The Life Giving home – a must read

If I get time to put my feet up then I either knit or read a book. That means it takes me a while to actually get through a book. I’ve been going on this one for less a month and so in love with it. It’s for the Christian mums out there or mums who are wanting to create more of a warm family home. It’s not about the paint colours or decorating but more about the feeling, the rituals and traditions that you can make in your family over the years.

It is such a comforting book. Every time I picked it up I felt like making a cup of tea (because they talk about having cups of tea and cosy moments) and relaxing on the couch to enjoy the book. Even if I was in car line waiting for the kids to pile in.

The authors Sally and Sarah Clarkson are mother and daughter and have very different writing styles. I found Sally has the warmer and more experienced tone in her writing and is very poetic but Sarah who is also a wonderful author offers such great advice and experience about social media, current lifestyles and so on. Their chapters are divided throughout the book so you might be reading one of Sally’s chapters and the next one is Sarah’s and you will know without even having to see who wrote it. And Sally homeschooled her children but you would never know from the book and the reason I say that is sometimes a book can be really geared towards the homeschooling family and lifestyle but this book isn’t.

Do I think everyone will love it? I’m not sure on this one but I do know a lot of my readers will enjoy it. It’s a book that had so many beautiful quotes and things that I wanted to share and keep somewhere. The book covers everything from celebrations, seasons, structuring your day with children around, planning your year, hosting guests, entertaining kids, listening to kids and more. There is so much to get out of the book and I want to read it again and also pass it on to so many of my friends.

Here is a lovely excerpt that I think you will relate to

‘How easy it is to miss the beauty woven into this work. We three there in the kitchen were the makers of all that our family most loved at Christmas – the good food, the gifts, the well-set table, the camaraderie. My moment of insight began then, the realisation that in the work I joined with my mother and sister I was the keeper of life’s riches. That my oh – so – ordinary work helped weave the extraordinary celebration of Christmas’ (p.230)

This book is also perfect for where I am in life right now. As everyone is growing up and getting busier my responsibilities are increasing and I can also see with the older children how much they still need me. There is so much to be done at home and not just in the getting everyone where they need to be but listening to them, planning with them, comforting them as well as making sure everyone has clean clothes, food to eat (it’s like a non stop cafeteria), a house in some order, their hair done and everyone trying to get along. It’s becoming clearer and clearer to me that the work side of things will need to give way so that family can continue to come first. You can also see with your older children how all the years of being there are paying off in the beautiful people they are becoming. I think this is why I loved the book so much because there is advice for parenting babies and little ones and starting the traditions and home culture when they are young right up to when they are adults and you are welcoming them back into the home.

family

So after all of that it’s just a wonderful book. It will make you feel valued for the work you do and also inspire you to plan more for your family. Definitely worth buying a copy and I see that some of my readers have already been reading it. Its the kind of book that you will read and keep and go back to, mark down things that you want to refer back to or read again. And then you might share it but you’ll want it back again.

One of the nicest reads I’ve had in a long time and so much so that I didn’t want it to end. And so when I finished reading it I bought the journal which I thought would just be a bit of the book and lots of blank pages but is so much more. I’ll be back to review it soon. It arrived in the post but I’ve been so busy trying to knit for the cooler weather there has been no reading time the last 2 weeks.

Comments

  1. I would love to hear from someone who isnt religious and has read this book. So many often come back to religion that i find them hard to follow in my own life.

  2. I have heard of this one, so thanks for the recommendation. I’ll have to get it once i finish the three books I ordered for Mothers Day (My Hearts at Home, No More Perfect Kids and No More Perfect Mums by Jill Savage). Have you ever visited the Hearts at Home website? I think you would like it.

  3. Justine says:

    I loved this book and it was so encouraging to read about how to make a home. A home where your children feel valued, safe and a home where traditions and routine can bring a sense of security and beauty and define a family by those virtues. Highly recommend it to those who seek a home built on the things of love not on monetary or worldly values.

  4. Thank you Corrie, I have had both books on my Amazon wish list for a while. I’m going to order them right now.
    Fellow twin mom Vicki

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