The Gift of an Ordinary Day by Katrina Kenison

This Giveaway is now closed!  Scroll to the bottom to see who my five winners are!

   

the gift of an ordinary day A Mother's Memoir by Katrina Kenison

This book really struck a chord in me because I am the mother of two teenagers and two toddlers.  Most of the attention tends to get focused on the little one's and I found myself allowing my older children to slip out of my hands without noticing.  This book brought me back around to paying attention to the life steps my 15 year old and 17 year old are beginning to take.  Before I know it, they will be out the door headed for college.  The Gift of an Ordinary Day reminded me to stop and enjoy these final moments of being a full time mother to my big kids.

"It's been quite a few years since I began my days of imagining them first from bed.  But now I think it's time for me to visualize again, if only to remind myself to begin each day with gratitude for what is rather than worrying so much about what still might be."

I could have written that part myself!  I hit the floor running to get the big kids out the door and then turn my attention to the 2 year old twins.  I need to take the time to reminisce on the years when all I had was my older two children and the memories we have together.

A quick synopsis of the book:

The Gift of an Ordinary Day is an intimate memoir of a family in transition-boys becoming teenagers, careers ending and new ones opening up, an attempt to find a deeper sense of place, and a slower pace, in a small New England town. It is a story of mid-life longings and discoveries, of lessons learned in the search for home and a new sense of purpose, and the bittersweet intensity of life with teenagers--holding on, letting go.

Poised on the threshold between family life as she's always known it and her older son's departure for college, Kenison is surprised to find that the times she treasures most are the ordinary, unremarkable moments of everyday life, the very moments that she once took for granted, or rushed right through without noticing at all.

The relationships, hopes, and dreams that Kenison illuminates will touch women's hearts, and her words will inspire mothers everywhere as they try to make peace with the inevitable changes in store.

You can also go listen to an excerpt HERE

What I thought was really great, is Hachette Book Group also offers a Reading Group Guide to go along with the gift of an ordinary day! 

Get to know Katrina Kenison a little better:

KATRINA KENISON has been the annual editor of The Best American Short Stories since 1990. Along with John Updike, she edited The Best American Short Stories of the Century, a New York Times bestseller. Also the coeditor of Mothers: Twenty Stories of Contemporary Motherhood, she has written essays that have appeared in such publications as Redbook and Ladies' Home Journal. Katrina Kenison lives outside of Boston with her husband and their two sons.

Buy It:  Follow this LINK and you will get a complete listing of all the bookstores that carry this book.

Win It:  Hatchette Book Group has graciously offered 5 (five) copies of the gift of an ordinary life to my readers!  For your very first entry, you must go to Hatchette Books and sign up for one of their newsletters.

Twelve other ways to win!

• Become a fan of the gift of an ordinary day on Facebook.  Follow me! ( 1 One entry)
  
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•  Follow me on Twitter and tweet to me about this giveaway! Ex:  @mgills Lollypops & Lizards is giving away 5 copies of The Gift of an Ordinary Day! http://tinyurl.com/lfwqop #hatchettebooks(1 (one) entry)
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• Blog about this giveaway including a link back here and to Hatchette Books.  (3 (three) entries)
• Follow my other blog, Faith on Fire.  (3 (three) entries!)

This giveaway will end Friday, October 2, 2009 at midnite (CST).  

Good Luck!


The Winners of The Gift of an Ordinary Day by Katrina Kenison are:

Andrea

Grissell

Ave

Tanya

A Mom after Gods Own Heart

Congratulations!  An email is on its way to you gals now!

Disclosure: I received a copy of the book, at no cost to me, for review purposes.