love to paint

A while back, I began to read a new book that's just been published.  It's titled different: The Story of an Outside-the-box Kid and the Mom Who Loved Him by Nathan and Sally Clarkson.  When I had seen the description of this book, I had been very curious about it.  One of my very favorite parenting books is The Journey of the Strong Willed Child by Kendra Smiley.  One of the things I love most about that book is that it includes both her perspective, her husband's perspective, and her son's.  I learned so much from seeing their different sides.  This book by Nathan and Sally Clarkson is very helpful in that same way--it is written by both Sally Clarkson, the mom, and Nathan Clarkson, her son. This book tackles many issues parents struggle with today: anxiety, depression, ADHD, and mental illness.  Nathan lives with OCD, anxiety, and depression.  Sally homeschooled Nathan and his siblings throughout their growing up years, so she lived with ...

Are My Kids on Track? is the title of a new book by Sissy Goff, David Thomas, and Melissa Trevathan.  Every parent wants to know whether they are doing right by their kids.  Are we doing enough?  Are we preparing our kids for life?  Are we loving them well?  Are we good parents? A few years ago, I read my favorite parenting book-- Growing Grateful Kids .  In that book, Susie Larson says that we can't give ourselves something we don't have ourselves--so we still need to work first on our own hearts (with the Lord's help) rather than simply focus on what we see that we want to see fixed in our kids hearts.  That piece of advice has been a huge one for me that always lingers in the back of my brain.  It also dovetails nicely with this book. Goff, Thomas, and Trevathan tackle some of the difficult life and emotional milestones of children's development.  They give separate insight and advice for boys and girls in each chapter.  Yes, they...

This afternoon I finished a book by one of my favorite authors, but I cringed.  The ending didn't work!  But, I'm getting ahead of myself. A while back, Ann Gabhart published the first book in her Hidden Springs Mystery series, Murder at the Courthouse .  I enjoyed her foray into writing a mystery.  The second book in the series was published, Murder Comes by Mail , was again a fun read!  So, I looked forward to the third book in this series when I discovered it was set to come out this spring!   Murder No Accident followed right along with the main character, Michael. As the deputy sheriff in Hidden Springs, Michael has a pretty calm life--except the occasional murder.  There is his Aunt Lindy, the matriarch of the town, and the lawyer next door who is the grandfather of the girls he's loved since he was a kid.  The book can be read alone, but you get to know the characters over the course of the trilogy. In this third book, Murder No A...