Easter 2025

 

Books that have revolutionized my health

 

100 Days of Real Food (and others in the series)... These books teach a lot about artificial ingredients and give a great explanation on what packaged items still count as "real food." I had to make substitutions in many of her recipes since she uses gluten and dairy but I loved the simplicity here.

The Dorito Effect... This book taught me so much about the history of food science in the United States. It frankly made me a little sad and mad at times, and so determined to make sure my kids have a healthier start!

Eat for Life... This book did teach me a lot about foods we should avoid, but it more importantly made me feel passionate and excited about eating healthy meals and serving them to my family.

Fiber Fueled... Longtime followers will likely remember my microbiome phase. I was obsessed and I loved learning so much in this book. I didn't agree with his gluten perspective based on other research I've read and followed for years (or on fermented foods because my body doesn't tolerate them) but I still loved this one. My family and I enjoy keeping track of our plant count each week now. It's a competition around here to see who can hit 30 first!

Forks Over Knives... I read this one after watching the documentary. Much of the information is the same but I'm a book girl so still really appreciated it in book form, too.

Goodbye Lupus... This book may have saved my life and I highly recommend it (plus her YouTube channel) to anyone struggling with ANY autoimmune disease or other chronic illness, including mystery illnesses with no official diagnosis. I'm telling you, this program will change your life. 

How Not to Die... The catchy title here may be misleading because this book isn't really about never dying, just about not dying from awful diseases that cause a lot of suffering. This book did teach me a lot about foods we should avoid, but it more importantly made me feel passionate and excited about eating healthy meals and serving them to my family. God really did design such a cool relationship between the human bodies and plants he created!

Plantfed Mama's Holistic Guide to a Vegan Pregnancy... After years of research, I felt confident that continuing to eat a plant-based diet would be best for me and my baby during this last pregnancy. I wanted to optimize my nutrition and loved using this book! There were others I enjoyed but none as much as this one since many others promote fake meats and such.

Salt, Sugar, Fat... This book taught me so much about the history of food science in the United States. It frankly made me a little sad and mad at times, and so determined to make sure my kids have a healthier start! 

Faithgirlz Master List

 

If you liked my American Girl master list, you'll like my FaithGirlz list! We hope they'll release many more of these books in the future. 

📖 Best Hair Book Ever... This one is a nonfiction with all kinds of fun hairstyles for girls who enjoy trying those. 

📖 Boarding School Mysteries... I really liked the first one but the second was a one-star read that really bothered me so I never continued the series.

📖 Glimmer Girls series... I liked the messages in this fun series and it was a big hit around here. I was tempted to assume it was all just silly playfulness because of the covers but there was a lot of great depth woven into each book, especially the last two! 

📖 Faithgirlz journal... Lots of good prompts in this journal. 

📖 Lena in the Spotlight series... I liked this trilogy about a young lady becoming a movie star overnight. Lots of good faith content in these. The Daniels Sisters series is a companion series.

📖 Princess in Camo series... These are light and fun in general and are about a fictional family + their fictional TV show so you don't need to have watched the Duck Dynasty show to understand it all. 

Ultimate Bible for Girls... We had a different cover and I do prefer other Bibles, just my own personal preferences, but this is a nice Bible. I did not read every extrabiblical word but I saw nothing objectionable in what I read. 

Still on my list to try: 622 Harbor View series // The Daniels Sisters // From Sadie's Sketchbook // Good News Shoes // Lucy // Samantha Sanderson series // Sophie series // Soul Surfer series

What I Read in March

 

First, grown-up reads...

📖 Bible study: Finished Proverbs... My Bible study has gotten even slower with Baby on board! 

📖 M is for Mama (Christian, nonfiction)... Overall wonderful and inspiring, but of course with a few things I didn't totally agree with. (As always 😉)  

📖 Take a Chance on Me (Christian, fiction)... This was book one of the Christiansen Family series and I was such a fan! I very much look forward to the next one, but I loved these first characters so much that I will be curious to see if I'm still interested once I get into book 2 and have to start fresh with Darek's sister. 

📖 Plus the designated chapters of my ongoing baby reads this year, What to Expect: The First Year // The Womanly Art of Breastfeeding // The Wonder Weeks

And for my kids' shelves... 

 📖 According to Aggie (secular, lower middle grade, fiction, graphic novel)... This is a good look at friendship and what it can look like for a friendship to fade away.

📖 Breadcrumbs (secular, upper middle grade, fiction, fantasy)... This was one I just couldn't put down, but it was a bit disturbing at times so I won't be handing it to my younger middle grade readers just yet.

📖 Breakthrough (secular, upper middle grade, nonfiction)... This is a short, fascinating look at the beginning of heart surgery for blue babies and has an interesting race/segregation component that'll make for an awesome Black History Month read.

📖 Fantasy Mapping series (secular, nonfiction, art/drawing)... This series is just a set of drawing books specific to fantasy world maps and does a great job teaching some art concepts.

📖 Henry, Like Always (secular, chapter book, fiction)... This is a short, simple read about Henry and his struggle with change due to Autism.

📖 The Pilgrims of Plimoth (secular, historical fiction)... I liked this one just fine.

📖 Return to Gone-Away (secular, middle grade, fiction)... Not as good as the first in my humble opinion but I did like it and will pass it on to my kids.

📖 Robinson Crusoe, Classic Starts adaptation (secular, middle grade, fiction, classic)... Fine to pass along but didn't interest me.

📖 The Vikings (secular, upper middle grade, historical fiction)... This was in a box of books given to me by someone who used Beautiful Feet Books in her kids' homeschool. I enjoyed it and know my oldest will, too!

📖 What Was the Hindenburg (secular, middle grade, nonfiction, history)... Informative, interesting, fine to pass along to my kids. *Not all books in this series have been okay with me!*

Picture books we enjoyed this month: The Bear Report // Cubs in the Tub // Honeybee // I'm Going to Have a Good Day // Narwhal: Unicorn of the Arctic // A Pigeon in Paris // A World of Praise // You Are Not Sleepy 

Bookish links- April 2025

April new releases I'm excited about: The Summer of You and Me // Tempest at Annabel's Lighthouse // The Voice We Find 

Independent Bookstore Day is April 26th this year! 

Real-Life Ways to Read More When You Have Young Children at Home 

Great post on the SOAP Bible study method 

Moms/aunties/grandmas- Easy 3-ingredient jam to make before you read If You Give a Moose a Muffin together  

Creative writing guide for aspiring songwriters 

This article on Sonlight history + some Beautiful Feet Books we were gifted have me feeling very excited about middle grade historical fiction lately! 

I love these bookish claw clips for throwing your hair up! 

Look at this amazing children's book museum exhibit in Kansas City, Missouri! 

6 books to inspire a love for God in the whole family 

This made me snicker. Guffaw, even.