As I have engaged in more personality tests, strength finders tests, and gotten to know myself better over the last year, two things have emerged or been reiterated: I love reading and I love learning. I love reading fun books that are easy and help me to destress. But I also love reading books that help me to learn.

On this blog, I used to post fun recipes I had tried and I used to post books I had been reading. I haven’t done that in a long time because, well, life, but I am hoping to pick back up on that a bit, as well as continue fun family and ministry updates. So, today, I present my first  in a very long while, and long overdue, book update of what I have been reading. I am including the books that I enjoyed or that taught me a lot, and not the duds (because I have had quite a few of those in the last few years).

First, lets start with my favorite, Dee Henderson. I love her as an author. Love, love, love, love. She is a believer, but her books aren’t cheesy “put a Scripture in here and there completely out of context” books. They are also mystery, which I love, and they usually have a little love element mixed in. If you haven’t tried her books, RUN to the library and get one!

I love parenting books, but because there are so many out there and everyone has such different opinions on so much, it can be hard to find quality parenting books. Again, you may disagree, but these two are my favorites that I have read lately. “Mom Set Free” was used immensely by the Lord to help regain perspective from this Type 1 (Enneagram), perfectionist, can tend to live in guilt and shame momma. I am so thankful for how the Lord has used this book in my life over the past year. “Parenting the Whole-Hearted Child” is another parenting book, but it does such a great job of addressing how to love your whole child and not just one area or another.

I also read “No More Mean Girls”, which is similar to a parenting book, but geared towards girls, especially in this generation. Based on the title, I actually wasn’t sure how much I would like this, but it came highly recommended. And let me tell you, I borrowed it as a library book but I am going to buy it from Amazon to have on hand because it was great. It gives so many great things related to girls specifically, from how to encourage them to build other girls up instead of tearing them down, to how to grow them as leaders, to how to help them handle their emotions and feelings. It had great practical ideas and there were already many things in the book I thought applied to my girls as well as things I think will be issues one day that I could use these ideas to solve.

Increasing our cultural competency is something that Ed and I are very passionate about, especially considering where we are living and ministering. “The Color of Compromise” was SO challenging and a little hard to read, but one that I feel like should be read by everyone. Honestly, I am still mulling over so much of what was said and wrestling with my feelings, but its a worthy read for sure.

On our team, we have been doing tons of research about Generation Z, which is the generation that is in college now and the generation that will include our kids. As we have been ministering here this past year, we are seeing so many changes in students and we recognize that the methods we have been using to minister to students are outdated and not being very effective to this generation. So, again, the learning side of me has kicked in and I have been consuming anything I can that will be helpful in understanding Gen Z. Hence the reason for the following books. All 3 of these books are beyond great, and I feel I could read them 15 times and not consume all the information, but if you are at all interested in learning more about this generation, these are a great place to start. “American Girls: Social Media and the Lives of Teenagers” scared the pants off of me and I keep telling Ed that our kids won’t have a smartphone until they are 18! While it was terrifying to read, I think every mom of girls HAS to read it to be aware of the pressures and challenges associated with girls and social media. But, be prepared….

I have a few more of my list to read this year, some fun and some spiritual and some learning, so I look forward to sharing more in a few months. I also am going to aim (noticed there are no promises here!) to share a few recipes throughout the month that are family favorites and home runs in our house….because I love taking tried and true recipes from others to incorporate into our menu plans.

And because I love my kids and have a hard time not sharing their cuteness with others :), I am going to include two pics from the last week: Blake walking to school in his small Star Wars backpack (he loves school by the way!) and Emerson enjoying a bubble tea date with Ed (the bubble tea was for her, as he hates it….its funny since we had never had bubble tea before moving here and now its a favorite of hers).

Its official, everything is now in full swing – campus, small groups, school for the kids, and afterschool activities!

This year, Kinsley is in 4th grade, Emerson is in 2nd grade, Blake is in pre-k, and Brynn wishes she was in school :).  We were a little nervous about how Blake would do being gone from us all day long for multiple days in a row, but after the first full week of school, he has done great – a few slow moments leaving us in the morning and holding back tears but yet wanting to go back every day. His teacher is amazing and I think that is a huge help!  As is seeing his sisters at school during the day. To be honest, I miss him being home with me during the day!  One other thing that is back in full swing – homework!  Am I the only parent who struggles with having to help her kids through every part of the homework (which is hard when you have multiple kids to help) and dealing with kids who are tired, cranky, don’t understand, etc? Man, the struggle has been real this week!

