Monday miscellany

A while back my friend Sara posted about what she was reading this summer. I was happy to see that I'm not the only person with a few reads going at once.

I love to read but sometimes I go through EXTREME dry spells and don't read for months on end and then other times I read like I'm never going to be able to again.

I thought I'd check with my beloved readers to see what is on your nightstand and share with you what is on mine.

Here's what I've been reading:


I actually finished The Help a couple of weeks ago. It is a very powerful story set in the deep south in the early 1960s. I really shudder when I think about what was going on just a few years before I was born. I like to think that things have dramatically changed and shudder to think that maybe they haven't...

I'm still reading this:


My friend, Elissa, loaned me the book Going Public in May after we had talked about public school versus private school one day over breakfast. At the very beginning of 2010, I broached the subject of sending Lindy to a private Christian school with Don. (Is that sentence structure all screwy?) He was surprised by the topic as much as I was. I think the realization that in Fall 2010 Lindy would be starting school really hit. Suddenly I was feeling unprepared and worried about what all Lindy would be encountering in a public school environment. I was also concerned we'd be losing some influence, too, and possibly be facing a lot more competition.

After discussion, prayer, and consideration, we decided to send Lindy to public school. We had not been financially preparing for the expense of private school and we just couldn't do it. Also, as we were thinking about it, I heard a quote and it really resonated with me. Since then, I've heard it several times. I believe the quote comes from Colt McCoy's father and it goes something like this, "Our job as parents is not to prepare the path for our children but to prepare our children for the path."

At that moment, I realized I was really concentrating more on the path and not her heart. PLEASE DON'T GET ME WRONG...I am not saying that if you choose to send your kids to private school or homeschool them that you are not doing your job or that you have it all wrong. I don't feel that way at all. Really. The parents I know who have chosen those options are VERY concerned about their kiddos and are doing an excellent job parenting. So, please don't think I am criticizing or saying one is better than the other. What that quote reminded me is that no matter what, where, or who, we needed to be stepping it up and preparing her heart for that path and capitalizing on teachable moments.

The book Going Public has provided some great thoughts, ideas, scriptures, and encouragement as Lindy begins a new chapter in her life three weeks from TODAY!!!

Last but NOT least, I've been reading a less pretty version of this:


Here's a confession. I'm undisciplined. I'm a slacker. I'm a wannabe sitting on the sidelines. I can't even think of a time--recently--that I've set a goal and accomplished it. I am busy but I'm not accomplishing what I want to accomplish. I'm not being self-depracating; I'm being honest. Last year at some point I was whining to Don about how he was responsible for my weight gain and lack of exercise and he said, "So what you are saying is you want ME to be your self-discipline..." Um, yeah, basically...By the way, ouch...

With all that said folks, I set a goal. Yep! I set a goal to read the entire bible this year. I've started and stopped in the past but this year I'm going to do it. I am. Really. Sadly, I am on June 3rd and by my calculations that puts me at about two months behind. However, I WILL do this. I am not doing this with anyone else. I'm being my own self-discipline. I have no one to blame but MYSELF if I don't achieve my goal, which, by the way, I'm going to achieve. I felt like it was a more important goal than all the other quasi-goals I have floating around in my head.

I have been amazed at all I've been learning and all I had forgotten. I've been trying to read for comprehension and not just gloss over things. I'll admit it is rough at times. This approach offers some of the Old Testament, some of the New Testament, a Psalm, and then a verse from Proverbs each day. That breaks it up nicely in my opinion. God in his INFINITE wisdom gives me some great nugget for me to savor with each reading!

Along with catching up in the above-mentioned, next up for me is Crazy Love:


I'd love to hear what you've been reading or what you're wanting to read.

Happy Monday! Hope it is a great week.