March 2018

I mean no disrespect by using this image in a Weekend Roundup devoted to Good Friday. It is like I’m ignoring the horrors of today and all Good Friday Stands for by skipping right to the joy of resurrection Sunday, to Easter. I’m going with the image anyway. It’s been a challenging week around here. For whatever reason, the image beckons me. It’s very hopeful, very spring-y. I am all about spring.

Speaking of which, is it spring break in your neck of the woods? In our district spring break technically starts on Monday. The kids are already out due to parent/teacher/student conferences that happened earlier in the week. You bet I scheduled them early. So long responsibilities, so long school. See ya, I wouldn’t want to be ya!

Back to Good Friday and Holy Week in general. Good Friday deserves words, lots of words. After all, I’m a feeler who feels all the feels and rarely ever shies away from words, at least written words. But I’ve got nothing to share about this sacred day in history. You see, I’m heavily involved in a secret project that is sucking me dry in the best way possible. This little project of hope I’m working on, well, it’s all I think about these days. The cat will be out of the bag in a few weeks, another month at the latest. Hang tight, dear ones. It’s a huge announcement and will be worth the wait. I promise.

Luckily, my friends at Hope*Writers are not shy on words about Good Friday. Hope*Writers, if you don’t know, is an online community of writers that I’ve been part of for the last few years. Ideally, I share a Weekend Roundup every Friday to showcase the very best of Hope*Writers, or at least my favorites. I use the words “every Friday” loosely. The last weekend roundup, I’m embarrassed to say, happened around Valentine’s Day. You can read it here if you’d like.

Moving on.

Some prefer coffee, others tea. Just like some people prefer prose, others poetry. I’m definitely a prose and coffee kind-of-gal.(Unless it’s the passion tea with lemonade that my friend Jen serves.) That said, I’m hardly against poetry. In fact, bring on the poems! This is probably an awkward way to introduce a poem by Leigh Sain that you can find at the end of her marvelous post, What’s So Good About Good Friday?

The next writer I’m going to showcase is Karen over at Lightly Frayed. Karen is all about encouraging mamas and her article, When A Mom’s Easter Story Begins to Fall Apart, doesn’t disappoint. Read how one mom didn’t give up when Easter celebrations weren’t perfect.

Next up is Dorina’s essay, “Resurrection Rising: How To Wait Through The Winter Of Grief.” I wasn’t able to create a direct link for some reason. But click here and scroll down to the essay titled “Resurrection Rising.” You won’t be sorry. Dorina’s essay is filled to the brim with beauty and hope!

I was captivated by Terri’s message when I discovered her blog post in my inbox this morning (or maybe it was last night). In a stunning post titled, Remembering The Solar Eclipse On Good Friday, Terri connects the events of Good Friday to the recent total solar eclipse. This will be a particularly meaningful read for my PNW friends who were able to trek to Oregon last summer for the solar eclipse.

The following is an older article submitted by Vanessa from At The Picket Fence. When You Don’t Feel Easter-y is absolutely perfect and perhaps explains why I’m drawing a blank this year as far as writing about Good Friday, Easter and the entire Holy Week and, really, anything other than my secret project.

The above essays fit (a little too) nicely together for my taste. I like to vary what I showcase in my Weekend Roundups. I’m well-aware that must people prefer writers to stick to a theme while offering less randomness and more flow. Ah well. I’m throwing in a final resource from Emily and the gals over at Kindred Mom about Becoming a Resilient Mom. The series has absolutely nothing to do with Easter or Holy Week, but I’m going to go with it. Moms need encouragement all the time. You can find the Resilient Mom series here.

Friends, the kids are due back from A Wrinkle In Time with Nana and Grandpa Dave at any moment. It’s time to wrap this baby up. I hope your Easter weekend is meaningful and your spring break restful and/or adventurous depending on your temperament. He has risen. He has risen indeed.

P.S. Did you catch my latest book recommendation post? You can catch it here.

Hello Lovelies! It’s been quiet here at this little spot on the web. I’m not sorry about it. March madness is a real thing. Our days were filled to the brim with Girl Scout Cookie deliveries, site sales and the start of volleyball season and Rubik’s Cube club. Yes, there’s a club at the elementary school devoted to Rubik’s Cube enthusiasts like my son.

Speaking of Girl Scouts, I’m sad to say that I was a failure as a scout. Seriously, I was a failure. I caved and quit on the spot at the very thought of another cookie season soon after my first year as a cadet when I was a sixth grader at Sunset Elementary School. I also happen to be a failure as a parent of Girl Scouts. Yep that is correct, a real failure. I ditched the badge magic, my former saving grace that kinda-sorta turns a badge into a sticker and resorted to hot-gluing the badges on the girls’ vests. At Word Thinking Day (a Girl Scout event at the end of February), I noticed a cute little brownie with her patches pinned to her chocolate-colored vest with safety pins. I wanted to find her mother and throw my arms around her.

