Book Review: Redefining Beautiful

 

Redefining Beautiful
what God sees when God sees You
By Jenna Lucado

This is a wonderful book for teenage girls. It's filled with beauty tips, everything from the many uses of vaseline and tips on making modest the hottest to the importance of forgiveness and inner beauty. The book really all comes down to one point, our earthly fathers have a lot to do with how we relate to people. Not just our friends, but also strangers and even the way we see God. Every father has his flaws and no father is perfect except for one, God. He is our perfect Father and there is so much we can learn from Him.

This book brought up an issue that I have hear about a lot, but maybe many people haven't. That depending on how our dads are depends on how well we relate to boyfriends, friends, family, stranger, authority figures and to God. I think it's an issue every girl should be aware of. She had a great way of being able to understand and relate to teenagers. Giving them great beauty tips all keeping in mind that we should be modest and not cause others to stumble.

The part of the book I found the best was the life accessories. There are many material accessories that we can't live without. Lipstick, face powder, hair bows. For each person the accessories are different. But there are other accessories that we shouldn't be without. Security, Identity, value, love, self-control, peace, joy and contentment. She had wonderful stories and examples of how to have these in our lives. It was also set up with areas where girls can feel a part of the book and write in their answers to questions she asks. It was really well done and I would recommend this book to all teenage girls...even their moms.

At first I was really excited that her dad Max Lucado was helping write the book. But then I started getting distracted with how is input was added in the book. Always with a title that said "A not from Max" in a little box of it's own. But then I started to like this. It helped us know what input was coming from a father and is perspective on it.

 

Do you wonder about me?

Last night I started writing a blog titled SCREAM...it was about how my baby was screaming her head off for two hours, but now that she is cooing happily it doesn't seem right to publish it!

So instead I will write about what many people want to hear about...ME! OK. Not really but kind of...

I love all the well meaning people who say "My you have your hands full!" The funny thing is I only have two of my kids with me when most people say this. It seems like when I have all four of them with me they don't have the courage to say anything. Maybe it's because I look like I will bite the head off of anyone who might try and say a smart comment about having my hands full or being so brave. Honestly I don't consider myself brave at all. In fact sometimes I wonder why God would have given these children to me. I am so incapable. I don't have the patience for them all. I don't have enough love for them all. I don't have enough time for them all. I guess that's just it...I don't have enough of anything, but with God I have enough of everything.

I know sometimes people might be worried about me. Worried that I am running myself ragged with having so many kids (It's interesting to me that having 4 kids makes you a large family!) all so close in age...and still myself being so young. The truth...I am running myself ragged sometimes, but those are the times when I am not trusting in the fact that God knows what he is doing. We didn't plan for any of our kids...I am not saying that we didn't want them...we love all of them so much! But we were at times taking measures to not have kids. And what happen each time we still had a kid. Does that tell you something? It tells me something...God wanted us to have all of our girls at the time that we had them. So yes there is 20 months or less between our kids and we didn't plan it that way, but God did.

To answer the question that always comes after telling people that yes they are all mine, yes they are all close in age and no we were not trying for a boy. Are we going to have more kids? I don't know. I didn't plan on having 4 kids...but I have 4! So I must say if God wants to intrust us with more children I am sure He will, and I am sure I will not be prepared for another one, but God will help me along with that.

And I'm done.

Have you ever had one of those days where you are just done. Well today I am so done! Tonight was a hard night at bedtime. Mainly because Darrel is working a B shift and I have to do bedtime by myself. Usually the girls are so good about bedtime. But some nights they just love to push it...and especially when Darrel is not home. So I have Jadelyn and Liliana constantly coming out of bed, when they know they will get in trouble...but they do it anyway. I have Scarletta who loves to get out of her bed and knock on her door. Then I had Rayvena who had some crazy gas and couldn't go to sleep until it was out! Let me tell you though it was one big burp and she was out and asleep. But I still had three of them I was fighting with. Well I let Scarletta knock at her door until she got bored of it and went back to her bed. Although I did go in there after she was quiet for sometime...she had fallen asleep under Rayvena's crib. Too funny! I loved it though cause I got to pick her up and cuddle her for a few seconds before I put her back in her bed. I love just being able to hold her sometimes. Something none of my girls get enough of. Jadelyn and Liliana just really tested tonight. I just kept giving them the silent treatment and putting them back in bed. It worked...after about an hour! Now I am just tired. But after a long day of spending my day with kids and not having any me time I don't want to go to bed yet. I want to have time for me. Maybe watch a movie and wait for Darrel to get home. But I am not sure if I can make it. I find myself these past few days almost falling asleep at very bad times...such as while driving. Am I not getting enough sleep? I think I am...since we moved Rayvena into a room with Scarletta I have actually been getting more sleep. Is that the problem? My body has just become so use to so little sleep that now that I am getting more sleep it is having "sleeping attacks". Ok...that that really makes no sense...but hey made me laugh! Sleep is calling me...sleep...sleep...sleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee....