Wild at Heart - book review

As a single mother (from a family run by females at the moment) of a little boy who has limited male adults around him, I am always striving for the richest possible experiences when he is around men; always looking to finetune my interactions with him, so that he will grow to be the man he was meant by God to be. I learned long ago that I cannot be his father, nor can I ever fulfill that role on any level. I struggle to balance being his *mother* while fulfilling the masculine role of providing for our temporal needs; let alone the type of discipline, the mannerisms, the expectations that a father would provide. I can't be both mom and dad -- and blessed was the day I realized that I can "just" be a mother who happens to financially provide; on that day and every day since, our lives have been so much more peaceful (that deep inner peace) and fulfilling.

There are still those people in our lives who say I am not doing enough; I am not strict enough; I do not discipline enough; and many other "enoughs". While I can easily wade through most of it from most people, I am still weak enough to seek the approval of certain individuals -- I change our ways, try to be "enough" and we fail. I fail. I make the choice to bring peace back into our home and I upset the person who wanted me to change. I have to choose my priorities. And maintain them.

Yesterday evening I sat down to read through the revised version of the book Wild at Heart: Discovering the Secret of a Man's Soul by John Eldredge. What little I knew of the book, led me to believe that it was a story of what men are truly called to be. I was naive enough to believe that I might pick up a few morsels - small tidbits - here and there - that might be of a benefit to my son.

Wow - was I wrong.

Wild at Heart provides a "morsel" in almost every line; I devoured page after page after page - why? Because it not only spoke in regards to my son. It spoke to my own heart. What are the deepest longings in my soul. God created man and woman to be together, not alone. Yet, we are both made in His image. How is that possible? That we are made in His image, but are not complete without the opposite gender? Because man and woman are not the complete image of God, without one another.

"Every man longs for a battle to fight, an adventure to live, and a beauty to win. Every woman yearns to be fought for, to have an adventure to share, and wants to have a beauty to unveil (not to conjure, but to unveil)."

These things, taken together, reveal the true nature of God. How? I can not readily summarize what Wild at Heart says on every single page - how do I choose which morsels to share?

So I won't share any.

What I will share is the layout of the book. The first part of the book (half of it!) is taken up with all the things that are wrong - all the negatives. And you start to think "When will this end? Is there no hope at all? Why aren't you offering solutions????" Only then does the author finally reveal his intention: you can't walk away from this sort of life until you know every piece that must be left behind.

So keep reading - don't skip a thing!

As I approached the last quarter of this book, I had only one remaining question: Where is the corresponding book for women? It's here too. Wild at Heart focuses on men but shares the heart of the woman as well - and reveals her true purpose and dignity in life. Man and woman are to fulfill one another, not save each other - we have Jesus, the Son of God for redemption.

So in the end, I am relieved of certain burdens I still held onto myself; I can now move forward with the tools I have so long been seeking; and I have a guidebook for those men in my son's life who want so desperately to provide him what he needs -- but didn't have the tools themselves.

Masculinity can only be given by a male. It's a hard truth to accept as a single woman raising a boy -- that I can't be his everything. But I was never intended to be his everything - he was always meant to have a mother *and* a father - and GOD.

It is only God who can fulfill. It is only God who can provide. It is God whom our souls are seeking. I knew this on an intellectual level; I knew this somewhat on a heart-level. But now I see it on a practical level.


This review expresses my opinion. I was provided a copy of this book for the sake of providing my opinion. All views expressed are my own.

Garden of Francis on the Web

For those friends who have asked me for a list of all our locations on the internet, here goes!


Garden of Francis - Main Website

Garden of Francis on Etsy - Webs Site

Garden of Francis - Etsy

Garden of Francis - Zibbet

Garden of Francis - Artfire

Garden of Francis - Blog

Garden of Francis - Twitter

Garden of Francis - Facebook

Used Catholic homeschool books for sale - free shipping!

I have a LONG list of homeschool resources available for sale - many are used, but most are in like new condition - or they *are* new!

See this link for more information:
Used Homeschool Materials at Garden of Francis

We'll be keeping it updated as items sell or we find more to list. Half of the proceeds go towards our next year's school budget; one quarter will go to a charity of my son's choice and the other quarter (that is not eaten up by Paypal fees!) will be go towards buying materials for my son's Etsy shop.


God bless!

Practical Financial Guide for Engaged and Married Couples

I am holding in my hands a book I wish I'd had many years ago. It takes so much of the financial information I have studied and sought over the years, and puts in the context of a couple getting married (or already married!).

While the information contained in this book is not new persay, the context changed my entire perspective on the whys and hows of my financial choices.

The book is Matt Bell's Money & and Marriage: A Complete Guide for Engaged and Newly Married Couples




The guides included are practical, focus on "couples" - both those already formed as well as those who are courting and engaged, going through the nitty-gritty details of how to maintain separate finances until the proper time for merging, and how to make that transition.


