked the story, but didn't always love her--didn't think she made very good choices (for instance, if you've never been backpacking, why the heck are you setting out on the PCT ALONE??).  But I found I had a LOT of compassion for her.  She had a tough life, and a lot happened to her at an early age and she didn't have a great support system in place to help her through that.  So she hit the trail.  In a lot of ways she learned a lot, and "found herself" but in a lot of ways she didn't.  It's probably worth the read, but I don't think it's my new favorite memoir of the year!

Review: 7 An Experimental Mutiny Against Excess by Jen Hatmaker

Previously posted on my other blog
Has anyone else read the book 7: An Experimental Mutiny Against Excess by Jen Hatmaker?  This book is kind of un-doing me.  It's amazing.  I'm thinking about it all the time, I'm making my husband engage in long conversations about it while laying in bed, I'm texting him about it during the workday.  And I'm not even finished reading it (according to Kindle I'm 70% done...I don't know what the last 30% holds...probably more un-doing...)

Jen is the wife of a pastor, the mom of 5 kids, bible teacher, speaker and author.  And one day she decided she was overwhelmed with how far from Jesus' commands to live simply, love the poor, give away our possessions, love our neighbor, and take care of His creation they were.  After months of praying, brainstorming, and consulting with close friends, inviting them into this process with her, she came up with the idea of 7.  She chose 7 areas of life: clothing, spending, food, possessions, media, stress and waste and she and her family (to varying degrees) spent one month focused on each one.  Each month they made seven simple choices to simplify life in that area.  For instance, in the possessions month, as a family they gave away seven things a day every day for the 4 weeks.  For the media month, they chose 7 technological items to fast from (texting, internet--except for email as a communication tool--but no facebook!, video games, TV, radio, and two others I'm not remembering right now).  Her book is a very very funny recounting of their experiences each month along with a lot of very challenging thoughts on Jesus, on what he said about living and how he told us to live in this world.  She's hysterical, real, down to earth, and very honest about how hard some of these months were for her (especially the food month where she literally chose only 7 foods to eat all month.  Not 7 meals.  7 foods: eggs, chicken, avocado, sweet potatoes, apples, whole wheat bread, and spinach.  No butter, no condiments, no nothing, just those 7 foods--her kids didn't participate in that month with her and her husband by the way!)

As I read her accounts, I find myself hungering for more simplicity in our own lives.  So much so that I'm enlisting my husband to join me for the month of October on some of our own variations of 7.  No, we're not going to only choose 7 foods to eat, but I am choosing 7 dinners and will make only those 7 meals for the month.  No more spending time doing complicated menu planning or grocery shopping--just 7 favorite family meals for one month.  (for those who are curious, our 7 will be: Turkey Lettuce Wraps, Spaghetti with Turkey Meatballs, Crock Pot Chicken Tortilla Soup, Crock Pot BBQ Pulled Pork, BBQ Chicken Quesadillas, one night will be a freezer crock pot meal that is already in my freezer, and our Friday night date night will be a meal from Trader Joes--we love splitting their sushi and salads)  That's it, that's what we're eating this month, menu planning is done.  I know this isn't a revolutionary concept and many families do this, but we never have because I always say I love variety too much.  But I also love the idea of having more time to spend on things other than menu planning and grocery list making.  I am hungry for simplicity.

The other area Jen and her family simplified that has my attention was in regards to spending money.  It was not necessarily the amount of money they were spending each month (although she said she was disgusted at how they nickel and dimed themselves every month--$4 here, $3 there...) but it was more the sheer number of places they spent money.  She went through their credit card bills and counted the number of places that got their money each month, which inspired me to do the same.  It is nuts how many places we spend money that we really don't even think about!  I counted over 20 different vendors on each month's bill for the past couple months.  Her commitment for that month was to choose only 7 places they were allowed to spend money.  Normal bill paying didn't count--so Verizon and the power company still got paid but wasn't one of their 7.  But 7 stores.  That's it.  (Which prompted a hysterical scene when her 7th grader needed a hair cut but super cuts wasn't one of their 7...it involved her husband, a pair of clippers, and a very dramatic display of emotion on the part of her son...)  This was guaranteed to cut down on the frivolous "$3 here, $4 there" spending, and forced them to think through what their needs where and where they met those needs each month.