Brynn is loving time with our babysitter having undivided attention while mom and dad have meetings. She has struggled a little with being bored (“Mom, play with me! can be heard multiple times an hour) and missing her brother, but overall, she is doing great!

And campus is back in full swing now that all of our schools have started. Our days have been filled with meetings, planning, buying lots of candy/water, equipping our leaders, filling cups with candy, making flyers, creating QR codes for students to use when filling out surveys, survey tables, and lots of meeting new students!  Just this week, I, along with our staff and student leaders, got to participate in the Queens College club fair (first three pics below) and Ed, along with our staff, got to host a table at LaGuardia Community College (last pic) to attempt to see something started there. Please pray for good followup with students, that students stick around and come to events and Bible study, and that God surfaces some great student leaders. We got some rough news about St. John’s but keep praying as we think God may be opening up doors for us to go in a different direction there!

Thankfully, this weekend will be filled with rest and a much needed date night!!

Lets be honest: if you are like me, within a given hour I float between two extremes – “isn’t it time for school to start back?” and then, “but I am sad school is starting back so soon and I will miss them so much”. Given the day, I may err towards one side more than the other (I am not telling you which 😉 ) . That being said, we are trying to soak up all the fun before school starts back. With some of our colleges having started back already and some of our team spent planning with our team, they have gotten to have some adventures with babysitters, but we have still had fun outings with just our family or with friends. The kids start back Thursday, including Blake this time as a preschooler at the girls’ school!

US Open – last year, we attended the US Open’s Arthur Ashe Kid’s Day. They had face painting, balloon animals, kid friendly concerts, tennis activities for the kids, hair braiding and coloring, agility events, and people got the opportunity to see the professional players practice. We had a great time, so this year, we decided to attend again. We had a great time again this year, but the icing on the cake of everything (at least per the adults) was getting the chance to see Serena Williams and Novak Djokovic practice. In fact, the kids sat and ate lunch while we watched Novak play another person in one of the new stadiums.

While we aren’t HUGE tennis fans (my husband is way more into football, especially these days 🙂 ), it is still a great opportunity to expose our kids to another sport and to see some of the best tennis greats of all time perform. What a blessing to be so close and get this chance.

While Ed had his first day at Queens College, I took ALL the kids to the Bronx Zoo (which is HUGE!). I was only brave enough because I was meeting some school friends and they promised to help. Believe it or not, it was a great day, the kids did fabulous, I didn’t lose anyone, and I conquered driving there and back – BIG feat!  I didn’t take a lot of pictures because – well, keeping kids alive – but here are the two I did. Kinsley loves the red panda and because its her favorite, Brynn calls it “Kinsley’s bear”. Too cute.

Ed spoke about and prayed for the college students, professors, and faculty at our 3 church services last weekend.

One of the best parts about marriage (that I feel like no one told me!) was that you get to inherit your husband’s friends (and even more fun, their wives!). This past weekend, Scott and Lyndsay came to NYC to visit us (well, it was originally an extended work trip but when work was canceled, we had even longer to play). With 8 kids between us, it could have been a crazy, hot mess, but instead, it was actually really, really fun. The kids all played well together and enjoyed each other, and we had fun laughing about how we would work on arranged marriages between them (coincidentally, they have a boy 2 year old to match Brynn and a girl 4 year old to match Blake and an older boy to pair up with Kinsley 🙂 ). Even more than that, we enjoyed deep, soul-filling, challenging, encouraging conversation, and I think we loved it ten times more than our kids. Scott keeps this blog up and running, so huge props to him for that, too!

Another highlight of my week was getting to start discipleship and connect with this sweet, sweet friend. She’s always a bright spot and I am thankful for her friendship!

Meanwhile, while I was spending time with (hmmm…managing) the kids, Ed was at Queens College and lots of meetings getting things up and running. Here is a photo of them at a table at Queens College. We gave away an Amazon gift card, cups, candy, and made a donation to a non-profit local ministry when students filled out survey cards for us. We hope those connections develop into deep community and gospel conversations!

And then we invited them to a cookie social the following day – with lots of yummy treats and conversations!

St. John’s begins this week, as does school for our kiddos!  Continue to pray for the adversity we are facing at St. Johns, as well as momentum to be developed, great spiritual convos to be had, and students to keep coming around at Queens College!