Review: Out of the Spin Cycle

So really, this hasn't become an "all review all the time" kind of blog, I've just had a couple of reviews that were due at certain times (like this one) and haven't posted much in between.  I'm getting back to where I think I'll start posting again soon, really.

But back to the book.  This is this year's MOPS devotional book (which is included as part of the mentor mom membership!) - Out of the Spin Cycle: Devotions to Lighten Your Mother Load by Jen Hatmaker.  It's a 175-pg devotional book (40 devotions total) that again was given to me (for free!) by Revell (the publisher) so that I'd review it here sometime this week.  Its sticker price is $11.99, but Amazon has it for $8.63 (again, affiliate links).

This is not a "let me expound on this Scripture passage" type of devotional.  It's a "let me tell you a funny/poignant story (usually about my kids) and relate it somehow to God/the Bible" kind of devotional.  The stories, thankfully, are never trite although it touches on familiar themes like worry and not being/doing enough.  It's written from the perspective of a married woman, so there are many "married" examples that may not be specifically applicable to single moms, but I think there are plenty of useful "generic mom" devotions for everyone.

At the end of each devotion there are a couple of questions relating to the text, followed by a task (or two) to help you "Step Out of the Spin Cycle."  As moms, we wear many hats and are pulled in many, many directions.  The spin cycle is a very apt analogy, both in terms of the "over and over and over again" of dishes and laundry and always-dirty kids, but also in terms of life seeming to be completely out of our control.  I really like the practical (and usually quick) ideas for how to step away at least from that mentality, even if life stays busy.

Each devotional is just a few pages long, so I was usually able to read them in the few moments I had between waking up myself and letting the kids get up.  Occasionally I was even able to concentrate on one or two when AJ was awake and snuggling in bed with me.  They're not too long that they take lots of time that you already don't have, but they're long enough that the actually _say_ something every single time.  There was not a single devotional that I walked away from without having something to think about.  They're also short enough that they could be used at a MOPS or MOPS steering team meeting.  And since they're each stand-alone devotionals (instead of building off of each other), you could find one that applies to the topic at hand and just read that one.

Were there any devotionals that blew my mind and changed my life?  Eh...not really.  But they were all good, practical, and timely.  Definitely a book I'd recommend!

Review - Momology: A Mom's Guide to Shaping Great Kids

So this year MOPS sent me their "theme" book again to review (for free!!  LOVE IT!).  And like last year, it was well worth the read.  This year's theme is "Momology: The Art and Science of Mothering," so it makes very good sense for the theme book to be called "Momology: A Mom's Guide to Shaping Great Kids."  It was written by Shelly Radic, the Chief of Staff for MOPS, International with a foreword by Naomi Cramer Overton, the president of MOPS.  It's published by Revell (the actual ones responsible for sending me my free copy), is just over 200 pgs long, and normally retails for $13.99 (Amazon has it for $10.07).  It is available here.  (This is an affiliate link, so I get like $0.02 if you buy the book through that link.)

So now for the review.  I'll start with what I didn't like about it (not a whole lot and mostly picky, stupid things), then move on to what I _did_ like.

Didn't like:
- In an effort to make it look like the insets were actually sticky notes, the book is printed with two colors - black and sticky-note yellow.  It's not a big deal for the notes themselves, but for some (stupid) reason, it bothers me in the header.  Like I said, stupid.
- There are statistics quoted in various insets that I frankly just don't believe.  Now, I'm pretty sure these were unscientific polls taken from a subset of the population (probably mostly made up of MOPS moms who are proactive enough to fill out a survey), but to say that 71.4% of people "know the God-given purpose for their life?"  (That's on pg 196.)  Isn't that supposed to be the biggest problem that most people have?  In the introduction it says that the stats were from surveys taken of 1800 moms, but I just don't believe that one in particular.  Maybe that's just me though!
- Last year, MOPS, International was rolling out a new steering team position - Service/Outreach.  That was right up my alley, so not only did I take on that role, but I also REALLY appreciated that one of the main aspects of the theme last year centered on serving others.  This year, serving others accounts for like half a paragraph, buried in the middle of a chapter/section on something else.  It seems to me like serving others should be a large part of the "recipe" that makes up being a mom, but I recognize that not everyone is the same in that regard.

