There’s something about this season that invites us to slow down, if we let it. Between the grocery list and the guest list, it’s easy to lose sight of what matters most. Maybe you’re hosting for the first time, or maybe you’re simply longing for a gentler pace.

As Thanksgiving approaches, the home and the heart take center stage. Whether you’re perfecting a pie, quieting the clutter before guests arrive, or looking for the words to give thanks, these reads are a good place to start.

For the kitchen and home, you’ll find books to build your confidence as a cook and to help your space make room for beauty, soul, and function. For your heart, you’ll find prayers and encouragement for being grateful for the good and honest about the hard. We hope these titles help you gather, give thanks, and fully enjoy the life you already have.

Pick up one or all six, and may they bring a little more peace to your table and a lot more thankfulness to your heart.

For the Kitchen and Home:

The Homemade Pie Cookbook

This beautiful cookbook offers 100+ sweet and savory pie recipes and gives bakers the confidence and skills to make delicious pies to enjoy with those they love.

Do you ever just want to read a good love story? Something to make you laugh and feed your romantic side? Check out these great book recommendations.

Don’t the early 2000s and 2010s feel like they were just yesterday? Okay, we admit it, we aren’t that great at keeping up with the trends! These reads from ten years ago still make us laugh and swoon today, and that’s all that really matters. Our current favorite sweet love story is A Lesson in Propriety by Jen Turano, which we discovered at BakerBookHouse.com. We recommend their collection of historical romances for more clean, Christian love stories! Now, please enjoy this collection of our favorites from 2017.

If you’re like me, sometimes you’re in the mood for a sweet love story to make you laugh. After all, life can be hard, and laughter is the best medicine (Proverbs 17:22).

I highlight some of my favorite funny but romantic reads below. Whether you’re a fan of historical fiction or prefer a more contemporary setting, the clean, classy love stories listed here are sure to make you giggle as you read.

If you like books by Jan Karon–such as her hilarious Mitford series–then you might like these!

Taking the time to pray for your children every day is one of the most powerful acts of love you can do for them.

I would never have guessed what parenting would do for my prayer life.

My pre-conceived notion was that parenting was about making peanut butter sandwiches and tucking kids into bed at night. About kissing boo-boos and reminding them to close the front door. And mostly about being kind to others and learning to love God.

About loving, correcting, supporting, cheering, and then loving them some more.

But I can see now that parenting is also a whole lot about prayer.

And for a while there I thought it was just me. You know, like I wasn’t doing enough right or I wasn’t quite enough or…..something.

That I found myself so often throwing myself down on my knees. Calling out to God.

With a heart-cry to keep our kids safe – and hopefully thriving-  in this world we find ourselves living in.

But I was recently talking with a dear friend of mine who also happens to be a seasoned parent—and a really good parent, too.

Ready to fall in love with each other all over again? Here are 25 of my best fall date ideas for you and your spouse!

I’m not sure when it hit me.

But I think it was while we were sitting by the Blue River and simply holding hands.

Not talking and not even really thinking.

Just loving each other.

It was our anniversary, and he’d surprised me with a few days in a quiet cabin tucked into the woods.

And you want to know something about that time we had together? It felt right and good.

We both felt it.

Not that we had doubted our love for each other, but it had just been so busy lately, and we’d had so much going on.

We could tell, this was what we needed.

This slowing down and focusing on him and me.

I am falling in love all over again.

And somewhere along that river,  I got the idea of sharing some more falling-in-love fall date ideas with you.

You don’t even have to wait for your anniversary!

Looking for the best Christian fiction books this holiday season? This cozy reading list has something for every reader, including heartwarming Christmas romance novellas, World War II historical fiction, Regency romance, biblical fiction, and a cozy mystery. Whether you’re searching for a gift for the book lover in your life or an addition to your wish list, these books will fill the season with hope and joy.

There’s something lovely about settling in with a good book during the holidays. Maybe it’s a Christmas romance that puts you in the holiday spirit, a historical novel that transports you to another time, or a mystery that keeps you guessing until the very end. Whatever your favorite genre, a good story is always a welcome addition to the season.

We’ve gathered twelve Christian fiction reads with a little something for everyone. Some feature festive holiday settings and heartwarming romances, while others explore friendship, family, faith, and the challenges that shape our lives. You’ll also find stories set in different periods of history, along with a cozy mystery for readers who enjoy a bit of intrigue.

Whether you’re looking for your next read, adding a few titles to your Christmas wish list, or shopping for a friend who loves books, we hope this collection gives you some ideas.

Broken by Bad News

Lois held her breath. Her right hand covered her mouth in shock, pulling her blue mask down off her nose. The young doctor shifted uncomfortably in his chair before speaking again.

