Simply Mel(Formerly Mama Monoblogs)

How To Mess Up Your Child's Life- A Giveaway

UPDATED WITH WINNERS!!!

Ok, so here's what I did. I wrote down all seven  names on  small pieces of paper, folded them  and put them in a cup.I shook the cup and gave it to Mike to pull out five names. Here are the winners-

Celesta G

Lydia

Geempaw

Sarah Thompson

Jes

Congratulations you guys! Send me your addresses  to I can have the 5 copies mailed to you. Enjoy.

A huge thank-you to everyone who entered. I really appreciated it.

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Giveaway is now closed!! Winners announced tomorrow evening! Check back!

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I've been MIA this week on my blog and it's killing me! We've been super busy on Mike's "vacation" week moving things around in our house(and  making a huge mess in the process), de-cluttering, yard working, getting ready for Maddy's 2nd birthday party on Saturday, oh, and actually "vacationing" a bit by going to the beach and spending time at the pool. I've not been on the computer much! I have a ton of pictures to upload from both VBS's, the beach and soon Madelyn's birthday party. So, to tide myself  my readers over until next week when I can blog more consistently I am hosting a giveaway! I have FIVE copies of Kurt and Olivia Bruner's book " How To Mess Up Your Child's Life" to send to five lucky readers. The Bruners are parents to four children and are faculty members with The Center For Strong Families and host the HomePointe ministry. They are authors and co-authors of many numerous books on children and family. Kurt spent twenty years as VP of Focus On The Family. So, as you can see, they know what they are talking about when it comes to biblical parenting.

All you have to do to enter this giveaway is leave me a comment on this post. Any kind of comment. Say whatever you want. Just comment to enter. If you want more chances to win keep on reading.

" What? I don't want to mess up my child's life!" you say. Well, duh, this book isn't really about how to mess up your child's life but how to avoid messing it up by NOT doing the things Kurt and Olivia mention in this book.Confused? This book is written with a "tongue-in-cheek" , sarcastic and witty(and did I mention biblical?) approach on parenting based on  " the seven habits of highly defective people" (the seven deadly sins). I guess you could call it "  the seven habits of highly defective parenting". If you want to mess up your child's life, just follow the kind of parenting the Bruners write about in this book.  But if you don't want to follow their "mess- up strategies" you can follow their wonderful advice and precautions at the end of each chapter on how to keep your child from falling into these messed up behavioral traps. In fact, they put  a warning sign right before their  wonderful parenting strategies that says " WARNING! The following ideas could be hazardous to the process of messing up your child's life. Read at your own risk!" Clever!

This book is fun, fresh and easy to read. I enjoyed the practical tips and the "backward"  writing approach it takes. There are so many parenting books out there and many of them are, well, boring and say the same old thing over and over again.  This one doesn't. This book hits some great truths about modern parenting today. The Bruners definitely don't beat around the bush! You want to win this book!

Now, if you want to enter more than once you can 1) Tweet about my giveaway on Twitter  or 2) Write a post about it on your blog and link back to me and 3) Leave me a comment for each of these actions so you can be entered to win each time. Just let me know if and which of these you did.

This giveaway will run until Saturday night,after all the craziness is done with. I'll announce the winners Sunday afternoon.

Remember, I have FIVE books to give away!

What are you waiting for? Start leaving some comments!

"Mommy Grace" Review And A Giveaway!

GIVEAWAY IS NOW CLOSED! WINNERS ANNOUNCED SOON.

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***UPDATED*** I'm extending the giveaway by a few hours. It will close this afternoon at 3:00 Eastern Standard time. The winners will be announced later this evening.

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**Updated**  Just in case in case it was confusing, you don't have to do ALL of the things mentioned below to enter. You can do one or all of them. The more of them you do the more entries you'll get. You can enter by just leaving me a comment.  Just let me know in that comment which ones you chose to do.

 

Remember way back when I mentioned I was doing my first official book review? Well, here it is! I was sent  "Mommy Grace: Erasing Your Mommy Guilt" By Dr. Sheila Schuller Coleman and have to give the book "two thumbs up!" This book is an easy, soothing read and is full of inspiration for the modern day mom. Dr. Coleman shares stories and encouragement from her own life as an educator and a mom to four boys. I have to say, she admitted to some "mommy brain" moments of her own that were hysterical and certainly made me feel better about my own shortcomings as a mother. She encourages us moms to embrace motherhood, the good and the bad, and not be too hard on ourselves. Perfection is not what motherhood is about. She talks about relying on the Lord for strength and also to accept His grace,mercy and forgiveness for not being "perfect". I also like that each chapter ended in an encouraging quote from her summarizing what that chapter had been about. She also includes a prayer and Bible verses regarding the topic of the chapter. Here is one of my favorite excerpts from her book. This is from the chapter entitled " The "Perfect" Parent Trap".

"So why do I keep trying to be perfect? Because I want to be loved. And somewhere I mistakenly bought into the lie that my imperfections could keep me from being loved. But in truth, this logic is backward, counterintuitive. I have since learned that I can show I care more by being fallible than I can by setting a standard so high that it intimidates others. Then all I have managed to build is a wall, a moat that holds those I love at arm's distance. Ironically, it is my foibles, my wide hips, my face that not only has wrinkles but zits, my dusty house- in short, all my imperfections that draw people closer to me.

Perfection is not only unattainable; it is also undesirable. And the more I try to attain it, the more I will lose out on the joy of being a mother. The more I strive toward perfection, the more trapped I become by failure and guilt. Trapped by the need to be perfect- I can be freed only with the grace of the cross of Jesus Christ."

Wow. I think all moms struggle a little bit with this. It really touched my heart.

And since I think many moms deserve this book I'm doing a "Mommy Grace" giveaway! Five lucky readers will win this book.(It makes a great Mother's Day Gift!) Here's what you do to enter:

1) Leave me a comment

2)Follow me on Twitter (I'll follow you back of course. That is, if I don't already follow you!)

3) Tweet about this post on Twitter

4) Create a post about this giveaway on your blog and link back to me.

Let me know in my comments section which one of these you've done and leave me your blog address if I don't already have it. For each of these you'll get an extra entry.  The contest will stay open until Thursday, May 7th, mid-morning.I'll choose the 5 winners on random.org and post them sometime that afternoon.

Good luck!