We've decided to try this.  We'll see how it goes.  We're taking inspiration from the Hatmaker family, we looked at their list of places they chose, and created our own list while laying in bed last night (seriously my husband will be glad when I'm done with this book and I can just let him go to sleep at night!)  Here's our list for the month:

1.  Trader Joes
2.  Sprouts (where I buy my produce and bulk food items like dried beans and quinoa at way less than any other grocery store has it)
3.  Mobile gas station (yup, gotta have a way to fill up the car throughout the month!)
4.  Ralphs (I contemplated not including this since I like Trader Joes and Sprouts way better, but it's literally a block from my house and to not include this seemed like a choice we'd really regret when we run out of milk at 7 AM.)
5.  Target (yes we realize you can buy everything at Target so it seems like a "cheater" choice, but it's on here as a last resort choice--ie: we run out of diapers or we need something for the car or a birthday gift for some upcoming birthdays)
6.  Freebirds Burritos.  Allow me to explain this one!  First, a huge part of my husband's job is meeting people for lunch or grabbing food with youth or volunteers.  To not have a local eating establishment on our list seemed unreasonable.  And second, our child goes to bed at 7, which means I can't leave the house after that usually.  One of the spontaneous dates Charles and I have always loved doing is the 9 PM food run (where we used to go together, but now I sit at home with the babe and he goes...)  So sometimes on days when he literally works a 13 hour day (ie: Sundays....), he'll stop by Freebirds after youth group and bring home chips and queso and we'll debrief the day together as our in home date.  We may be really sick of Freebirds after this month, but we both agreed it had to go on the list!
7.  Gayle's Perks Coffee Shop.  This one was a non-negotiable on my list.  It's a cute local coffee shop about 2 miles from our house, but it is my sanctuary.  I only get to go for about 2 hours each Friday morning when Charles is home with Aidan, but for those 2 hours I get to forget about being a mom, I get to write, I get to sip a latte and savor a yummy crepe for breakfast.  It's my date with myself, and these me-dates make me a way more relaxed Mommy!

There you have it.  Our list of 7.  We'll see how this goes.  We'll see what these choices do to our credit card bill this month, and what it does to our concept of necessities.  If we already have a gift card to somewhere, we are allowed to use that, but we aren't allowed to go over the limit of the card.  No more last minute run to Michaels for some random craft supply I really don't need.  No fast food runs, or trips to Home Goods or Carters or Babies R Us or other stores that sell all kinds of fun things that I'm not really sure I need.  It means Halloween costumes will need to come from our closets or be borrowed or Target if we're really desperate!  As we turn down other opportunities to spend money on things we really don't need, I'm hoping our attitude will be the same as that of Jen's daughter when they were forced to say no to dinner out with friends: "It's okay Mommy, we have a warm house to go home to, and food to eat there, and the people who live on the streets don't have any of those things.  We don't really need to go to a restaurant, it's okay."  Out of the mouths of babes....

Has anyone else read 7?  Has anyone else been inspired by this book to make any changes or simplify various areas of life?  I'd be curious to hear from you....does this sound insane?  A worthless experiment?  A meaningful spiritual discipline?  If anyone wants to join us in this experiment, let me know!

Welcome Book-Loving Friends!

In the past I have always posted a yearly review of everything I've read that past year, but I decided to mix things up around here a bit.  For one, writing a review of everything I read in the past year all at once was a LOT of work!  By the time I got around to it, I often forgot details about books, and had to google synopses in order to remind myself what some stories were about (pathetic, I know).  And two, I wanted a bit more space to devote to the beautiful "quiet, constant friends" in my life--books that have shaped me, impacted me, made me angry etc. If you are a reader, feel free to pop back by on occasion to see what reviews are new, what our book club is up to, or what books are currently residing in my diaper bag, waiting for a free moment to be opened! 

If you're new around here and want to get a sense for what I've read in the past and what kinds of books I enjoy (so you can recommend new ones to me!!) feel free to check out any of these yearly recaps:

28 Books for my 28th Year

30 Books for my 30th Year

31 Books for my 31st Year

My goal has been to start a new reading year each September, with my birthday, and read the number of books that corresponds to how old I'm turning by the next September.  It's been fun to create reading lists of books I want to read, and fun to have a challenge.  The problem I'm discovering is that I get a few months in and I come across a book I want to read, or I find myself in the mood to pick up an old friend, but I don't let myself because I've already set my reading list.  I would still like to make it through 32 books by next September, but I have already strayed away from my list, so I'm making things a bit more fluid around here.  At the top of the page I have lists of books I'd like to read and books I have read this year, but I am giving myself more freedom to pick and choose as I go along what strikes my fancy :)  But I do like goals, I do so much better having a challenge in mind!  

If you have a book you think I'd love or a book you think our book club should check out, let me know and I'll add it to the list!  Thanks for stopping by, friends!  And happy page turning!