february and march bookshelf.

Happy Friday!  Here are the highlights from February and March . . .

1.  Simplicity Parenting, Kim John Payne, M. ED.

“If, as a society, we are embracing speed, it is partially because we are swimming in anxiety.  Fed this concern and that worry, we’re running as fast as we can to avoid problems and sidestep dangers.  We address parenting with the same anxious gaze, rushing from “this enrichment opportunity” to that, sensing hidden germs and new hazards, all while doing our level best to provide our children with every advantage now known or soon to be invented.  This book is not about hidden dangers, quick fixes, or limited-time opportunities; it is about the long haul.  The big picture: a reverence for childhood.

When we act out of reverence, instead of fear, our motivation is stronger, our inspiration boundless.  The good news is that there are many things we can do as parents to protect the environment of childhood.  To protect the environment for the slow emergence of their identities, resilience, and well-being.”

– Simplicity Parenting, Kim John Payne, M. ED.

This book is a must-read for parents in my generation.  That’s all I’ll say.

2.  Give them Grace: Dazzling Your Kids with the Love of Jesus, Elyse M. Fitzpatrick and Jessica Thompson

My friend Nicole told me, “This book changed my life.  It affected my parenting too.”  I agree.  My weary, law-trusting heart soaked in the truths in these chapters (I’ll warn you: they’re deep! But oh, so worth it).

Give Them Grace is transforming the way I parent my kids.  Not in one dramatic moment, but bit by bit, in a simple yet deep way.  Elyse Fitzpatrick and her daughter Jessica Thompson are giving me a vocabulary to talk to my children about the heart of the gospel; in short, to talk to them about grace.

One of my greatest joys of late is to sense this growing tide of gospel conversation in our home as a result. I fail many times — I lash out instead of talk to them, I skip right past moments that should be seized.  But God is teaching me to name my sin and to repent.  Moreover, He’s teaching me to repent to my children.  To not just try harder to be a good example, but to use my own sin to point them to the cross.  To be a fellow sojourner rather than simply their teacher.  It’s changing us all.

3.  Dinner: A Love Story: It Alls Begins at the Family Table, Jenny Rosenstrach

I read the book cover to cover in three days.  Jenny Rosenstrach was on staff at Real Simple magazine in its early days, and her book reads like any of my favorite Real Simple articles: chatty, funny, down-to-earth.  This book–part memoir, part cookbook–was born out of a blog Rosenstrach began by the same name that became wildly successful.

Needless to say, I loved it.  Rosenstrach makes a case for the regular cooking and eating of dinner together as a family.  She does it with simplicity, realism, and a great sense of humor.  And lots of recipes.  I’ve tried many in the past couples months and all were big hits in our home.  This is a great, encouraging read if you’re feeling in a rut with dinner-time.

4.  Fit to Burst: Abundance, Mayhem, and the Joys of Motherhood, Rachel Jankovic

In 2011 I wrote a post about Jankovic’s first book, Loving the Little Years–which has remained one of my all-time favorite parenting books (and one that David actually read!).

In my opinion, there are two reasons Jankovic’s books are so good (besides her skill with words and sharp tongue): first, she writes right in the middle of life with young children (many young children; she has 6).  Therefore everything she says is timely, relevant.  She gets young moms because she is a young mom.  She gets that we don’t have a lot of time to read because she doesn’t have lots of time to write.  Her chapters are short and direct.

Second, Jankovic has a gift of being convicting and yet also so very inspiring.  Her words hit home.  Time and again.  And yet they also make me long for more repentance, more joy, more grace in my journey of motherhood–and they fill me with hope at God’s bigness. I sincerely hope that she keeps writing.

5.  American Wasteland: How America Throws Away Nearly Half It’s Food (And What We Can Do About It), Jonathan Bloom

A fascinating book I read on our recent PA trip.  The title says it all.  I started becoming very aware of how much waste we generate as a family when we lived in South Asia.  Everyone in the apartment building leaves their bagged garbage outside the door to be collected by the maintenance folks. On trash day, I noticed that our family of four’s garbage was routinely double the amount of any of our neighbors — sometimes triple.  Yikes.

When I read Bloom’s book it hit me that in the highly populous country we lived in, if all South Asians produced the amount of waste Americans do, the country would be covered, sinking under garbage.

This book troubled me and convicted me and motivated me to keep on making small changes in our household to reduce waste.  A blog post is forth-coming!

6.  My Berlin Kitchen: A Love Story (With Recipes), Luisa Weiss

This book is a gem.  A memoir of travel and food and love and the joys and heart-aches of growing up a third-culture kid.  If you’re in need of a sweet, light-hearted yet well-written read this spring, check this one out from the library.