The girls at Safeway. The kind folks at Safeway allowed us to set up shop inside. I’m more of a Fred Meyer and Central Market kinda gal, but my heart now belongs to Safeway.

Back to March Madness, or my version of it: I’ve also been busy with more than a few launch teams and one very important offline project. I’m not quite ready to talk about this special project. But I promise, it will be worth the wait. So much so that the very thought of this little project fills me with great joy and tremendous hope. It’s also why I’ve written next to nothing since mid-February. I can’t believe I’m lucky enough to be part of this project. I simply cannot wait to spill the beans.

I originally started this post as a Weekend Roundup sometime around St. Patrick’s Day. My plan was to briefly talk about the book launch teams instead of linking to work by some of my friends at Hope*Writers. Because of my other project, I’m not going to give you a prolonged review of each book. Nope. What I’m going to do is take the easy way out. I’m going to simply link to the books, tell you to go buy the books and leave it at that.

Over the last several weeks, I’ve been participating in a new Bible study by Dorina Lazo Gilmore called Flourishing Together. I actually bought Glory Chasers, Dorina’s first Bible study, with the intention of plowing through it with two dear friends but our schedules never meshed. I almost didn’t buy this one since I never finished the first. I am so glad I changed my mind. It’s nothing short of a miracle (and the Holy Spirit at his finest) when a study I am part of speaks so perfectly to where I am currently at and where I’m headed. Flourishing Together is basically about flourishing when life feels heavy. It is about practicing stillness and knowing God is God. It’s about turning to the Bible to be deeply routed in Jesus to truly flourish during seasons of adversity. I can’t recommend this study enough. Flourishing Together is a six week study, stretched out to twelve weeks if you join the facebook group for live teaching by Dorina to go along with the study. Each week starts with an essay, followed by six days of thoughtful and Bible-centered homework. You can choose to purchase a color or B&W edition. I own the B&W, which is lovely. I imagine the color edition is even lovelier. Highly recommend. It’s changed my life.

Tales of Buttercup Grove is a delightful series by author WendyDunham, illustrated by Michal Sparks. I only have my hands on the first two books of the series, A Windy Spring Day and Sunflower Summer, which is my personal favorite. The little books have been such fun to share with The Tiniest Tiny. My youngest struggles a bit with reading so we are reading these Beginner Reader friendship stories together. A bonus is the delightful watercolor illustrations, as well as the Bible verses at the end of each book. Once you order the books you will have access to coloring pages from the book.

The next launch team was for Questions & Answers For Kids: A Three-Year Journal For Kids by Scott Bowen. This has been such a fun book for the entire family. Each day has a question for each child to answer. We read the questions each night over dinner. You will find space on each page to record your child or children’s response for three years. It’s going to be fun (and interesting) to compare their answers as the years go by. Then, at the bottom of the page is a fun illustration and a Bible verse the ties into the question.

This is what it looks like inside. At least my kids are honest.

The final book I’m going to talk about is You Can Stay Home With Your Kids!: 100 Tips, Tricks, and Ways To Make It Work on A Budget by Erin Odom. How I wish I had a copy of this book when my three were little, back when I seriously wondered how we could ever pay for three kids to go to preschool (that’s six years of preschool tuition!). Author Erin Odom is never bossy. She isn’t saying that staying home with your kids is the only way. That would be silly. However, if you are a mom who would love to stay home but don’t know if it is a real possibility, give this book a shot. Erin will gently encourage you to look at your home and expenses in a slightly different and creative way that could very well make all the difference in the world and allow you to stay home with your kids. I loved the practical moneysaving tips found within the pages of this book, from tips on how to inexpensively cook healthy meals, to planning a vacation that won’t break the bank (Vacation? What’s a vacation?), to tips on purchasing a home and just about everything in between. I highly recommend this book for any mom who wonders if staying home with her kids could actually happen. But really, I can’t think of a family that wouldn’t benefit from Erin’s wisdom wether or not the mom is able to stay home or works outside of the home. It’s all good.

I almost forgot! Speaking of book launch teams, a while back I told you about Jamie Ivey’s new book, If You Only Knew: My Unlikely, Unavoidable Story Of Becoming Free. Jamie’s book happens to be the #1 bestseller in Christian theology and life (or something like that) on Amazon. My friend Melinda and I had the chance to meet Jamie back in February at the Seattle book tour! How cool is that?!! We also got to meet Emily Lex of Jones Design Company. Both women are the real deal. By the way, I talked about Jamie’s book here, here, and here, as I told my own story of becoming free.

That’s all for now. You can find all of the books mentioned above on Amazon and Barnes and Noble. None of the links are affiliate links. There’s nothing in it for me if you buy the book. Erin’s book is the only one yet to launch. If you order before April 10 she is throwing in all kinds of goodies as an incentive to pre-order your copy. Have a lovely Monday, friends. I hope to write more soon. But don’t hold your breath because it’s just one of those fun-filled yet busy seasons. Know that you are loved and missed. And know that I can’t wait to tell you about my latest project! The suspense is killing me!

Archives for March 2018