Undeniably Yours by Becky Wade

I really can’t say enough good thinks about Becky Wade and her books.  I read her debut “My Stubborn Heart” a few months ago and absolutely loved it.  Becky is one of those writers that makes you laugh and cry all while you feel like you’re reading about your best friend with her true-to-life and relatable characters.  And her new release is no exception.  Meg and Bo’s story is not only compelling– who doesn’t love a good modern Texas fairy tale?– but it’s also encouraging, uplifting and Christ-centered.  I picked up the book on Saturday morning and had a hard time putting it down for the rest of the day.

A Noble Groom by Jody Hedlund

Two years ago when I read Jody’s debut, The Preacher’s Bride, I remember telling my sister that Jody was one to watch.  Well, I’m proud to say that I was right.  Since Jody’s first release, she has released three other page-turners with The Doctor’s Lady, Unending Devotion and now, A Noble Groom.  I have yet to pick up a book by Jody that I didn’t completely love and this one was no exception.  A Noble Groom is set in 1881 in Michigan in a poor farming village.  Annalisa, a feisty, strong farmer’s wife faces tough situations and… well, I’m not going to give the story away other than to say that I was inspired and touched by this story.

When the Morning Glory Blooms by Cynthia Ruchti

Oh my goodness, I read so many great books this month!  I’m having trouble not gushing right now because as I think about these stories, I get all giddy all over again.  This was another blow-me-away read.  I had never read anything by Cynthia before but I was hooked before I finished the first chapter.  Cynthia has a creative, vivacious and unique writing style that immediately drew me to her as an author.  This story is especially fun because it’s woven through three time periods and three different stories submerge on one central theme.  I don’t want to give the story away, but I can assure you that you’ll be encouraged and entertained with this book.

Wish You Were Here by Beth Vogt

I actually read this book right when it came out– and before I did monthly book round-ups.  After reconnecting with Beth over her new release (Catch a Falling Star, which I will certainly be downloading as soon as it releases this week), I remembered how much I loved Beth’s debut.  And so I re-read it and wasn’t disappointed.  I think the thing I like best about Beth’s style is that her characters are so real.  Allison, this book’s heroine, is far from perfect (she ran out on her own wedding!) but she is real and throughout the book you feel like you get to know her as a friend.  I loved that.

Read Part 1, Part 2 and Part 3 of Asa’s story here.

The call came on a Monday morning.  God had chosen this moment to show me the depth of his love.  Because while we had been waiting and waiting for a baby for Peter and Alisa, God had been waiting for this baby.  This child.  This wonderful blessing.  This moment.  Because as we prayed month-after-month to get pregnant, God knew Asa would need a name.  And as we prayed for baby Abby, God knew that Asa would need a mommy.  And as we doubted that God was even listening to our prayers, God was preparing each of our hearts for Asa.  Because Asa needed a home.  And a big, loud extended family to welcome him.

I can’t say that everything was rosy the second Alisa and Peter got that call and arrived in the NICU to meet their son the first time.  It was hard.  Asa spent 31 days in the NICU.  He had major surgery to put his intestines inside of his body when he was only a week old, and then spent three longs weeks struggling through a grueling and painful refeeding process where he was often hungry, in pain and inconsolable.  But Asa fought hard.  And he not only survived, but he thrived.  As if he knew that his Creator, his God had a plan for his life, a plan that went far beyond the pain of the NICU.

Exactly a month after the day of his birth, Alisa and Peter carried their son, God’s beautiful, precious and unexpected gift, home.  And as family and friends gathered around him to celebrate his much anticipated arrival home, We were all struck by how fully and completely God had answered all of my prayers. Because while each of us had been begging God to give us what we wanted, He had been orchestrating what He wanted behind the scenes.

Because God had always known about Asa.  And He had been planning for this day all along.

(P.S.  Alisa (surprise!) got pregnant with Alma just one month after Asa arrived home.  These “Irish Twins” are just short of one year apart.)

If you missed parts 1 and 2 of Asa’s story, read them here.

The next nine months were a blur of tears and pain.  I watched my sister become a shell of herself—depressed, alone, wondering if God had forgotten about her desperate and heartfelt prayers.  Emptiness throbbed through her soul every time she saw a mother with a baby in her arms.  Things came to a breaking point in mid-April as we planned and threw a baby shower for my sister-in-law Stevi—who was pregnant with her third baby.  Alisa was happy for Stevi—truly—but the pain that day was unbearable.  It was Alisa’s breaking point.  On the morning of April 27^th, 2012 as we celebrated Stevi’s pregnancy, Alisa felt her soul telling her that she simply couldn’t wait anymore.  She tearfully let it go.  She handed it to God.  And resigned herself to the fact that she wasn’t going to have any more babies.

