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The Gift of an Ordinary Day
- A Mother's Memoir
- Narrated by: Katrina Kenison
- Length: 10 hrs and 2 mins
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Publisher's summary
The Gift of an Ordinary Day is an intimate memoir of a family in transition, with boys becoming teenagers, careers ending and new ones opening up, and an attempt to find a deeper sense of plac - and a slower pace - in a small New England town.
This 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.
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Story
When unexpected grief brings two families together, how do they start their journey to healing? Join Michael and Gina Spehn--bestselling authors and founders of the New Day Foundation--as they tell their story of resilience, remembrance, and reliance on their shared faith.
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Wow
- By Katrina on 04-24-15
By: Michael Spehn
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Speak
- A Novel
- By: Louisa Hall
- Narrated by: Suzan Crowley, Christopher Ashman, Adrienne Rusk, and others
- Length: 8 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
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In a narrative that spans geography and time, from the Atlantic Ocean in the 17th century to a correctional institute in Texas in the near future, and told from the perspectives of five very different characters, Speak considers what it means to be human and what it means to be less than fully alive.
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Like nothing else
- By Anonymous User on 06-22-17
By: Louisa Hall
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The Book of Separation
- A Memoir
- By: Tova Mirvis
- Narrated by: Tova Mirvis
- Length: 9 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
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Born and raised in a tight-knit Orthodox Jewish family, Tova Mirvis committed herself to observing the rules and rituals prescribed by this way of life. After all, to observe was to be accepted and to be accepted was to be loved. She married a man from within the fold and quickly began a family. But over the years, her doubts became noisier than her faith, and at age 40 she could no longer breathe in what had become a suffocating existence.
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So many parallels
- By Cortney on 01-05-18
By: Tova Mirvis
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Here, Now
- Unearthing Peace and Presence in an Overconnected World
- By: Kate Merrick
- Narrated by: Jill Blackwood
- Length: 4 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
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In Here, Now, Kate Merrick invites women to stop running away from their actual lives and to instead walk in the peace and fullness God offers when they quiet their souls, listen to what he's saying, and live with brave intentionality.
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No more living for "likes"
- By ClassyAntique on 05-20-20
By: Kate Merrick
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A Year by the Sea
- Thoughts of an Unfinished Woman
- By: Joan Anderson
- Narrated by: Laural Merlington
- Length: 4 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
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Life is a work in progress, as ever-changing as a sandy shoreline along the beach. During the years Joan Anderson was a loving wife and supportive mother, she had slowly and unconsciously replaced her own dreams with the needs of her family. With her sons grown, however, she realized that the family no longer centered on the home she provided, and her relationship with her husband had become stagnant. Like many women in her situation, Joan realized that she had neglected to nurture herself and, worse, to envision fulfilling goals for her future.
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Free too be a woman of my own making.
- By Kathy C. on 03-10-15
By: Joan Anderson
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Greetings from Utopia Park
- Surviving a Transcendent Childhood
- By: Claire Hoffman
- Narrated by: Andi Arndt
- Length: 8 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
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When Claire Hoffman's alcoholic father abandons his family, his desperate wife, Liz, tells five-year-old Claire and her seven-year-old brother, Stacey, that they are going to heaven - Iowa - to live in Maharishi's national headquarters for Heaven on Earth. For Claire's mother, Transcendental Meditation - the Maharishi's method of meditation and his approach to living the fullest possible life - was a salvo that promised world peace and enlightenment just as their family fell apart.
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Very good book
- By Amazon Customer on 06-15-16
By: Claire Hoffman
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Chicken Soup for the Soul: Think Positive
- 101 Inspirational Stories about Counting Your Blessings and Having a Positive Attitude
- By: Jack Canfield, Mark Victor Hansen, Amy Newmark, and others
- Narrated by: Tanya Eby, Jim Bond
- Length: 10 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
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101 True Stories about how Positive Thinking can change your life! Everyone needs a little attitude adjustment once in a while, and these amazing true life stories reveal how real people used positive thinking to improve their lives and overcome challenges. You’ll read stories about how you can make every day a special day, incorporate gratitude and joy into your daily life, count your blessings and change your outlook, use a few well-chosen words to reorient your life, manage cancer and other health challenges through a positive attitude, simplify and have a more meaningful life and more!
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Good overall.
- By Sergey Makeev on 02-21-24
By: Jack Canfield, and others
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The Quilter's Apprentice
- Elm Creek Quilts, Book 1
- By: Jennifer Chiaverini
- Narrated by: Christina Moore
- Length: 8 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
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An engaging tale full of warmth and wisdom, The Quilter’s Apprentice is the first novel in best-selling author Jennifer Chiaverini’s Elm Creek Quilts series. Sarah McClure takes a job helping elderly Sylvia Compson prepare her family estate for sale. Sylvia, a master quilter, agrees to share the tricks of the trade with Sarah. As the two women grow close, Sylvia shares her family’s tragic past, compelling Sarah to look at her own life more closely.
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A Mixed Bag
- By Potato Potato on 09-19-13
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Chasing Slow
- By: Erin Loechner
- Narrated by: Hayley Cresswell
- Length: 8 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
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Chasing Slow models HGTV star Erin Loechner's journey to help you break out of the faster-better-stronger trap and make small changes to refresh your perspective, renew your priorities, and shift your focus to what matters most.
