One Beautiful Dream by Jennifer Fulwiler – review by Deacon Marty McIndoe
When I heard that Jennifer Fulwiler had published a new book, I knew I had to have it and read it as soon as I could. A few years ago, I read her book,” Something Other Than God”, and absolutely loved it. She is a gifted writer and her second book continues to show how gifted she is. I found it hard to put down, funny and thought provoking. Her subtitle to this new book is The Rollicking Tale of Personal Passions, Family Chaos, and Saying Yes to Them Both. The subtitle is a great description of her book. It tells the story of her raising six children while trying to write a book.
For those of you who do not know Jennifer’s story, she is a former atheist whom God touched and led in to the Catholic Church. You should read her first book “Something Other Than God” to find out this great story. Jennifer is also a daily radio host on Sirius XM channel 129 as well as a noted speaker and columnist. She also describes herself as “Mother of six with zero of the skills needed to manage a home”. I would add that she is a gifted writer with an ability to describe life situations in ways that can only make you laugh, and sometimes cause you to shed a tear.
The beauty of her new book is that not only is it funny and interesting and hard to put down; it shows us all how it is possible to accomplish a sense of personal accomplishment in the midst of being a good, albeit struggling, parent. I love what the book does for both men and women who find it hard to balance family life and work life. It shows how you can incorporate both into personal satisfaction. This book will definitely challenge any man or woman who puts work ahead of family. However, it does show that a true balance can be made that will be very satisfying.
To be perfectly truthful, when I first started reading this book I thought it was mainly a book for women. I even said that to my wife and told her that I knew she would enjoy it. However, after reading the book for a while, I saw that it is for men and women. Jennifer describes how her lifelong desire to write a book seemed to interfere with her sense that God was calling her to have a large family. On many occasions her husband Joe was the needed instrument to help her learn to be able to do both. At the same time Joe had to learn how to balance his work (and advancements) to fit in to their family life. Personally I see Joe as a real hero in this story. There is no doubt that Jennifer is the one who had to struggle and work so hard, but it was with Joe at her side and often encouraging her. This book does so much to show what marriage and family life is supposed to be, even the messy parts of it.
The book also shows how Jennifer discovers that family is not just her and Joe and their six children, but extends to grandparents, great grandparents and friends and neighbors and even to young girls ringing the door bell and running away (usually at the most inopportune times). Jennifer learns that she can’t do everything by herself and it is then that family life begins to grow. She learns how to involve her children in her writing career. She also learns how to involve other family and friends in what she does. In doing this she discovers that having a large family is a lot more than giving birth to many children.
I love how Jennifer is able to make us all laugh at some of the disheveled things that life throws at us. I also like the way her faith comes forth without being preachy. She shows herself in her weaknesses and in her strengths and we can’t help but to love her in both. In an age where many couples have no children, or only one or two, this books delights us with the interactions of six children and the fulfillment they bring to their parents. Jennifer is often confronted by friends and strangers for having such a large family. I find this so sad. Large families are a real gift that society doesn’t seem to appreciate any more. Jennifer and Joe wanted a large family and God gave them one. Jennifer and Joe use Natural Family Planning and Jennifer does a great job sharing how NFP has been a positive influence on their marriage. This book certainly shows us how two people, working together in the gift of marriage, can find both personal fulfillment and family fulfillment. There is no doubt that this is a book that I would highly recommend reading. It is printed by Zondervan. I bought my copy on Amazon Prime.