I'm a full-time mummy

This is the first book I requested under the Blogging for Books program with WalterBrook Multnomah Publishing and below is my review for the "Enemies of the Heart" book by Andy Stanley:

Title: Enemies of the Heart: Breaking Free from the Four Emotions That Control You
Author: Andy Stanley
Publisher:  Multnomah Books; Reprint edition (June 21, 2011)
ISBN-13/-10: 978-1601421456 / 1601421451
Paperback: 224 pages
Dimension: 7.9 x 5.2 x 0.7 inches

Description from the product page:
"Are you afraid to look inside? Break free from the destructive power of guilt, anger, greed, and jealousy.

Divorce. Job loss. Estrangement from family members. Broken friendships. The difficult circumstances you are dealing with today are likely being fed by one of four emotional forces that compels you to act in undesirable ways, sometimes even against your will.

Andy Stanley explores each of these destructive forces-guilt, anger, greed, and jealousy-and how they infiltrate your life and damage your relationships. He says that, left unchallenged they have the power to destroy your home, your career, and your friendships.

In Enemies of the Heart, Andy offers practical, biblical direction to help you fight back, to take charge of those feelings that mysteriously control you, and to restore your broken relationships. Includes a six-week discussion guide-a valuable resource for small groups!

* Previously released as "It Came from Within""

I was immediately attracted to this book when I read the following:

Wow.... that just strikes it! I mean, just pause for a moment and think through each of the negative habits above and reflect on it.

I also enjoyed reading the chapters related to forgiveness. The author asked us to confront what makes us angry and to forgive the person and restate the decision that he or she does not owe us anything anymore. He further reminded us that you don't forgive because the other person deserves it, you forgive because you've been forgiven by our Father above. As I read through this chapter, I was reminded of a few personal experiences (which honestly, I have really really forgiven the person and move on) I like the sentence from page 104 where it says "Blaming won't make us better. Holding out for an apology won't either. The cure is forgiveness."

I also enjoyed reading the habits listed to change the enemies of the heart which is to: confess, forgive, give and celebrate.

I would highly recommend you to get this book, heck, buy more as a gift to your loved ones and friends!

You can get this book from WalterBrook Multnomah website, Amazon and many more.

I received no monetary compensation for this review, I was provided with the softcopy of the book by WalterBrook Multnomah in order to facilitate my review. All opinions expressed in this post are my own. Please do your own research when purchasing products, as your opinions may differ from mine. And if you'd like to read my previous book reviews, you can do so by reading this post of mine called "My Book Reviews"

As a SAHM for 2 years now, I would like to share how finances affect our parenting. Before I begin, I would like to clarify that we're not that dirt poor until we can't afford to buy anything, but as a parent now, we think the following items listed have indeed helped us save lots of money, enabling us to spend it on items which we really need and are of better use.

1. We gladly accept hand-me-down items!

Since we became a parent, we really love getting hand-me-downs from our relatives, friends and even ex-colleagues. You have no idea how much we save from not needing to buy bath tubs, toys, books, clothings, shoes, sandals, playpen, even a baby crib (which we used less than 1 week for Ben before we decided to co-sleep). All the money saved from not needing to buy things like this are better use to buy better quality food and necessities for the family.

* Our Point: You don't need to buy branded or new things when you can still make use (reuse) of old things. Recycle, recyle, recycle! And just because you are using hand-me-down stuff doesn't mean you are poor, just that you'd rather save the money for something better and appreciate that the old stuff can still be reused!

2. We are into DIY-ing some of Ben's stuff!

My regular blog readers would have read my post about my hubby's 1st DIY playmat and 2nd DIY playmat for Ben. Initially I was thinking of learning to make it using felt but that would take time (to learn a new craft) and money (to buy the supplies). In the end, hubby decided to use cardboards instead and we saved money from these DIY projects! My MIL also made and sewed some of Ben's pillows and bolsters herself.

* Our Point: We don't always have to buy new toys for our kids. We can make it ourselves and cultivate a sense of independence and creativity in our children to imagine and create things themselves! Also, by DIY-ing the toys, we are also recycling products like cardboards etc.

3. We are into preparing and making our own baby foods

When Ben was ready for solids at 6 months old, we bought a small tin of Nestle rice cereal  to mix with my breastmilk for him to try out. After that, we decided to prepare Ben's food ourselves. Meaning, we buy the ingredients from the grocery store and prepare it in batches and freeze it. It saves us money and we are more at ease knowing what went into the food Ben ate.

* Our Point: Just because it is soooooo convenient (I know this cos we bought that 1 small tin of Nestle rice cereal to try out. Guilty I agree!) to get baby food outside doesn't mean we should just buy it to save time and work. If you can, make and prepare the food yourself and it will save you more money and you will have peace of mind knowing what goes into the food that you are feeding to your child!