Liked:
- This too, is relatively stupid, but I LOVE well-edited books.  There's nothing more annoying to me than an inset placed such that there's no natural pause in the text for the reader to read the inset.  There are a _LOT_ of insets in this book (just flipping through, it's probably something close to 50% of the pages).  I think I remember ONE time that I had to flip back to read the inset.  That's some DARN good editing/formatting.
- I also appreciated the "scientific" chapter/section notation (i.e., 3.2.1 Neighbors, etc.).
- I like that they're trying very hard to make this an interactive experience, opening up moms to more opportunities for community.  Often throughout the text or in a "Practicum," examples will be given for some strategies to use in a given situation and the reader is encouraged to go to mom-ology.org to add their own strategies or discuss dilemmas they are having.
- While I wasn't quoted this year, I enjoy the "Voices" sections where they quote actual moms as they discuss the topic at hand.
- I also enjoyed the "Field Study" and "Practicum" sections of the text.  The Field Studies are insets where one mom tells her story (that relates to the subject at hand) and the Practicums are either specific tasks the reader can do to put that subject matter into practice or they are questions for discussion/thought.
- One other structural aspect of the book was how short each section was.  It was handy for frequent interruptions.  The sections flowed well enough into each other that it was never a problem to continue on to the next section if I was able, but it was also always very easy to quickly finish the section I was on and put the book down to tend to whatever emergency was at hand!
- Now, as for the subject matter, while it seemed at times to stay on the surface of some of the topics, I think it went through a good range of topics that are issues with almost all moms.  Occasionally there was something that would be unique to a married mom, but I think that's to be expected.    Topics range from body issues to discipline to dealing with family to figuring out your purpose in life, and are centered around four ideas:

• "Knowing who we are: building a healthy, resilient mom CORE
• Knowing what we're capable of: developing FINESSE in the ways we daily interact with our kids
• Knowing who we can count on: interacting within a CIRCLE of relationships that support us and our kids
• Knowing who God is: engaging with him in his GRANDSCAPE"

(quoted from the Introduction on pg 12)

All in all I enjoyed this book and definitely look forward to another great year in MOPS!

Winston Churchill (Christian Encounter Series) by John Perry

So recently I signed up with "BookSneeze" which is Thomas Nelson Publishers' way of using social media to get the word out about their new books. You get to pick a book, they send it to you (for free!), you read it, then you review it on your blog and on a consumer blog (like Amazon).

I just finished reading it, so here's my review of Winston Churchill: Christian Encounter Series by John Perry:


This is your basic biography of Winston Churchill. It covers his entire life, giving roughly equal treatment to every time period. The author tells about all of his various adventures, both good and bad, and throughout maintains a theme of Churchill's spirituality.

One reason that I selected this book was because the subject surprised me. With a series title like "Christian Encounters," one assumes that the subject in question is, in fact, a Christian. Since I'd not heard before that Churchill was a believer, this intrigued me. It was frustrating then to find that not only was Churchill not necessarily a Christian, but his beliefs basically didn't change throughout his life. He apparently saw religion only as a useful tool in giving people hope (i.e., "the opiate of the masses"). While he saw himself as being protected throughout his life by some force, he gave as much credit to destiny as he did God. If there had been some development in his spiritual beliefs (even if they never came to match my own), it would have at least been interesting, but there was no development. As biographies go, I suppose it was a fair one. It seemed odd to me that there was no more time given to WWII than there was his childhood, but otherwise it was informative. I think my biggest problem with it is including Sir Winston in a series entitled "Christian Encounters."

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from Thomas Nelson Publishers as part of their BookSneeze.com book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

MOPS Blog Tour - "Intimate Conversations: Devotions to Nurture a Woman's Soul"

So MOPS sent me another book to read - "Intimate Conversations: Devotions to Nurture a Woman's Soul" by Alicia Britt Chole. This time it's this year's theme devotional book. I'm not really sure how it goes with the theme exactly (Together on Planet Mom), but it was a great devotional book - I just wish I'd had more time to read it so that I could do just one a day instead of having to power through all of them to get done in time to post my review. (Disclaimer: they give me the books for free, but they want an honest review of them...it's just that so far all the books have been really good!)

