I wanted to take a minute to recognize today in our nation’s history.  I wrote about my memory of that day and subsequent days to follow here.  My prayers continue to be with those who have lost loved ones to the terroristic actions of others.

Of Mess and Moxie: Wrangling Delight Out of This Wild and Glorious Life by Jen Hatmaker

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Okay, to be fair, my personal perspective comes from a place of pregnancy loss and infertility, so anything I read or consume in any way is filtered through that perspective.

Overall, the book is hilarious. I chuckled and straight out laughed out loud at some of the parts of her stories. I’ve never read one of her books before, so this may be consistent with the rest of them, but this book was like sitting down over tea or coffee and chatting with a friend, listening to her tell me stories of her life. It wasn’t really one of those big, life changing, “this is how I’m going to live my life now” kind of books, but it did have moments of motivation and inspiration in it.

However, as from my perspective, there are some uneasy parts to this conversation. Parts that I have no connection to or relatability to. I don’t know what it’s like to raise teenagers or little kids. There was this one little section in one of her How To segments I could have done without (not everyone can relate to the Family Planning joke of “I just held hands with my husband and got pregnant). But if I were to recommend this book to one of my fellow infertility/pregnancy loss sisters, I would say, read the little add on before the acknowledgments first (One More Word As You Go), then read the last chapter (Rewoven), and the chapters We Live and Unbranded. Then, depending on your journey, carefully sift through the rest of the chapters knowing that she is speaking from her life and her journey. It’s not all about babies and kids and teens, but there’s a good chunk of it that is.

Overall, I give it four stars. It’s a funny, light-hearted kind of book that is like a calm, comforting conversation with a dear friend.

I also wanted to let you know that I am a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com.  These are all things I have used personally.  I wouldn’t recommend something I haven’t tried myself.  Thanks!