WayfaringStrangers

Wow, I have not made an "off the bookshelf" post in a long time...probably because I've been too busy to blog. But I haven't been too busy to read, so here's a summary of books I've read in the past 9 months or so. Some of the summaries are short, since there are so many. Every book was great, and I recommend each of them! 1. The Kitchen House by Kathleen Grissom Fiction- Antebellum rural Virginia, immigrant orphan, slavery, drug addiction, bad marriages, freedom. Great story and characters. Need to read the sequel. 2. Hillbilly Elegy by J.D. Vance Non-fiction. Memoir about growing up in the low-income/blue collar ruralish America, the importance of family connection, and a commentary on a number of social class and political issues. I found it super interesting, from a human services standpoint. Read in 3 days. 3. Raising Grateful Kids In An Entitled World by Kristen Welch This book helped me in realizing how easy it is to r

"God made our children strong-willed, so that once they put their faith in Him and submit to His will, they will not be detoured. Those iron wills will not fail. Strong-willed children were designed to cling tenaciously to the strongest will of all...the will of God." -Wendy Speake, Triggers: Exchanging Parents' Angry Reactions For Gentle Biblical Responses Mother's Day 2017 Today was a hard parenting day. Hard, hard, hard. I wish I could say that we handled it well, with grace and wisdom, but in reality, we stumbled through, grasping for peace. From sun up to sun down, we struggled, apologized, started over, apologized again. We asked, why is he so hard? Where did we go wrong? Most importantly, when can we put him to bed? There were certainly physical factors (field day yesterday, then woken up by brother at 6 a.m.) and emotional factors (school almost ending, doesn't handle transitions well). But what we know is this: strong-willed kids grow into strong