Today...

...I went back to MOPS.  I had gone to MOPS for 4 years.  Last year I decided my time there was over and it wasn't worth the hassle with kindergarten.  They asked me to come and be on an "Experienced Mom Panel".  The moms there asked us questions and we answered them.  Afterwards, of course, as I was thinking about it, I decided to do a blog post about some of my favorite books that applied to some of the questions that were asked...and a few other recommendations on topics we didn't cover.

1.  Priorities - I'm really not very good at this, but I really like the books by Emilie Barnes on Home Organization.  I don't necessarily follow everything (I'm not structured enough), but I have found lots of helpful hints...but my life really does go smoother when I use some of her recommendations.  I like "More Hours In My Day" and "Survival For Busy Women".

2.  Teaching kids about s*x.  I like the "God's Design for s*x" Series

3.  Boys and their energy - I like the book "Raising Sons & Loving It" by Oliver & Oliver

4.  Marriage.  My current favorite book on marriage is "One of Us Must Be Crazy and I think It's You" by Tim & Joy Downs

5.  For strong-willed children I recommend the book "You Can't Make Me" by Cynthia Tobias

6.  In regards to discipline, I like the book "No-Drama Discipline".

7.  Adoption - So many favorites.  I really like "Adoptive Parent, Intentional Parent" and "Forever Mom"...but there is a whole list on the side bar of books that I like regarding Adoption and/or Parenting.  :-)

8.  Raising Kids in general:  I'm a huge fan of the Boundaries Series.  So "Boundaries with Kids" is on my list.  But regardless of what book I recommend...I'm in favor of looking for things that will work for you.  (Although if you decide to try something, make sure you give it a fair shake before saying it doesn't work).  Families are different.  Personalities are different.  While I personally love this book, if you kid has trauma or special needs, you may need to adjust how you apply some of the boundaries.

I can't remember what else we discussed right now.  But I did enjoy joining the ladies again.  Lots of fun, lots of laughter.  :-)

**Edit:
9.  Money/Budget - I like Crown Financial Ministries resources.  Ellie Kay has lots of resources as well.

Books: In General

I love books.  I love to read.  I love information.  I love history.  I enjoy novels (and poke fun at the lame ones).  Today I finished a book that I had gotten from the library.  "The Innovators" traces the rise of the computer to personal computer to the internet.  So fascinating to me.

I was also working on a list of the books I have on adoption, foster care, special needs, general parenting, and a few on personal mental/emotional health.  I copied and pasted the list...so it looks a bit strange...and I'm not techy enough to fix it.

Books
Title	Author(s)	Category
5 Love Languages of Children	Chapman/Campbell	Parenting
A Place I Didn't Belong	Freeman	Adoption, Mom's Emotional Health
Adopted for Life	Russell Moore	Parenting, Adoption
Adopting the Hurt Child	Keck/Kupecky	Parenting, Adoption
Adoptive Parent Intentional Parent	Manning	Parenting, Adoption
Aromatherapy for the Healthy Child	Worwood	Essential Oils
Attachment Focused Parenting	Hughes	Parenting, Adoption
Beyond Consequences, Logic, & Control	Forbes/Post	Parenting, Adoption
Beyond Consequences, Volume 2	Post	Parenting, Adoption
Boundaries	Cloud/Townsend	Personal Mental/Emotional Health
Boundaries with Kids	Cloud/Townsend	Parenting
Brain Based Parenting	Hughes, Baylin	Parenting, Adoption
Changes That Heal	Cloud	Personal Mental/Emotional Health
Dare to Love	Post	Parenting, Adoption
FASD:  Trying Differently Rather Than Harder		FASD
Forever Mom		Parenting, Adoption
Heads Up Helping	Boring, M.L.	ADHD, SPD
Help for Billy	Forbes	Adoption, Trauma, School
How to Really Parent Your Child	Campbell	Parenting
It's Better to Build Boys than Mend Men	Cathy	Parenting
Loved By Choice	Horner & Martindale	Adoption
Loving Our Kids on Purpose	Silk	Parenting
No-Drama Discipline	Siegel/Bryson	Parenting
One of Us Must Be Crazy:  And I'm Pretty Sure It's You	Downs	Marriage
Parenting from the Inside Out	Siegel/Hartz	Parenting, Adoption
Parenting the Hurt Child	Keck/Kupecky	Parenting, Adoption
Raising Sons & Loving It	Oliver & Oliver	Parenting
Say Good-bye to Stress	Leman	Personal Mental/Emotional Health
So Many Children…	Ward	Foster Care
The Angry Child	Murphy	Parenting
The Challenging Child	Greenspan	Parenting, SPD
The Connected Child	Purvis	Parenting, Adoption
The Intentional Family	Taylor	Parenting, Adoption
The Life Ready Woman	Feldhan/Lewis	Personal Mental/Emotional Health
The Long Way To Simple	Neafcy	FASD
The Mom You're Meant to Be	Fuller	Mom Care
The Out-of-Sync Child	Kranowitz	SPD
The Out-of-Sync Child Has Fun	Kranowitz	SPD
The Way They Learn	Tobias	Education
Thriving Family	Can't remember	Parenting, Adoption
Wounded Children, Healing Home	Schooler/Keefer Smalley/Callihan	Parenting, Adoption
You Can't Make Me:  But I can Be Persuaded	Tobias	Parenting
DVDs:
Title	Time	Category
Beyond Consequences LIVE!	6 hours	Parenting, Adoption

BR2RB

Last year Randy & Josiah biked in the BR2RB 125 bike ride from Black Rock Retreat to Rehobeth Bay to raise funds for Black Rock Retreat.  They are planning to bike again this year.  So I stuck a widget on the side of my blog if supporting Black Rock interests any of you.  Unfortunately, this blog did not like when I tried to put a widget for each of them on.  So...there's just one for Randy.  But, you can support Josiah as well by going to his donation page http://www.firstgiving.com/fundraiser/JosiahSauder/br2rb-bike-a-thon-2015

Here they are at the end of the ride in 2014.

April

has arrived.

We enjoyed a lovely Easter/Resurrection Day first at church and then with family.

I immensely enjoyed last week...where I had one appointment (homeschool co-op) the entire week.

This week is not last week.  1 Developmental Evaluation, 3 Eye Doctor appointments, 1 dentist appointment, 1 OT + 1 PT appointments, homeschool co-op, 1 doctor appointment, 1 therapy appointment.  Perhaps it's just as well to have it all on one pile and have space on either side...

The weather has been warmer...lovely!