Different- Some Hope for the Mama of the Out-of-the-Box Child

Every child is unique and every child has their "issues" and challenges; but some children are a little out of the box in all areas, but specifically in the challenges department. There is a well earned general rule that parenting is straight up hard and each of your kids are individuals who need unique care, but some parents find that their child's needs are beyond the normal spectrum of child rearing. What a breath of fresh air to have a well known and much respected name in the Christian Mothering community step out and raise her hand and admit, "That's me." Sally Clarkson is not only an author I admire but also a "mentor" from a far- a woman whose life I greatly appreciate and strive to emulate. I always glean so much wisdom and practical insight from her books and am so impressed by the "fruit of her labors" that can be seen in her grown children. I really appreciate that she writes from a stage in life where she has seen the outcome of her methods and can share what was successful and what to avoid, but also has a humility and honesty that remembers what it was like to truly be in the trenches during the Little Years. 

In her latest book, Different: The story of an Outside-the-Box Kid and the Mom Who Loved Him, Sally and her son, Nathan vulnerablely pull back the curtains on what it looked like for Nathan to grow up with multiple challenges- including OCD and learning issues and what it took for Sally to parent him well. Sally is very honest with how overwhelmed and frustrated she was at times, but also so faithful to share how God met her there and gave her the strength and wisdom she needed to rise up to the task of really seeing Nathan's heart and needs thru his "issues" and how to love him like he needed to be. Nathan has bravely chosen to allow God to use the many struggles he's wrestled with over the years to be a connection to others who can relate and an encouragement to what a great God (and a good mom) can do for an out-of-the-box kid!

Mother and Son chronicle the highs and lows of navigating a "different" kind of childhood. I could definitely empathize with Sally's struggle to just accept the cut and dry advice of christian parenting books who suggested just more discipline and consistency in it. I don't personally have a child with any above and beyond challenges but even just in raising some strong willed and high energy boys, I have sometimes had a hard time swallowing the notion of more sternness and less understanding and grace. I really feel this book will be a tremendous blessing to the mothers of those special "out-of-the-box" kids, I know it was a refreshment to my Mama heart.  

Thanks to Tyndale Publishers for providing me with this book to review!

A little bit of nesting + the urge to spring clean= a need for E-Cloth!

Nesting is a very real phenomenon in my pregnancies and it usually hits towards the latter half of my second trimester. We are definitely there! Between my nesting instincts kicking in and a little bit of sunshine (finally!) showing up to inspire some spring cleaning, I've been on a bit of a house keeping spree lately. 

When I first got married and starting my homemaking journey, I honestly used all the conventional cleaning products on the grocery store shelf. Febreeze, Lysol, Windex- that's what the magazines and such said clean looked like and I didn't know better. I remember cleaning a bathroom or another such confined space with those cleaners and feeling so light headed I had to step outside for awhile for some fresh air; that's not a great sign of a healthy house. Once I became pregnant with my first son, I knew a clean and healthy house was now my goal and those chemical laden cleaners had to go! I did a bit of shopping around (mostly online since especially then natural products weren't readily available in my rural area) and started to stock my cleaning cabinet with products I felt comfortable exposing myself and my children to. 

With my last couple pregnancies, I felt the urge to take my cleaning habits to a new level and make some of my own cleaning products from natural ingredients I had around the house so I fully knew each and every element in what I was using. I did a lot of online research and a bunch of experimenting- some worked amazingly well and others were a flop. It seemed especially hard to find a product or DIY recipe for an all purpose spray I could feel good about using on all the surfaces that my family came into contact with multiple times a day- the dining room table, the kitchen counters,etc. I really wanted to find a product that wasn't going to leave much of a residue (hard to find in a store bought spray) but also wanted to know that it was going to be killing bacteria (hard to feel confident about in a homemade product). Then I heard about about microfiber cloths, specifically the best brand on the market- E-Cloth. I was instantly impressed with the idea of being able to clean and disinfect my house with just a cloth, no chemicals needed! E-Cloth products do just that- removing dirt, grease and grime and are proven to remove over 99% of bacteria using just water. They do it all without leaving a chemical residue on surfaces or spray in that air! I initially started by trying out a couple of their multipurpose cloths and was really happy with the cleaning power they provided with just water and no lint left behind either. 

A house cleaning dilemma I have never been able to solve is a greasy, streaky stove top surface! I try to keep it clean of food and grime by wiping it down with a natural spray and such but can never get rid of the streaky residue. I was excited when I found out that E-Cloth offered a special cloth designed just for stove top cleaning and even more when they offered to let me give one a try and share my results with all of you! The range & stove top cloth is a double sided cloth offering a smooth, "normal" microfiber surface for general cleaning on one side and the other side has blue scrubbing stripes for tackling those hardened on food messes. 

Here's a before picture of my stove top before I really felt it needed a "spring cleaning" makeover. I keep it fairly clear of really big food messes but it's always got that streaky finish and had some built up gunk around the burners. I took out the burners and their pans and scrubbed the whole range top really well with the scrubbing stripes side of the cloth. It did well at clearing up the hardened grease rings underneath the burner pans edges. I went back over the whole range top and the stove door as well with the regular side of the cloth and removed more grime! I still felt like there was a bit of a streaky film left behind so I got out the glass & polishing cloth that I already happened to have in my cleaning cabinet. I buffed the whole stove with this cloth and it really provided the finishing touch! 

And here's the "after" shots- look at that shine!

All in all, I was very pleased with the range & stove top cloth and will be using it regularly with my kitchen chores. I would recommend this product but also would suggest having the polishing cloth to really finish up the job well. In fact, I think I am going to be picking up a couple more for myself with their current 2 for 1 deal! 

With adding a new baby to our family again in just a couple, short months- I know I will be doing a lot more deep cleaning projects and will be shopping E-cloth's selection for my cleaning needs. I was also excited learn that e-cloth is now available at Ace hardware. You can visit the Store Locator at www.ecloth.com to find your local participating store. 

You can find out more about E-Cloth and find out the latest about what they are up to by checking out their blog or following them on facebook, pinterest, twitter or instagram!