Not only does Matt includes charts and practical questions to be discussed (along with explicit instructions as to when to *just* discuss and when to actually make decisions), he also includes ordered guides for all things financial, when to do them and the basics of how - wills, estates, trusts, etc.

Being a Christian, he also has emphasis on "generosity". The use of this word over the word "tithing" allows for the use of this book by non-Christians as well - since the goodness within all people precludes a certain sense of generosity.


Again, if you have been studying personal finance, and following people like Larry Burkett and Dave Ramsey, you won't *new* information - what you *will* find is a clear and concise organization of that information for anyone who is courting, engaged, married - or plans to be in any of those stages of life at any point in the future.




About Matt: Matt began his career as a radio journalist, with his work featured on National Public Radio, the NBC Radio Network, and several other networks. His reporting earned national awards from the Society of Professional Journalists and United Press International.



Today, Matt is a full-time personal finance writer and speaker. He is the author of two books: Money, Purpose, Joy (September 2008) and Money Strategies for Tough Times (April 2009), both by NavPress. Matt has been quoted in USA TODAY, U.S. News and World Report, the Chicago Tribune, and Kiplinger's Personal Finance magazine, has written for ChristianityToday.com, and has been a guest on WGN-TV and several nationally syndicated radio talk shows.



Matt holds a Master's degree in Interdisciplinary Studies from DePaul University, where he wrote a thesis about the emergence of America's consumer culture and its influence on people's beliefs and behaviors.



Matt lives with his wife and their three young children in the Chicago area. Visit his website and blog at mattaboutmoney.com.



Matt Bell's (a.k.a Matt About Money) Money & Marriage has just been released by NAVPress. It is a great resource for engaged or newly married couples.
Matt says about the book, “I wrote “Money & Marriage” because I believe in marriage. I’m sure it isn’t news to you that money is a very common source of stress between spouses. It’s even a primary factor in many divorces. I wrote this book with no less of a goal than to save many marriages from disaster, and to help all couples use money in a way that strengthens their relationship and increases their joy.”

To celebrate Matt has put together a Nest Egg Giveaway with a prize package worth over $250! 

One winner will receive:

•    A Free 1 Hour Financial Session
•    A $100 Visa Cash Card
•    A signed copy of Matt’s Money, Purpose, Joy and Money Strategies for Tough Times

To enter just click one of the icons below. Then tell your friends. And hurry - the contest ends April 11th. The winner will be announced on Matt's blog on April 13th.

Be sure to pick up a copy of Money & Marriage – important principles whether you're newly engaged or just celebrated your 30th anniversary.


I received a free copy of this book in exchange for a review - the contents of the review are purely my opinion. Read what other people thought about this book by clicking over to the Litfuse Blog Tour.

Catholic Handmade - a new site!

There is a new Catholic site starting soon - to buy and sell handmade items, artwork, etc. It is designed to be a truly safe place for Catholics to shop online for quality items, without any chance of "funny business" showing up. You can see more about it here:
Catholic Handmade Blog
Click here for the Facebook Page

The projected start date is September 1, but we could use your feedback as we finalize our plans for the start of Catholic Handmade :)

If you are a SELLER (that may or may not be a buyer as well), please consider taking the following two surveys:
Survey 1: Main Survey
Survey 2: Category Lists


If you are a BUYER only (most likely will not be a seller on our site), please take the following two surveys:
Survey 1: Main Survey
Survey 2: Category Lists

Please forward the above links to anyone you think might be interested.

3/28/11 - The surveys are now closed, but we welcome you to continue to visit our blog and our Facebook page - please consider "liking" and "following" us on each.

And if you are interested in signing up for the prestigious designation of "start-up shop", please submit your information to us via the blog.

Thank you all so much and have a truly blessed day!

~~~The Catholic Handmade Team~~~

CATCHING UP! :)

Wow has this blog taken a back-seat to life over the last year!

But we are hoping to get caught up in the near future.

I have photos get re-posted in older posts, as well as reviews to get re-listed.

Garden of Francis has taken off - expanding to Etsy, Artfire and Zibbet. We have even opened new shops on Etsy for Eastern Catholic and Orthodox family celebrations, Fool for Christ and a child's shop at Hearts in Wonderland for Montessori and felt items.

Somehow I joined a small team of individual putting together a Catholic Handmade site - it is still in the works, but the blog with information can be found here: Catholic Handmade Artists. If anyone interested in buying or selling - please take a look and send us your feedback! Potential sellers can sign up on the contact us page over there; potential customers can request to be added to a notification list when the site is live! This will be really grand!

Schooling has been going well - especially when we focus on more of a block scheduling with review sessions as needed in the other subjects for maintenance.

We've had more than few trials over the last few months and God's grace has really been holding on to us, despite it all. Please pray that these trials for temporarily over so that we can focus on serving others once again.

May God bless you all this coming Lent!

We give Thanks

Today I give thanks to the Almighty God for His angels and His saints who kept us safe and guided us home.