Making It Home

Finding My Way to Peace, Identity, and Purpose

by: Emily T. Wierenga

• Format

  E-Book

  ISBN

  9781441227065

  Pub. Date

  Sep 2015

  SRP

  $14.99

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About

Growing up in the murky space between Gloria Steinem and Martha Stewart has left a whole generation of women struggling to define and embrace the meaning of home. There is constant pressure to do things a certain way and often intense criticism from those who think you're doing it wrong. But what if home isn't really about whether or not you homeschool or have a career or make your own artisan bread?

What if home is more about who you are than what you do?

Former subversive Emily T. Wierenga takes you on an unconventional journey through marriage, miscarriage, foster parenting, and the daily struggle of longing to be known. In this soul-stirring quest for identity in the midst of life's daily interruptions, she shows us that homemaking is much more than old-fashioned tradition; rather, it's a timeless and essential art requiring mind, body, and spirit.


"Emily Wierenga is one of those rare and extraordinary writers willing to lay it all out there. Making It Home is nourishment for the heart, clarity for the eyes, and divine comfort for the soul."--Rachel Macy Stafford, New York Times bestselling author of Hands Free Mama

"Emily gently reminds us that a home is far more than a house. When we open our doors and hearts to others--both far and near--we create a precious space where God and humanity reside richly together."--Margaret Feinberg, author of Fight Back with Joy

"Making It Home absolutely captivated me. Emily Wierenga is a brilliant writer who shares her journey with refreshing vulnerability. Her prose is poetic and raw, and the door to her spiritual life is held wide open for the reader."--Jennifer Dukes Lee, author of Love Idol

"Emily Wierenga has a gift for taking readers on journeys of the soul. If you need hope for the future, courage for the next step, and an insightful, honest guide to walk with you, Making It Home will help you find your way."--Holley Gerth, Wall Street Journal bestselling author of You're Already Amazing


Emily T. Wierenga is an award-winning journalist, blogger, commissioned artist and columnist, and the author of six books, including the memoirs Atlas Girl and Making It Home. Proceeds from Emily's books benefit her nonprofit, The Lulu Tree, partnering with single mothers in the slums and villages of Africa. She lives in Alberta, Canada, with her husband and three children. To learn more, please visit www.thelulutree.com.

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Endorsements

"Her honesty is raw, real. Her faith is hard won. And when it finally pours out, her love--oh, her love soars off the page and makes a nest in our hearts. Brilliant and beautiful."

Liz Curtis Higgs, bestselling author of Bad Girls of the Bible

"Emily Wierenga is one of those rare and extraordinary writers willing to lay it all out there, every painful, private, unbecoming detail of her life. Yet somehow her story becomes your story. Yes, the details might be different but the struggles, doubts, pressures, and fears are the same. But here's where Emily rises above even the most extraordinary writers: her hopes become your hopes. Her faith becomes your faith. Her prayer becomes your prayer. Her ever-faithful God becomes your God, and through the pages of this book, you feel him pull you to his chest and assure you he has never left your side. Making It Home is nourishment for the heart, clarity for the eyes, and divine comfort for the soul."

Rachel Macy Stafford, New York Times bestselling author of Hands Free Mama

"Emily gently reminds us that a home is far more than a house. When we open our doors and hearts to others--both far and near--we create a precious space where God and humanity reside richly together."

Margaret Feinberg, author of Fight Back with Joy

"Making It Home absolutely captivated me. Emily Wierenga is a brilliant writer who shares her journey with refreshing vulnerability. Her prose is poetic and raw, and the door to her spiritual life is held wide open for the reader. This book is like having ringside seats to one woman's wrestling match with God as she fights to figure out who she really is. Yes, this is Emily's story, and this is her wrestling match. But really, it's all of our stories. Reading Emily's journey, I discovered more of who I am, more of who God is, and more about what it means to find your way back to God when, at last, you wholly surrender."

Jennifer Dukes Lee, author of Love Idol

"Emily Wierenga has a gift for taking readers on journeys of the soul. If you need hope for the future, courage for the next step, and an insightful, honest guide to walk with you, Making It Home will help you find your way."

Holley Gerth, Wall Street Journal bestselling author of You're Already Amazing

"In her beautiful new memoir, Making It Home, Emily Wierenga writes with captivating and uncommon vulnerability, sharing the insecurities and fears that held her hostage and the dwelling place of hope she found when she was willing to courageously love and be loved, right where she was."

Renee Swope, bestselling author of A Confident Heart 

"Emily Wierenga writes like a novelist, but the stories are her own. And somehow they are more life-giving and truth-telling than the ones people make up. But that's what happens with great stories, I suppose. They're given to those who can tell them best."

Ben Arment, author of Dream Year and founder of STORY

"Making it Home is a poignant, daringly open memoir about one girl's stretch toward love and acceptance. You will unmask yourself in Emily's journey, the final denouement being the discovery that you are utterly loved and cherished and affirmed by Jesus. A delightful, important read."

Mary DeMuth, coauthor of The Day I Met Jesus

"I'm glad the world has people like Emily Wierenga, people who are sincere in their weakness and can tell a story that folds a reader into it. I tend to see the world as a web of ideas. Emily, through her own struggles and God's deep grace, sees the world as a web of relationships. Most importantly she sees God's hand in all these relationships. Making It Home is moving and deeply personal in an inviting and earnest way. It is hope-filled and splendidly crafted."

Barnabas Piper, author of The Pastor's Kid and cohost of The Happy Rant podcast

"Emily Wierenga's writing is a masterful symphony of words. In Making It Home, she pulls back the curtain of her heart and invites us to peek in the window at the gut-wrenching struggles and daily stresses that led her to the place where broken souls are mended and love changes everything--home."

Sharon Jaynes, author of The Power of a Woman's Words and Praying for Your Husband from Head-to-Toe

"Poignant. Gritty. Beautiful. This is one woman's search to find the ever-present love of her heavenly Father amidst diapers and crayons, cancers and eating disorders, miscarriages and broken hearts. I felt as though she peeked into my soul and filled the emptiness with truth. Don't miss it."

Susan May Warren, award-winning, bestselling author of The Wonder of You

"Reminiscent of Anne Lamott and Ann Voskamp, Emily Wierenga has written a new book that is a mix of poetic story, real-life struggles, and penetrating truth. Making It Home is one woman's journey of discovering that who she is means more than what she does, especially within the four walls of her home. Emily's story is my story. It's the story of every woman who allows God to peel back the layers of self-protection to discover the beauty that he sees within us and the joy in the family and home he's made for us. Highly recommended!"

Tricia Goyer, USA Today bestselling author of fifty books, including Teen Mom: You Are Stronger Than You Think

"Rich and raw, Emily shares about Making It Home--a place where you can fall, rage, and eventually even heal. An authentic picture of messy but beautiful grace."

Sheila Wray Gregoire, marriage blogger at ToLoveHonorandVacuum.com

"Emily is mastering the art of finding God in the everyday moments of life. Her writing will help you do the same. A beautiful read."

Brooke McGlothlin, cofounder and president of Raising Boys Ministries and coauthor of Hope for the Weary Mom: Let God Meet You in the Mess

"Making it Home is a story of the heart. In this book, Emily not only shares the steps of her own journey but invites you along as well."

Claire Diaz-Ortiz, Silicon Valley innovator, early Twitter employee, and author

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