Mom to Mom, Day to Day: Advice and Support for Catholic Living [Paperback]

Danielle Bean (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 2007

Packed with common-sense suggestions, spiritual musings, and hilarious tales of Danielle’s own gang of eight kids, Mom to Mom, Day to Day is sure to keep any mother reading, reflecting—and laughing! Includes a resource list for Catholic parents and a prayer at the end of each chapter.

--This text refers to the Kindle Edition edition.

Product Details

• Paperback: 155 pages
• Publisher: Pauline Books & Media (March 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0819848557
• ISBN-13: 978-0819848550
• Product Dimensions: 6.9 x 5 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #317,444 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Danielle Bean, a mother of eight, is Editorial Director of Faith & Family (FaithandFamilyLive.com). Though she once struggled to separate her life and her work, the two have now become so perfectly entangled that she embraces the joyful jumble. She writes what she lives: marriage, motherhood, cooking, homemaking, health, humor, and Catholic family living. Read her personal blog at DanielleBean.com or follow her on Twitter (twitter.com/DanielleBean).

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

30 of 32 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Like talking with a friend, August 4, 2007

By 

Karen Edmisten - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Mom to Mom, Day to Day: Advice and Support for Catholic Living (Paperback)

If you don't know Danielle Bean's writing, you might not know what to expect from a book with the subtitle, "Advice and Support for Catholic Living."

You might pick it up thinking, "Who is this woman to give me advice? Has she lived so long and so perfectly that she can dish up the goods on my life when she doesn't even know me?"

Then, you might open it, and read Danielle's preface, and find out that she is the kind of woman to pick up an advice book (you know the kind I mean: one with a rigid prescription for how to eat, drink, live, marry, parent, sleep, breathe and forego sugar) and think:

(from the preface):
"Who does this woman think she is? I find myself furiously thinking as I flip to the back cover to read the author's bio. Is her family really so perfect? Doesn't her husband ever leave his balled-up, smelly socks on the bedroom floor and she snaps at him about it? Don't her kids ever argue about who's looking at whom and who got the last cookie last time and who got it the time before that and ...."

And, you might next think, "Hey! I love her! She's just like me!"

And, you'd be right (unless you're the author of the aforementioned book that initially raised Danielle's ire, in which case, I don't even want to know you.)

Which is why you'll love this book and this author. She's so very real. I want her to live next door to me and come over for lots and lots of coffee while we ignore our children and catch up with each other. Because once in awhile, that's what real mothers do.

What's in this book? Let me start by telling you what's not in it.

Danielle Bean will not advise you to rise every morning at four a.m. in order to squeeze in that bit of extra prayer time that you need (but, she does have excellent advice on prayer and lovely prayers at the end of each section.) She will not try to convince you that you can whip up gourmet meals six nights out of seven without breaking a sweat (but, she does know how meal planning can keep you sane.) She will not tell you how to create the perfect craft, such as carving bath toys out of soap, thus saving money and mess (but she will offer twelve months' worth of real ideas for observing the liturgical calendar with your kids.)

In other words, what Danielle Bean will give you is a bunch of truths. Truths about how the little things can pile up and make even the best of moms yell at little people (but she'll remind you that you're not alone) ; about how marriage takes work (but is still the best thing we humans have got going) ; about how boring it can sometimes be to stay home (and yet how ultimately fulfilling and holy it is.) She will talk to you, as if you were having lots and lots of coffee together, about how to get the upper hand on the housework, how to live your faith with your kids, and about how prayer time really works at her house.

Because this is what Danielle Bean is about: striving for the very-real sacred in the midst of the very-real everyday. It's all connected: the yelling, the commitment, the smelly socks, the prayers, the boredom, the faith, the toilet-scrubbing, the journey to heaven. We moms don't get to travel a pristine path to holiness. Ours is peppered with dirty diapers, cranky kids, blown fuses and fishsticks. It's a path that evokes an "Eeewww!" from many. It's not pretty. And yet, it is the most exquisitely beautiful thing in the world.

Danielle Bean has seen that paradox, as genuine and strange as The Event it mirrors. Motherhood is a kind of crucifixion, a dying to self. From suffering and death come Resurrection. And from the struggles of motherhood joy, beauty and new life emerge.

That's what Danielle Bean knows, and it's what she'll tell you in this book: That it's hard. That there are ideas that will help you. Here they are. Take them and use them. And, along the way, let your vocation transform you.

This isn't "advice." This is friendship of the very best sort. Because that's what moms do. Mom to mom, we take care of each other.

Let this book take care of you for awhile.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great gift for the moms in your life!, March 21, 2007

By 

Jennifer Clive "Clive 5" (NY) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Mom to Mom, Day to Day: Advice and Support for Catholic Living (Paperback)

As a mother of four young children, so many of the anecdotes spoke to me and either offered reassurance or a needed kick in the pants. Bean's honest reflections on her family life encouraged me to reflect on my own family life--something busy moms don't often take the time to do. Though the chapters were short and easy to read(between diaper changes, preparing meals, etc.) her voice stayed with me throughout the day and encouraged me to think about all of the busy tasks of motherhood from a spiritual perspective. This is a book that made me nod my head, laugh out loud, and most of all, appreciate the gift of motherhood. Know a mom who needs encouragement? Give her this book!

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Awesome read for ALL mother's regardless of religion!!!, April 2, 2007

By 

M. Park "Mom of 4 boys & a girl" (Manassas Park, VA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Mom to Mom, Day to Day: Advice and Support for Catholic Living (Paperback)

I read Danielle Bean's first book, "My Cup of Tea", in 2 days on the beach in St Lucia while vacationing with my husband for our 10th anniversary. The ONLY thing that would have made this book any better, would have been if it came with tickets to go back down to St. Lucia!!! VERY easy to read chapters, taking no more than 5 minutes to get through a single chapter. Hard to put the book down. I had my 5th child 6 weeks ago and was able to read the book while nursing her ~ finished the book in just 4 days!