Rachel Balducci is a newspaper columnist for the Southern Cross and blogs at Testosterhome. net. She is a cohost of The Gist, a talk show for women on CatholicTV, and a professor in journalism at Augusta University. She is the author of Make My Life Simple: Bringing Peace to Heart and Home and How Do You Tuck in a Superhero and Other Delightful Mysteries of Raising Boys. Rachel and her husband, Paul, live in Georgia and have ?ve sons and one daughter.
Overcommitted: Cut Chaos and Find Balance
"We all sometimes find ourselves overcommitted. . . . Where we struggle sometimes to see where we are doing too much, a good girlfriend can sit us down over a cup of coffee and say, "Hey, you need to stop.'
"And that's just what Rachel Balducci does in these pages. Like a good girlfriend or a sister who gets it, she sits us down and helps us to see that we need to figure out what our priorities are and let go of some stuff that doesn't matter quite so much.
"With honesty and humor, Rachel shares her own struggles and helps us to see we are not alone in the crazy. Without preaching or prescribing, she offers tools we can use to figure out how to balance our many priorities and commitments, how to know when we need to readjust, and how to find peace and joy in the midst of it all." --from the foreword by Danielle Bean
Make My Life Simple
Bringing Peace to Heart and Home
From the outside looking in, Rachel Balducci’s life was enviable. A mother of six beautiful children, she had a career as a writer and speaker and was married to a busy attorney with his own practice. She was organized, capable of handling it all, armed with a killer to-do list and an up-to-date calendar.
But those on the outside couldn’t see that Rachel was a mess, a bundle of anxiety and exhaustion. She was present physically to provide for her husband and kids, but far from present emotionally or spiritually. She stared down every day wishing it were already over.
One night, in desperation, she cried out to God, and he answered in a startling, freeing, and life-changing way. If you are feeling more chaos than peace, more panic than joy, take heart. Make My Life Simple: Bringing Peace to Heart and Home gives you down-to-earth practical pointers to achieve peace and order:
In your home: Establish a peaceful environment for you and your family In yourself: Design an ordered way of living to benefit your body, mind, and spirit with Rachel’s friend-to-friend advice In your spiritual life: Create order in your spiritual relationships with Jesus, yourself, and the others in your life
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Rachel Balducci and her husband Paul have five strapping sons and one precious daughter. Rachel is a newspaper columnist for the Southern Cross and blogs at Testosterhome.net. She is a co-host of The Gist, a talk show for women on Catholic TV and the author of How Do You Tuck In A Superhero and other delightful mysteries of raising boys.
In a former life, Rachel was a newspaper reporter, and she has a Masters in Journalism from the University of Georgia. These days she writes about faith, family and how keeping her bathroom clean will make her a saint.
Raising Boys Is a Full-Contact Sport
When Rachel Balducci looks for material for her writing, she doesn't have to look far. Her subject matter can be found climbing through the window, hanging on to the edge of the roof, and rummaging through the refrigerator. Here she chronicles the exuberant, awesome life of boys through bizarre conversations overheard, unbelievable rules she's been forced to make, and the many episodes of boy behavior that continue to mystify mothers worldwide.
How Do You Tuck In a Superhero?
And Other Delightful Mysteries of Raising Boys
When Rachel Balducci looks for material for her writing, she doesn't have to look far. Her subject matter can be found climbing through the window, hanging on to the edge of the roof, and always at the refrigerator. Here she chronicles the exuberant, awesome life of boys through conversations overheard, rules she's been forced to make, and the many episodes of boy behavior that continue to mystify mothers worldwide. From the care and feeding of her team, to travels out in public, to their wide-eyed adoration of Walker, Texas Ranger, this laugh-out-loud celebration joyfully explores the sweet and wild side of boyhood.
"I loved, loved, loved this book! The chapters were short and easy to read. The stories were funny and yet meaningful. The book was written as an encouragement to all Mom's who are raising children, especially boys! I laughed at the authors description of her "grassy" back yard and always empty pantry. I especially enjoyed how each story included a spiritual lesson learned. The book was not preachy yet I put it down encouraged that all children are really a gift sent from God. The theme throughout the book was that we as parents are growing up too and can learn from our children as much as they can learn from us." - reader Irene