But God knew about Asa—and as we sat arranging flowers, baking scones and wrapping presents for Stevi’s shower, God was orchestrating an incredible and totally unexpected miracle.

Two hundred miles away, a brave, young women walked into the hospital—in labor with a baby that she knew she couldn’t raise.  A baby who she had hidden from her family, friends and even doctors for nine months because she knew she wasn’t equipped to parent him.  A baby whose fragile health condition was still unrealized, a baby who would be born into a world of pain and loneliness.  But also into a world of hope.  Because God had been planning for his arrival for a long, long time.

That little boy was born with his entire intestinal tract outside of his body—a condition called Gastroschisis that warrants an early delivery when detected in pregnancy to prevent damage to the unprotected digestive tract.  But since his mother hadn’t had any prenatal care, no one knew of his condition in time to help him.  So he was delivered at term, putting his exposed intestines at risk.  As he arrived in the world, doctors struggled to start his lungs—eventually having to intubate him in order to stabilize him so that he could be transported to a better-equipped hospital.  Meanwhile, the brave woman who had carried him for nine months had mere moments to say goodbye to her son before he was whisked away in an air life helicopter wearing only a bracelet that identified him as “Baby Boy Doe”.

When Baby Boy Doe arrived at the NICU, the nurses and doctors and social workers rallied around him.  Nurses stroked tiny fingers as doctors probed at his broken body, working to stabilize him.  Doctors made the best decisions they could for his care. Social workers made call after desperate call trying to find a family that would say, ‘Yes! I choose him.’ But no one did.  Yet.  Because God had a plan for Baby Boy Doe.

And finally, it was time.  Time to restore Alisa’s faith and my hope.  Time to unveil the plan that God had even as our entire family had cried, waited, wondered and suffered—the plan that was so much better than any of us had ever dreamed to ask for.

Read the last installment of Asa’s story.

Waiting is hard.  Especially when you’re not used to it.

My sister Alisa got pregnant fairly quickly with my niece Haddie—within a year of getting pregnant she had a beautiful red-headed baby girl in her arms.  And so, when Alisa and Peter decided to try again, they figured they would once again have a baby in their arms.  And soon.

But God asked Alisa and Peter to wait.  Wait as friend after friend got pregnant.  Wait as nieces and nephews—not one, not two, but four—were born.  Alisa waited as pregnancy test after pregnancy test came back negative month-after-month, year-after-year.  Alisa waited through months of adoption training and paperwork and countless hopes raised and then dashed as one baby after another was placed in the waiting arms of another mother.  Waiting through painful and costly infertility procedures and tests.  Because God had other plans.  And he already knew about Asa.

And then in July 2011, we found out that Alisa’s long and painful wait was finally over.  They had been chosen to adopt a beautiful baby girl.  We painted the nursery, bought pink ruffled dresses and itty bitty shoes and prepared our home for our precious new gift.  We laughed about how God had perfect timing, blessing Alisa and Peter with a baby just when they thought they couldn’t take another step forward without a baby in their arms. But God still had other plans.  Just one day after baby Abby was born, her birth mom changed her mind and decided to parent her.  And Alisa left the hospital frozen—wondering how something so beautiful could’ve gone so, so wrong.  Wondering how God could allow this kind of devastation and pain when they—when we all—had prayed so, so hard and waited so, so long.  But God already knew about Asa.

Read part 3 of Asa’s Story

God’s Plan (Written after the loss of my neice Abby)
Dear Birth Mom (Written three days after Asa was born)
Asa’s Surgery Report (Written as he emerged from his surgery)
When God Says Wait

Here is Asa’s story:

His name is Asa.

He is exactly one year old today—sitting in his high chair eating a bacon-and-egg breakfast sandwich that he picked up to help him celebrate.  He is surrounded by family—parents, aunts, uncles, cousins—and perhaps most incredibly, his three-day old baby sister Alma who just arrived home from the hospital yesterday.

We look at his big brown eyes and light blonde hair and comment that he looks just like his cousins.   And then we all laugh.  Because we all know that while he may grow up having the same obsessive love of swimming like his sister Haddie or the ability to throw willy-nilly curveballs that fly over fences like his cousin Joey, his eyes are his and his alone.  And I smile at this mystery-baby-turned ours and remember once again the incredible gratitude we feel at the beautiful gift that has unfolded around us.  A gift that is so beautiful, so stunning and such a surprising twist on everything that we expected that we can’t help to wonder what else God has in store for baby Asa’s life.

