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Books I recommend….

I’d liked to offer this abbreviated list of books to parents. Parenthood, whether by birth or adoption, changes our whole being. As we constantly try to be ready for the challenges and joys of parenthood, we can benefit from the wisdom of those that have gone before us. This is a list that I will continue to add to, so check back often.

On Families and Parenting:

The Shelter of Each Other: Rebuilding our Families by Mary Pipher, PhD. This book gives you the tools and permission to see your family as one with a unique and purposeful identity, and goes on to help you nurture and protect it.

Last Child in the Woods: Saving our Children from Nature-Deficit Disorder by Richard Louv. A very compelling book that will send you out hiking and camping with your family– a must read for every parent. God cannot be separated from God’s creation. If children do not have a love and familiarity with that creation, they are limited in their capacity to understand science, advocate for protection and ultimately value the mystery of God’s presence in the unity and diversity of life.

To Dance With God: Family Ritual and Community Celebration by Gertrud Mueller Nelson. This will change your “church-in-home” life! For God’s people, sabbath is a day of rest and rejuvenation. We do our work as Christian people throughout the week in our homes and daily life. This provides a practical theology (both the why and the how) we can enrich our life at home to more fully experience God’s presence in our little communities.

To read with Children:

Water, Come Down! by Walter Wangerin, Jr. The poetry, the wonder and the illustrations will captivate your child’s imagination and continue the dialog of living as a child of God.

Heidi (by Johanna Spyri) and Heidi Grows Up, and Heidi’s Children (by Charles Tritten, Spyri’s translator) These are almost companion stories to The Last Child in the Woods. The familiar story of Heidi is set in the late 1800’s in the Swiss Alps. It is embedded with Protestant theology, family function and dysfunction, and a lost simplicity, even amidst complexities of life. However my very favorite thing is the beautiful language the characters of this book use as they describe God alive all around them in creation. It is also a watershed understanding of a Good Shepherd and the ordinary shepherd–often residing in the same person.

Sometimes over my head, but books I’ve loved…

The Sacred and the Profane by Mircea Eliade. This steps out, in and dances around the tradition of Christianity and explores the wonder and mystery of sacredness. For any one who loves sacred places.

The Bible 🙂

 

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