Amish Peace: Simple Wisdom for a Complicated World

By: Suzanne Woods Fisher

Capture the Simple Peace of the Amish in Your Own Life

You don’t have to become Amish to make personal peace a reality. Organized around five central themes in Amish life, Amish Peace shows you how you can cultivate a simple life of love, gratitude, and faith in the midst of a very complicated world. It includes real-life stories and examples of Plain People, Amish proverbs, and fascinating facts about Amish communities. Each section also contains questions for reflection and action, outlining things you can do in your own life that “make for peace.”

I have always been facinated by the Amish and the peace that they seem to have. This book was an amazing read full of real life stories and lessons. Each section is broken down into different parts, such as:

Simplicity

Time

Community

Forgiveness

and the Sovereignty of God

After each story there is a small reflections on time where they talk about the story and then give you questions to think about which I really loved because it made me pounder more on the story and how I could make my life more simple and at peace.

They also have a section after the story that is called plain living that compares our world to the plain living world of the Amish.

The whole book is about living simple and how you can do little things to live simplier in your life.

Suzanne makes me feel like I really could live part of the Amish Life.

If you are wanting to relax and unwind and just try to live a little simplier in this complicated world then I would suggest Amish Living.

Revell Books

By: Mary Tatem

When planning a new quilt, quilters flip through books and magazines and sort through scraps of fabric, but when God created you he took more time and care than any quilter. Within the pages of her book, Mary Tatem uncovers the joy we have in God and our hope of things yet to come through inspiring stories based on twelve quilt patterns. Stories feature quilt blocks including Pickle Dish, Pine Tree, Bear Claw, Crazy Quilt, School House, Drunkar’s Path, Tumbling Blocks, Le Moyne Star, Love Apple, Mariner’s Compass, Rose of Sharon and Wandering Foot.

Published by: Revell Books

Your faith is like a fire. If you don’t feed it, it will slowly die out, leaving only ashes and the memory of burning. Without regular time in prayer and God’s Word, your faith can feel like it’s fizzling. Keeping up a personal habit of quiet time can get cause your mind to wander, seem boring, or even feel as though you a simply going through the motions.

Ignite Your Faith, through 365 reflections and activities turns your daily devotions into adventures with topics such as friendship, school, relationships between family members, church, God’s will and more.

Feed your fire of faith with 365 days of fuel. Your walk with Chris may be changed forever.

Published by: Revell Books

By: Jill Eileen Smith

Be transported back to ancient days as you experience Abigail’s emotional journey and delightful ending, that teaches us how all things can work for good for those that love the Lord. In Abigail’s determination to follow God’s will, you can feel what it was like for a woman of faith to be married to one of the most powerful men of that time, with his many wives and all.
Abigail means “of strength” and this Bible story, brought to life by Jill Eileen Smith, shows just how strong and determined a woman can be. Abigail first caught David’s attention when, through God’s leading, she turned on her husband to soothe the ire he had created in the heart and mind of David. Preventing bloodshed that day with her quick and humble actions, Abigail forever sealed a place for her in the heart of David.

This next installment in the Wives of King David Series, following the bestselling, Michal, continues the intriguing story of David and his wives. Abigail gets her second chance at love, but the struggle continues as she has to share David’s love with the other women he keeps marrying. Walk in Abigail’s dusty footsteps and share in her trials and tribulations as you find out what an amazing woman, and third wife to David, Abigail really was.

This is one biblical fiction story you do not want to miss!

Published by: Revell

By: Eva Marie Everson and Linda Evans Shepherd

Potlucks make sharing good, home-cooked foods with friends and family easy and simple. For a proven recipe for success, begin with a few (or a lot of) guests, delicious dishes to share and mix with love.

The popular authors of the Potluck Club books and veterans of countless potluck dinners, Linda Evans Shepherd and Eva Marie Everson, have gathered their favorite recipes. There’s something for everyone, (even if you are watching your weight), with these recipes from salads to casseroles to slow-cooker delights. Not only will these potluck ideas save you money, they’ll also build memories to last a lifetime.

Published by: Revelle Books

Every women needs a good laugh.  I joyful time in her life.  This book has so many beautiful quotes that include scriptures and stories.  There are great section in the book that include

• Friends
• Fun
• Fabulous You!
• Family
• Faith

It includes a little of something and makes me smile and be joyful as I read each page.  Any Christian women should own this book.

Deidre Knight

Eternity is Ajax Petrakos’s prison.  Centuries later after Ajax and his Spartan brothers made a bargain to become immortal, Ajax is struggling to keep himself disciplined.  He only has one true source of strength and that is that he will one day find is other half Shay Angel.

When Ajax finally finds his soul mate he realizes he is not the first to find her.  Ajax enemy finds her first and that begins the story of a bond that can’t be broken.

