Do you want to eat healthier....{and a Giveaway!}

.... without having to spend your life in the kitchen? Are you overwhelmed by the daily decision of what to eat? Thrown together with trying to eat healthier, real food?

I know I am. With 4 kids, that I don't want to have face the same struggles as I do with my weight, food is always stressing me out. Gluten or no gluten? Which kinds of fats? Dairy or no?


I have a solution, actually I have several solutions: From the "What's for dinner?" question to "How do we eat the way God intended us to?" : Real {Fast} Food! A fantastic book, written by my friend, Trina, that helps you make life a bit easier and whole lot healthier!


Trina covers it all! Monthly menu planning, once a month grocery shopping, how to alter your favorite family recipes so that they're healthier. Her book gives you fantastic ideas on healthy substitutes as well as some of her own tried and true recipes. She not only tells you how to make meals that are better and more nutritious, she tells you how she fits it in to her own busy schedule (she's a mama of 3 little ones).




The best part is, she's real about it, this is how she cooks, how she nourishes her family day in and out, even when they're on the road. She has a great website and facebook page to support you in your goals; always willing to answer any questions.

Since I think this book is so great in helping you on the road to getting your kitchen and eating habits in order, I'll be giving away one PDF copy of the book. Or if you don't want to wait and just want to get your hands on it NOW, visit Real {Fast} Food and get your copy instantly, for Kindle or Nook.

a Rafflecopter giveaway PS.This is my first time using rafflecopter, it seemed pretty cool, if you can't get it to work for you, for whatever reason. Just leave a comment in the comments below for each of the entries.

Review: "The Good Wife's Guide: Embracing your Role as a Help Meet"

Do you know what it truly means to submit? To be a Godly wife? I was recently lucky enough to receive a free e-copy of Darlene Schacht's "The Good Wife's Guide: Embracing Your Role as a Help Meet" to review. It was a great, fast read. The book was wonderfully written, one could read it without feeling judged or otherwise brow-beaten.

Darlene covers almost every aspect of being a wife that I can think of: From how to be a team-mate of your husband, working together and supporting your husband; to how to figure out the best way for you to clean your home. Using scripture to inspire us to our best.

I think so often we, as women, fall into the surviving aspect of life {I know I do}. We seek to get through today or this project or this task, rather than focusing on the larger picture. Schacht speaks of how to do both, how to glorify God through the mundane. How to change our hearts in serving our selves, our husbands and our families.

One of my favorite things in this book is a list of favorite scriptures, placed in applicable places in the house: "She rises while it is yet night and provides food for her household and portions for her maidens." Prov 31:15, taped to the inside of a cabinet, perhaps the first place you go in your kitchen in the morning.

Schacht writes about how to find contentment in your life, how to not only accept who and what you are and have, but rejoicing in it. She also writes about how to best keep a clean bathroom, how to create a daily/weekly schedule that works for you.

I managed to finish this book in a couple of days. I found myself MAKING time to be able to read what Schacht had to say. I really recommend this book to ANYONE looking to find peace in their role as a wife and to anyone else as well.

{I received a free copy of this book to review: However, the opinions stated here are my own}

Book Review: "Enemies of the Heart" by Andy Stanley

I've been working with Multnomah in their Blogging for Books program: You choose a pick they have available to read, they send it to you, review it, you get to keep the book and then post the review on your blog, their website, and anywhere else you'd like. Sounds like a great deal to me :-) Depending on how well your reviews are rated, you'll have access to more and more books. Go HERE to visit all of my reviews.

I recently chose "Enemies of the Heart" by Andy Stanley. The premise of this book is understanding the four basic things that can destroy you (and subsequently any relationships you may have): Greed: I owe me; Guilt: I owe you; Anger: You owe me; and Jealousy: God owes me.

I thought it was absolutely fascinating that he was able to break down most of the things that we struggle with into one of the above categories, all of which he explained well with examples and advice on how to deal with them. Some of the suggestions would be easier to deal with than others, but, honestly, I think if you were devoted to overcoming these issues in your own life his advice would really be insightful.

I think most of us can admit to having issues in all 4 of these areas in our lives. I know I can. Of course it's always easier to see these faults in others. He even discusses that: How very often we think, "Oh so-and-so should read this", but if someone were to approach us about a flaw of our own we would shut them out and ignore them.

I really felt this was a helpful, and quick, read. There were so many good points in the book and so many new ways of thinking about ourselves and our bad habits. Definitely recommend it. If anyone is interested in reading this book, I have one copy that I am willing to give away. Just send me an email. Also, please head over and rate my review :-) I'd really appreciate it.

Book Review "Praying for your Future Husband"

A friend of mine has been working with Multnomah in their Blogging for Books program: It's really a great deal! You choose a pick they have available to read, they send it to you, review it, you get to keep the book and then post the review on your blog, their website, and anywhere else you'd like. Sounds like a great deal to me :-) Depending on how well your reviews are rated, you'll have access to more and more books.

As my first book to review I chose "Praying for your Future Husband" by Robin Jones Gunn (author of The Christy Miller and Sierra Jensen series) and Tricia Goyer (author of The Liberator series).

I ended up enjoying this book, and getting far more out of it, than I originally expected. I figured it would be an interesting read and then I would pass it along to my sister in law. It wasn't just about praying for a husband, or pray these prayers and God will send you the right man now. It was about preparing yourself for your husband, through God.

So many women, my sister and sister in law included, jump from one relationship to another, believing if they don't put themselves out there they will never find Mister Right, rather than trusting in God's plan for their lives. They end up hurt and alone, rather than focusing on building their relationship with the Father and trusting Him to bring Mister Right into their lives.

What I really loved about this book, was that it wasn't written by two perfect Christian women who did everything right and say "Look how wonderful I am". It was written by two women, completely different in their walks with Christ and their pathways to marriage: One, who had been previously engaged and whose fiance called it off, when her faith became a bit too much for him, and the other, who was looking for love in all the wrong places and became a mom when she was 15. It is this humanism that made the book such a joy to read.

The book is broken down into chapters focusing on different desirable traits in a husband, but it also correlates to how we, as women, should be making the same demands of ourselves, preparing ourselves for our future husbands, just as we are praying the he is preparing himself for us. There are wonderfully insightful and thought provoking questions, as well as stories from other women about their walks with Christ on the way to finding Mister Right. Each chapter is doused with scripture to help guide the reader as they pray for their future husband as well as for themselves.

I truly enjoyed how the different stories throughout had shown God's hand at work in the various lives of women who had prayed for their future husbands, whether they had started at 13 or 30. How God did such wonderful things in their lives, as well as the lives of the husbands they had yet to even meet, because of their faith in God and prayers.

I highly recommend this book to any woman, whether married, or not, because there truly is something in it for everyone. If for no other reason, than learning how to put aside our own wants and desires, and trusting God to fill the voids in our life rather than trusting ourselves.

Please head on over to rate my review :-)
Thanks.