miscellany monday – 6/20/11

our beach trip was wonderful – great weather, relaxing, lots of reading, nice accommodations – but, it’s good to be home too!  (well, except for the whole getting back into routine thing – that always gets me!)

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Last week, I reviewed a book called The Sweetest Thing on my blog, and mentioned that I was reading another  book by the same author on my Kindle.  I finished that book at the beach and LOVED it too.  I just love books that are unpredictable and tear-inducing!  So, I’m recommending The Swan House.  And guess what?  The Kindle version is still available for FREE on Amazon.com.  I can’t wait to get my hands on more of Elizabeth Musser’s books.

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While at the beach, we enjoyed our traditional visit to the used bookstore.  We turned in a TON of books and got some new ones to read.  My mom grabbed a few true crime  books (which she zipped through last week), Ashley found some Christian fiction books to add to her collection, and we got the whole Kaya series and some other mystery books from American Girl for Gracie.  As for me, I found a few books too.  The one I chose to read first is Tending Roses by Lisa Wingate.  I recognized her name as a Christian fiction author, but found this particular book in the secular fiction section.  I’m not yet 1/2 way through, but was hooked on the first paragraph:

Indian wisdom says our lives are rivers. We are born somewhere small and quiet and we move toward a place we cannot see, but only imagine. Along our journey, people and events flow into us, and we are created of everywhere and everyone we have passed. Each event, each person, changes us in some way. Even in times of drought we are still moving and growing, but it is during seasons of rain that we expand the most – when water flows from all directions, sweeping at terrifying speed, chasing against rocks, spilling over boundaries. These are painful times, but they enable us to carry burdens we could never have thought possible.

Profound, huh?  I’ll share my thoughts on the book when I’m finished with it. 

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Yesterday we did the Disconnect to Reconnect challenge that I talked about here.  (There are still a few hours left - ‘til noon today – to sign up to win a free book.)

Anyway, it was WONDERFUL!  We spent the whole day together as a family, with no computers, cell phones (which we rarely use anyway), iPods, or game systems.  We did watch several movies together.  It was just a really nice day of reconnecting as a family and I think we’ll try to incorporate this challenge every Sunday.

I only signed on to 40 e-mails this morning, so it wasn’t like I missed much.  And, I really need to challenge myself to NOT work on Sundays anyway.  There were a few times when I really wanted to look something up – it’s amazing how much we have grown to depend on the internet for various things!  But, it was worth it! Did you participate?  If so, I’d love to hear how the day went for you!

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Ashley and I sat down and started looking over our school stuff for next year (yes, we’ve looked it over several times already!) – we’re  trying to get ready to make up our schedules for the year and plan in certain things.  We’re super excited about the things we’ve chosen!  I’ll be making a post about school soon. 

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My brother and sister-in-law are in the process of adopting a baby boy from Korea.  Today is his 1st birthday.  They found out last week that their travel time will be pushed back (from August/September to October/November).  I remember how hard that wait can be – once you have pictures, you can’t wait to  get your hands on that baby!  Please pray for baby Grant (in Korea) and for Jon & Amy (here waiting). 

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We have a busy week ahead.  I better stop writing and start working!