Good Morning, Moms!
Well, it's almost afternoon, but it's been that kind of a day already. Sigh.
Anway, I have a GREAT book for you today:
This is a book written by a man from my own town, which is kinda cool. Jeff Imbach is a spiritual director here, and is just so practical and down to earth.
At the same time, however, he understands the importance of "having wings" in our faith. Let's face it. Most of us are bored silly in our "religious duties" and can't figure out how to bring in the passion without losing control. Jeff explains the theology of passion (cool enough in itself!) and then gives some very practical doable things to bring our faith to life.
This is a wonderfully inspiring, encouraging, practical book, and I highly recommend it to anyone who is experiencing a "bored faith".
Darlene
Who Believes that Being a Mom is Really Awesome
Well, now that school is back in progess, it seems that moms all over are looking to get refocused, and settled back into a routine. I've got a great book to help you:
If you're more laid back and less focused (hence, the need for the book!) you will probably need to tackle one chapter a month, and/or do it with a friend. It's really worth working through, though. You'll get some good clarity about your life, and clear away alot of debris!
Happy Defrazzling!
Darlene
Who Believes that Being a Mom is Really Awesome
Hello, Moms!
I've got another fun book for you today:
What I love about this book is how the author gently guides you through a year with really mindful questions. The subtitle says it all "A Woman's Guide to a Mindful Year".
This book helps us keep on track with what is most important in our lives. It's so easy to get lost in the mundane. This book keeps pulling us back to what really matters, and helps us discover who we are.
It's also a beautiful book. Lovely to hold, to look at, too nice to write in, in my opinion! LOL! I just use a journal alongside it.
Darlene
Who Believes that Being a Mom is Really Awesome
Hi there, Moms!
I want to tell you about my absolute favourite book. I read this at least once a year, and loan it often. I've lost more copies than I can count, and still have 2 on my bookshelves. Whenever I find it at a thrift store, I buy another copy.
Here you go:
Go check it out!
Darlene
Who Believes that Being a Mom is Really Awesome
Our church has an amazing Women's Ministry. It's a big church (www.rockpointe.ca) and the Women's Ministry team has about 20 women on it. The head of the ministry decided that it would be a good idea if each person in leadership were really growing in their walk with the Lord, so she has asked us to pair up and for accountability relationships.
This has been a great thing. The book that I and my accountability partner are working through is this one:
It's a cool book because it walks you through the calling you have on your life. It's challenging without being overwhelming, and it's easy to read.
Try it with a friend!
Darlene
Who Believes that Being a Mom is Really Awesome
Every year in August I let my son choose a novel for me to read. I get so absorbed in novels that life stops around me when I read. I set August aside as the one month of the year I allow myself to read a novel. My son has great taste in books, and his natural inclinations are much different than mine when he decides what he wants to read. His choices broaden my own horizons! It's a great adventure every year. Sometimes he picks a trilogy, and then we're really in trouble as life stops altogether - laundry gets backed up, supper isn't ready - sigh - but the family is great about giving me a "lazy month" and the reading usually is really good for me.
This time, Simon chose "Blink" by Ted Dekker. Well worth a read!
It's about a Muslim princess, a Californian genius, and a plot to change the world. Very cool. Very imaginative. High adventure. Lots of fun.
Enjoy!
Darlene
Who Believes that Being a Mom is Really Awesome
Hi there, Moms!
I came across this book during a cool podcast I was listening to the other day. As moms who blog, this is a wonderful, humorous, inspiring guide to make our blogs more interesting. It's a pretty quick read, and well worth the time:
Yesterday, just for fun, I picked up a great book to read just because I needed something different. I laughed so hard I could hardly breathe. It really "stimulated" the ol' chronic bronchitis I've been fighting! I was moved to tears, thought, and hilarity. Not many books can do that!
Here it is:
Great book. I really recommend it!
Darlene
Who Believes that Being a Mom is Really Awesome
My last three posts are about not showing up, and I haven't been, for ages!!!
Yes, well, life happens. Sigh. I think I'm back now, and with lots more great books to share!
Today's book is called "Mother Nurture"
It's a bit of a textbook, but it's a fantastic resource if you're feeling at all stressed in your mothering. It deals with stress from a physical, mental, emotional, and intellectual level, with lots of practical ideas and case studies that are very helpful. This is a great tool to have on your shelf if you're a mom!
