2011 Book List

I work so hard to read a book a week. I've accomplished it once. It happened last year and need I say that I was over the moon that I reached my goal.  It was a huge Goal Achieved!

I have however learned what holds me back. My real struggle is I don't like speed reading. Even technical books I find whole passages that inspire me and I want to write them down. That's my second problem, to really get something I find I have to write it down, so I do. I will copy, with pen and paper, entire passages that speak to me. Yeah, this really holds me back from reading that one book week. It's a constant tug of war over finishing a book a week and letting myself get absorbed in the read.

Here's what I meandered through this 2011. Check out 2010 Book list here.

1. Boys of Grit Who Became Men of Honor ~Archer Wallace
2. Pride & Prejudice ~Jane Austen
3. Real Citizenship ~Tim Echols
4. What he Must be if he wants to Marry my Daughter ~Voddie Baucham
5. Made to Crave ~Lysa Terkeurst
6. Florence Young ~Janet & Geoff Benge
7. Radical ~David Platt
8. The Cat of Bubastes ~G.A. Henty
9. One Thousand Gifts ~Ann Voskamp
10. George Muller ~Janey & Geoff Benge
11. How God used a Snowdrift ~Diane Kleyn
12. Becoming a Woman of Simplicity ~Cynthia Heald
13. Unshaken ~Dan Wooley
14. Choosing to See ~Marybeth Chapman
15. The Hidden Hand ~E.D.E.N. Sothworth
16. Weird ~Craig Groeschel
17. Letters from the Land of Cancer ~Walter Wangerin Jr.
18. Foreign to Familiar ~Sarah A. Lanier
19. The Way of the Heart ~Henri J.M. Nouwen
20. Modern Parents Vintage Values ~Trevathan & Goff
21. Weapons of Mass Instruction ~John Taylor Gatto
22. Preparing for Jesus ~Walter Wangerin Jr.
23. Already Compromised ~Ken Hamm
24. Girls Gone Wise in a World Gone Wild ~Mary Kassian

It's tough to pick a favorite because all these reads run in different directions. I love "The Hidden Hand". I've read it twice myself and then out loud to the kids. Recently they asked if I could read it to them again. It's just that good.

I'm excited to see what's on your books. Thanks Nesting Place for Hosting us!

2011 Christmas Tour

When the heart of the home is solid it doesn't matter the size of the rooms or when they were constructed, the season of Christmas comes through.

We downsized. A journey that continues to amaze and getting Merry Christmas into this little house proves a delight. It busts at the seams, this cheery little domicile.

Finding a place to hide away a Christmas present is impossible but belly laughs abound and we as a family are bound. Our hearts knitted tighter thanks to a tighter environment.

A blessed result of a crazy act and with our first teen we rejoice at every late night chat on the couch. Throw in the Christmas lights and it's childhood magic all over again.

Like Mary, our lives have been interrupted. May your find your moment at the manger. May you choose a life of divine interruption. May your Christmas be All that is Merry and Bright.

Thanks always to The Nestor for her lovely Christmas Tour of Homes. Go take a peek.