Giveaway and Reviews: Books for Moms

Made to Crave – Satisfying your deepest desire with God, not food – Lysa Terkeurst

Trying to loose weight and find a deeper relationship with God. Lysa shares her personal journey through weight loss and how she managed to change her thinking and started on a deeper relationship with God. She got more than she ever imagined.

Break the cycle and feel good about yourself, stop agonizing over numbers on the scale, replace rationalizations that lead to failure with wisdom that leads to victory and reach your healthy goals.

Find more information at http://madetocrave.org/

Cravings - Desiring God in the midst of motherhood – Carey C. Bailey

A cute cupcake that holds 40 cards for moms to reach for daily. Each card has a scripture for the day and small devotion. Includes tips too.

Instead of reaching for a cupcake to eat, reach for a cupcake and feed your soul. Over a month’s worth devotions in ways to serve the spiritual needs of moms.

Find out more about Carey on her Facebook page. http://www.facebook.com/CravingsOnline

Growing Great Kids - Partner with God to cultivate His purpose in your child’s life – Kate Battistelli

Written by the mother Francesca Battistelli the contemporary singer-songwriter.

Teach your children how to dream God’s big dream, value of humility and integrity, how to interpret God’s seasons in your child’s life and the power of a parent’s words.

The end of each chapter has questions and a prayer to help lead you.

For more information visit http://www.katebattistelli.com.

One Thousand Gifts – A dare to live fully right where you are - Ann Voskamp

A practical guide to living a life of joy. Discover ways to opening your eyes to gratitude, a way of living, and a way of becoming present to God’s presence that brings deep and lasting happiness.  This book will change the way you see your world and find ways to be thankful for the things that God has given you daily.

Find the life you always wanted by finding God’s gifts.  

Find more information and check out the FREE app at http://onethousandgifts.com/

Different Dream Parenting – A practical guide to raising a child with special needs – Jolene Philo

Find biblical insights and practical resources to strengthen you in your walk with God and equip you for the journey.

Provides tools wit help you work through situations. Ways to advocate for your child, dealing with hospital stays, insurance, juggling schedules and dealing with grief.

Each chapter has a prayer, resource list and questions. Plus current resources available like hospitals, government agencies, schools and prayer guides. 

More information can be found at http://www.differentdream.com/

Raising a Soul Surfer – One’s Family’s epic tale – Cheri Hamilton

A story about the Hamilton family long before the shark attack. This book will take you on a journey along with the Hamilton’s and see how God gave them a bigger purpose in life than they imagined.

Witness the shark attack form a parent’s perspective and be inspired by how they relied on God through the tragedy.  Find out how Cheri felt going back to the same area her daughter was attacked, the re-entry of Bethany’s surfing and the non-profit organization that helps shark-attack survivors.

Mother’s will learn how to make it through unexpected events that involve their children.

Read more about Bethany here. http://www.soulsurfer.com/connect.html?gclid=CL77h63i7q8CFaVdTAod_zcnrQ

Giveaway Instructions
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This giveaway is open to U.S. residents only. The giveaway ends Tuesday, May 15 at 9am (CST). Winner will be randomly selected. Winner will be notified by email.

Only one entry per person. Creative Parenting is not responsible for lost or misplaced prizes.

Disclosure:  I received a copy of each book for review purposes. 

Family Time

You know how sometimes you just take a moment to look at your life and you're just happy to be alive and have the people you love around you. The moments where you take a minute of your time to watch what is happening around you. You just look over and smile and have that overwhelming feeling of love for your family. This happened to me just the other day.

We were playing with my 3 boys, Ben 12, Isaac 3 and Eli 6 months. I looked over at my husband playing around with my middle child and it just made my heart fill up. I was moved by the time he was spending listening and interacting with them all. It was a moment that I took the time to just look and watch for that one minute.

I feel like most parents don't take the time to play with their children. Our lives are so full of things to keep us so busy and before you know it the day is over and our children are older. 

I was number 5 out of 7 children and there wasn't much play time in my family but I can remember things that meant the most to me and they all centered around the times when my parents took that 5 to 10 minutes just to focus on me. Cooking with my Mom or making crafts was the best time together. Back scratches from my Dad or a game of chase were moments I cherish. Just thinking about them brings tears to my eyes. That's how important it was to me. Now my mom is gone and those times will be forever what I hold on to.

It's challenging to find things that all the family will enjoy together but when it happens it's amazing. It's for this time that I am so extremely thankful. Playing with the kids doesn't have to be something super exciting and expensive, a lot of what we do in my house is free. We don't really go out much since we have a little baby in tow. We play board games, wii games, silly games that we make up, watch movies and do crafts together.

It just takes 5 minutes of your time to sit down and listen. Pick up a game or puzzle to do together. Maybe just hide around the corner while your child is walking down the hall is all it would take to make  a game of chase. Children need that time together. It's good for development and it enriches the relationship with them for a lifetime. Before you know it they will be all grown up and out of the house, off to college, married, or having their own children. 

In the weeks to come I will post things you can do with your children. Don't miss it. The time is flying by.