I was introduced to 3 fantastic authors this month, and I’m so grateful to have read their work. I’m looking forward to reading more books by those authors.
The first book I read this month was written by a fantastic author, who is also a friend. Power of a Place was a great book to start the new year.
Review: This author is someone I admire and respect. He went to school with Ted, and I worked with him in Colorado. He’s a great teacher and a fantastic writer. I loved his first book, Chasing Wisdom, and his second book is just as good. The Power of Place is about the value of putting down roots and investing in the place you call ‘home.’
Review: This book was so engaging, I did not want it to end. It shares the beautiful relationship that develops between CS Lewis and Ms. Davidson. They were pen pals, and later met and became great friends, and eventually married. I already loved CS Lewis, but this story makes me love him even more. This author did a fabulous job of re-creating their love story. I highly recommend the audiobook because the narration brings the story to life. It’s free on the Hoopla app.
Here are two quotes from the book that I loved:
God does not love us because we are lovable but because He is Love.
CS Lewis
Sometimes we want to stay and goof off in a mud pit when God has an entire seashore for us to play in.
Review: This was a wonderful book that I read with my 12-year-old son Clark. It’s the story of a young boy coming to live with his aunt in Minnesota to escape his war-torn country of Sudan. The author writes brilliantly and expresses such beautiful and deep emotion in very few words. This book can be read in a day but will stay with you for much longer. I felt the wonder, optimism, fear, sadness and hope through the eyes of the main character (Kek). This book gave me a glimpse into what it might be like to be a refugee. I HIGHLY recommend this book! Great for parents to read with kids ages 8 and up.
Review: I read this book with my 14 year-old son and we both enjoyed it. It’s a novel about a boy who went to work with his dad on September 11, 2001. The book does an excellent job recreating the environment from that day. You feel like you are in the Twin Towers that morning trying to escape. This book allowed George and I have to have some great conversations about what happened on September 11.
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Thanks for reading! Please share which of these books you’d like to read or a great book you’ve read recently.
This is not a book about sales, though it would certainly help if you are in sales. It’s really a book about how to get the most out of life and how to be the best version of yourself.
It’s about man who inherits 10 ancient scrolls that are the ‘secret to success’. Each scroll has a powerful message.
I loved this book. I felt like I was listening to my grandfather describe his life from a beautiful, bygone era as I read about the simple life of Jayber Crow.
Jayber Crow is a book you want to read when you can sit back, relax, put your feet up and just enjoy a good story.
Erwin shares one phenomenal story after another, connecting what God teaches in the Bible to real people putting that into action, and the POWER that action had in their lives. Here are a few of my five favorite points from the book:
You need to act like your life depends on it because it’s never just your life involved. The world desperately needs everything you can bring to the table.
You will never sustain greatness or fulfill your God-given calling if you see people as an obstacle to your destiny rather than as essential to fulfilling God’s purpose in your life. An old African saying: If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together. We are more powerful when we walk together, and we are more vulnerable when we walk alone.
Fear is like a leprosy that eats away at us. Fear will lead us to build fortresses that look like security and safety. Fear convinces us that we have locked out the dangers, but it hasn’t locked the world out at all. Instead, fear has trapped us inside. It was never a fortress, it was a prison.
I do not believe anyone is born average but I do believe that many of us choose to live a life of mediocrity. To be above average demands a choice. Average is a safe choice and it’s the most dangerous choice we can make.
Do not lose sight of the fact that just because it’s time to move forward, the things in the past did not have great value for the time in your life. Appreciate the past, but live IN the present and FOR the future.
I’d heard of Clara Barton in connection with the Red Cross, but never knew what a fascinating life she led!
Reading (or listening to) stories like this gives me hope for each human. Clara was a simple girl that noticed a gap and problem, then filled the gap and help solved the problem. We can do great things by starting small.
I’m thankful for women like Clara because she carved the way for a woman like me, She was a leader before women were allowed to lead. She was hard-working, creative, respectful, but bold.
I listened to this book on my free Hoopla app and recommend it for moms and their daughters to listen to together.
As I closed this book, I hugged it in deep appreciation. Oh, how I needed to hear those beautifully written words.
I recommend this to someone new in town, who may feel ‘anonymous,’ or to someone whose dreams haven’t been realized.
