"Katt's In The Cradle" Book Review

A while back The Preacher's Wife had an offer of the book Katt's In The Cradle free from the publisher on the condition that whoever reads it has to write a review on their blog. So in good Dutch fashion, I signed up for this free book, and now I will attempt my review.

Katt's is written by Ginger Kolbaba and Christy Scannell. It is the third in a series they are writing called Secrets From Lulu's Cafe, though this gives enough background that I wasn't lost not having read the others. Let me tell you, these ladies know what they're doing, because each chapter is roughly 3-4 pages long, which is great for me because it's a lot easier to keep tabs on what's going on without having to reread. It took me about a week to get through this as it is.

This book is basically about the lives of 4 pastors' wives. They are good friends and share with each other their struggles and joys, their family and church life. They share a unique calling and can empathize well with each other.

I enjoyed reading this because it has a lot of real-world scenarios. These ladies have not had and don't have perfect lives and families. Their husbands are not perfect. You get a good glimpse of these pastors just being normal guys and going through every-day challenges. I found this a bit over the top as all of these women are wrestling with something very difficult. The authors also allude to things that have happened in their past, some of which I'm sure are in the previous 2 books. (But I guess that's what makes for good writing and consumer interest.) Things wrap up for them quite neatly like the end of a sitcom. I was about 2/3 of the way through the book, thinking there weren't enough pages left for things to turn around for all of them, but suddenly resolution struck, and everything was okay. Not back to normal, but okay. A bit of a cheese factor, but not unexpected.

The way these ladies and their husbands deal with their problems is really the key to this book, I think. With all the things going on, I think every reader will be able to relate in some way, even if it's not happening directly to them. It helped me to look at things in my life in a new perspective.

Overall, I enjoyed reading this book. I would recommend it for anyone to read (geared towards women). It has good stuff about responding to certain situations in a Christian way, which certainly wouldn't hurt me. I think it's good for congregants to read and understand that pastors and their families are still people who need love and support and prayer just like everyone else, not scrutiny and judgment. It's an eye opener for everyone. I am looking forward to reading the first 2 books of this series.

Pictures To Correspond With The Last Couple Posts

In Iowa. It's hard to tell, but he's having fun.


They both have an octopus on their clothes. What are the odds?




Ben running on the trail

A few minutes before we got back to the car

Our little superman. (The S lights up)

Our Long Walk

Yesterday was in the 80s and we took the boys for a nice long walk. There is a trail not far from us that goes along a creek and is nicely wooded. You actually forget you're in Grand Rapids. The trail is about 1 mile going one way. I think we walked about 1.5 miles, and Ben ran probably a good mile of that, only because we made him rest in the stroller in the middle of our walk. He just had a ball. Thankfully he generally stayed on the path. He was so fun to watch. We spent some time looking at the water and we saw lots of puppies, which Ben is very into.

When we got home, Jon started the grill for supper. Some of our neighbors came out with their kids, and Ben ran around with them for a while. It was just horrible when he had to come in and eat. Needless to say, he was tired last night. And it was even nice enough he got to wear his new Superman jammies! I think he had a good day. Pictures to come.

Our First Shorts Day

It is supposed to be around 80 today, so we put the boys in shorts. So a bit ago I'm down here working, and Ben is upstairs, and I hear, "No, no!" This is what he does when he is stuck or otherwise frustrated. (Yesterday he got his foot stuck under the couch with his tennis shoe on.) So I go upstairs, and the poor boy is trying to cover his legs. He does not like when his pants ride up his legs, and now he is trying to pull his shorts down. But he's got overalls on, so it's not working. I tried to show him how mommy has shorts on and how they're not supposed to cover his leg, but how well does he understand? I'm not sure. He then proceeded to hit at my leg and was otherwise distracted. Until next time...

In other news, we have new Ben math around here, as in Baby + Finn = Fifi. Finn is now a poodle. And Ben has now opted to put on his tennis shoes all day instead of his sandals. They have Velcro, and he can manage that pretty well. He does a pretty good job, but he always smushes the tongues into the shoes and usually one foot isn't all the way in. We're considering hiding his shoes.

We plan on enjoying the day with a nice long walk this afternoon. Hopefully we can be doing that regularly.

New Shoes

I took Ben last week for new shoes before we headed to Iowa. I decided to get some sandals for him while we were out. He wore them for the first time last weekend when it was 75 degrees. He had a hard time focusing on what he was doing because he kept looking at his sandals. Ben loves to run barefoot, but the last couple of days he has put his sandals on in the morning (usually one of them backwards, and then he cries because he knows it's not right) and runs around all day in them. He even naps in them and cries when we take them off. I think he's figured out that having them on makes him ready to go out the door when we do, which he is always ready to do. It's supposed to warm up this weekend, so hopefully we can make good use of them.

It's Been A While

Yes, I know. Hence the title. Let me bring you back to over a week ago.