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Book is wonderful - narrator completely ruins it
- By Gail on 05-22-17
By: Erin Loechner
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The Waiting
- The True Story of a Lost Child, a Lifetime of Longing, and a Miracle for a Mother Who Never Gave Up
- By: Cathy LaGrow, Cindy Coloma - contributor
- Narrated by: Pamela Klein
- Length: 10 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
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In the summer of 1928, sixteen-year-old Minka was looking forward to a sewing class picnic. This would be a rare chance to put aside farm chores, don a pretty dress, and enjoy an outing with other girls. It would be a day to remember. And it was - but not in the way Minka had dreamed. Cornered by a stranger in the woods, the young girl was assaulted. Minka still believed that the stork brought babies; she would not discover for months that she was pregnant.
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Captivating and fantastic
- By John alexander on 10-03-19
By: Cathy LaGrow, and others
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Everything You Ever Wanted
- A Memoir
- By: Jillian Lauren
- Narrated by: Jillian Lauren
- Length: 8 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
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In her younger years, Jillian Lauren was a college dropout, a drug addict, and an international concubine in the Prince of Brunei's harem, an experience she immortalized in her best-selling memoir, Some Girls. In her 30s, Jillian's most radical act is learning the steadying power of love when she and her rock star husband adopt an Ethiopian child with special needs.
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Great for adoptive families
- By berry bomb on 07-06-22
By: Jillian Lauren
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Mother Daughter Me
- A Memoir
- By: Katie Hafner
- Narrated by: Katie Hafner
- Length: 9 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
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The complex, deeply binding relationship between mothers and daughters is brought vividly to life in Katie Hafner's remarkable memoir, an exploration of the year she and her mother, Helen, spent working through, and triumphing over, a lifetime of unresolved emotions. Dreaming of a "year in Provence" with her mother, Katie urges Helen to move to San Francisco to live with her and Zoe, Katie's teenage daughter. Katie and Zoe had become a mother-daughter team, strong enough, Katie thought, to absorb the arrival of a 77-year-old woman set in her ways....
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Listen and be swept away!
- By Barbara Quick on 06-02-22
By: Katie Hafner
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Manhood for Amateurs
- The Pleasures and Regrets of a Husband, Father, and Son
- By: Michael Chabon
- Narrated by: Michael Chabon
- Length: 8 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
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As a devoted son, as a passionate husband, and above all as a father, Chabon's memories of childhood, of his parents' marriage and divorce, of moments of painful adolescent comedy and giddy encounters with the popular art and literature of his own youth, are like a theme played by the mad quartet of which he now finds himself co-conductor. At once dazzling, hilarious, and moving, Manhood for Amateurs is destined to become a classic.
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Terrible
- By Ken on 10-14-09
By: Michael Chabon
What listeners say about The Gift of an Ordinary Day
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall
- Celeste Bartunek
- 04-17-11
Impressive insights
Beautifully written insights into motherhood. I will breathe in the ordinary days with ease after taking in this book. It is written by a mother who is telling us all to pay attention so we will not miss our children's daily lives. It is the little things that truly matter when we look back on our lives with them. Great book. I would recommend it to all mothers.
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- t h.
- 02-05-17
Life's moments.
Thank you for reminding how simple ordinary events are precious to our existence! Much appreciation!
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2 people found this helpful
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- Mary
- 07-31-15
Such a peaceful soulful book
The authors warm steady voice as she reads the beautiful story of her family was like a balm. The story is not at all preachy as she fully shares the good days and the bad, her parenting failures and triumphs. I wanted it to go in and on.
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- LeeAnn Bellum
- 08-10-19
read my mind
hearing her thoughts on raising teenagers and letting go; finding new meaning in our lives...it was like she was reading my mind and expressing all those feelings in my heart that i didn't yet have words to express.
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1 person found this helpful
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- Richey81
- 05-02-17
Thought provoking book!
The book was overall great. Perfect for all moms in all stages of parenthood. The author really knows how to paint the perfect picture in your mind!!!
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- Marilee06
- 03-20-19
Beautiful reflections and lessons
I really enjoyed this book. I feel like a dear friend, watching on the side as this family grows, moves, changes and matures.
I heartily recommend the audible version.
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1 person found this helpful
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- Amazon Customer
- 06-19-21
Love this book!
I am so glad that I picked this book when I was facing challenges with my teenage child. I cried as I listen to chapter 9 because it was as Mrs. Kenison was narrating my current story. It was so refreshing to hear that I was not the only person who was facing the struggles of parenting but most of all the struggles of those teenage years.
I love that the author narrated the book, because I can listen to her for hours. Her voice, tone, pitch are just on point.
Thank you so much to Ms. Kenison for writing this book!
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- Michael Brent
- 12-16-23
Disappointing all around
A friend recommended this so I stuck with it, hoping it would improve, but it didn’t. The author comes across as selfish, untrustworthy, and thoughtless. She drags her family along as she swings between urges and regrets in a self-centered narrative. She is controlling and manipulative, self-satisfied, and blissfully ignorant of her enormous privilege. A few nice descriptions tucked in with very ordinary prose.
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Overall
- Sonia
- 12-20-09
slow
Neat mom, but really slow and drawn out.......not too interesting.
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1 person found this helpful