That's it for today! Tune in tomorrow for a new book!
Darlene
Who Believes that Being a Mom is Really Awesome
With the stress of the season upon us we need to remember to remember our spouse. This is the time of year when we take each other completely for granted, and just "live together" sharing the paycheque, the car, and the to-do list at a frantic pace. We'll never get through Christmas that way!
Make sure you set time aside every week to be together and re-vamp your love life, even if you don't "feel like it" or are "too tired". Making the effort anyway will be worth it in the long run.
Here's a great book that will give you doable guidelines for making it happen. It's humourous, easy to read, and very practical. Check it out!
Darlene
My guess is that no one even noticed I was gone
However, I was, and have had a wonderful break! Whew! We went to Utah for 2 week's holidays, hung around here as a family and just "connected", and I also was able to find and hire a wonderful business coach to help me get my business to the next level and I'm up to my eyeballs writing for it, so it's a huge challenge!
I run a blog, and on that blog I tackle one "mom-stress" issue a month. This month we're looking at fatigue, and in my research I found this great book:
So, there you have it. Grab a copy (they're super cheap) and send your fatigue out the door!
Have a great, energetic day!
Darlene
Who Believes that Being a Mom is Really Awesome
Good morning, dear moms!~
You have probably come here to check out some great books. Well, welcome to you!
One of the important things about being a mom is knowing where to set your boundaries. I need to do that in my own life right now. There are things happening around me now that require me to pull back in several areas of my life - not necessarily negative things! - just things that require more time and thought and space.
One of the areas I'm pulling back is in my blog posting (I have four blogs that I post to regularly).
Lately I've mostly been "flying by the seat of my pants" and just barely pulling together quality material to share with you. That's just not good enough for me. I want to offer you only the very best, and I want to offer it with full presence of mind.
I'm finding that I'm being pulled in so many different directions right now and many areas of my life need more thought and prayer than what I have time for. I'm cutting my activity by more than half so that I can give this kind of time to these important areas of my life - my family, my business, my homeschooling, etc.
At this point in time I plan to take a month off. If that changes, I'll post it here, but otherwise, plan to pop by again in November 2006. I hope to be here bigger and better than ever!
While we're on the subject, do you need to do the same? It's ok to pull right back from things if you are feeling stressed and pulled and frustrated. Take time to pray over it, think about it, dream about it.
Blessings on you all, and I wish you deep peace. I'm still here on e-mail if you want to contact me for any reason - I'm just not doing blogs or working on advancing my business right now.
Till November!
Darlene
Who Believes
that
Being a
Mom
is Really Awesome
Coming into the winter months (quite dark up here in the great white north!) I love to curl up with good books, an afghan, and a cup of tea. Ahhhhh, sigh!
Every year I read the same series, start to finish. It's the best series of books I've ever read for the old "comfy chair" routine, and I read them every winter.
These books are none other than Jan Karon's "Mitford" books. They are wonderful. Great characters, great stories. You'll laugh, cry, and be challenged in your faith. They are not romance novels, though romance is present, and they aren't books about impossibly perfect people. They are just simply wonderful.
If you don't have the books, buy the whole set all at once - you'll be glad you did!
Have a great day!
Darlene
Who Believes that Being a Mom is Really Awesome
Hello friends!
It's been a while since I wrote - I want to keep up with this blog every three days or so, but it's one of three that I maintain, so sometimes it gets a little wild trying to keep them all up to date. I do love blogging. It makes me feel as if someone's listening! LOL!
It's called "40 Days of Community"
If you liked the "Purpose Driven Life" this is the same book, only now together in a community. Our whole church is doing it on every level, so it's kind of fun. My husband and I are hosting a small group for it that starts on Wednesday. I'm rather excited about it.
Anyway, I highly recommend the book - we are desperate for real community today instead of just crowding our lives with busy-ness.
Grab a friend and a coffee and get reading!
Darlene
Who Believes that Being a Mom is Really Awesome
Many moms run a homebusiness just to help make ends meet - or simply for the fun of it!
I also have a home business - two, actually! I have my "Mom-Defrazzler" business and my "Successful Home Business for Moms" business.
The thing is, a business won't be successful if people don't see it. Somehow you have to get enough eyes to see what you're offering in order to make a go of it.
Over the past 5 years as I've struggled and failed and finally succeeded in my home businesses I've done a LOT of research on what makes a business work, and what makes a business fail.
