This holiday season has reminded us of how much we love reading. Most of the books on the left and center have been finished already, plus all of the other board books that made it up to our son's nursery. We're so blessed that we would love to share. These are the books that made it into the "library bin" instead of being put away.
I'm making an effort to read more. It started this summer, during nap times at our tall house on the side of the freeway. The reading habit regained strength when we lost our baby in October and I needed things to do with my grieving mind. I've found that my inner student doesn't even need a "good" book to enjoy, so I spent part of this break reading a local Christmas romance novel compilation. We live in a literary society with an embarrassing amount of text available, so I'm grateful for the thoughtful book selection from our family this Christmas. Here's more info about each book, if you're interested. (This is not a sponsored post, just a picture of books on our dining room table and links to the websites where I think each gift came from.)
Pictured above are the following books we read or will read:
A pretty book that looks like it's for kids, until you realize just how deep this "well-known" poem digs into human existence.
Another book for our sweet little one with larger implications of justice and kindness. His dear auntie hopes that he will be passionate and treating all humans with dignity and restoring families who are broken by government systems. Our first attempt at coloring ended up with Sharpie lines all over the couch, though, so for now we talk about the pictures and pray for children separated from their families.
This is the one we picked out for our little explorer. We want all of the kids in our house to see science as a way of life, with pathways for anyone to become a professional scientist. And mama needs to practice more science vocabulary in Spanish to be a better Guatemalan teacher, so this sturdy book is perfecto for our collection. Since we bought this one, I know it came from our local bookstore: Liberty Bay Books.
My mom found this incredible compilation of adventure stories, photos and inspiration. I read the whole book in one and a half sittings on Christmas Eve. Then, thoroughly enjoyed our family Christmas hike into the DNR land between our house and school. We live in a ridiculously blessed landscape and I'm ready to spend more days without cell reception in 2020! God always speaks to me the most clearly in the wildness and wilderness. I'm excited for the opportunities to be in Creation and with Creation this year, recognizing the raw beauty of mountains and hiking companions.
This is the book that I put on my wishlist hoping that a sister or sister-in-law would pick. (My sister-in-law is reading her own copy right now, actually). So, I was a little surprised when my mother-in-law wrapped it up. I finished it within 24 hours, it's that good. Good, because it's challenging: The kind of challenging where you feel like a friend is telling you how hard and good obedience to our loving God can be. Rachel's passing this year was sad for the entire Evangelical community this year. Her prophetic voice continues ringing clearly. Praise our good God!
This one surprised me, too. A book about mindfulness from my mom! I am saving this one for right before school starts, since I know that my reactive parenting is a bigger deal in the classroom right now than at home. It's easier for me to be patient with a snuggly one-year-old who looks like my best friend than it is to be the "safe person" for teenagers in trauma. Here's hoping our Little Love benefits from the lessons in this book, too.
My husband put this book on his list because it's written by one of his seminary professors. We still live as church planters in our cliff-side community. There's not a church in "walking distance" of our home. But, there are a number of starter homes and manufactured homes for sale in the neighborhood, if anyone wants to come join the movement! ;)
And speaking of church-planting...This year our focus is on dinner. We're committing to open our home for people who need dinner, whether they are like us or not. On the flipside, we'll go to dinner when we're invited, too. I don't know what this will look like, yet, so we'll see. Our immediate community is our mission focus and we're trying to figure out where our "team" is and how to worship God together. Hopefully more stories to come...
And last of all, a book for Beau. He picked it out at our aforementioned favorite local bookstore, Liberty Bay Books. I'm told it "fills in the gaps" between two movies, but I can't remember which ones. I love my nerd. He's the best.
And not pictured:
So, there you have it, friends. Email me if you want to borrow any of these, we should be done with the first read by January ;)
We're looking for a good family Bible reading plan for the new year, too. Something that is toddler-attention-span-friendly. Let me know if you have any leads.
4 Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one.[a] 5 Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. 6 These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. 7 Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. 8 Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. 9 Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.
Deuteronomy 6:4-9
No comments:
Post a Comment