The book contains 52 different devotions, divided into 12 different categories. When I was counting them initially to see how many I needed to do per day, I thought - "huh...52...so I guess you could do one a week for a year...wonder why some are groups of 4 and some are groups of 5." It wasn't until just now that I counted the sections. Duh...12 months...52 weeks...

I'm a rocket scientist.

Anyway...the devotions are pretty short - usually 1.5-2 pgs, plus a little discussion or reflective journaling section of questions to think about and/or respond to. The sections don't really match up to the Planet Mom theme book sections, but you might be able to pick one per meeting that matched that month's meeting theme. Alternately, if you've got a women's Sunday School class or small group, this would be a great way to open your time together. They're not _BAD_ devotionals for mixed company, it's just all written from a woman's perspective using women as the examples.

As with all devotionals, some of the entries struck me more than others, but my favorite section (or rather the section that spoke to me the most) was one entitled "Dear God...why do I feel so unproductive?" The devotions in that section spoke of women who have chosen family over career (which I sort of have...the job is only part-time and isn't exactly way up there on the priority list, especially now that we're that much closer to being able to get by just on VNB's salary), and women who have gone through times of spiritual "winter."

It's not that I feel like God was ever far away or anything, but the first two years of marriage (which include AJ's pregnancy and the first year or so of his life) are a bit of a blur to me. And I'd stepped back from so many things at church that it's taken a while to really feel like myself again. Lately I seem to have found my footing again in terms of my "place" and it really seems like things are bearing fruit and expanding (for lack of a better term). So to have the analogy of a winter season where you just lie low for a while...well, it really made sense to me, especially given this new "spring" that I seem to be encountering.

Anyway, I plan on keeping these in my pump bag and reading one every time I pump, giving myself ample time to really think through the devotion and the reflection questions. I'm also looking forward to the next book MOPS sends me!

And the required stuff:
Available September 2009 at your favorite bookseller from Revell, a division of Baker Publishing Group.

Life on Planet Mom

So I was sent the book "Life on Planet Mom: a down-to-earth guide to your changing relationships" by the MOPS people to review and tell everyone about. It's written by Lisa T. Bergren and is the theme book for the 2009-2010 MOPS year. The main point of the theme ("Together on planet Mom") for the year is that when you have your first baby (either through birth or through adoption), all of your relationships change as a result. Some of them change for the better, some for the worse, and some just disappear.

The book focuses on six different relationships that are vital to a mom: your relationship with yourself, your spouse, your family, your friends, the world, and God. In each chapter, Ms. Bergren gives understanding and encouragement for a mom as she navigates each of these relationships and how they change when kids enter into the picture. She also gives practical advice on how to maintain or even improve each relationship.

Scattered throughout the book are responses to an online survey that MOPS moms were invited to take. I can't tell you how surprised I was when I read one quote that sounded vaguely familiar only to have it attributed to "Leia!" Yep, I'm quoted in the book! Pg. 138, if you're curious! I only barely remember the survey, but how cool is that? :)

My favorite chapter was the one on how your relationship with the world changes when you become a mom. It's very important to me that my children get exposed to many different opportunities to help various people both locally and around the world. Finding toddler-friendly service opportunities may be difficult, but it's slowly becoming a passion of mine. At the very least, it was good to be encouraged that sometimes even if the kids can't come, it's good for them to see their parents serving in various ways.

Coming from mostly a fiction background, Ms. Bergren begins each chapter with a short snippet of the lives of four friends who are in various life stages and situations. Without being too hokey, the various situations give excellent examples of ways that relationships change with kids, but how important it is to work to maintain important relationships in our lives.

All in all, I liked this book (really there _are_ books out there that I don't like, MOPS just seems to be sending me books that are well-written, interesting, and pertinent to me - I promise I'd let you know if they were bad or poorly-written). I'm really looking forward to this new MOPS year and am excited to get to share what I already know about the theme with the rest of our steering team!

