Book Review: Love You More

I just read “Love You More: The Divine Surprise of Adopting my Daughter” by Jennifer Grant. This was an excellent book about the insides and outs of adopting and the struggle involved in such a process. 

Jennifer Grant has a quirky writing style that is difficult to get used to at first, but once you get into it, she does an exceptional job of relaying the message intended in a way that anyone can relate to. The author takes you on a journey through being a newlywed with the desire to have children to being a new mom that has it all under control. Three kids and a talk with God later, Jennifer & her husband find themselves on the long road to adoption.  

While the author gives an enlightening story of the ups and downs of the entire adoption process and the emotional turmoil that a family goes through along the way, she has a way of sugar coating the process without taking away from the pain involved. I have several close friends who have also just gone through the process of international adoption, so it was really a nice insight to compare and contrast what the author went through versus what my friends went through, all in the same general process. 

She finishes the book with a glimpse into what life was like the first day, week, month, year and birthday after they brought their daughter home. She relayed what the trauma was like on the kids they already had and what it entailed to bring a child of a different race into a family. She gives some great advice from the hindsight point of view as to what worked and what didn’t and what, if you too are considering adoption, can do to try to ease into the transition.  

I highly recommend reading this book if you are considering adoption, in the process of, or even just know someone who is going through it. It was very insightful & witty.

I received this book from Booksneeze in exchange for an honest review.

MommyShelle C

The Waiting Place - A Book Review

I just had the pleasure of reading “The Waiting Place” by Eileen Button. It is a charming little collection of essays. Each essay is about a waiting place in life. Whether or not she chose to laugh, cry or both in the situation really told something about her character. Many of life’s waiting places are relayed in this book in a real and meaningful way.

Eileen Button had a way of going from life as a child waiting on Grandpa to life as a minister’s wife and liking the two together to show how life may take you through a journey you could have never imagined but one that you wouldn’t trade for the world.  

While talking about her husband’s job as a Methodist minister, she talks about ‘waiting’ for him to come home. Not home in the physical sense, but in mental sense that he is detached from her and the kids while dealing with all of the stresses that come with being a minister.

While talking about waiting for her son to cry, she expresses the great heart ache & sorrow that a stay in the NICU can put on your heart. She then transitions her waiting into the joy that comes from the simple mundane things that the rest of us take for granted; a crying baby.

Overall, I really enjoyed the book and believe anyone could find a connection to or relate to the book and essays in some way.

Please note: I received this book free from the publisher through BookSneeze through their bloggers book review program. I was not required to write a positive review. All opinions expressed are my own.