My Recent Reading List

I seem to go in spurts where reading is concerned. I read voraciously and then I go through a season of really dragging & taking weeks to finish one book. I'm kind of at an in-between point recently. As the school year winds down, I'm very busy getting end of the year stuff ready for my class and helping Samuel work on his homework every day and then just your regular every day stuff. But I've been wanting to read more, so I'm getting it done in little blips & blurbs, here & there throughout the day. There's the potty-time reading (ya know, the 3 minutes here & 2 minutes there). There's bedtime reading. There's the "I just need a break from everything else...give me 10 minutes". There is bubble bath reading time. And of course, once everyone else is in bed & occupied at night (before I actually crawl into bed myself). So...what have I been reading lately? Let's see if I can make a list.

A few weeks ago, I went into the local Dollar General & stumbled on these first two books.

When God Winks at You is about the idea of 'coincidences' in life that show you God's presence, stories like those times when you were overwhelmed by a situation & suddenly felt unmistakable peace in the midst of the chaos...and 2 hours later you find out that your girlfriend halfway around the world woke up in the middle of a nap & you were on her heart so she prayed for you. And then you discover that it happened at exactly the moment you God's strength & peace. I love stories like that!

I will admit, however, that although this book was published by Thomas Nelson, a Christian publishing company, the overall view I got from the book was a touchy-feely one.....not one that draws you back to God over & over. Nothing wrong with that, but it just wasn't quite as 'deep' as I'd expected it to be. Then again, I did buy it at the Dollar General....maybe it wasn't exactly a bestseller.

I have not read The Ten Year Nap yet. The summary on the back sounded interesting & for $2, I can afford to be disappointed if it doesn't turn out well. The basic idea is that a group of ladies have grown up together, went to college at the same time, started a career, married & had babies all around the same time. Each one decided to put their careers on hold to stay home with their children and now, 10 years later, they're all reentering the workforce & feeling like they're coming out of a 'ten year nap'. While the idea of the story intrigues me, I have to laugh at the idea of the title. Any stay at home mom will tell you....naptime is the last word we'd use to describe our job at home!

The reason I haven't finished the first book above (& then haven't started The Ten Year Nap) is because I got THIS ONE in the mail. I had preordered it four or five months ago. Last week I got an email saying that it was on the way! I can't tell you how excited I was. I arrived on Friday. I wasn't able to start it til Saturday evening. I finished it last night. Twenty-four hours is all it took me. I sort of figured it would go pretty quick.

You may remember me telling you about Todd & Angie Smith's blog, about the difficult journey they were on when they got a fatal prenatal diagnosis. Their sweet baby girl, Audrey Caroline (pictured on the cover), was born April 7, 2008 and lived for just a little over 2 1/2 hours before she slipped into the hands of God. The journey through that pregnancy, the birth, and the time since is chronicled both on her blog & in this book. Having walked through the whole thing with Angie while reading her blog, it only made sense that I'd grab up a copy of the book when it was available. And grab I did! It's beautifully written and as inspired and amazing as Angie's blog.


I've only gotten about a chapter into Sacred Parenting so far. It's a really cool book. The idea is that this is not a how-to parenting book. It's not about how to care for your kids or how to teach them about God like the title sounds. It's about just the reverse---all the things we learn about ourselves & God as we parent our children. Those lessons you learned from your 3 yr old when Aunt Ellie died....the brilliance & inspired that comes from the mouth of your 10 yr old when put in a tough situation. That is what this book is about & I'm excited to get started on it!


Today at a local church library we visit regularly, I FINALLY got my hands on a copy of Sheet Music. It's not about music, folks. It's about sexuality in marriage. I'll leave it at that because I do have younger folks reading my blog. If you want to hear more about it, email me or look it up on amazon for customer reviews.

And of course, I'm reading my favorite blogs!!!

So what are you reading lately?

(NOTE: ALL of the books above come *after* I read my Bible every morning!)