LOVED IT!!
I am kinda on a MOPS theme right now and, true to the theme, Alexandra is on staff with the MOPS International headquarters.
Last year she published a memoir titled, The Artist's Daughter, and I am just now jumping on the band wagon and wanting to read it. -have you read it already?? How is it???
So, throughout the course of the book, Alexandra chooses nine areas which she pursues one-by-one, month-by-month, over the course of, you guessed it, nine months.
This theme is reminiscent of Jen Hatmaker's bestseller, Seven: an experimental mutiny against excess, only instead of fighting the excess to see what's already right in front of us, we are challenged to look at different aspects of our lives and redefine them. Perhaps even define them.
LOVE these idea's here, ladies!!
Alexandra labels her month's as so and concludes each chapter with her month-long takeaway, a few questions for the reader to ponder over, and a Scripture to sum it up and proclaim.
Month 1: Bring it Down--Quiet
Month 2: First things first--Mornings
Month 3: My Peeps--Dates
Month 4: Being Kind to My Body--Health
Month 5: Unleashing the Wild--Adventure
Month 6: Pushing Through the Piles--Home Organization
Month 7: Love is in the Details--Creativity
Month 8: Three Times a Day--Meals
Month 9: I Am Made to do Great Things--Passions
Outside of getting a glimpse into Alexandra's life- which is busy and messy, what you would expect from a mother- the reader also gets to go alongside her as we see her day-to-day struggle with loving her family well (scheduling the play time for an hour, as was the promise), to putting something on the table...again.
As an interested writer myself, I enjoyed reading about how she rearranged her day to make way for her passions, and how she realized that these words are a gift from God and it honors Him to utilize them! -Oh! The freedom!
Although she is a Christian woman, works with a Christian company (MOPS), and has written her book to be consumed by (most likely) a Christian audience, I never once felt, while reading this book, that Alexandra tried to portray a "perfect-Christian-life".
Her humility, transparency, and authenticity are encouraging.
#thankyouAlex
At the conclusion of Alexandra's book, she offers Ideas to Love Your Actual Life
and, I admit, my reasoning for writing this post is multi-faceted.
One, I love writing, so why not write about a great book?
Two, I want to encourage and continue to be encouraged by Alexandra and others like her, so I will utilize my social media platform (I have a platform??!! What??!!) and continuously use her hashtag #LovingMyActualLife.
Three, I do not want to forget the IDEAS (noted above) which I want to keep (listed below).
Alexandra, thank you for these!
Quiet
*Breath prayer...in goes a beautiful attribute of Jesus, out comes a prayer. ...(breath in) beautiful Savior...(breath out) may this bring You honor
(This idea is my FAVORITE of them all!!)
*Get up before or go to bed after everyone else in your home.
Mornings
*Create a prioritized daily to-do list.
*Get up first for some quite, prayer, and a hot drink.
*Get dressed with the idea of presenting your best self to the day.
Dates
*When tempted to browse on my phone, call a friend (or my grandmother) instead.
*Discover the "love languages" of those around you.
*Put a movie on for the kids and have an at-home date with your spouse.
*Play a game as a family after dinner.
*Take a child with you on an errand.
Health
*Exercise three times this week.
*Replace coffee with water.
*Say a prayer of gratitude for my body.
*Take a nap...many naps when possible!
Adventure
*Learn something new
*Support someone else's adventure.
*Rearrange furniture.
*Visit a new park or trial...or playground.
Home Organization
*Have two designated clean-up times a day.
*Organize one closet or cupboard.
*Touch everything once. (FANTASTIC IDEA!!!)
*Have an area ready and available for an unexpected guest.
*Paint one wall.
*Pray for your home to be a refuge for all who visit and live there.
Creativity
*Make something with tools.
*Try a new recipe.
Meals
*Double what I make and freeze it.
*Know what I am having for dinner every day by 10am ...good luck to me!
*Invite people over for meals.
*Make a meal plan for 5 days in a row...which helps the second bullet-point here!
*Put on music, light candles, or have a special drink while making dinner...and continue in the fancy through out the meal!
Passions
*Take an assessment test like StrengthsFinder to learn more about myself.
*Say yes to something (mostly, the children's requests), and no to something else (the overwhelming demand from everywhere).
*Set a timer for thirty minutes and do one small thing that will feed into your area of passion.
*Learn to do one thing really well.
gomommyblogger #LovingMyActualLife selfie
So, yes, if I am doing a review, I will absolutely encourage you to read this!
Although this wasn't designed to be a review, it has really encouraged me and given me material to write about, maul over, and put to work...as in, I don't want to forget this list at time soon.
Speaking of (writing of?), I best sign off now as I have a test over at StrengthFinder to work on!
always,
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