But Asa’s story didn’t start out nearly as beautifully as it will end.  In fact, it started out with years of pain, desperation and hopelessness—broken pieces and seemingly unanswered prayers.  Through it all, I begged God to do something, anything, to ease our sorrows.  But he waited—much longer than any of us  would’ve liked—because he had a plan that was much bigger than anything I could’ve thought up.

God started orchestrating Asa’s story long before he was born—back when my sister was a fresh-faced newlywed dreaming of her future family.  Back when Alisa thought it would be easy to get pregnant, it would be easy to start a family, easy to fill her house with laughing children.  But God had other plans.  And He already knew about Asa.

Read Part 2 of Asa’s Story

I should be excited to hear those three little words.  They tell me that my son Will is growing up.  That he’s branching out.  That he’s wanting to be independent and learn things by himself.

But I confess:  Those three little words terrify me.  Because I know the damage they can cause:

“Me do self!” on the playground really means “I’ll just go ahead and wobble across this 8-foot-high bouncy bridge without touching the handrails to see if I can make it without falling off.”

“Me do self!” in the car means “If you don’t let me try to buckle my seatbelt by myself, I’m going to arch my back and scream for ten minutes, which means you’ll be late to Pilates.”

And “Me do self!” at the breakfast table means I’m going to spend the rest of the afternoon picking crusted-on yogurt from the cracks between his eyelids.

The truth is that when it comes to “me do self” us moms are in a lose-lose situation. If we say something like “no, sweetie, let’s just go ahead and let mommy feed you with a spoon until you’re twelve and you have the eye-hand coordination and emotional restraint to keep those ravioli in the bowl” then our kid’s kindergarten teachers accuse us of being a helicopter mom. But if we go ahead and let Mr. Me-Do-Self eat those ravioli all by himself, well, let’s just say there’s not a stain stick or scrub brush on the market strong enough.  Not that I know about this from experience or anything.

But I also know from experience that the “me do self!” phase quickly transitions into the “I really can do this myself” phase.  I know that there will come a day when I can make it through breakfast without pulling out the jumbo-sized box of baby wipes. Or when I can leave objects of terror like topless cups and washable markers on the counter without fear.  There may even be a day when I can go to the playground and chat with the other moms while Will plays at the top of the superhigh toddler slide.

And so, this morning, when I heard those three terrifying words as I handed Will his Cheerios, I pasted on a smile and whipped out my video camera.  Because while I know I’m going to spend this afternoon’s nap time fishing soggy cheerios out of the crevices in the high chair, I also know that he will beam as he learns to spoon those cheerios into his mouth.  All by himself.

Beer & Tillamook Soup

2 stalks celery, finely chopped

2 carrots, finely chopped

1 onion, finely chopped

2 cloves garlic, minced.

6 tbsp butter (divided)

1 bottle beer (I use Mirror Pond Pale Ale to stay close to my Oregon roots)

4 tbsp flour

4 cups milk

1 cup chicken or veggie broth

6 cups shredded Tillamook (I used sharp cheddar)

1 tsp. Tabasco

1/4 tsp. cayenne pepper

1/2 tsp. salt

2 tsp. Worcestershire sauce

2 tsp. Dijon mustard

2 cups freshly popped popcorn (for garnish)

What to Do:

1.  Melt 2 tbsp. butter in large saucepan.  Add carrots, celery, onions and garlic and saute 2-3 minutes.  Add beer and simmer for 10 minutes until veggies are soft.  Remove from heat and set aside.

2.  Melt remaining 5 tbsp butter in large dutch oven or heavy saucepan.  Whisk in flour and cook until light brown.  Slowly whisk in milk and broth.  Bring to a slow boil, stirring until thick.

3.  Mix in salt, peppers, tabasco, Worcestershire and mustard.  Slowly stir in cheese and stir until melted.  Gently pour in beer and veggie mixture and mix until combined.

4.  Bring back to a boil and serve immediately with popcorn on top as a garnish.

The Christian Mama’s Guide to Having a Baby

The Common Cup

Through Her Eyes

Three Boys and An Old Lady

JoJo’s Corner

Abbie’s Reviews

Support for Women

Window to My World

Adelle Gabrielson

Mom’s Bookshelf & More

The Christian Mama’s Guide to Baby’s First Year

Christian Sugar Addict

Peace, Love and Light

 JoJo’s Corner

The Flower Hazard

Jenny Sulpizio

Simply Sherryl

To the Moon and Back

The Christian Mama’s Guide to Parenting a Toddler

Through Clouded Glass

 The Envelope Keeper

Excellent Library

Deena’s Library

Awestruck Wonder

Book Reviews by Krista

 JoJo’s Corner

Teachable Tots

Hedding Somewhere

Under God’s Mighty Hand

The Coers Family

Nicki’s Random Musings

The Christian Mama’s Guide to the Grade School Years
On the Wings of Eagles

Wonderfully Messy

Saving in Seconds

The M.O.M. Initiative

Hanging Off The Wire

Burnt Toast

Counting My Blessings

Becky Danielson

            “Mommy, what’s faith?”

