Family Foundations- A Great Read

One of the best books Mr. Dunbar and I ever read was The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Families. It had been sitting on the bookshelf at my parents house for years, so one day I grabbed it and brought it home. Unfortunately, one of the Habits is not "taking things from your parents house." (That's just a really bad habit of mine. See here.)

Of course Highly Effective Families is related to the best-seller The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People and the habits are pretty much the same. If you've never read these books here are the habits:
#1 Be Proactive.

#2 Begin with the end in mind.

#3 First things first.

#4 Think win win.

#5 Seek first to understand then be understood.

#6 Synergize

#7 Sharpen the saw.

You will of course, have to read the books, to understand what each habit truly entails.

The thing I liked about the Families version is that, well, it focuses on families. Epiphany, I know. That's just where we're at right now in the Dunbar home. Our sons are still young, focusing on them and their life is a major priority for Mr. Dunbar and I. This book just really simplified lots of things, like figuring out what is important, truly important to us and putting it on paper for both or all of us to see. Almost like cementing it in concrete, sort of. Did you ever have your handprint done in the cement outside your home when you were a kid? Loved that.

Anyhow, this book is not a fix it for your family. Hardly, but Highly Effective Families does offer a framework for making your home a unit with a goal. It uses business concepts like writing a mission statement and focusing on communication as well as putting your family first for generations.

I liked this concept.

Anyone else have some great family books?

Oh, so good...

If you've ever read Redeeming Love by Francine Rivers, you just know what a phenomenal author she is. Even men will love Redeeming Love, funny story here. So when my MAP group decided to have a book club this summer with a series of books written by Rivers I immediately signed up.

Mark of the Lion is a winner all the way around.

This series will blow your socks off!!

Ha, I just wanted to say that.

And again, I feel like I am years behind because Mark of the Lion series was written like 5 or 10 years ago. But seriously, these are fabulous books with a plot that happened just about 2,000 years ago. Remember the movie Gladiator? I am a HUGE fan of the movie Gladiator. These books will surpass the movie, especially if you weren't into all of the war scenes and blood from the Gladiator movie. Set in Rome, they will give you a glimpse of how truly corrupt the Romans were and how us Americans are not that much different. The main character, Hadassah, is lovely. Hadassah, a slave girl, will capture your heart and defy what you think a Christian woman looks like. (She's Proverbs 31 and then some...she'll remind of another person we find in the Bible.) Marcus, is the hottie every girl always wanted. (Yes, I even said that in Book Club. All the mature Christian women were squirming in their seats, but it's the truth.) He's smart, confident, rich, humorous, good-looking, a total stud. Haddasah and Marcus' lives will consume you as you peruse these books and when they are over you will wonder where they are because so much of them is revealed. Oh, and God, has a way of revealing His master plan in all things in this book. Hadassah's life will challenge you to be the Christian you always wanted to be.

Read them, your walk with God will be altered.

Couldn't put it down

My friend Jamie handed me a book last week on Wednesday night and I had finished it by Saturday, I just couldn't put it down. My Sister's Keeper is a must read and go to book BEFORE you see the movie. (I really must not watch that much TV because I had no idea it was a movie until I went to amazon.com to provide a link for you.) If you have seen the previews then you know the premise of the book; a family dealing with a child with leukemia. And I know we, or I should say I, always think "Oh how sad for that family..." "That must be awful..." "Poor things..." I never think about the choices the parents have to make. The emotional or psychological costs. But this book will make you question what you would do. What lengths you would go to to save your child. You may think you would do anything to help them, but we really don't know what that "anything" means. When would you stop? When would enough be enough? Or is there no limit?

This book will make you grateful that even though your kid spilled milk all over the carpet in the living room, or yelled at the top of his lungs at you, or even fell off of the monkey bars after you told him to get down, he is alive and he is healthy. It will take you to the depths of parenthood you hope you never have to experience. It will shatter all of your preconceived notions of "choices we make for our children's best interest." It will relay to you how fragile life is and how much we must cherish it and relish in the small joys.

A famous blogging family that is living through these depths and valleys right now is Baby Stellan. Please keep MckMama and Stellan in your prayers.

The Saga is Over

Just in case you were wondering where I've been... I finally completed all of the Twilight books. Whoooo. They were so fascinating, and I had no nightmares so that was good. I must say that I absolutely adored Jacob. He made me laugh at I was so sad about his pain, but Edward is still the MAN. Any preferences? My friend told me yesterday if you go to the stephaniemeyer.com website there is a sneak preview of book five, 260 pages of it. Wow. If I start reading a novel online right now, Mr. Dunbar will kill me. So I am going to take a breather for a while.

Okay, back to normal Dunbar life now... pictures coming soon. (For Easter I got a Canon Rebel.)