16. what you're reading

Photo of the day for the month of May
Day 16 What you're reading.

Today's photo is of what you're reading. Believe it or not this one is the hardest for me. I am always reading at least one new cookbook as if it is a mystery or romance, I am constantly referencing The Well-Trained Mind to see what we need to be reading, I have religious books I look at when I have a minute, Poetry Books that are being opened at random, and then there are the books I am trying to follow through with before my classes start again. At our house reading is everything and everything is reading. So how am I to decide where to begin. So I decided my nightstand will have to do.

I think I really love how this picture turned out.

This is the first junk book (simply meaning for enjoyment only. We started calling these fun books junk when we couldn't get Damian to stop reading goosebumps. Like junk food once you start you can't stop. Oh man I should stop explaining.) I have read since I started college two years ago.

These are the books that I want to read more of. I have read the five love languages 3 times. It never hurts to remember that we each show love differently. The journey to God is about finding God in Christianity; Catholic, Protestant, and Orthodox leader coming together in this book. Now for the record friends I believe that God shows us where we are meant to be. So I believe in Christianity but I know that all religion is a reflection of God's everlasting love. There is no wrong way to Love. Mostly I like to read about the Mysteries of faith from all perspectives.



I hope that you are reading a great book and you day is filled with love and laughter. Be well my friends.

School

I am back in school which means I will be very busy for the next eight weeks reading and writing for a grade. I will try to stay on top of my blog but I think I might have to drop recipe Tuesday's maybe not we will see how it goes once I get back into the swing of things. I do want to take a moment to thank you for reading my ramblings and meal plans. I know that they are not always interesting or inspired. I try but you know I am flawed and I am trying to be more open and available in my writing. You are helping me become a better writer.

You see I found my love of reading when I was four and read Bears on Wheels by Dr. Seuss all by myself. Seeing the words take shape and form a story was thrilling to me. When I was in first grade I got sick, really sick, first I had pneumonia. My lungs filled with fluid so badly that the Dr. said a week longer and I would have drowned to death from it. I was admitted to the hospital and got to stay in an oxygen tent. I was alone (at least I felt very alone) so I spent a lot of time with books and puzzles. Then after I got out of the hospital my sinuses crystallized and I got to go back. So I repeated first grade.

By the time I made it to second I had discovered the art of writing stories. It wasn't until I was in sixth grade that someone told me I had a talent for it. I knew I loved to write and for the first time someone told me I was good at something. At the end of my eighth grade year I got a scholarship to Lewis and Clark College for a summer writing course. I did not get to go because my mom said that she couldn't afford the room and board. I was heart broken. I believe many other things about this issue but for sake of fairness I can not go back and change it so it is not really worth being ugly over it now.

Writing became the fabric of who I am. I am happiest when I am writing a story or poetry or creating. I want to become a novelist. Or at the very least a free lance writer. I have many hurdles, mostly mental ones that I need to get over. So I am back in school working on an English Degree. I mostly enjoy the literature classes and I like to learn new things. I know every paper I write I am getting stronger. Every blog post I write I grow.

Thank you for reading and being there for me through the good, the bad, and the ugly. I hope that you have a wonderful day filled with love and laughter.

Lost in a book

I have been missing in action this last week or so because I got lost in a book or two on the way here. Well that and my Mother in Law was in town. My kids love having her here so it was a good visit over all. I just need to relax and trust in God. It would make things easier and a lot less stressful. This post is one about books not Company.


The first book is one that I have seen mentioned in book groups online, I have heard whispers about it for a long while. My husband had even brought it up when he had a conversation about it with a co-worker. I blew it off, ignoring it, dismissing the message I was hear all together. Then one day I was wondering down the fiction section of the library, ( I like to see what book will call my name) I stopped in front of a bookshelf with only two identical books in the middle of the shelf. It called my name, it screamed at me, nearly jumping with anticipation. I reached out and picked up one of the dark books up. The Shack by WM. Paul Young.


It is an amazing book about forgiveness and the depth of God's Love. In the forward the author explains how he came to writing the book. It is the experience his friend went through. He even says that at times it seems far fetched and hard to believe but he wants it to be true. Right now having read it and soaked it in I hope it is true too. Some more the hope is while I was reading it I felt a shift in myself. I new understanding that turned the light on and opened my heart.


The first and sudden shift came when I was reading Chapter 11 Here Come Da Judge when Mack is asked to judge God. I am guilty of judging people based on their decisions or actions that I do not agree with. I try not to be judgemental but it creeps up as good intentions. We know what they say about good intentions, the road to hell is paved with them. (this is not in the book at all! Just a common saying I am using to describe myself.) Mack is told to chose two of his children to go to heaven and three to spend an eternity in hell. He refuses to chose and instead offers his own life to go for his children. Then God tells him he has made the right choice. "You have judged them worthy of love, even if it cost you everything. That is how Jesus loves." ( found on page 163).  Even now tears are in my eyes, this judgement chapter was one of the most moving parts for me because it opened me up for a later bigger lesson.


