Category Archives: Giveaway

And the winner is….!!!

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YAY!!! We have a winner (since yesterday but life was crazy and I couldn’t find the time to announce it!) of the book You Never Stop Being a Parent:

The winner is Jenny Story!!

Your book will be on your way soon, my Friend! 🙂

Thank you to all who mentioned here and on the Facebook page that you will be reading along. I am so excited about this,  I am sure we will learn a lot.

If you are just jumping in and have no idea of what I am talking about read this. We will “meet here” on February 5 to discuss the Introduction and Chapter 1.

Blessings and good night!

Becky

Because I Want you to Read Along -A Book Giveaway-

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I don’t know if it’s only me, but I can hardly find blogs, books, or good articles to encourage women who, like me, are entering this new stage in life in which “all of a sudden” you are a mom of young adult children. Soemtimes Nancy Wilson at Femina, and Carolyn Mahaney at Girltalk have some pretty good -and challenging- stuff for us, but for the most part, what is written out there is directed towards young moms.

Yesterday I shared about a book I will start reading and, God willing, blogging about starting on February 5. This book, You Never Stop Being a Parent: Thriving in Relationship with Your Adult Children,  will certainly be a blessing to many women who are asking themselves many questions like how their role as a mom changes once their children become adults. So, today, and because I really want you to join me reading in along, and because I know some of my friends are purposely not buying any more books on 2014 (only after they finish the pile they already have at home!), I have decided to give away one copy of this book.

 

An invitation to read along

So if you want your name to be in the drawing, just leave a comment here. I will announce a winner next  Wednesday, January 22 (USA only).

And if you are not in this season of life yet, make sure to pass the voice among your friends, and don’t forget to enter your name in there; if you win, you can give the book to your friend, you know she will be very happy, right?

Under His sun and by His grace,

Becky

A Few More Quotes from Joy at the End of the Tether and a Winner

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Yes, I am very excited to announce who the winner is of the book Joy at the End of the Tether: The Inscrutable Wisdom of Ecclesiastes by Douglas Wilson. But before you jump to end of the post to find out if it was you… I would like to share with you a few more quotes.

Read Eccl.7:16-22 and then come back… Now:

“What does it mean to overly righteous?… Clearly Solomon here is not addressing genuine pity, righteousness, or wisdom. He is speaking of what too often passes for it. So what does it mean? Not to point a fine point on it, it means… Nice Christian, Priggish Christian, Sanctimonious Christian. Tight-shoes Christian, Pursed lips Christian, Stickler Christian. Insufferable Christian. Prudish Christian. Doctrinally correct Christian. Know-it-all Christian. Ostentatious Christian. Quiet-time-everyday-or-I’ll-go-to-Hell Christian. Conceited Christian. Orthodox Christian. UnChristian Christian.”

 

“What men like in religion is not necessarily what God likes. What men admire is not necessarily what God admires.”

 

“The antidote to this religiosity is the fear of God and not a pagan moderation. If a man fears God sincerely, then he will not fall into religious foolishness (v.18). True wisdom is strength, while the desire to appear wise is suicide.”

Now read Ecc. 8:16-9:3…

“The wise know how to identify what cannot be known. Solomon is is not referring to the actions of God on the other side of the universe (which, of course, no one thinks we could know), but rather His governance of our lives here and now. He sets the limitation upon any man (v.17) and not just upon himself and his own endeavors. Look around as you please, you do not know hat is happening.

Wisdom does not seek to explain this sovereignty of God.”

 

“Always remember that Ecclesiastes is at war with the folly of self-sufficiency. The key to wisdom is coming to understand what we do not know.”

You will have to get this book to fully enjoy it. I am sure this is the perfect kind of book to read around the family table with our grown-up children along with a nice dinner –because this is what the wise do, they enjoy nice dinners with bacon and wine.- I promise you will find in this little book much to consider and talk about… and even laugh.

Well, now the announcement. The winner is Jessica! Yay! Congratulations, friend! And just because books are also a gift from God, and I am happy, and I love my friends… I will give you not only this book but also the other one I am loving… This Momentary Marriage by John Piper. I will contact you soon, Jessica!

Much love to you all and once again, thanks for taking the time to read.

Becky

Borrowed Words from Joy at the End of the Tether and a Giveaway

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Canon Press

Ecclesiastes has been  my “prayer book” these past weeks. I have been studying it and to help me dig deeper into it, I have been reading Douglas Wilson’s book, Joy at the End of the Tether: The Inscrutable Wisdom of Ecclesiastes. I am half way through it and I can already recommend it to you all. It has been a blessing to me.

Here are some borrowed words from it:

 

“The great Hebrew philosopher who wrote this book called Ecclesiastes calls us to joy, but to a joy which thinks, a joy which does not shrink back from hard questions. He calls us to meditation, but to meditation which does not despair.”

 

“The meaningless of all things, as Solomon presents it, must work down into our bones. We should let the Word do its work before we hasten to make Ecclesiastes a grab bag of inspirational quotes.”

 

“God is the One who gives things, and God is the One who gives the power to enjoy things.. Only the first is given to the unbeliever. The believer is given both, which is simply another way of saying that he is given the capacity for enjoyment.”

“To be wise, a man must know his limitations.”

“We are being told that we have been placed in a world that we did not create or fashion, and that this world has various repetitive cycles, to which cycles we have been assigned by someone else. We are under the authority of these repetitions and have been placed under that authority by the hand and purpose of God.”

“God only promised a way of escape from every temptations, not from every unpalatable doctrine.”

