Book: “Everything Romance” by Todd Hafer
Any time is the perfect time to celebrate with the ones you love! With Valentine’s Day celebrations around corner I thought I would share with you a book I recently read called Everything Romance by Todd Hafer. The book is packed full of great quotes, recipes and information. It has plenty of great ideas to get your creative juices flowing for your upcoming Date Night, Valentine’s Day, Honeymoon, Anniversary or any other fun celebration with your spouse. You will get a wonderful variety of romantic inspiration from the book through:
- Blessings & Prayers
- Did You Know? (fun love facts)
- Features (Conversation Starters and More)
- Lists (such as Creative Ways to say “I Love You”)
- Love Boosters & Love Busters
- Love Letters (from famous people like Mark Twain and more)
- Perfect Pairs & Famous Quotes
- Poetry & Poets
- Special Recipes
- Gift Ideas & Love Stories
- Scripture Verses, Trivia and More!
I thought this book was great reminder of how important it is that we spend time with our spouse. Going on a Date Night even after your married helps keep you connected. The book has a lot of different ideas. My suggestion is take the ones that work well for your marriage and implement them. There is plenty of fun activities to try and inspirational sayings to get you started. I especially enjoyed the love quotes and the recipes. The top 100 lists for Love Songs and Romantic Movies are wonderful starting points for Date Night ideas.
I haven’t had a chance to try all the recipes but here are a few fun ones:
- Berry Sweet Breakfast Parfaits for Two
- Lip Smackin’ Spicy Lime Popcorn
- Smooth Operator Blue Smoothie
- Perfect Pair Pizza Pita Snacks
If you need some great ideas for the upcoming Valentine’s Day celebration or more ideas for your Date Nights I would recommend checking this book out. Everything Romance would be a neat Valentine or Anniversary gift for your spouse. You could read through the book together or use it to help plan out your next date night.
I think investing time and energy into our marriage is important. While I may not be inspired by every story, quote, or activity in the book I believe the author did a good job of putting a great mix of ideas so each person can pull their favorites out for them to implement or enjoy. The book was a fun one for me to read and I appreciate a book that focuses on building better relationships! I am already looking forward to our next Date Night! 🙂
Rate my review & be entered into a giveaway: I reviewed this book for “Blogging for Books.” By rating my review, it allows me to choose another book and enters you in a GIVEAWAY! The rating is a two step process.
Step 1: Rate my review below (select the number of stars, enter your email, and hit submit).
Disclosure: I received a complimentary copy of this book for review purposes from the publisher through the Waterhouse Multnomah. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”
Book: “God Gave Us You” by Lisa Tawn Bergren
This week one of the books I read to the girls before bed was God Gave Us You by Lisa Tawn Bergren. Several of Lisa’s books have become family favorites over the past couple of years. The girls love the illustrations as well as the story and I like that Lisa’s stories stimulate conversations about God, creation, love, and more.
The story starts as Mama Bear is tucking Little Cub into bed when Little Cub asked “Mama, where did I come from?” Mama Bear goes through a simple version of how Little Cub was created, including pregnancy and the excitement of preparing for the new baby. I love that the book mentions how the parents prayed for Little Cub even before she was born. Lisa did a great job answering a common question little kids ask parents in this short and sweet book.
Overall I think Lisa Tawn Bergren provides a good story with beautiful illustrations by Laura J. Bryant. The story gives nuggets of valuable information about pregnancy and babies. The only thing that I didn’t “like” in this book (which was minor) was the author used the word “borned” during the conversation between Mama Bear and Little Cub. Even though I know Little Cub was asking the question it distracted from the overall rhythm of the book a little bit. This would be a great book for those who are having a second child or a young child that is asking a lot of questions about where they came from.
Rate my review & be entered into a giveaway: I reviewed this book for “Blogging for Books.” By rating my review, it allows me to choose another book and enters you in a GIVEAWAY! The rating is a two step process.
Step 1: Rate my review below (select the number of stars, enter your email, and hit submit).
Step 2: Check your email account for a message from Blogging for Books and click their link to verify your email.
Once you rated my review AND confirmed your email, you will automatically entered in a giveaway for this book by WaterBrook Multnomah!!! They will pick one person to receive a copy of the book for themselves! WaterBrook Multnomah will contact the winner directly.
Disclosure: I received a complimentary copy of this book for review purposes from the publisher through the Waterhouse Multnomah. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”
Book: “Living in Love” by James & Betty Robison
I recently read the book “Living in Love” by James and Betty Robison who are Co-Hosts on TV’s “Life Today”. Having a healthy marriage is important to me so I thought this book would give new insights or provide great reminders on ways to strengthen our marriage relationship. I enjoy having a chance to read a chapter or two of a book each day and was excited to check this one out.
James and Betty Robison grew up in very different family environments, James was the son of a single Mom and Betty grew up in a church going family. In the book they discussed their backgrounds and how they met. The book has a unique layout and more conversational. It shows Betty’s insights and James’ viewpoints by putting a headline at the top of each section.
Although I have never watched their show I appreciated that they encouraged couples to work on their own hearts first and stop trying to “fix” their spouses. Both James and Betty recommended praying for your spouse, marriage and family. Each family member brings a variety of dynamics to the relationship. They discuss topics that we don’t hear a lot about in our culture when it comes to marriage – selfishness, commitment, trust, communication, and confrontation. When married couples have solid God centered foundations in place we have more opportunities to grow and work together as a cohesive team. James and Betty do not claim to know everything but are thankful for God’s hand working in their lives as individuals and as a couple.
A couple of my favorite quotes from the book:
“An unhealthy self-focus can show up in marriage in many ways, but the one I observed most frequently is people trying to shape their spouses according to their own expectations. This is always a mistake. Instead of trying to change your mate it is best to allow God to shape you.”
“Trust is built on the foundation of commitment – first and ultimately, to God and then to each other.”
At the end of each chapter they added a few questions for each couple to answer separately or together. Overall the book is a great resource to read for those going into marriage or for couples wanting a gentle reminder of ways to build a healthy foundation in their marriage. If you cannot purchase the book I would recommend checking it out at your local church or community library. It is a pretty quick read and it never hurts to be reminded of ways to keep the communication open between you and your spouse.
Disclosure: I received a complimentary copy of this book for review purposes from the publisher through the Waterhouse Multnomah. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”