Here are 5 points from the book:
Why would Jesus announce the birth of his precious son with a full angelic choir, then hide this priceless gift for three decades? Because what is hidden is not unimportant.
God’s first public words to Jesus were not directional (go there) or instructional (do this) it was relational: THIS IS MY SON! God spoke affirmation before Jesus had ever done any good works.
Every day, we invest in a future we cannot see. Time is not really spent, it is invested in a future we cannot see.
Jesus could stand strong in public because he stood still in private. He intentionally pursued quiet places.There is healing in stillness.
Savor the anonymous season. Respect it’s potential.
This is the best marriage book I’ve ever read. I picked it up, not because I was ready to ‘split,’ but simply curious on the advice she’d give from the perspective of a divorce attorney.
I had no idea how truly insightful and helpful this book would be to EVERY SINGLE MARRIED PERSON!
Here are 5 take-aways:
Your marriage can go from that bad to this good. No matter how troubled or even chaotic your marriage may seem, you have more control over its future than you think.
Ask yourself and people you trust: “What is it like to be on the other side of me?“
Your spouse can’t make you happy. Happiness is something you bring to a relationship, not something you get from it.
There’s danger in allowing the emotions you’re experiencing right now to lead you to make long-term decisions. Yes, your emotions are real. Examine them. Learn from them. But don’t give them the lead role.
Find friends who will help you WIN in your marriage. Surround yourself with WISE, trustworthy, and objective friends who help you make better decisions. Your friends help you lean into or away from your marriage.
This book was captivating because it shared so many different stories of the people who were directly impacted by the terrorist attack on September 11, 2001.
I read this book twice this year – first reading the book, then listening to the audiobook. Both were excellent, but I loved that the audiobook contained REAL RECORDINGS from that day. It was powerful.
This book is so entertaining, you won’t want to put it down. My son kept asking: “Can we read another chapter?”
It’s the story of a girl and her parents who moved to the US from China. They get jobs at a motel in California. Mia, only 10 years old, runs the front desk. The book tells interesting stories about the guests who come to the motel, and gives insight into what it’s like to be an immigrant. The stories are endearing and you will fall in love with the characters!
Because Clark is such an active kid, he doesn’t usually want to sit and read. This is one of the first books where he actually loved sitting with me and reading together. It was one of the sweetest memories of the summer.
My son said: “I wish this book would never end.” I felt the same.
Parent tip: Keep trying new books until you find one your kid loves!
I’ve heard of and even quoted this author many times, but didn’t read his book until this last year. It’s a beautiful and hard book to read. Victor Frankl is a psychologist who survived Auschwitz – partially by using the techniques he taught his clients. One thing I loved was that he tried to find a way to laugh every day while imprisoned. He and another Jewish man would think up silly stories to share. Finding humor in the worst situation helped them survive.
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Here’s a picture snapshot of my Top Ten Books from 2021:
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There you have it! My favorite books of 2021.
What was your favorite book of the year or which book from this list do you want to read in 2022? Leave a comment by clicking on the box by the TITLE of this post.
Review: I’ve heard of and even quoted this author many times. I don’t know how I haven’t read his story until now. It’s a beautiful and hard book to read. He’s a psychologist who survived Auschwitz – partially by using the techniques he taught his clients. One thing I loved was that he tried to find a way to laugh every day. He and another Jewish man would think up silly stories to share. Finding humor in the worst situation helped them survive.
Review: I really enjoyed the beginning of this book where the author shared her conversion story.
However, the chapters on her specific denominational preferences was not really relevant or necessary for this book, and for me, it took away from her powerful personal story.
Review: This was one of my favorite books from childhood. I re-read it to find inspiration for some children’s books I’m working on. Each chapter of this book contains a story from a grandmother’s childhood and includes a lesson she learned.
Review: This is a book that’s stood the test of time. It’s the story of an orphan girl named Anne who gets adopted and the book shares her adventures, and mis-adventures, in a warm and endearing way.
I’ve watched the movie a dozen times, and even starred as Marilla in our high school play, but finally read this book for the first time. I’d recommend that mothers read or listen to this book with their daughters.
Review: Clark and I read this book together. It’s the third book of a series about a young girl who moves to the US from China. In this book, she goes back to China and shares how much it’s changed. Clark said at the end, “I wish there were more books in this series.”