One of the best books I've read concerning this is this one:
So, if you have a business, get the book!
Darlene
September and January always remind me of my goals. There are so many things I want to do in life before God calls me home - what an exciting world we live in!
For one whole month on my "Mom-Defrazzler" blog we talked about our dreams and goals. My Dad set up a course and several moms went through it together. The inevitable question was always, "I know what I want to do, but how can I afford it?"
Well, that's a two-pronged question.
The answer to the first prong is "Make/find more money". I solved that one by starting up "Successful Home Business for Moms" and also by adding some Mystery Shopping to my weekly schedule (you won't get rich doing it, but you could easily make $50-$100 extra a month - better than a kick in the teeth!) I'm also a singer, so I look for opportunities to sing, teach, coach, etc. I'm quickly developing a great sense for ideas of things I could do to create more money in our lives - it's not a "grasping" kind of sense. More like a "Money Adventure" and it's lots of fun!
The second prong answer is to save more money. For that there is no better expert than the book "The Tightwad Gazette". Talk about a money-saving adventure! Amy goes 'way beyond what I am so far willing to do to save money - it's usually 3x the amount of work! However, there's no denying that she has some wonderful ideas that we can all implement to save big bucks. Here's the book, if you're interested. Every major library probably has one!
Enjoy! Feel free to share any "tightwad" tips you might have, too. I'm sure I'd love to hear some real stories about saving money!
Darlene
Who Believes that Being a Mom is Really Awesome
Odd title for a book, isn't it?
It's one of those books I found while browsing through the library shelves. I was intrigued by the title and brought it home.
What a fun book! It's all about being remarkable instead of perfect (now that's something I can appreciate!)It's full of short essays (about 1.5 pages each) on creative ideas. Mostly it's for business, but the articles are interesting enough that I'm reading it to my two kids (11 and 13) at lunch for entertainment. It's absolutely great! Very inspiring.
Here's a picture if you're interested:
Darlene Hull
Who Believes that Being a Mom is Really Awesome
So, in keeping with my promise to my son to read a novel of his choosing in August, I finally completed the whole trilogy from Ted Dekker. Whew!
(you can't "search inside" the "Black" book from here. That's just the image from Amazon.) The three books deal with a double reality that will really challenge the way you think about your faith. The three of them are long. I think it would have been more powerful if it were just two books, but it was good to read them all, and I'm glad I did!
Great books for helping your teens come to grips with their faith.
Enjoy!
Darlene
Who Believes
that Being a
Mom is Really
Awesome
Well,hello, fellow, frazzled moms! How are you coping with the first day of school?
We are kicking back one more day. We have "Toastmasters" today and I'm giving a speech, and I've also been invited to a friend's house for tea. So that's enough for me! We will be focusing on getting the house pulled back together as we've been away for the weekend, and we'll start school proper tomorrow.
My husband and I finished celebrating our 15th anniversary with a couple of days in Banff at a lovely hotel called the Tunnel Mountain Resort. We had a lovely meal, thanks to mystery shopping, at The Elk and Oarsman - kind of a sports bar sort of place with phenomenal food! A VERY nice weekend. Now it's back to business, though!
With school and other things all jumping back into a schedule I thought this might be a great time to think about where we're heading and how we're going to get there. Today's book will help us do that!
It's an easy read with some good tips and might go a long way to helping us get some good focus. Here it is:
This is also a great book to use with your kids if they're old enough to think about goals and such.
Hope it's helpful!
Have a GREAT first week of school!
Darlene
Well, here we are in September - can you believe it? Im still hyper-ventilating about all the things I need to get done this week before I head into next week. Talk about frazzled! I need to take time to check out my own advice at my Mom-Defrazzler site! 
Last night, however, I managed to book a night away in Banff with my most dearly beloved husband for Sunday/Monday. The very best thing is that Im involved with Mystery Shopping kind of on the side for fun (working my way up to the free cruises and such!) and they need someone to go to Banff for dinner - all expenses paid. That makes it rather nice for us as theyll even pay our gas! It does add a bit of stress though, because Im involved in Toastmasters (no end to my activity list!) and I need to do a speech on Tuesday, so Ive got work to do today, I tell ya!
I figured that seeing as it was such a crazy time I'd show you a great recipe book! Take a look:
Darlene
Who Believes that Being a Mom is Really Awesome