Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Not just for Stay-home moms, March 20, 2007
I am a working mom, but still found this book to be full of great advice. The author has a very light and conversational style which makes the book easy to read and very enjoyable. I would recommend it for any mom!
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Must Read for Stay-at-Home Moms, July 17, 2005
Celebrate Home is the most comprehensive book I have read on at-home parenting. The layout and tips are arranged in such a way that they are easy to refer back to time after time. Angie Peters offers down to earth, practical advice on parenting. And reminds us to be realistic as we evaluate our accomplishments.
Great gift for any mom, but especially for stay-at-home moms!
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3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Better for Tips than Encouragement, September 18, 2007
Angie Peters' Celebrate Home: Encouragement and Tips for Stay-at-Home Parents, is a practical handbook of resources for moms (and dads) who stay-at -home. From chapter three on, Peters packs her chapters with creative ideas from how to entertain children to taking care of oneself in the midst of stress filled life of full-time mom-hood (and/or dad-hood). She is keenly aware of what it is like being a single-income family, thus, one will find affordable (darn near free) and tangible (things that we see as trash that lay around our houses can be "fun" for the kids) ways to enrich our children's development, keep them from boredom (thus, from complaining), and give mom (and/or dad) a sense of peace (or buy some time to get that "one more thing" done). She has systematically organized her chapters and the suggestions within those chapters. Her suggestions of "things to do" (with children, financial, personal, etc) are practical, realistic, easy to do, and sensible. She has given some websites to help with bored kids as well as websites to help the stay-at-home mom (and/or dad).
Peter's passion of mothering comes through every page...almost too much! As I am not someone who is a "happy-clappy" personality, I found myself repeatedly wondering what "pep" this lady was on. Specifically, in chapters one and two, you can hear her cry out as if she were your personal cheer-leader..."COME ON!! YOU CAN DO IT...JUST WORK HARD ENOUGH AND YOU'LL LOVE IT!!" Peters writes, "But if you can let go of the wheel and turn your days into a celebration of life with your kids--interruptions and all--the Lord will honor your commitment by adjusting your needs to be satisfied with a new set of rewards" (43). According to this theology, since I can't do any of the above, I have no commitment for the Lord to honor; therefore, I am lost in my miserable state. Actually, and I'm sorry that I have to re-iterate the Gospel message for Mrs. Peters, but it's precisely because I CANNOT DO IT that He has done it for me. As I am dead in sin, I am incapable of doing anything good. The whole equation has to work backwards for anything to happen on my end: Christ first loved me therefore I can love Him therefore I can, through Him and only through Him, do anything.
In a section called "Looking to God", Peters attempts to "encourage" her reader,
We know we can become the kind of moms God wants us to be because countless godly moms have come before us. We can read about many of these women in the Bible. For example, consider the virtuous woman described in Proverbs 31:10-31. This Bible-times mom was, among other things, a wise, creative, patient, good, generous, kind, diligent, frugal, and responsible woman. And yes hers would be some pretty big sandals to fill, especially on a day-to-day basis. This woman didn't have electricity, reclosable disposable diapers,a butcher shop, plumbing, a mini-van or SUB, precooked chicken nuggets, a sewing machine, a microwave oven, or Wal-Mart a block away. She didn't even have a box of Calgon to sprinkle into her bath water to take her away after she upbraided her hair, she her sweaty robe, and kicked off those dusty sandals at the end of her long, hot day. Yet she rose above the exhausting and mundane detail of her life with a grace and beauty that compelled her children to her blessed, her husband to be known far and wide, and her entire community to benefit from her generosity and sweet spirit (36-7; highlighting, mine).
I don't find this section very encouraging at all! This is an important section because one can glean her theology of Christian Wifery/Motherhood from this relatively short paragraph. The part in blue is the hinge on which her theology hangs: "Yet she rose above..." What?!?! To be honest, I have many issues with this section. Firstly, how daunting to use the Proverbs 31 woman as an example of how to be a wife and a mother! This is a classic thing to do and is a classic mistake that can have devastating effects on women in all cultures. Peters has shown her reader this woman and said: now, be her; and, I fear for those reading this book because this is surely a quick road to self-condemnation. Guess what, folks, we cannot be her as she is literally described; however, and in this we have joy and peace and HOPE, we are being transformed into her as we have been restored to God through Jesus's life, death, resurrection, and ascension. The Proverbs 31 woman is not a checklist of what I'm to be everyday, but a 22 verse story of my restoration to God as a woman.
Secondly, Peters has painted a picture of a woman who tirelessly works all day and has non of the creature comforts that we have; thus, we should be ashamed of ourselves for ever complaining. I believe Peters left out some very important tenets of this poem to the valiant woman. Let us never forget that this woman HAS SERVANT GIRLS! Peters intentionally left this out of her description because this characteristic would defeat her proclamation that we can be this woman. Peters also misses the fact that this woman was WEALTHY! She doesn't need Wal-Mart, she could send one of her girls to Nordstroms or Saks Fifth Avenue to buy her finest of fine linens and wools. Peters is right to say she didn't have Calgon to sooth her aching body, because she probably had some fine perfumed oils to dose her body in during her bath. No microwave? Would you need one if you had someone cooking for you or at least helping with the cooking? No disposable diapers? Well, I don't use them either but I am certainly not the Proverbs 31 woman. One could estimate that she probably didn't do too many diaper changes, remember those servant girls mentioned before...now, you tell me, who do you think was doing the changing?
Thirdly, and most importantly in my opinion, how is it that I rise of my own power with grace and beauty? More often than not, I rise up after I have had an experience that has brought me to my knees, reminding me once again: I CANNOT BE A PERFECT MOTHER OR WIFE! And, it's not by my strength that I can rise, but by His; in this section, Peters has left out (hopefully unintentionally) a full reliance on the imputed grace of Christ. It is by His strength alone that I make it through every day--sometimes effortlessly but more often than not with many emotional scrapes and bruises (and some physical ones, too).
Finally, in this poem the husband and the children play such a minor role, that the poem is more about being a woman than about being a wife or a mother. Peters has used this poem as an example of Christian wifery/motherhood, but in reality it's a glimpse of the restoration of woman to God that will come with the Messiah. Peters literallistically applies the characteristics of this woman to every woman rather than seeing the sweet whisper of promise and hope of restoration within every metaphor in the poem.
Though Peters is first to tell you that this mothering (or fathering) full time occupation is hard, I found her examples of "bad" to be not that bad at all; I guess, what I want to read about or hear about is a mother who really understands my basest and most selfish (fleshiest) desires, my building rage as my son doesn't stop screaming or whines because I'm not with him, and my at least once a day thought, "I gave my life up for this? All in all, I feel that Angie is putting forward a saccharine image: it looks really good, but, in the end, it's not the real/true image.
I guess the final question is: would I recommend this book to read? I guess, though I had some theological problems in the first two chapters, I feel that this is a good book to have on your shelf, within reaching distance. I would emphasize the "Tips" aspect of the book's title and not the "Encouragement" aspect. Her suggestions about things to do with your children, what to have packed for emergencies, crafts implements, how to use things that we see as garbage as entertainment for kids, taking time for yourself, and how to survive on a single-income (as well as some other ideas, too) are worth the price of the book. When I was finished with the book, I almost just shoved it away with other books; but, honestly, I'd like to have it close by to refer to for creative ideas for my children because I could never think of all the things she has thought of and written down. As it stands now, I find myself saving cereal boxes and cardboard tubes for futre toys/craft ideas for my son...when he gets a little older.
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