We love to read. One of Jonathan and my favorite activities is to just read side-by-side. But, alas, reading alludes me these days. Mount Laundry beckons and the Shinobi hair tumbleweeds whisper my name. But I did manage to read two books lately and I thought they were worth reviewing.

I received Shepherding a Child's Heart by Tedd Tripp as a baby shower gift and as Quinn is developing a bit more, um, personality, I thought it might be good to start adding some tools to my parenting toolbox before I find myself in an emergency situation. Since I would read it before bed, I often began to doze off after a couple pages. This made it take a long time to complete the book. But even in my fragmented first read, I could tell that there was gold in there and I really wanted to soak it in. So I read it a second time, with a pen in hand and more energy. This book was so informative! It is so biblical and challenging. My biggest takeaway was this: there are a million books out there that can teach you how to have a well-behaved child if that is your chief goal. You can discover what motivates your child (their idols) and use that as a reward/punishment to get the sort of behavior you want out of them. We are all worshipers of something. But if your main objective as a parent is to point your child toward Christ, then your guidance needs to see through the outside behavior and focus on the heart of your child to show them their sin and need for a Savior. Wow, right? I'd be happy to discuss this book with anyone interested.

The other book I read was The Organic Lawn Care Manual by Paul Tukey. Exciting, I know. I first heard about it from this post a couple years ago and tucked it away in the back of my mind. Large parts of our yard are overrun by dandelions from the time the house spent on the market with no one living in it. My parents are coming up for a big yard work day, so I wanted to educate myself so I could know how best to use our time. I saw that my local library had the book so I checked it out. With a dog and baby, I don't feel great about putting chemicals on our yard. I use this easy weed killer recipe already but it isn't great for grass. This book was very convincing if you are on the fence about a natural lawn. It had a ton of practical advice and troubleshooting tips. Most helpful for me was at the start it asks you a series of questions about your yard, one of which is how you use it. We have a ton of grass and it feels pretty overwhelming. It made me realize that we would like the front to be in good condition because it's a small area and is kind of the "face" of our home. But for the sides and back, my main goal is just that it's soft underfoot and mowable. The back especially is more of a social area and there will be lots of foot traffic. I also learned that our decision to not water it this Summer wasn't a bad idea (phew), moles are actually helpful for keeping bugs in check (we have moles), and if your lawn is at least 5% clover and you mow without a bag that alone is enough nitrogen to fertilize your lawn.

Anyone else read anything good lately?