AKA: What I’m reading

The great thing about good friends is they tell you about books they are reading, what they are learning and it makes you want to read the same book. That is how I came to have TWO books titled Right Here, Right Now, on my nightstand. After hearing all my friend was learning from this book I decided I wanted to join in. So I went online, found the book by that title and ordered it. Then I excitedly texted my friend to let her know.
Her responding text: The book I mentioned is free. Did you get that one or the other with the same title?
Uh, I paid for it. 😦 BUT since the real one was free online I promptly ordered it. Both sound interesting and I paid for one, so I’ll be reading them both.
One Thousand Gifts is like the Christian world’s  most popular books right now. I actually received it as a gift in March. Started it and then left it behind after a summer vacation. So I’m hoping to finally finish it.
The Mission Minded Family is a very practical, easy to apply book on teaching your kids how to look at their world from a more global perspective. I don’t love everything in the book but there’s lots of great ideas.
Loving the Little Years is a fun little book that my mom sent me after hearing the author speak at a conference. I have really, REALLY enjoyed it and find myself highlight much of it. One of my favorite things about it is that each chapter is short, like a page and a half. So I can sit down for 5 minutes and read and actually feel like I’m getting somewhere before I have to jump up and pay attention to the kids. This girl does not claim to have all the answers, she is in the absolute midst of parenting in the little years with five children under the age of 5! But she writes well and hits hard. Here’s a sample:

    “…the state of your heart is the state of your home. You cannot harbor resentment secretly toward your children  and expect their hearts to be submissive and tender. You cannot be greedy with your time and expect them to share their toys. And…you cannot resist your opportunities to be corrected by God and expect them to receive correction from you.”

Good stuff.

Remember when you were first married and you and your man would stay up late laying in bed talking passionately about things? It could be about anything from politics to how you raise children to how you load the dishwasher but it was exciting and frustrating and challenging and stimulating and just wonderful. Well I’m not sure what happened, kids and early morning runs I suspect, but I’ve realized that I almost never make it past, “Good night, I love you” before I am asleep. Those days of excited discussion came largely in part because we had so much in common. We read books together, read the same websites, told each other about other stuff we were seeing. In general we had lots more time to read and talk than we do now days. But I miss those days, I miss those connections. So, Kris recently finished Healing for a Broken World and suggested it. So I’m reading it so that we can talk about it. I may not be able to stay up late talking about it, but maybe we can have afternoon discussions. 🙂

So that’s what I’m reading. Nothing terribly deep and NO FICTION 😦 but still some good stuff.