So I will start with books for your children. I got these books to help prepare Benjamin for Beta's arrival. These books have been wonderful and Benjamin seems to be understanding what we've been talking about a little more. Praise Jesus.
I'm a Big Brother, by Joanna Cole: Cute book. Benjamin likes it. Not too complicated or ridiculous. But I don't have a ton to say about it. Benjamin likes that in the book it says babies can't have ice cream and then later it talks about how great it is to be older because you can get ice cream.
What Baby Needs, by Dr. Sears: I'm a Dr. Sears fan, so you know. I will lay it all out now and let you know that I read more Dr. Sears before and after Benjamin was born because Baby Wise made me want to kick something and I am not a BW follower. Okay, now I feel better about that. Moving on. This book is wonderful. Not only does it offer great tips to Mom and Dad about how to incorporate your child into raising another child, but B loves to read it as we go over what Beta will need and how he can help.There are short, but good explanations on each page. Also, as a plus to me {and maybe you}, it shows the mother breast feeding. As a breast feeding momma I want B to be prepared for this and I want to be prepared should he show a desire to nurse again. It shows the parents taking turns with the baby, but emphasizes that momma will need to be with the baby a lot in the beginning. It shows baby wearing and co-sleeping, both of which a child needs to know if part of being a baby and not an older sibling {unless you are of the party that allows all children to sleep in your bed, always}. Although, I'm certain Benjamin would still let me carry him in the sling if he fit :)
Overall, I'm so glad we got this book!
Prayers of an Excellent Wife, by Andrew Case: I first heard about this book on the GirlTalk blog and was super interested. Now, all the ladies in our flock are reading this together. And by reading, I mean praying. This book is a book of prayers based on scripture. Each day you pray something different. Always for your husband. It's incredible and I have loved learning God's Word better by praying it for Patrick.This is a book you can keep for a lifetime and read through over and over again. And you could even pray the prayers for yourself, your family or your children. But this book was intended to be a book to guide you into a deeper prayer time for your husband.
In the introduction, the author suggests praying some or all of the prayers over your husband. And from experience, this is such a sweet time and I highly suggest you do it. I marked a few prayers that I thought were especially encouraging to where Patrick is now in his life and prayed these prayers out loud for him. What a huge blessing to both of us!
Side note: Now I feel like I should start reading The Excellent Wife {by Martha Peace} again and see how excellent I can become with both books under my arm! Ha. Um. Please know I'm totally kidding about thinking I could be excellent. I am not kidding, however, about reading The Excellent Wife. I've started it three times. I really should try to finish it :)
And one last thing, I don't think the author of the book is suggesting that we'll be the best wives around as we pray scripture for our husbands. I do think, though, that when we are seeking the Lord and calling out to Him on behalf of our spouse we are walking in a manner that God has called us to. Our hearts start desiring the Lord more and become more inclined to loving and caring for and serving our husbands. This, my friends, is excellent because we are walking in God's truth and living out His Word!
That's all about books for now. Let me know if these books have been helpful, or not to you! I'd love to hear your perspective!
1 comment:
you are sooo much better prepared than i was for boy #2. maybe that is why greg yelled "NOOOO!" when i brought his brother home...
Post a Comment