| Beautiful Words: Letters of Love from Mothers to Daughters |
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Over the years I have felt a particular burden as the mother of three young girls. My desire, of course, would be that they grow in wisdom, in stature, and in favor with God and man, to be strong yet tender women of God. But I also find it utterly daunting that their example is me.
I so desire to communicate to my daughters (and sons, for that matter) that I love them extraordinarily. But as a homeschooling mother of six, I often feel my days have pressed me out of the opportunity. I had been praying about this recently, and God in His gentle providence saw to it that I would be reviewing Beautiful Words: Letters of Love from Mothers to Daughters, written by two homeschooling moms like me, Lorrie Flem and Wanda Gibert. Lorrie Flem is the mother of eight children, and Wanda the mother of six. They are busy doing the job of homeschooling, but they have both learned the art of communicating through meaningful letters written to their children and have endeavored to share the process through this helpful little book. Beautiful Words: Letters of Love from Mothers to Daughters is a lovely primer on writing meaningful letters of love to our daughters. Initially I thought that Beautiful Words: Letters of Love from Mothers to Daughters was a book simply containing the authors' letters to their daughters but was pleasantly surprised to find it is much more. The back of the book describes its contents well: simple tips on how to begin writing letters of love to your daughter, ten ways to ensure your daughter will treasure your letters the rest of her life, twelve glorious and simple ways to present your beautiful words to your daughter, dozens of actual letters to show you how, and seventeen meaningful topics to cover in your letters and what the Bible says about them. The greatest portion of the book contains letters written not only by the authors but also by other mothers and grandmothers across time. If you feel you need inspiration, it's hard to imagine you wouldn't be able to find it in the appealing letters included here. I did find that the ornamental font used to print the letters was difficult to read, and I gave up halfway through several because I found it strained my eyes to read them. The remainder of the book, however, is printed in an easy-to-read script. In addition to letters, the authors have included nine wonderful tips for getting started, such as keep it short and simple, limit your topics, and pray over it. There is also an alphabetical list of potential topics for your letters: attitude, beauty, body image, boys, contentment, and many more. I feel that the list is worth the price of the book, for I found that the topics were issues close to my heart and definitely subjects I want to cover with my daughters over the course of their years in our home. Without the list to guide me as I write, I might have forgotten some of what I wanted to share with them. We homeschool because we care deeply about our children and we strive to tie lasting bonds of love between them so that they always feel nurtured and sustained by the family God has given them. To commit those thoughts and emotions to paper will only serve to remind them of their heritage, their roots, their strengths, God's vast and unending love for them, and hopefully will aid in reminding them for a lifetime that they were made by God to glorify Him and enjoy Him forever.
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Another review: |
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This book of beautiful words is truly beautiful. Beautiful Words: Letters of Love from Mothers to Daughters is a collection of letters written from various mothers to their daughters on a variety of topics--from affirming their womanhood to remarking about a funny incident the pair shared that day. The authors not only tell you that writing letters to your daughters is a good idea, they show you how to do it by sharing their own personal letters. As you read, you're constantly reminded that this isn't too far-fetched an idea. Nor is it a new idea; the authors include some letters written in the early 1900s.
Laurie Flem and Wanda Gibert wrote this book to inspire other mothers to write letters to their children, daughters in particular. I don't consider myself a very sentimental person, but even I was touched and moved to write letters to express the joy I felt in my heart for my daughters. Writing letters is a lost art in this day and age. Many of this generation don't understand the depth of emotion and thought that can be captured in a letter. I myself wasn't brought up to write letters to anyone in particular. While I do love to write, it is a new concept for me to write letters to my daughters. I have one daughter who is just learning to read. Now that I've read this book, I think writing letters to her is a great idea. What could be more exciting than getting a letter from your own mother as you're learning how to read! That would be such an encouragement. I, in turn, encourage you to get this book and get lost in your own ideas of what to write to your daughters.
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