Review: I had this on my list of books to read this Christmas season, then walked into a thrift store – and there it was on display, for only 75 cents! This was a great book to read over my quarantined Christmas. If you haven’t read it, I’d add this classic to your list.
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Thanks for reading. I’ll be listing my favorite books of the year very soon. Subscribe so you don’t miss that post!
Fall feels like winter in Minnesota and this little heater makes my bathroom toasty while I get ready in the morning. This also works well at keeping your feet warm by placing it under the desk in your office.
Do you remember Vicks Vaporub? This is the upgraded version. It’s a menthol rub for aches, pains, congestion, and more. We use this for everything – sore throat, sore muscles, and cough/congestion.
Buy this now, then when you get sore muscle, you’ll be so glad you have it in your cabinet.
Allow me to introduce you to the vegetable you never knew you loved. Crisp, fresh, and crunchy kohlrabi is a turnip-like cabbage rich in fiber, vitamin C, B vitamins, and potassium.
Ted and I call it our favorite “pasta.” It’s a vegetable full of flavor and makes a delicious spaghetti substitute. We sauté it with a little olive oil, add sauce and its oh. so. good.
I’ve never been very athletic, and didn’t grow up playing or watching sports, but seeing my boys work hard and compete is pure joy.
We just finished the football season for Clark and Luke, the soccer season for George and Paul, and now all four boys are playing basketball. I love basketball because (1) it’s inside and you don’t have to worry about weather and (2) it’s so active and up close!
I’ve been subbing in our school district a couple of days each week. I teach grades Kindergarten and all the way up to twelfth grade. Each day is a new adventure – but what a joy to get to love on, invest in, and encourage kids each week.
My current favorite is teaching middle school – specifically if my kids are in one of my classes.
When I was teaching 6th grade this week, a student saw “Mrs. Egly” written on the board and said:
“Are you Clark’s sister?”
That, right there, is why I LOVE teaching 6th graders, and how you earn “teacher’s pet status!”
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7. Target’s Good and Gather brand
There are so many delicious Good and Gather Products, but my two current favorites are:
Jalapeño Avacado hummus and Cranberry Jalapeño dip.
This website is a great resource for parents. When my boys ask to watch a movie and I don’t know much about it, I look it up on PluggedIn. They write comprehensive reviews of movies, TV shows, and music.
We put ours up over the weekend, and as we hung the ornaments, the ones that made us smile and brought back the sweetest memories were the ones we made together.
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Hanging new ornaments they received for Christmas
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Here are five fun holiday ornaments my boys enjoyed making, and I think your family will have fun with it too.
You can keep them for your own tree, or gift them to loved ones.
Which one of those I listed is your favorite? Leave me a comment.
Send me a picture of your family’s favorite homemade ornament.
Enjoy the holiday season!
Love,
Kathryn
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Disclaimer: The items I recommended from Amazon are affiliate links. If you purchase an item I recommend, I may earn a commission. Thanks for your support!
This is one of my favorite products of the summer. It’s thin and dries fast. My son used it at the pool the other day, and let his friend use it afterwards because he forgot his – he said it didn’t even feel wet!
Look how small it folds up compared to the standard beach towel:
Standard beach towel on the left, Quick Dry towel on the right
This is my favorite face wash of all time. I love the pump on top – it’s easy to use and not messy! It makes my face smell so good, and feel soft and moisturized.
I pour a packet into water bottles and my kids love it. It’s a great alternative to soda, and keeps your kids getting all the liquids they need during summer. There are yummy flavors like Raspberry Lemonade, Cherry Pomegranate – and more!
I’d never thought I’d have an opinion on ‘poop bags,’ but now that I’m a dog owner, I suddenly care about these things. There’s only one kind of waste bags I like to buy – and it’s this one from Amazon! Not too thin, not too small, and easy to tie up!
The teacher in me wants to keep my kids writing over the summer. I ask my boys to write or draw their favorite thing from the day, the trip, etc. These are fun to look back on from year to year, summer to summer!
I have these on my “subscribe and save” list because I can only find them on Amazon and also because they are:
yummy!
Quick and easy!
Loved by my boys and me!
If you have to leave early and don’t have time for breakfast, or if you are going to be gone for several hours and need an easy snack – these are great!
