Promoting our kids...

Hey, isn't that what parents do best? Take my son, Josh, as an example. He's a young man who loves God more than anything and I think he has a real gift for communicating truth through his writing. The only problem is getting his writing "out there" where people can read it. He's had a My Space blog for a while now, but I don't think many people know it's there. Blogspot seems to be getting very popular, so I've created a blog where I'm going to post his writings.

He already has a My Space blog called Free Love Movement, so I kept that name. If you're curious, you can find it by clicking on the photo of Josh and his wife Jess in my right hand column.

I will only post one or two things at a time so they won't scroll off the page too soon. Thanks in advance for visiting his blog! =0)

More book joy!

I received BOTH of the Paperbackswap books I was expecting in the mail yesterday. I'm so excited to read both of them! As I mentioned before, one is called "Will in the World: How Shakespeare Became Shakespeare" and the other is "How to Think Like Leonardo Da Vinci". I've started the Shakespeare book and flipped through the other. I think my current fiction reading will go by the wayside until I finish these!

After my book review of "The Liturgical Year" I had pretty much decided not to review any more books for a while because I didn't see anything on their list that interested me. Now I see that "Fearless" by Max Lucado is available so I snapped that up! See you guys in the spring when I dig my way out from under the avalanche of books! LOL!

Shalom, all!

A look at my dusty bookshelves...

With all this snow it's great reading weather! I have to admit, I just love looking at pictures of others bookshelves. I like to enlarge them and check out the titles just in case there's something there I can't live without!

My bookshelves are old and simply made, but I love them. Here are a few of the books on my shelves. As you can see, I love OLD books! =0)


Thanks, Mom, for all the C.S. Lewis non-fiction! =0) The Narnia books I collected on PaperBackSwap. "The Wind in the Willows" I bought after reading "Surprised by Joy" where Lewis mentioned it as one of his favorites. I loved it!

Some favorites and some I hope to read...

Ah, Tolkien! "Castle Blair" was a book C.S. Lewis read as a child.

I always adopt books on Jewish subjects when I find them at the book sale. Just a love of mine.

Remember Taylor Caldwell and Frank Perretti?

Old hymnals and Grace Livingston Hill...

I found out that G.M. Trevelyan was C.S. Lewis's history teacher in college, so I'm glad I found this "History of England" written by him. (I actually bought them before I knew of the connection. One of those book sale treasures! I love English history and literature.)

Jane Austen and Bill Peet! I read this Bill Peet book to the kids when they were younger and when I saw it at the book sale I had to rescue it! Poor little book!

Yes, I am an Austen/Bronte fan!

Scott, Trollope and Edith Wharton...

So many delightful books!

A book review...

The Liturgical Year by Joan Chittister.
As a complete neophyte, I read with interest Miss Chittister's explanation of the various events leading up to Christmas and Easter as well as the Ordinary Times.
As one who has never attended a liturgical type of church I have had much curiosity about what the liturgy of a church was all about.
I think some of us who attend less formal, non-denominational churches sometimes feel that informality brings us closer to God.
In some ways this may be true, but I think
something can certainly be said for the liturgical way of following God.
It is all so new and seems so complex to an outsider that I think I will have to read the book more than once to grasp it all.
I was surprised to learn how down-to-earth and scripture centered many of these liturgical events are and, to my way of thinking, they help to draw us back toward God and the real meaning of Christmas and Easter.
As she explains, "The liturgical year, then, is a panoply, an array of events designed to shape us into being what we say we are-followers of Jesus, disciples of Christ, the Christian community. It is a yearlong sojourn through the life of Christ to that ultimate point of self-giving, to that last breath of teaching, to that total surrender to the will of God, to that glorious new life that comes when we put this one at its service."
I was inspired to read more on the subject.
I wrote this review as a Book Review Blogger for Thomas Nelson Publishers.

Moving day for Jordan...

Last night after work (8:30 p.m.) I headed over to Jordan's apartment to help him move. He's storing most of his belongings at our house because he's moving to Fort Worth for six months or so. While there he will live with his brother and sister-in-law. It's sort of a reconnaisance mission to see if God has something for him to do there. He's unattached, so now is the time to travel and see a bit of the world.

