Close to Home

Last week as I opened the mailbox I immediately noticed the manila envelope sticking out from beneath the stack of bills and subscription offers that fill my mailbox every day. It had arrived!

I quickly went inside, tossed the rest of the mail on the counter, grabbed my coffee and tore open the envelope. Close to Home was finally here!

Molly Sabourin has yet to write something that doesn't make me think, Seriously?! That happens to someone else? Every time I read her blog or listen to her podcasts I find the encouragement I need to continue moving forward as a mother.

I'm the type of person who upon entering a new phase of life or beginning a new hobby visits the library and checks out every book in the place on that subject. I've read a gazillion books with parenting techniques on how-to discipline unruly children, get fussy eaters to eat, non-sleepers to sleep and how to turn an otherwise imperfect child into perfection. It was the same story every time, I'd get all psyched up making charts and schedules and giving myself pep talks on how this time things would be different, this time it would work.

But before long I'd be burned out, laying on the couch asking myself why I was the only mother in the world with children who don't eat, sleep or wipe their feet at the door. Close to Home is the first book that was written for mothers like me. Orthodox Christian mothers who want to create warm, loving homes centered around the church; mothers who aren't perfect. Molly accurately describes all the thoughts, fears, beliefs and joys that I, as an Orthodox wife and mother, deal with on a daily basis.

If you have not ordered Close to Home, you don't know what you're missing! I will probably be ranting and raving about this book quite a bit from now on, so be prepared! :) I have ordered several copies for Pascha gifts for women who are newlyweds, new mothers, old mothers and even non-Orthodox (she would have converted me in the first chapters). Women of all walks of life can relate to this book. It's the first book on mothering that doesn't make you feel like you're doing everything wrong; it makes you think, Wow! This is normal--thank God!

Below are a couple (trust me there are many) of my favorite quotes from Close to Home:

"Our words became poorly aimed arrows, usually missing their mark. I was too emotional to be taken seriously, I figured bitterly, and he was too removed from my existence as a lonely new mother to offer the right advice or comfort. Orthodox Christianity was the one common denominator in our lives. Communing together, fasting together, and standing as a couple before our icons in prayer fueled our desire to keep trying, to keep giving, to keep sacrificing ourselves for the sake of salvation--to obey Christ by serving one another."

"If God truly is everywhere present and fills all things, we need not fear that satisfaction cannot be found within our present afflictions, as maddening as they may sometimes be. Let us try, when we reach our breaking point, instead of writhing in desperation for an escape, to quiet our souls and pray, 'Lord, have mercy! I am here. I am listening. Please give me strength. Please give me wisdom. Amen.' "