I bought this one for my husband for Father’s Day and it’s been great! It’s a much better price than some of the other wireless speakers, and works just as well. These come in handy if you are going to the pool, playing in the backyard, or sitting on the patio and want to listen to music or a podcast.
My mom and I love these collagen eye patches. They are so easy to use – just open the package and stick them under your eyes. The moisture from the patches and the flexibility helps them form and stick. There is an instant cooling effect that I feel which probably helps with any eye puffiness. (Putting them in the fridge before hand makes them even better)! They have a moisturizing effect that really plumps up my fine lines in only 15 minutes of wearing them. I like that they are indivdually packaged to maximize the moisture in each patch and reduce any contamination. The patches are large enough to cover my under eye are well. I think it provides better and longer-lasting results than eye cream.
I posted some of my favorite things in my instagram and Facebook stories recently, and had lots of feedback and questions – so I thought I’d share a post about some of things we love to buy at Costco:
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Our favorite hamburgers:
You can cook these in the oven, on the stove, or on the grill. They are best served with a toasted and buttered bun.
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Our favorite dip:
This dip is great with chips, crackers or celery.
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Other great dips:
I like the TASTE of this dip, more than the NAME of the dip. It’s made from ALMONDS and is a delicious dip for crackers or vegetables.
This dip is amazing! It’s good with tortilla chips, corn chips, on a salad, or with celery. It’s good warm or cold.
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Celery sticks
How do you eat more veggies? Make them easily accessible. These are washed and ready to eat right out of the bag. Great for the dips listed above.
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My favorite crackers
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Best Chips
For a not-as-healthy options for those dips, these chips are SOO good! Also great with salsa, queso, guacamole and the corn dip (pictured above). They are also good straight out of the bag.
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Pre-cooked bacon
Buy the pre-cooked bacon to warm and eat or use in recipes.
I like to wrap one piece of bacon around 3 pieces of asparagus and bake.
You could also wrap it around cheese stuffed dates and bake!
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Great salad topping
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Popcorn heaven
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Organic eggs and milk
Good price on these if you use a lot of milk or eggs in your home.
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Rotisserie chicken
We like to get Costco’s rotisserie chicken. Easy dinner! Boil the bones for great chicken broth.
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Great steak!!
Eat it in sandwiches for lunch, chopped up on salads, or AS IS for dinner. It’s so good and so easy.
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De-lish FISH!
This is a great dish to bake for company. It looks and tastes so fancy, but requires no work!
Tip: Put a little of the pickle ranch dip (pictured above) on the side! YUM!
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The world’s best frozen chicken nuggets. They taste like Chick-Fil-A!
I like to cook them in the air fryer.
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Best Salad:
I can’t leave Costco without purchasing the large 1-pound containers of Organic Spring Mix. This salad mix is not soft like spinach, it has a nice crunch like romaine. It’s easier to eat healthy when this is in your fridge.
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Meat Sticks – my boys LOVE these!
They were on sale recently, so I brought a bag home. Ted, our boys, and their friends, finished the bag in a few days. I went back and stocked up before the sale ended. They are high in protein and low in sugar.
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Crystal Light Drink Mixes
The drink mix (pictured below) was purchased on amazon (click here to see), but then I spotted it at Costco this week. These little Crystal Light packets are a great way to keep your kids getting fluids all summer! They come in a variety pack of flavors, and my kids like them all. You can pour a packet into a water bottle, and it turns the water into lemonade or fruit punch. It’s a GREAT alternative to Soda!
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Easy and Delicious Dinner – Street Tacos
This kit comes with seasoned chicken, cheese, tortillas, shredded lettuce/cabbage, and two sauces. It can feed up to 6 people. It’s a yummy and cost-effective dinner to keep on hand and prevent you from going through the drive-thru when you don’t feel like cooking.
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Marvelous Macarons
I believe these are seasonal, but they were amazing!
Review: Listening to this wonderful book was like going to therapy. The author’s voice and his encouragement were calming and helpful. He shared useful tips for healing from hurts, remembering the good, and enjoying life. The author shares how to re-orient yourself away from the noise, and toward a place of peace, calm and joy.