Thanks to MOPS for including me in their "Blog Book Tour!" I can't wait to see what they send next! :)

Making Work at Home Work

So y'all have heard me talk about MOPS before. It's a great group for moms of preschoolers. We started a local chapter at my church in January of '08 and have been enjoying it ever since. Well, a few months back I took a survey for something or other for MOPS and at the end it asked if I had a blog and, if so, would I be interested in reviewing books for them on it. Let's see...asking Leia if she wants free books? Hrm...what will she say? Um...."Heck, yeah!"

So fast forward a few months, and I get an email asking me if I'm interested in reviewing a book called "Making Work at Home Work: Successfully Growing a Business and a Family Under One Roof" by Mary M. Byers. Let's see again...free book...about working from home...being offered to Leia about the time that she's seriously considering starting her own engineering firm (from home) in order to actually get paid for something? Again, "heck, yeah!"

So fast forward again a few weeks and I get a book in the mail which I think I started reading that night. It's broken down into two sections: "Saving Your Sanity" and "Preserving Your Profit." In the first section she gives practical tips on keeping the balance between work and home. She even includes some recipes for quick and easy (but relatively healthy) dinners! In the second section, she focuses more on the business aspect, dealing with taxes, investing in your business, retirement advice, and things of a similar nature. Each chapter is pretty short (nice for a mom with littles who don't appreciate long afternoons of reading) and she punctuates them with interviews of real (and successful) work-at-home moms.

I really liked how practical this book was (both sections of it). In the sanity section, she helps step you through all of the common headaches of working at home - guilt, working more than is necessary, dealing with clients, figuring out (or remembering) your motivation, and how to deal with child care (among others). One of my most favorite aspects of this book is that she doesn't tell you (like so many do) that you have to wear something other than PJs in order to work. I don't know why that's such a sticking point with people, but I've heard over and over from work-at-home people about how people always assume that they work in their PJs, but the reality of it was that they got dressed and "went to work" like everyone else - their office was just closer. Well, I'm going to confess to you that I work from home and I do it in my PJs whenever possible. That's partly from a pragmatic standpoint though - the fewer clothes I wear, the fewer clothes I have to wash, the less laundry I have to do. See...it's really my great efficiency that causes me to laze about in my jammies all day.

I also liked that she didn't tell me (like so many do) how I _have_ to have childcare during my work times if I'm going to get any real work accomplished. I'm sure that there are people who can't produce quality work when their kids are around (and I'm sure that it depends greatly on the type of work you do). I know that I have my days of that myself...but if I'm going to send my kids to day care so that I can work from home, to me, I'm defeating the purpose of me being home in the first place. And our place is so small that even if I hired someone to watch them while I worked, we'd all be in the same room, so I'd have all of the same distractions anyway.

This book gave a great balance of practical tips alongside a healthy dose of "do what works for you, just make sure that it's actually _working_."

The second section was great for someone like me who just doesn't have much of a "business" mind. I can do what I do very well...but ask me to sell you something and you might as well be asking me to stop by Mars on my way home from the grocery store today. Or ask me to sit down and figure out the specifics of a budget and most of the time I'd pretty much rather poke my eyes out with something dull. I may still do it anyway, but that's how I feel about it. The "Protecting your Profit" section kept the information at just the right level for someone like me. It was clear, without the details that make me want to poke myself with something hot, but with enough information that it will actually be useful, should I ever decide to start that engineering firm.

Ever since I read it, I've been trying to think of something that I could say that I _didn't_ like about it. All I can think of is a story she tells at the beginning. The details aren't important so much as the fact that I think she was being too hard on herself. But really, that's it. I can't think of anything else I would have put in or anything I'd have taken out. It was short and to the point - both excellent things when you're dealing with little ones running around. It was informative without getting too detailed. It was practical without ordering people to do things in one specific way.

So anyway, "Making Work at Home Work" by Mary M. Byers. Apparently it'll be available June 9th (or so). I would assume that Amazon will have it, but I know that Christianbook.com does. They're even selling it for less than the cover price. And if you use this link, I think MOPS gets some of the money.

Next up for MOPS book reviews: the 2009-2010 MOPS theme book!

Critique of "Thomas and the Magic Railway"

So the little man is a "wee bit" Thomas the Tank Engine happy. He loooooooves his "Ta" and asks to watch him daily. We've gotten into the habit of watching some Thomas when AJ wakes up from his nap (he often wakes up extra cranky and this helps alleviate that somewhat - plus I'm just a sucker).

