"In this House We Will Giggle" by Courtney Defeo

I am so excited to tell you about this book I just finished. Now, I'm going to be honest the first thing that drew me to this book was the cover design and title. The book was so bright and and cheerful and it just screamed "open me!!" I know I'm not supposed to judge a book by its cover, but I just couldn't help it.

Courtney DeFeo is a well known blogger who continuously reminds us moms to not play the comparison game. She encourages moms to embrace who they are. This book is broken down into twelve chapters that each discuss a different virtue and how to teach it to our children. The plan for the book is that you focus on one virtue a month for a year.

The virtues that she covers are Joy, Love, Forgiveness, Faith, Patience, Perseverance, Respect, Responsibility, Service, Humility, Gratitude, and Generosity. In each chapter she defines the virtue in very simple terms that a child can understand. This was so incredible to me because I often struggle with finding a way to explain these important character traits to my children. At the end of each chapter she gives you a devotional that you can do with your family on the virtue. It includes a memory verse and a Bible passage to read together. She even has some suggested activities to really help solidify the meaning of each virtue and how each child can embrace the virtues in a tangible way.

I found this book to be extremely encouraging to me as a mother. I have always wanted to instill these virtues into my children's hearts, but have often felt overwhelmed and confused with all the "super moms" out there who seem to have all these amazing and complicated tricks up their sleeves. I am definitely guilty of comparing myself and this book helped me to see that. As I was reading through the chapters I realized that I could do this. This is so simple and yet so important. Focusing on one virtue a month will give my kiddos time to really embrace and understand each concept. I have decided that I will definitely be going through this with my kids starting in January.

I recommend this book to all moms. Courtney focuses on laughter, fun and love. She even includes simple activities that will just make your family laugh and play together. It isn't the kind of book that will make you feel bad about what you're not doing. Instead it is a book that will encourage you to put Christ first in your family and cheer you on to be the best mom God created you to be.

I received this book from Blogging for Books for this review.