At long last...

A few pictures...(This was my dress on my first Christmas!)

Blogging for Books

I have to say I was very excited to hear about this book. Many of you may have heard of For Women Only and For Men Only, two books by Shaunti Feldhahn to help understand the inner worlds of the opposite sex based on survey results and interviews. Well, she has done it again.

The Male Factor is Feldhahn's look into the inner world of men in the workplace. The workplace is still dominated by rules, expectations, and assumptions that make it still highly a "man's world." After hundreds of surveys and personal interviews, Feldhahn explores just what the means and how women can understand this secret world in order to better navigate and succeed. She explains that many of the men she interviewed sincerely want women to be successful and wanted to pass on information about what women do to basically shoot their careers in the foot.

As she did in For Women Only, Feldhahn takes different assumptions, like "it's business, it's not personal" and looks at what the means to a man and why that is different than what it means to a woman hearing that statement. Feldhahn discusses why even at work women need to pay attention to the fact that men are highly visual creatures. And of course, one of my favorites, was the discussion about being emotional at work and how men and women interpret that differently.

This book was an enjoyable read. Feldhahn uses direct quotes and examples to really explain each point. She is careful to explain that she is not saying one way is right and another wrong, but merely helping to explain how it is so that women can then do what they like with the information. I think that I learned a lot from this book. I've asked my husband a few things (like: really, you don't take that personally? or really, that distracts you?) and it will probably help me relate to his work world a bit better. There also were times when I was reading that I thought "Oh, that explains that time when..."

I highly recommend this book. If you are in the workplace, I think you could learn many things to help you relate better to the men you work with. Ladies, you don't have to be in the workplace right now to appreciate and learn from this book. There are principles that could help you in ministry, volunteering, or understanding your husband's work world. It's also just interesting to read about how different men and women can be!

In addition, I was given the expanded edition to review, which contains a special section of discussion from experienced Christian women in the workplace who, in Titus fashion, pass on their wisdom to "train the younger women."

In conclusion: add this to your reading list! (Click on the book icon for ordering info)

This book was provided for review by the WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group.

home sweet home

We are back in our house now. The furniture is all back in but there is still a lot of work to be done. Aside from unpacking suitcases, doing laundry, and doing dishes, we have boxes of stuff in our bedroom to unpack and reorganize. This will probably take some time since I have a very active baby on my hands. But at least I know everything is here...somewhere...

Or maybe it's over there...

No really, I will

I know I haven't posted pictures from Christmas or anything yet. I plan to. Once you read about why I've been remiss about posting, I think you will understand.

When life gets a little bit settled, I will post pictures. Really.

An Explanation

I realize it's been a while since I've posted. I've composed several posts in my head over the past week. Unfortunately many circumstances have kept me from posting. We've been sick, and then out of town to visit friends, and then...

...our house flooded.

While we were out of town a pipe burst in the common wall of the unit next to us. Our landlord called us on Saturday night to let us know. We told her where the spare key was so she could check our side, since we wouldn't be back until Sunday night. Sure enough, there was water. On Sunday Josh's parents and our landlord and her husband spent most of the day packing up our stuff and moving it either into the garage or into parts of the house unaffected by the leakage.

Sunday night we got back into town and went straight to Josh's parents' house. Once we got Kate to bed we headed over to our house to assess the damage and get things we would need for the next couple days. There were big carpet fans under the carpet drying it out. Our furniture was all displaced - a couch in the garage, the TV in the kitchen.

We are very fortunate that our stuff wasn't ruined and the damage was not extensive. This afternoon they will be finishing getting the carpet back down and then will clean it (extensively I hope!). We can move back in tomorrow morning and our landlord said she would get people to help us move our furniture. Then the process of putting things back in order will begin. I guess this is our opportunity to rearrange and reorganize.

We are thankful we had Josh's parents to call to help take care of things while we were gone. We are thankful we can stay with them. And we are thankful Sammy can stay with us and play with their dog. As frustrating as the situation is, it could be so much worse. It will be good to get back into our house. And it will be a lot of work to get settled again.

I guess I better get thinking about how I want to arrange the living room this time. =)

He's Official!

It's official now...Josh is an architect!

Congratulations to Josh, Mr. Architect!