“I’m sorry, Ms. Meinhardt, to have to give you this bad news. We will need to do surgery to remove the tumor. This will mean you’ll lose that kidney, but you should do just fine with one. We’ll probably be able to get you onto my OR schedule in about three weeks.”

Dr. Lee kept talking, his words muffled through his mask, but Lois heard none of what was said. She was alone, entirely alone.

In the weeks that followed, Lois reached out to a pastor she had recently connected with. This is when we, Michael and Tracy, began a journey with Lois. Along with many others from our church community, we would walk with Lois through serious illness, all the way home.

That journey taught us something about what it actually means to show up for someone in crisis, not with answers or fixes, but with presence. Drawing on both medical and pastoral experience, we’ve come to think of that presence as a journey with its own movements, ones that can guide anyone entering a person’s hardest moments.

With how vulnerable the postpartum period makes us, it’s easy to feel overwhelmed by what could go wrong after becoming a new mom.

Here’s the good news: although the hormonal and immunological shifts involved in childbirth and delivery can, and often do, trigger problematic health conditions, that doesn’t necessarily have to become your reality.

Here are six strategies I recommend to my patients as a prevention plan.

Testing

You can’t get an accurate diagnosis for any unusual symptoms without specific and timely testing. Given that we’re dealing with such a low standard of care for postpartum moms, most of us need to ask our providers directly for screening tests.

Nutrition

The best way to prevent postpartum nutrient deficiencies and all the accompanying symptoms is to not have them prior to or during pregnancy.

Consume animal products abundantly: Nutrient deficiency is a problem if a person either doesn’t eat enough food in general or doesn’t eat foods that have enough micronutrients per calorie.

Limit ultra-processed foods: Just like a diet rich in whole foods from animal sources prevents nutrient deficiency, a diet in which ultra-processed, packaged food products displace consumption of those foods increases risk of health problems.

Culture is one of those buzzwords in startups that has become so overused. But beyond inspirational posters on walls, graffiti decorations, kombucha on tap, Ping-Pong tables, and nap pods (yes, nap pods), an effective culture is the top point of leverage any company can have.

Why? If you have a culture that attracts high-performing people, repels toxic people, and facilitates open communication and a sharing of the upside, then the best in the world will flock to your business.

This maps back to family. Every person wants to know they belong to a thriving group of people with whom they feel safe and proud to be associated.

Celebrating Your Wins

The most impactful and widely used tool for building a strong culture is to regularly bring the team together to celebrate “wins” and recognize each other’s contributions. We humans are tribal creatures. Traditions and ceremonies like this are deeply meaningful. There is deep relational and even spiritual significance in regularly celebrating together.

Your Family Weekly Celebration Dinner

One of the easiest ways to bring this into your family is the weekly celebration dinner. In Silicon Valley, these are called Celebration Dinners.

To watch your child grieve is a different kind of heartache entirely. As adults, we can at least attempt to understand what’s happening inside us. Kids feel the depths of that same sorrow, but they don’t yet have the ability to process it the way we do.

One story captures this well. At a summer retreat for kids in counseling, two siblings, a middle schooler and his college-age sister, were reflecting together on the crucifixion and resurrection, imagining themselves inside that story. The younger brother said, “I feel like I’m in the blankness between the cross and Easter. Jesus has died. Things are hard. I feel alone. I don’t know what’s going to happen.” In tears, he added, “I just don’t know what to do or even who I really am with things the way they are.”

His sister knelt in front of him, took his hands, and said, “I’m so sorry. I know every bit of how hard this is. You are not alone. I’m in the darkness with you. We know this isn’t the end of the story.” Then: “My three days are your three days.”

That phrase captures something worth holding onto as you walk your own child through grief: this isn’t the end of the story, for you or for them.

What comes after goodbye, the final goodbye, when sacred bodies have been laid to rest and placed six feet below, unreachable? When headstones decorate the memorable spaces where loved ones’ bodies will forever be? What happens after the responsibilities of death and decisions?

What happens in the after, not theirs but ours?

The days keep coming and the world keeps spinning, but you feel stuck, nauseated by the movement and immobilized by the pain. The sun still rises and sets, but you don’t see either because you’re locked in an invisible confinement, one you never knew existed until now: grief.

Life After “They’re in a Better Place”

What happens in the after? The after “they’re gone,” the after “they’re in a better place,” the after “them,” and even worse, the after “us” when we were together? What happens when they pass on to greatness and glory and you remain, heartbroken by their absence and confused by life’s workings and, sometimes, even God’s decisions?

What comes to fill the holes created by loss, or to mend the slices carved into every piece of your body and, even more harshly, your soul?