Leave it to my seven-year-old son Joey to ask the hard questions.  I had just poured my kids each a bowl of Fiber-O’s and sat down at the breakfast table with my cup of coffee, anxious to get started on the day.  I asked them to fold their hands and I simply prayed: “Dear Jesus.  Thank you for Joey, Kate and Will.  I pray that they choose you—and that their faith will carry them through every day of their lives.  Amen.”

And then I got the bomb:  What’s faith?  How do you explain faith to a seven-year-old?  I took a deep breath and then did my best:  “Well, Joey, faith is believing in things even if you don’t see them.  Like I have faith in God—I know he’s real and I know he’s right here with us right now even though we can’t see Him.”

“Oh.  I get it.  It’s kinda like how I know I don’t like red peppers even though I’ve never tried them.  That’s faith.”

Then my five-year-old Kate chimed in:  “Yes.  I have faith, too.  I didn’t like last night’s chicken. ”

Uh-huh.

Trying to get the conversation back on-track, I explained oh-so eloquently that having faith in God is a much more serious thing than having faith that you don’t like a certain food.  I explained how having faith is the first step to a life-changing walk with God, and how by trusting that God is with us even when we can’t see him, we can always have faith that He will give us everything we need in life.

Their response?  “I hope we don’t have to have that chicken again for dinner, then, Mommy.”

I think I have a long way to go.  How do you answer the tough questions your kids ask in a way that teaches them and inspires them to seek Jesus?  Here are a few ideas:

1. Make it an ongoing conversation.  If your kid asks a tough question, don’t look at it as a one-time conversation.  Instead, spend time praying that God would give you insight and bring up the topic again.  And again.
2. Use the bible.  Bible stories are a great springboard for conversation.  My kids and I read the story of Mary in the bible and talked about how Mary demonstrated great faith in God throughout scripture.
3. 3.     Team up with your husband.  Ask your husband for help—he may have a different angle that will help you to better explain something.  There is no shame in saying to your kids “Wow, that’s a tough question.  I’m not sure of the answer but let’s make sure to ask Daddy later.”
4. 4.     Pray for insight.  Ever since our faith conversation, I’ve been praying that God would give me the words and insights to show my kids what a true and honest faith in him looks like.
5. 5.     Model.   While I am certainly not a perfect model of faith or godliness or anything for that matter, I work hard to show my kids what my personal faith looks like so that they, in turn, can start to gain an understanding of what faith looks like.

Question: How do you answer your kid’s tough questions?

1. Poison by Jordyn Redwood

I loved Jordyn’s first book, Proof, and so I knew I’d love Poison.  And, while I don’t want to give the plot away, I can definitely say that Poison didn’t disappoint.  This book is fast and furious, but also slow enough to allow you to get to know the characters as if they were friends.  I have always liked Jordyn Redwood– both as an author and as a person– and I’m so thrilled for the opportunity to recommend her latest work to you.

2.  Renewed:  Finding Your Inner Happy in an Overwhelmed World by Lucille Zimmerman

I have followed Lucille’s blog and Facebook page for years and have always found her words wise and refreshing.  And this book is no exception.  As moms, it’s so easy to put ourselves last while we attend to kids, work, housekeeping… life.  But Lucille has taught me that taking care of myself means I have the emotional capacity to take care of others.  And that’s so refreshing.  This book is full of practical strategies, easy-to-implement ideas and encouragement.

3. The Sky Beneath My Feet by Lisa Samson

I love a good read-under-the-covers read.  And Lisa Samson delivers with this one.  It’s light, fun and full of surprising twists and turns.  Samson takes you from a rent-a-mob encampment to Florida to downtown Baltimore to a decaying mansion inhabited by a famous artist.  And then she shows you that all of the twists and turns that come in this life are orchestrated by an all-loving and all-powerful God who loves you more than you know.

4. Working Women of the Bible by Susan DiMickele

I adored Susan’s first book, Chasing Superwoman… it made me feel empowered as I struggled to find work-life balance. Working Women of the Bible is equally empowering. Full of great biblical examples of women who managed to find work/life balance and inspiring stories, this is a must-read for any working mom.

5.  Defending Jacob by Wiliam Landay

I’ve always loved a good legal novel (confession:  I devour every new John Grisham the second it releases) and so I downloaded this one.  And I was pleasantly surprised.  The book takes you through a very complicated trial in a way that’s both compelling and fascinating.  And, the ending… well, let’s just say there is a twist that you wouldn’t believe.