His apartment is on the second floor, so Bob and I, Jordan and three of his friends ran up and down carrying boxes and pieces of furniture. It took two trips with the pickup and two cars filled to the gills to get everything in. At our house I stored most of his things in our loft room, so up and down more stairs carrying boxes! Every muscle is sore! Well, maybe I used up some calories!

He spent the night with us and headed to Fargo this morning where he's doing a 12 day medical research study in order to raise some extra funds for his trip. When he returns he'll take about a week to prepare for his trip and then he'll head south.
I'm hoping the fact that he's keeping his bed, couch, and so many other items here at our house means that he'll be back! We sure will miss him, but want him to follow what the Lord has for him.

Now that most of the moving is done I'm relaxing, visiting on Facebook and watching TV (while drinking copious amounts of tea).

Whew! See you later!

My snowy background...

I've been bouncing around from one blog background to another! I had a vintage looking tan background with cross-stitching along the margins, but it began to have a HEAVY feeling to me. Then I went to another blog and saw her really minimalist white layout and thought, "Now that's simple and seems to fit a winter theme. No HTML required!" So, for now I'm going fresh and simple. I like it!

Everyone stay warm! I have to get ready for work. Sure enjoyed my long weekend! =0)
(A lovely bit of crazy quilt.)

A need for creativity....

I have three days off from work and I hope to relax and enjoy it!

I realized today that it's been a while since I've played my guitar, so I just went up to my little loft room and got out the guitar, which I keep in the case with a humidifying device so it won't dry out in the dry winter air. I played through some songs and really enjoyed singing along. Hubby's gone for a few hours so I can let 'er rip! (He loves to listen to me sing, but I get inhibited knowing I have a one person audience! It doesn't bother me to sing at church, but one-on-one is a little different.) After the guitar session I dusted off my tinwhistles and played through "Morrisons" a couple of times. It felt good to play a little music. I decided to skip the fiddle.

I think I'm spending too much free time on Facebook, which is using up time I should be using for time in the Word or reading or doing some creative things that I really need to fill a certain spot in my soul. Know what I mean? I will probably keep checking in on FB just in case one of my kiddos says something interesting, but I could really skip a lot of what goes on there. Blogging, on the other hand, IS a creative pursuit, which I hope to continue!


I have a little magazine rack next to my favorite chair in the living room. I've crammed it full of things that I'm reading and occupations that I'd like to take some time for, such as drawing. I also have a basket of flannel shirts under the rack waiting to be cut up into quilt squares. I actually got some of them cut up, but will do the rest as I feel like it. I have several books that I'm reading and a notebook with notes for that young person's novel I have in my brain. Lots to do, but only small bits of time when I feel like I can really withdraw into my own little creative world. Some types of creativity require a lot of time just for brainstorming, which requires quiet and aloneness for me. As my hubby can attest, when I'm zoned in on a book or movie, he may as well not be there! LOL! SO, I try to do these things when he's gone, so he doesn't feel neglected.

I'm planning to spend some time fixing up some sheet music for a song I like. I need to get it on paper with space to draw the chord charts between the lines because the chords are some that are unfamiliar to me and I want to be able to see them quickly. There's also a Leeland song that I need to listen to a few more times to get the hang of it. So, I'm hoping to have time to work on those. I need to be singing if nothing else, because I feel that's a talent the Lord gave me, where someone else can do the guitar or piano playing better than I. I'm just learning to be sort of passable on the guitar.

I want to finish up a book called "The Liturgical Year" so I can get the review done for Thomas Nelson. It's pretty good, but I may have difficulty coming up with 200 words to say about it! I guess I could just go rambling on like I do here! =0)

I also need to find a new background for my blog. I've looked around a bit, but haven't found anything that works well when I actually apply it. Most have overwhelming borders that distract from the blog. I'll keep trying though. I'm spoiled now and don't want just a plain colored background!

Happy New Year to all!