 

“When calamity comes, and the tears follow, the Lord was in it. When rejoicing brings relief, the Lord was in it. The doctrine has a hard edge and more than one person has cut himself on it. But denial of the doctrine does not remove the light and darkness, the peace or evil. It just removes the possibility of finding any solace.”

 

“Relationships which form under His sovereign will, and relationships which dissolve are all from Him as well (v.8). Euodia and Synthyche were close and had a falling out. No longer under the sun, they are together again. The time for the friendships and the time for the quarrels are all appointed.”

 

“Eternity has been placed in our hearts. God has made us in relation to Him, and nothing we can do will alter this. He is always our Maker and we are always made. He is always Creator and we are always created.”

 

“We must begin with God and not just any old divinity.”

 

“Rejoice, do good, eat your bread, drink your wine. Believe in the sovereign God and enjoy these inscrutable repetitions (3:15). This is a gift (3:13). Remember his judgments (3:15) and sit down to your dinner.”

Now, it’s been a while since I have not hosted a giveaway here, and I am thinking that this is the time to do so, and this is the perfect book to give away. So if you want to enter the drawing, leave a comment here. The winner will be announced Wednesday, August 1st.

May His grace abound as we live under His sun and by his grace,

Becky

A Love Song That Makes Me Close My Eyes When I Listen -and a giveaway-

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When my husband and I got married, one of the dreams we had was to travel through the world together. It really seemed like an impossible dream, but we are grateful that God’s Providence has brought that dream to come true.

Friends always ask us which has been our favorite country, city, or corner of the world… we always say it is so hard to tell, every place has its own magic. There are many books that tell you all about traveling, and the 1,000 places to see before you die; and every time I see them I think to myself, “no matter where I go, or not go, the eyes of my husband is what I don’t want to miss seeing.” 

So, no matter where you travel, or not… make sure that you see into your husband’s eyes today.

 

 

Andrew Peterson has so many wonderful songs, that I am sure you would totally love. So I have decided I will give away a copy of his CD, Counting Stars, which also has another love song that I just love, Dancing in the Minefields. To enter your name in this giveaway,  leave a comment here and maybe share with us your favorite love song,  and -if times permits- a story on why that song makes you close your eyes?

I will announce a winner Tuesday, February 14

Becky

Related post:

Our Marriage, Our Dance.

For the Love of Words; Sailing into the Vast Ocean of Words -and a Giveaway-

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Isn’t it just amazing how God created everything with the power of His Word? It just blows my mind. And it amazes me how God gave us the gift of language, a way to communicate one to another, words to create, to give life (not in the sense like He does, of course), to bless -or curse-. And not only that but He, in His mercy, gave us a wonderful brain that can learn new languages. That, my friends, is pretty awesome!

So, I have decided to take advantage of this God-given gift and learn more about how to use English words -and sentences, and paragraphs, and commas, and all that- better. Yes, and you will be benefited too, I hope, as you find my writing getting clearer and cleaner 🙂

English is my second language, (I am sure you already knew -or by this time figured- that out. ) but sometimes I just doubt if I am really fluent. Specially when reading Chesterton. So, my friends, here I am, ready to sail into the vast Ocean of Words; and of course, I will be taking you with me, I am sure the adventure will be fun and profitable. I will be posting in this place quotes, rules, new words, and things like that; if you don’t want to come along, it’s OK, I will love you still.

The first book that stirred my soul into this adventure is one that I dare to say will be one of my favorite books in 2012: Wordsmithy: Hot Tips for the Writing Life by Douglas Wilson. The book is excellent; full of practical advice, encouragement and great quotes to keep in a commonplace notebook (so that you won’t forget, and use later).

See more about this book here.

A few of my favorite quotes are these:

“Pay attention to all the words you use every day -especially the words that are coming out of your mouth.” (p.22)

“If you want to say a lot, you need to have a lot to say” (p.24)

“Writing is a form of teaching, even when it is not being didactic in some formal kind of way. And the most contagious form of teaching is when an instructor loves his material in the presence of others -whom he also loves.” (p.26)

“Love what you observe, love what you write, and love those who read it.” (p.27)

“Wanting to write without reading is like wanting to grind flour without gathering wheat, like wanting to make boards without logging, and like wanting to have a Mississippi Delta without any tributaries somewhere in Minnesota. Output requires intake, and literary output requires literary intake.” (p.30)

“Read like someone who can afford to forget most of what you read. It does not matter because you are still going to be shaped by it.” (p.37)

“Set a lifetime pattern of reading books” (p.42)

“Read boring books on writing mechanics” (p.50)

“Dictionaries are books. Why can’t we read them?” (p.53)

“We {Christians} are people of the Word, and therefore we are people of words. Because we are people of words, we may, later on, be people of essays, poems, blog posts, screenplays, and novels.” (p.78)

“Love what you observe, love what you write, and love those who read it.” (p.79)

“God blesses giving, so every use of language, down to the lowliest tweet, ought to be thought as a gift to others. But when we give, we do not run out of what we are giving. If we are giving language that is thought through, language that is edifying, that is calculated to bless the other, then what on earth makes us think that God would let us run out?” (p.84)

“Your commonplace book is just a staging area. You are collecting things in order use them, to get them into your mind and heart and thence your writing.” (p.115)

“The world of actual language use is so complex and so messy that only God understands the English language. Only God is fluent.”

This book is so good, and I am so excited about this journey that I just can’t keep all this goodness for myself, after all, as one wise fellow said, “Writing is not solo work”. If you love words and sentences, and commonplace books, and want to sail with me into the vast Ocean of Words, then leave a comment here and I will enter your name in the giveaway of one copy of this book. (Feel free to share the news with your friends). I will announce the winner, God willing,  Tuesday, January 24.

Becky