4. We are into breastfeeding

Seriously, breastfeeding really helped us save LOTS of money. We don't have to think of what formula powder, what bottles, what steriliser, what utensils etc etc to get. Of course, I am so thankful I am able to breastfeed Ben (he's 31 months old now btw) for so long and even now, by tandem nursing him and baby Alyson!

* Our Point: If you can, do try to breastfeed your child, no matter how long you can do so, just give it a try! I get really frustrated hearing new mums (or mums to be) giving up or not even giving breastfeeding a try! Such a waste!!!

** Read: Ecclesiastes 7:12 (NIV), Hebrews 13:5 (NIV), Psalm 4:5 (NIV)

This post contains quite a number of headless photos.

(Okay, okay, before you decide to exit out of this post, it is NOT a grotesque post,

more like I actually had to trim off the upper body portion of the pictures shown in this post.)

Reason is due to my BFF being a very personal person (she doesn't even have a profile picture in her Facebook!) and I totally respect that principle of hers (cos I'm kinda like that too, only I masked my paranoia of being stalked by ermm.. showing more pictures of Ben? Theeheeeeheeee...)

So anyway, a bit intro on how she was so privileged (ehem ehem... sorry, can't resist bragging... it's the ego I tell you!) got to be my BFF...

She was just 4 days older than me, although I was quite often mistaken as the older one, thanks to us being vertically challenged by 3 inches difference.

We met at high school, were classmates together towards the last couple of our high school years. Sat near each other during classes. Hang out with our other friends after school, at McDonalds, doing revisions and sometimes playing UNO cards to pass the time.

At 16 years old during school holidays, we worked at the same departmental stores as part-time sales promoter to earn some spare cash for our own expenses when school holidays are over.

At 17 years old plus, she (and another close friend of ours then) accompanied me for my 1st date meeting with my hubby then PEN PAL.

At 18 years old, while waiting for our final exam results, we again worked at the same departmental store but we were under different clothing brands though still on the same floor. She even helped matchmake me with my hubby who is then starting to court me.

Then we drifted apart after we got our high school results, she continued on with her A levels and university and I went to a college, got my IT Diploma, jobless for a while, then worked part-time at a souvenir shop before finally managed to find a job in the IT line.

After about 4 years plus, our paths crossed again when I recommended her to my company (the subsidiary I'm working with happens to have a vacancy), she didn't get to work at the same subsidiary as mine (unit trust) but she was offered a post for the insurance subsidiary. Because the IT department were centralised under Group IT, we ended up working in the same office floor, in fact, her cubicle is just a table away from mine.

Those days were fun, at least we get to complain and share our work grouses. We go for our lunch together, go home often together (her house is about 20 minutes further than mine). We went to the company dinner together.

And then she left to another insurance company, while I left to join the banking industry (both of us still in IT line of course) but we still kept in touch, going out for drinks and chatting whenever we can (together with my hubby then boyfriend)

When my hubby's dad passed away in 2004, she attended the funeral wake even though she had to travel far, taking trains and carpooling with our friends who are going as well.

When my parents passed away in 2006 and 2007, she was there to support me too.

When I got married in Nov 2007, she attended my registration of marriage ceremony.

When I got pregnant in middle of 2008, we double dated (me with hubby, she with her boyfriend) and took a short 3D 2N trip to Cameron Highlands to celebrate my last holiday before Ben arrives. I was 5 months pregnant with Ben when we went for that fun holiday.

When her dad passed away in February 2010, no matter how we got nagged by my superstitious MIL (it was nearing Chinese New Year then and old folks have this superstitious crappy thinking that we should not attend functions like this before happy festival - bah humbug...), hubby and I made sure we attend the funeral wake and gave her the support she needed in times of sorrow.

And one time, after visiting a friend of hubby who recently gave birth (went to gave some advice to the new mum on breastfeeding matters), we went over to my BFF house and invited her along to join our dinner at a mall near her house. She gladly joins us (even though she gotta work the next day), then we walked around after dinner and hubby even managed to pester her to take Ben for a walk.

It was a nice sight to see her tagging along after with Ben, it's not often we get to see Ben getting so comfy with someone so quickly!

I just want to dedicate this post to my BFF,

thank you for being such a good and loyal friend to us.

It's nice to be able to have a BFF which you can talk to about anything and my BFF is a super good listener and we can just continue talking about stuff that happens long ago, kinda like we could just pick up where we left off long ago and resume chatting about the stuff as if it happens recently.

We wish you all the best in your life, be it work wise, family wise or relationship wise.

Read: 3 John 1:2 (NIV), Proverbs 18:24 (NIV), Ecclesiastes 4:9-10 (NIV)

** P.s: Go and settle down already girl! We want to see you holding hands with your little prince and/or princess soon!

Maybe our kids can continue to be BFF too! :D

Still and always will love you loads girl!

** FYI, this post was originally posted in Sept 2010 and I'm reposting this as an entry to the "The World's Greatest BFF" contest