Shay is the youngest of a demon-hunting family and wonders if her angel hero is a angel or a demon.  As the story goes on Ajax continues to have to rescue Shay until the tables are turned and it is up to Shay to rescue her angel in disguise.

As Ajax and shay rush to solve the mysterious prophesy, a prophesy that will lead to Ajax’s death if they don’t succeed, they begin to fall deeper into love and Shay soon realizes that she can not live without her Ajax.

Deidre kept me turning the pages and I got to the point where I could not put the book down because I had to know what happened next.  There is adventure, passion and mystery in the book and that is just the type of books I love to read.  The best part is that this is the first book in the series A God of Midnight Novel.

Book two Red Kiss Came out June 2009

Mother’s Milk: Breastfeeding Controversies in American Culture

Bernice Hausman

The author draws on her own personal experience as a mother who went to great lengths to breastfeed her children as well as on her vast knowledge of the breastfeeding research literature. She opens up a discussion of modern breastfeeding issues and controversies and explores why breastfeeding is not a cultural norm in the United States. She also discusses the values of the La Leche League, who promote breastfeeding and offer lactation support. In her book she also talks about well known breastfeeding advocates who are pushing for breastfeeding to be culturally accepted in the US.

The American Academy of Paediatrics’ recommendation suggests that infants should be breastfed exclusively for the first six months in their life. However, the reality in the US is that only about 14% are exclusively breastfed for the first six months. In her book, the author examines the conflict that exists between the recommendations by the AAP, the philosophy of the LLL and the issues associated with working mothers and the modern world.

The author also discusses the different views of feminists and breastfeeding mothers and tries to open a dialogue between the two sometimes conflicting parties to achieve a balance between the baby’s and mother’s needs in terms of breastfeeding and the constraints a working mother faces.

This book is a must-read for anybody who is interested in breastfeeding issues. It will give women the opportunity to make an informed choice about the health and cultural issues associated with nursing a baby. The author advocates that breastfeeding is a natural part of every mother’s being, but because of external conflicts women face nowadays, this natural part has to be relearned.

Essentials of Smart Parenting is the latest guidebook by husband and wife team, Dr. Carl Arinoldo and Linda Arinoldo. Dr Carl Arinoldo has been working as a psychologist with his own practice for over 30 years and specializes in stress management and parent-child relationships. He has also appeared on many TV shows and radio programs as a guest speaker. Linda Arinoldo has been a school psychologist for over 25 years and has worked extensively with children, adolescents and their parents.

In the book Essentials of Smart Parenting they combined their knowledge to produce a guide book for all parents. Parenting is one of life’s greatest adventures. It can be difficult, scary, sad, stressful but also a very happy experience. In their book the two authors provide parents with the tools and advice that improves their parenting skills and at the same time reduces the stress associated with raising a family.

The book is written in a very easy to read style and takes into account not only the parents’ needs but also the needs of the children. By implementing the given strategies, harmony in the house will improve and raising the children will be more fun. In their book, the authors talk about the main principles, which are:

• United we stand
• ABC or always be consistent
• Give yourself a time-out
• Act, don’t react
• Pick your battles
• And more

The book offers parents easy to implement strategies and advice on how to make parenting a much happier and less stressful experience for both parents and children alike.

Simplify Your Space: Create Order and Reduce Stress

by Marcia Ramsland

Wow, I thought the last Marcia Ramsland book I reviewed was good.  This one just blew me away.  I don’t know about you but I am totally visual.  I really need to see what something is going to look like before I implement it so I know if it’s going to work for me or not. This book was just perfect for me.  Throughout Simplify your Space, that’s exactly what you get.  No only does Ms. Ramsland tell you how get the different areas of your home organized, everything from your bathroom to your basement and every room in between but she shows you how to do it as well.

The first thing I noticed is how the book is broken down.  This I thought was one of the best features as you can work on the area you want or you feel needs to be worked on or should I say organized first.  The different sections are entitled: Simplify your Visible Space, Simplify your Personal Space, Simplify your Active Space, Simplify your Formal Space, Simplify your Storage Space. Within each of these sections you will find the areas covered listed such as in the case of the Visible Space, this would cover your kitchen, family room and daily paperwork. Makes sense huh?

I especially found useful the Desk Setup and the illustration showing where everything should be and why. It all seems so common sense but I never would have thought it out the way she does.  The way she recommends setting up your desk area makes things not only organized and neat but workable.  It all flows from one side to the other.  It all makes sense and makes it works. If you are like most people you desire a clean organized home and life but you may find it difficult to achieve, you will find Simplify Your Space Create Order & Reduce Stress just what you are looking for.

If you enjoy this book you will certainly want to check out her other books as well.  Why not get you entire life organized from top to bottom, day in and day out!