My Sweeties

I love this little outfit that someone made for Brynnie

More adventures with rubber ducky

Reading at bedtime

Brynne is officially 8 months this weekend. God reminds me all that time to enjoy and appreciate her as a special gift from Him and not to take this time for granted. It's easy to wish the time away when things are inconvenient or difficult, but at the same time crazy to think how fast time goes. I just put all her 0-6 month clothes away, and I can't believe she was that little at one time! Any thoughts on enjoying and appreciating every day...parent or not?

Rubber Ducky...you're the one...

Rob and I have been laughing lately at how much Brynne loves her rubber duck. It’s not the usual color, but I guess pink is appropriate. Anyways....she LOVES to play with it during her bath and when I take her out to dry her off and get her dressed, she clings to it like it’s her best friend. I never understood that song until now....rubber ducky, you’re the one...that makes bath time so much fun...it is so true...

And here are a few other latest pictures of our sweetie. She will be 8 months in a week and a half...time is flying!

#4

Don’t Make Me Count to Three, by Ginger Plowman

CONFESSION...I only finished this book...started it a while ago. A few of the books on my list this year are “finishers” and this is one of them. I think I lacked motivation because Brynne was so young and not really at a discipline stage yet. Well, she’s getting there a lot faster than I would have imagined. Anyways, this book is a discussion of a philosophy of discipline based on scripture. Ginger is very thorough in handling what discipline is, why we should do it, how to do it, and gives a lot of application and great examples. One of her main points is that we are working to reach the heart of our children, not simply their actions. This is so important!!! Especially as Rob and I have talked, we desire so much to have children that love God and desire to serve him - not little robots that simply follow orders mindlessly. One of her examples that was so simple caught my attention...how often do two children fight over one toy and someone walks up and says “who had it first?”...she says that this is not the question to ask - at least with our children. We have to share with both children that their hearts are in the wrong. One is taking and causing frustration, while the other is not sharing and being angry. Neither is acting with a heart of love for the other. It would be easy in this case and so many others to simply take care of the basic issue...”who had it first, well give it back”... but we’re not really reaching the heart.

Another thing she said over and over to her children that I noticed was “I love you too much to let you disobey”. This is something I want to remember...when I don’t feel like disciplining, when they are doubting my reasons for disciplining...I love them too much to let them live however they want, realizing where this will lead them in the future. They often won’t understand, I know I didn’t - but I’m so thankful for my parents and their faithfulness in raising me. One thing that bothered me a little about this book was a tendency to prooftext at times. I’m glad that she tries to back everything up with scripture, but some things are just great ideas and practices and you may not have a specific reference for them. I think she pulled some things out of context to serve her purpose. That being said, I would definitely recommend it for parents as a good reference.

Now, on to Perelandra...another “finisher”.

Wednesday Letters and Snow

I had to laugh at the snow we got here in VA Beach...8 inches or something which absolutely shuts the place down... especially when usually 1 or 2 does..it was great to have a couple days home together though...

And...

Review # 3

The Wednesday Letters, by Jason Wright

This novel was an easy and fun read...I managed to do it in two days...mostly because we had the biggest snow storm in Virginia Beach in 30 years and life stopped! It is fiction about a family going through the loss of their parents and dealing with other life issues. It has a lot of “God talk”...it seems like the author may be a Christian. I liked the theme of forgiveness and redemption throughout. Some of the “lovey-dovey” talk...I’m not so sure is necessary, but perhaps not harmful either. My favorite part is that the parents that just passed away had a very sweet tradition. The father wrote a letter every Wednesday to his wife from the day they married to the day they died. I enjoy hearing about different traditions people have - even if it’s made up in a book...anyways, this was strictly fluff reading, but I guess that’s ok once in a while (and I’ve decided to review every book, so I did).

Jack and The Shack

So, this year Rob and I decided to be a little more purposeful about our reading. We are both working on a list of books that we would like to read by the end of 2010. The other part of this, is that we would like to post at least a short review of each on the blog, just to help us consolidate our thoughts as we finish each one (most likely mine will be short and Rob’s....well...not). :)

So my first two this year were The Shack by William Young and Jack’s Life by Douglas Gresham. Most likely you have heard of The Shack as it has caused quite a stir, especially in evangelical circles. If you have not, it is a novel written about a man who lost his daughter and the way he “meets up” with God and works through his grief. Young is a good writer and has put out something that catches your attention quickly. Over all, I enjoyed reading through this book. There are some very controversial things that he does however. He personifies God as a black woman (the Father), a Middle-Eastern man (Jesus), and an oriental woman (the Spirit). This was very odd to me at first. As I read, I realized that he was mostly trying to break down our misconceptions of God. That is fair although I’m wondering if this is a little confusing and also it seems like there might be some issues with his view of the trinity. I don’ t know enough to discuss it, nuy understand the Driscoll has a scathing review on youtube if you’re interested. He also tends to take a lot of pot shots at “conservative” christianity. While I think he has some good points - I think there should be complete respect and love for all those that are brothers and sisters in Christ - and at times it seems like he (and even God) is sneering at these people. I felt that he did a good job though of helping people work through grief especially relating to their view of God and His goodness. There is a lot of food for thought along the way. It seems to me that the most important thing to do with a book like this is to not treat it like the Bible...instead, take your knowledge of scripture and enjoy the things he hits on that are in line, reject the things that are not. I don’t however think there is a need to shun it completely.

Jack’s Life is a short biography of C.S. Lewis. This was such a fun read. Rob is a huge fan of Lewis and therefore, I have been sucked in. I have read a few of his books and enjoyed finding out about his life. I’m sure it is not the best book written about him, but I liked that it was short and to the point - mostly just telling the story...not analyzing his works or anything like that. Gresham is Lewis’ stepson, and he has an immense love and respect for Lewis that I really enjoyed. It makes a difference to hear admiration from someone that actually spent a lot of time with someone. I was struck with the difficulties that Lewis faced, pretty much his whole life time. I was also struck by the true Christianity he lived out on a daily basis. Having read the Chronicles of Narnia, I couldn’t help thinking that even as Lewis faced tremendous difficulty, it seems he kept the “wardrobe” close by in his mind to step out of the harshness that life often presents, and into the beauty of another world...a reminder to me of the need to live in the reality of heaven and not be too settled into this world. I loved discovering his Irish heritage - no wonder he describes such a beautiful place in Narnia. Rob and I would love to visit Ireland some day...it seems a little bit more exciting because of this thought.

Let me know what you think - I can handle criticism...maybe.