So usually the conversation goes like this:
Me: Hey Buddy! That was a good (short, long, whatever) nap!
AJ: Ta? (pointing to nothing in particular and vigorously nodding his head "yes")
Me: You want to watch Thomas?
AJ: (emphatically) Ta. (With a continuation of the vehement head nodding)
Me: Which Thomas would you like to watch? (We have episodes TiVoed in addition to this movie and a couple DVDs of episodes)
AJ: Rar-rar. (Still nodding)
Me: Ok.
AJ: Yay! (At which point he usually runs into the living room and climbs up onto the couch)

So I've seen "Thomas and the Magic Railway" a 'couple' of times now ("rar-rar" refers to the story's antagonist "Diesel 10" a mean diesel engine with a claw (named "Pinchy") attached to the top of him).

It stars Alec Baldwin (I'd love to know if this was pre or post horrific voicemail for his daughter), Peter Fonda, and the girl from Mathilda, except as a pre-teen (still has the slight lisp and chubby cheeks, but they're not quite as cutesy anymore). If you've never seen this delightful piece of straight-to-DVD movie-dom...well, consider yourself lucky. I have a few issues with it which I would like to elaborate on today.

In roughly chronological order:
1) Lily (Mathilda, and Peter Fonda's character's granddaughter) is sent on a train to go see her grandfather. She apparently has been given no instruction as to how to determine her correct train because as she comes down the steps into the station _alone_ (Are you kidding me? You'd just drop your 12-yr-old off at the train station and drive off? My mom doesn't do that and I'm 32!), she decides to ask a _DOG_ if he knows which train she's supposed to get on. He barks and leads the way to the wrong train (track 3 vs. 4 - which are clearly marked overhead) and she FOLLOWS! A DOG! And assumes that a random DOG she's never seen before knows which train she's supposed to be getting on. And never double checks the track number. And no one on the train seems to care that she's got a ticket for a different train because when she arrives at the wrong station, she's surprised. Every time I get to this point in the story and Lily says "why not?" to the implied question of should she follow the random DOG, I yell at the screen "BECAUSE HE'S A DOG!!" Every day. She never listens.
2) "Patch" (random sidekick kid) tells Lily's grandfather (Peter Fonda) that he found the entrance to his workshop "ages ago" but has somehow never seen the full-size train engine that FILLS UP THE ROOM.
3) Then, after having her necessary exposition with Junior (the "rogue with a heart of gold") at the wrong station (apparently the random dog knew this was necessary for the story, hence leading Lily to the wrong train in the first place), the station manager comes up to Lily and asks if she's Lily. Now, granted, she's in a Station Manager's uniform and she both knows the child's name and that she was supposed to have met her grandfather at another station...but when she says that she'll drive her over to meet Peter Fonda, Lily jumps up and gets into a complete stranger's car. Um...now Peter Fonda's character is supposed to be very sad and "never goes to Shining Time Station anymore," but your granddaughter who is coming to visit for the first time since her Grandmother died (the main reason he's so sad) got to the wrong station and you're going to let her get into a stranger's car instead of coming to get her yourself? I mean, I'm ok with him being sad, but that's just irresponsible.
4) The next day, Lily meets "Patch" who takes her back to Shining Time Station (with her grandfather's permission and explicit instruction that she be back by sundown). Patch apparently just drops her off at the (empty) station and goes about his business because Lily again meets Junior who invites her to go to the Island of Sodor with him.