Last week Monday night brought Jon and Ben back to Grand Rapids. At the same time, I got a call that one of my relatives had died. So I spent Tuesday and Wednesday working and doing laundry and packing the boys and myself. Ben was tired from his week away, so he was not always easy to deal with. Thursday I worked, fed the boys, and off we went with my aunt and uncle to Iowa. We spent the weekend there while Jon had a nice quiet house for a few days. It was fun to spend time with family. My cousin has a son 2 weeks younger than Ben, and they had fun playing together.

We came back Sunday with a sick Ben. He has been sleeping a lot during the day (and better at night now) and eating very little with a runny nose and cough. He's getting a bit better every day. Finn has a cold, but thankfully that's it.

So it's Thursday already, and I'm trying to catch up on laundry and stuff around the house. I actually got to hear my alarm go off this morning, which was quite exciting to me.

More Boring Stories

Here it is folks, an update of the rest of my week, which may bore you to tears. Tuesday I did some good cleaning, dishes, organized a bit. I had a friend over for supper and I think I just watched TV after she left. Wednesday I wasn't feeling well, so I started watching the first season of Criminal Minds while Finn and I hung out on the floor. Great show if you like psychological stuff. I went to some other friends for supper and came home late. Thursday I ran a couple errands and did a bit of cleaning downstairs. I found some stuff of Ben's that I knew was hidden somewhere. Somewhere in this week I managed some laundry, a bit of baking, and have spent a good amount of time on the phone. Last night we had church, tonight we have church, and tomorrow I am working extra. So it's been a semi productive week. I did find a set of knives yesterday that I didn't know we had. That was pretty exciting. Did you know that Goodwill takes eyeglasses? I found that out yesterday. So if you're looking for a place to go with your old ones, find your nearest Goodwill.

Finn has been enjoying most of his waking hours laying on the floor sucking on toys, so I've been hanging out on the floor with him. He has been getting up during the night and his schedule is just messed up. I think he misses Ben, despite being frequently injured by him. He had a great time in nursery last night just watching the other kids. He may also be hitting a growth spurt.

So there's my week in a nutshell. Not everything I wanted to get done, but I feel accomplished nonetheless. It's been rather relaxing and injury free (I think I get hurt as much as Finn does). Hopefully I can regale you with tales of Ben again next week.

A Rant

(I have a good title for this, but it's not appropriate.) I need to share my annoyance, just for a bit. I was watching some news type thing the other day, possibly local, can't remember, when along comes a story about caffeine. The person is interviewing a doctor, who proceeds to tell us that caffeine is in fact an addicting substance that has withdrawal effects, and then they show him interviewing a patient who is telling us what her withdrawal symptoms are. We then learn that caffeine is a stimulant, and in order to avoid some of the negative withdrawal symptoms, it's a good idea to wean yourself slowly instead of quit cold turkey. Then the story ends.

Really? In Phoebe's words, "That is brand new information!" Who doesn't know this already, and why was this an actual story on the news? My thought was that maybe they just needed to fill a gap and picked something randomly from years ago. If you have any ideas, please let me know. Thank you for listening.

An Update

Well, Ben is in the able hands of his grandparents, and I'm assuming Jon is enjoying basketball on a clear screen.

Since yesterday afternoon, I have typed in my recipes in a Word document so as to create my own recipe book. I'm sick of recipe cards of all shapes and sizes all over the place, so I typed my recipes and will print them and place them in sheet protectors in a binder. Easy to add to and I don't have to search through 50 cards before I find what I want. Organization is my goal. I actually started this project about 2 months ago, but it fell to the wayside, and I've been waiting for this week so I could stop staring at my recipe cards on the desk. So today I had to go buy a printer cartridge, and I will get that taken care of in the next few days.

This morning Finn and I went out and ran a few errands. I had to convince the state of Michigan that I have in fact had my car registered here for 3 years and it should be renewed. They finally accepted my money. I actually shopped leisurely while I was in the mall, though I bought nothing. I also got my pile of dishes done, vacuumed, and sorted through my clothes in the closet. I even worked for an hour. It helps a lot when Finn takes multiple naps and is happy just to suck on something and watch you while you go about your business. We did play together, if you're wondering.

So that was my day. Finn was up at 6:00 this morning, so I should really get to bed in case that happens again.

Leaving Home

Jon and Ben are taking off today for Minnesota. Jon will be preaching over spring break, and Ben is going to get lots of love from his grandparents. While the boys are gone, I'm going to get a few things done around here that I normally would have too much "help" with.

I'm really going to miss Ben. He is such a good little helper. When I sit down to feed Finn, he puts a pillow behind my head, hands me the remote, and makes sure I have the footrest. When Finn drops a sock or a toy, he picks it up and gives it back. He helps me put laundry in the dryer (which I don't expect to do much of next week) and throws things away (the stuff that actually is garbage). He also likes to load me up with Mega Bloks and toys while I'm working. Some days my desk is full of stuff. I will miss Jon too, but he actually talks on the phone when someone is on the other end.

On a totally different note, I am very excited to have a bud on my lily. My aunt gave me the plant shortly after we moved here, and despite abuse from Ben, it is finally starting to flower.

Since I won't have Ben around next week, I may bore you with the details of what I'm doing.