One thing he recommends is the one minute PAUSE. Here’s a summary:
Review: I follow this author on MoneySavingMom.com, and when I saw her book was available for free on my Hoopla app, I decided to download it. It’s easy to listen to, and gives tons of practical advice and encouragement to parents. She shares the story of one of her teens becoming suicidal, and how they got there, and what she’s learned from this experience. I think this book is a great one for any parent with kids ages 5-15.
Review: Ted encouraged me to read this book and I really enjoyed it! If you find yourself stretched too thin (MOTHERHOOD!), overworked or busy but not productive, this would be a great book for you!
This quote sums up the book fairly well:
“When we don’t purposefully and deliberately choose where to focus our energies and time, other people—our bosses, our colleagues, our clients, and even our families—will choose for us, and before long we’ll have lost sight of everything that is meaningful and important.”
Greg McKeown
This quote made me smile and is one of the reasons I value having FUN with my kids:
“It’s hard to be successful at anything without having some fun while doing it.
Greg McKeown
I love this about the importance of playing:
“As we get older, PLAY seems like a waste of time. It seems unnecessary and childish. However, play has the power to significantly improve everything from personal health to relationships to eduction to organization to ability. Play leads to brain plasticity, adaptability, and creativity. Nothing fires up the brain like play. The value of play can’t be overstated.”
Review: This book was so good that once I started, I could barely put it down. Erwin shares one phenomenal story after another, connecting what God teaches in the Bible to real people putting that into action, and the POWER that action has had in their lives. Here are a few of my favorite points from the book:
You need to act like your life depends on it because it’s never just your life involved. The world desperately needs everything you can bring to the table.
Don’t allow your weakness to define who you are.
You will never sustain greatness or fulfill your God-given calling if you see people as an obstacle to your destiny rather than as essential to fulfilling God’s purpose in your life. An old African saying: If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together. We are more powerful when we walk together, and we are more vulnerable when we walk alone.
Fear is like a leprosy that eats away at us. Fear will lead us to build fortresses that look like security and safety. Fear convinces us that we have locked out the dangers, but it hasn’t locked the world out at all. Instead, fear has trapped us inside. It was never a fortress, it was a prison.
I do not believe anyone is born average but I do believe that many of us choose to live a life of mediocrity. To be above average demands a choice. Average is a safe choice and it’s the most dangerous choice we can make.
Do not lose sight of the fact that just because it’s time to move forward, the things in the past did not have great value for the time in your life. Appreciate the past, but live IN the present and FOR the future.
Review: This is the story of a military family, the wife goes off to war and comes back with a missing leg and PSTD. I didn’t connect with the characters or find the story believable. I would recommend The Nightingale over this book! A much better story and excellent character development.
Review: The Help Club for Mom’s Bible studies include mom tips, recipes, activities to do with your children, journaling pages, and practical devotions for mom. The book takes into consideration your home, children, faith, and marriage. The studies are uplifting and perfect for any mom.
Review: Brady Boyd has done it again with his masterful, engaging and meaningful writing. This is all about how Christ-followers can live ‘remarkable’ lives that make a positive difference in the world. Here are 5 things that stood out to me:
Every person is created in the image of God – regardless of color, creed, gender, socioeconomic status or citizenship. When you disagree with someone, ask: “Help me understand your perspective. What am I missing?” or “Tell me your story.”
Acceptance, kindness and forgiveness are the trifecta of a gracious life. “May we exude graciousness at every turn, remembering that we too, were lavished with grace. May we radiate the warmth and compassion of Jesus, who once took in our messiest messiness and said, ‘You are welcome here.'”
Inviting God into our painful places is when healing begins to seep in.
The first step in obtaining wisdom is admitting that I am not the source of wisdom. (Do I stop and seek God for wisdom before I make decisions or answer questions?)
Easter is the best time to get your kids a new devotional or Bible. If you have a hard time getting your kids to read their Bible or a devotional, do it with them. I like to read with my kids when they first wake up or right before they go to bed. Also, my kids are always required to read something before they get on electronics.
This is the Bible in “storybook” form. It’s BEAUTIFULLY written and all my kids have enjoyed listening to it. It’s received about 8,000 five star reviews on Amazon. This is the perfect “FIRST” Bible for kids! However, my 11 year old still asks me to read it to him!
A real chapter and verse Bible for your child, if they don’t have on yet, is a great gift to give them for Easter. My favorite bible for kids is the New International Reader’s Version. This version makes the Bible easier to read and understand.