So let's recount...by this point in the story, Lily has allowed a dog to pick which train she's gonna get on, gotten into the car of a complete stranger, and now has gone with another complete stranger (who's also like 6" tall) to a place she's never heard of before. Sure, he tells her it's a magical place, but I would imagine that a lot of pedophiles and kidnappers say similar things.
5) When "Patch" (poor kid never gets a real name) comes back without Lily (because she's stuck on the Island of Sodor), her grandfather's reaction is literally "that's ok." Granted, when she _does_ show back up the next day, he's very relieved, but dude...call the police or at least _act_ concerned.
6) And speaking of Peter Fonda's acting. Now, I've never seen him in anything else before, but one just assumes that being from the fabled Fonda family that he can act at least a little. And I know that his character was probably described as "extremely sad" or some such single-dimensional description, but he has ZERO inflection in his tone and has a completely relaxed/depressed face until almost the very end when they get Lady (the magic engine they're trying to save) running again. Then he's almost all smiles (so again, one-dimensional).
7) You really need to have seen the movie for my final criticism, but I'll try to explain briefly the storyline. Mr. Conductor (Alec Baldwin - who I would describe as possibly 2-dimensional to Peter Fonda's 1-dimensional portrayal...so better, but still not exactly good) needs gold dust to move from Shining Time Station to the Island of Sodor because Lady (the magic engine) disappeared years ago and she was the only other way to travel between the two. But after years of unnecessary use (he's standing next to Thomas at one point and uses his gold dust to disappear and reappear inside Thomas - literally saving himself like four steps), he's almost out of gold dust. So he spends the movie searching for how to get more gold dust (Lady makes swirls that have to get mixed with water, as we find out later). After Lily, Patch, and Peter Fonda figure out how to make Lady go again (using Sodor coal instead of real world coal), they go back to Sodor and have to escape from Diesel 10. As they're escaping, Mr. Conductor tells Junior that life is still over for them, Sodor, and apparently the real world (Shining Time) too since they're still out of gold dust. Now, I thought they needed the gold dust only because Lady was missing. They'd found her, so why do they still need gold dust so desperately (except to continue their laziness)? I just don't understand.

So anyway. This is my life almost daily (and these are the things I think about). And then at night when I can't sleep, guess what goes through my head? Songs from this dag-blamed movie.

At least I've instituted a "once per day" policy.

It's a Wonderful Christmas!

So they were going to send out 150 of the CDs to bloggers. I figured there was no way I'd get one. But in the mail when we got home from NC on Monday was my VERY OWN MWS "It's a Wonderful Christmas" CD!!!! For FREE!!!!

We started listening to it almost immediately as I was keeping AJ occupied while VNB was unloading the car.

Now, before you watch the following videos, I'd like you to keep in mind that filming AJ is like filming wildlife. Usually once he notices the camera, the cute thing that he was doing stops...so this is by no means the best video of him doing these adorable things. Also, these were taken this morning. Everything was better the first time we listened to the CD.

This is AJ "dancing" to the music (he's a little shy at first):

This is AJ "singing" and "dancing" to the music:

Did you notice that the dancing changed (or restarted) with a change in the music? Yep...he's a budding musician too!

Anyway, not only did AJ love the CD, I did too! One of the (many) reasons I married VNB was that he had the MWS CD that I was missing (I'd carried it around so much that it'd gotten too damaged to play anymore). I'm a _BIG_ MWS fan. I know just about every word to every one of the songs he's got on a CD somewhere. And I can sing along with his instrumental album too!

So when I tell you that I know me some MWS music, please believe me (although, um...Santa? I don't have "Stand" yet). This is the third of his Christmas CDs and is far more similar to "Christmas" than it is to "Christmastime." In fact, I'd say that it's a good mix of "Christmas" and "Freedom" (the instrumental). There are more instrumental tracks than on "Christmas" and the vocal tracks are more choral and orchestral than pop like "Christmastime" was. Of course, the American Boys Choir plays a big role, as usual.

Well, let me take that back. I assume it's the American Boys Choir. There were only two disappointing things about this CD. 1) They _just_ sent the CD. Now we don't keep jewel cases, so I don't mind not getting that...but I _do_ like to read and keep the inserts. So I can't say for absolute sure that it's the American Boys Choir, but that's who it's been on the other two, so I'm assuming here. And 2) when it ended, AJ and I looked at each other in disappointment (I'm not kidding, he looked at me with this surprised look when the CD changer changed). Maybe it's because there's less to sing along to, but it just seemed _WAY_ too short.

But really, the youth at my church used to tease me about being an old fart because I listened to MWS and I just kept telling them what an awesome musician he is. As they got older and their tastes more discriminating, they understood what I meant. But with each CD, I'm more and more impressed with his music. Don't get me wrong - "Project" (his first CD) is and always will be one of my favorites, but he just keeps getting better and better!

So four thumbs up (including AJ's) on this CD!