Raising Up Mommy

Raising Up Mommy: Virtues for Difficult Mothering Moments
(A Women of Grace® Life Guide)
By: Heidi Hess Saxton

How many Be A Better Mom books have you read? How many times did you feel you were being preached at by someone who’s never walked in your shoes, or the author wrote as if you were a child? That is not what you will find in this handy little guide.

Mrs. Saxton has organized her thoughts and message around the seven deadly sins and their feminine counter virtues. Not sure if you fall into a particular pattern of sin? She has provided easy yes or no questions to better help you assess where your weaknesses might lie. Then with practical application and encouragement she leads you on a path of virtuous mothering.

One of the things I like best about this manual is Saxton’s honesty. She opens her own life, and that of her family to help illuminate the sin at hand. I immediately felt a connection to her writing when she spoke of the “mommy monster” that she struggles with, and any mom willing to put herself out there like that is a mom I want to hear from. She admits that she is on “the journey” just as we are, and her style is that of you and a dear friend sharing your mothering experiences with one another.

Woven throughout the book are loving quotes from the Saints, the beautiful message of John Paul II in his numerous writings on the feminine condition, uplifting scripture, and the teachings in the Catechism of the Catholic Church. She reminds us all of the beauty of the Church and the constant need of the sacraments that give the grace that we need inorder to fulfull our vocation. I truly think this would be a wonderful guide to study with a group of ladies. This is a great tool to explore more fully the beauty of motherhood, and the help and encouragement to be more fully in tune with how our Heavenly Father wants us to nurture.

My recommendation… to all my dear Catholic mothers in search of a helping hand… go and get this little book!