Savage - Better Together

Better Together gave me much-needed confidence to create a community of moms to do life with. We were not meant to do life alone!

CHRISTINA EASTMAN,husband-supporter, ever-present mama, wannabe sitcom writer

As a frequent mover, its often difficult to start over, building new relationships grassroots-style. Better Together offered great tips on how to proactively create community rather than waiting for new community to find me. A great reminder to prioritize sisterhood, because we are, indeed, better together than we are alone.

BRENDA OTTINGER, loving wife, grateful mom of noise and dirt (read: boys), fledgling blogger, cupcake lover

Jill is a wonderful, close friend to me. She is genuine to the core and lives what she writes about friendship. I believe we should always have friends of all ages, and I joke that we especially need to have younger friends so we have someone to visit us in the nursing home! Better Together teaches you how to be that kind of friend and have that kind of friends!

BECKY GLENN, collector of friends, older than most of you reading this, thankful to do life with God, has been known to wear a conehead on occasion!

Better Together is a very practical, candid, honest book about why its important to have your mom tribe. Anne and Jill do a great job speaking on how to develop the friendships we all crave in the society we live in today. Even though Im a grandma now, it reminded me that we should not mother (or grandmother) alone! Friendships enrich our lives and challenge us to become better women overall.

BONNIE MILLER, mom of two, grandma of one, and enjoying being an empty nester!

Jills newest book for moms encouraged me to think about the importance of relationships with other moms. Better Together showed me that it does not matter if you are an Innie or an Outie (youll see), we all have our stuff somewhere! We all need mom community no matter the stage of mothering!

KARLA P., wife, mom, family childcare provider

Better Together reminded me of all the great times we had together as moms raising kids, and I thank the Lord I had such good friends to help me along. Jill is the best mentor I could ever have hoped for. Im a better mom because of her guidance, and shes still helping me as a grandparent!

BETH H., wife, mom, grandma, child of God, and the Purple Cat Lady

2016 by
JILL SAVAGE

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form without permission in writing from the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews.

Unless otherwise indicated, Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version (ESV), copyright 2001, 2007 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations marked NIV are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version, NIV. Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.com. The NIV and New International Version are trademarks registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by Biblica, Inc.

Scripture quotations marked NLT are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright 1996, 2004, 2007 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations marked THE MESSAGE are from The Message, copyright by Eugene H. Peterson, copyright 1993, 1994, 1995, 2000, 2001, 2002. Used by permission of NavPress Publishing Group.

Scripture quotations marked NASB are taken from the New American Standard Bible, Copyright 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. (www.Lockman.org)

Published in association with the literary agency of Transatlantic Agency.

Edited by Elizabeth Cody Newenhuyse
Interior and cover design: Erik M. Peterson
Cover: photo by Tami Paige / lettering by Connie Gabbert
Photo of Jill Savage and Anne McClaine by Tami Paige

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Savage, Jill, 1964- author.

Better together : because youre not meant to mom alone / by Jill Savage; with Anne (Savage) McClane.
pages cm
Includes bibliographical references.
ISBN 978-0-8024-1379-6

1. MotherhoodReligious aspectsChristianity. 2. Female friendshipReligious aspectsChristianity. 3. ParentingReligious aspectsChristianity. I. Title.
BV4529.18.S237 2016
248.8431dc23

2015033764

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THIS BOOK IS DEDICATED TO ALL OF THE WOMEN WHO HAVE BEEN A PART OF OUR MOTHERING COMMUNITIES. WERE BOTH BETTER MOMS BECAUSE WE DID LIFE TOGETHER WITH EACH OF YOU.

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O ne year after our first Hearts at Home conference, I found myself driving across town alone in my filthy minivan filled with car seats and five weeks worth of Sunday school papers. I was having a conversation with God about the unexpected place He had me. I was leading a moms group in our church that had held what was supposed to be, a one time conference for moms. We expected 400 moms to attend and 1,100 showed up. It seemed that Gods vision was much bigger than mine. We were now within a few weeks of our second conference and over 2,800 women had already registered to attend! We had assembled a board of directors, incorporated as a nonprofit, and were growing faster than I felt I could keep up with.