Forgiveness, I don't know about everyone else but I needed a lesson in the purpose of forgiving others. I am going to add a quote from the book but it doesn't mean there are not better quotes, or that this is the best one. All this quote is, is one example that moved me. This book is filled with good solid examples of God's love, of forgiveness and many other things. "Forgiveness is first for you, the forgiver, . . . to release you from the something that will eat you alive; that will destroy your joy and your ability to love fully and openly." One more quote on the subject, "I want to help you take on that nature that finds more power in love and forgiveness than hate."


I feel like I am giving you a fragmented version of this beautiful book. All I can really tell you is I am changed forever because I read this book. It helped me to understand pieces that I have been missing in my life. I hope that you read this book. I would love to hear what you thought of The Shack.




Now for the second book. My sister in law called and while I was on the phone she told me to read Redeeming Love by Francine Rivers. I at first said I would try but I was going to busy starting next week. Then for some reason when I got off the phone I felt compelled to look for it and found out my library had it available. I went and got the book and read it in two days.


Redeeming love is a retelling of the book of Hosea. I must not have been told the story of Hosea when I was young because I had never heard of it. The book is about Love, and forgiveness. It is told in a simple way that focuses on the message. I recommend this book.


This is a story about a young woman who was sold into prostitution as a child and how she finds God. Angel finds herself working in California's Gold country in 1850 for a madam. A farmer is told by God to marry the soiled dove but Angel has learned not to trust men. He marries her and she slowly learns to love Micheal through much trail and error. Micheal learns forgiveness and patience. Angel turns away from Micheal's love and goes back to the only life she has known. Her journey to God and Love is a hard road to travel. I was captivated from the first chapter on. I know I am not doing a very good job explaining this book. I is a simple, complicated love story. It really is worth reading.


I hope your day is filled with Love, Laughter, and a good book.

Books

I fell in love with books the first time I walked in a library. I was a very small child and this library seemed to be a castle, a cathedral for books. I love the smell of well used books. I love the musty smell of old books. I love the sound of opening a brand new hardback, crackling with anticipation. I love reading a well loved book and when someone I love gives me that book it makes me feel like they are with me as I read it. When I buy a used book I wonder who read it before me. I love the feel of the page when I turn to the next book. Sometimes, okay a lot of times when I get really into the book and can not put it down I skip ahead to read the end just so I know. Between my husband and I we have a small library of books and now that our children are reading their books are growing at a faster rate then our collection. I love seeing my children reading a book. I love how books look stacked, sorted, placed on selves. There is always something waiting to be read. Sometimes we go to a book store or library just to look at books. Sometimes a book that I never knew I wanted to read jumps out at me and I fall in love. It is a treasure of secrets waiting to be told, adventures waiting to be had, lessons waiting to be learned. I am a cook book junkie so I love to sit in the cook book section looking for one to take home and I also love a good story. My husband is a fantasy junkie, although he says he has bigger range the just fantasy but he always finds himself in that section. Damian is just discovering chapter books and loves a good mystery, but is always willing to give all books a chance. James who may not be able to read yet still loves a good story with his picture books. He wants to read is the important part. There is something simply beautiful about finding a book you weren't looking for. So when I read an article claiming bookstores will go the way of a record store I was heartbroken. It couldn't happen everybody loves books. But even we have a kindle, that we don't use. I bought for my husband's birthday because he will read a book on the laptop, it drives me crazy. I don't like the feel of it so I have never even tried to read a book on it and surprisingly after the first day of playing with it my husband went back to real books. Yes, you can keep thousands of books in one little tiny place but where is the romance that comes with holding a book? How can you pass that book to someone else? I can't tell you how many times I have given a favorite book away only to replace it with another copy. I love lending books out to people to discover. I love being able to pick just the right thing for a friend to read and enjoy. It is one of my favorite feelings. If you love the book so much you want to keep it, well it was my pleasure.

Don't give up books, go to a book store and fall in love.

 Theses bookcases are a bit more full and I am not even showing you the boy's bookcases.

Billy Crystals book was a surprise because it was so good, there is love, laughter, and heartache. It has everything. Zoya is a copy of a book I was given in high school by a summer lunch lady at a school I took my younger siblings to for free lunch during the week. I have read it dozens of times, and I smile every time I run across it. Walt Whitman taught me about poetry and helped foster a real passion for all poetry. The Joy Luck Club was lent to me by my first boss Lianne Chu. This is a copy as I gave her copy back. I love this book and was my introduction to this author. I have almost all of Amy Tan's books. I love Jacquelyn Mitchard when I read Cage of Stars I cried from the beginning to the end. Sofie Kinsella is just fun to read all of her books are easy, quirky and always brings me a laugh. Gone with the wind is, was my Great Grandmothers copy that I got after she passed. I will never upgrade this because when I read it I am reading it with her separate but together. When was the last time you picked up a machine and felt connected to a loved one?

So today go out and find a good solid book and fall in love again.