Books, Books, and more Books!

I have totally gone book crazy!

Our house is full of books, we have several floor-to-ceiling bookshelves full of books and guess what? We have approximately one hundred, yes one hundred books out from the library! Now we do have five people in the house and five library cards that hold twenty books each but its rare that each person uses their own card for their own books. We just put books on whoever has an empty space. Also there is quite an age difference in our house 18, 14, 9 and 6(7 in three days :) not to mention mom. And all of us like books. I think I'm the one who loves books, actually I know I am! I'm also a fast reader. But, I'm currently reading seven books! Thats a lot to get through! Following are two book lists.

                        Books I'm reading

• Dead Certain: The presidency of George W. Bush ~ Robert Draper
• Manalive ~ G.K. Chesterton
• The Quilter's Legacy ~ Jennifer Chiaverini
• The Great adventure: Theodore Roosevelt: And the Rise of Modern America ~ Albert Marrin
• The Light and the Glory ~ Peter Marshall and David Manuel
• Mere Christianity ~ C.S. Lewis
• Screwtape Letters ~ C.S. Lewis
  

    Books on the Waiting List (until I have Time)

• Tortured for Christ ~ Richard Wurmbrand
• Laura Bush: America's First Lady, First Mother ~ Antonia Felix
  
• George Washington Spymaster: How the Americans Outspied the British and Won the Revolutionary War ~ Thomas B. Allen
• Dewy: The Small-Town Library Cat Who Touched the World ~ Vicki Myron with Bret Witter
• Beloved Bride: The Letters of Stonewall Jackson to His Wife ~ Bill Potter
• Kingdom's Dawn ~ Chuck Black
• So Much More ~ Anna Sofia Botkin and Elizabeth Botkin 
• The Lost Clue ~ Mrs. O.F. Walton
• Titus: Comrade of the Cross ~ Florence Morse Kingsley 

Wow! Enough said!

If any of you have read any of the books I have mentioned let me know how you liked them! And if you have any books that I haven't mentioned that have really inspired you or that you just really like, let me know and they can go on my list!

The Sweetness of Friendship

     We went to a family bible study Friday night. We call it Solomon's Porch and it's a place where christian families can gather together and be encouraged in the Lord. We do it once a month, and we have a different speaker each time. After the speaking we have a time of fellowship and visiting. Lots of my friends go and we had some great talks! When I got home and reflected on the evening, I realized how much of a blessing it is to have friends. I well remember a time when I had no friends and felt so alone. It was in that time that I had to lean on the Lord and make Him my best friend. Since then He has blessed me abundantly with friends! The friends I'm very close to now will probably be my friends for the rest of my life. The love that flows in a good friendship is just amazing! being able to tell someone something and know they will hold all you say in confidence is so comforting! It's even better when they pray with you right then and there and you can feel sure they will continue praying for you! I'm so glad that the Lord has blessed me abundantly with friends. Sometimes I take it for granted that I have friends, but then I remember being friendless and I praise and thank God for this precious gift of friendship!

  ~I thank my God upon every remembrance of you, always in every prayer of mine making request for you all with joy, for your fellowship in the gospel from the first day until now,

 ~Philippians 1:3-5 

Excitement Today

Today was the day that the famous cyclist Lance Armstrong came through. Armstrong and one hundred some odd other cyclists are doing the Amgen tour of California. They flew right passed our road! It was just amazing! Of course you can't really tell, out of over a hundred cyclists, which one he was. But it was just so fun being out there watching! Some of the cyclists were even chatting with each other! They came, in all their magnificence, flying around the corner and down the hill with one big whoosh!  The wind flying off them was more like a gale than a breeze. It made my hair fly! I've never seen so many bicycles in one place in all of my eighteen years! It was truly amazing! They kicked up a lot of dust too and I jokingly told the family "I got to breathe some of Lance Armstrong's dust!" :p They came by so close that if I stuck my arm out I could have touched them, seriously!

All the cool cars with bicycles on top were neat too!

Here are some pictures we got. The group of people that you see on the right side of some of the pictures that are near the blue Suburban are our neighbors, my mom and two of my sisters. (The Suburban is our big rig) And yes, that is snow on the ground. 

A song(sort of)That I'm Working on

     I Want to Fall in Love With You all Over Again

You saw me from beyond the sky, You saw me, I caught Your eye. 

Your desire for my heart caused a pain in Your own, 

So You came down from Your throne,

Just to save this miserable soul.

You paid all my debts for me,

By dying a horrible death on a tree.

The love You gave me overwhelmed me,

And so I fell in love with You,

And gave You all of my heart.

But the tests and trials came,

And I betrayed You for a cheep, easy way out.

I left You and broke Your heart.

Finally my sin covers me, overwhelms me,

And I realize what I've done.

The chains of sin bind me so tight!

I can't get away! There is a wall of sin around my heart,

Blocking me from You.

Now I want to fall in love with You all over again.

Renew the love in my heart and take away this burden.

I come totally crushed and useless,

I know I'm not worthy of Your love, but please,

I want to fall in love with You all over again.

Renew my heart that I may know Yours.

Hold me in Your strong, loving arms again.

Please, purify my heart! 

I'm sorry, so sorry for burning You so bad!

Heal me, hold me, 

and help me to fall in love with You all over again!

~ By Leslie M.B.

Let me know what you all think!

*Photo from Flickr

Valentines Day: For Singles

     Valentines Day is commonly a day where you show special acts of love to someone special. But what about those of us who are single? This day may make certain of us singles disheartened, sad because we don't have a "special someone" to be with. I often have feelings of loneliness in this area. But then I am reminded that I do have a Groom waiting for me. He loves me so much that He gave His life for me when I don't deserve it. And now He is eagerly awaiting the Wedding Day when He can hold me close in His arms and spend the rest of eternity with me. When you feel a longing in your heart for a partner remember; Jesus Christ is awaiting the big Wedding Day when He can come for you, His Bride, the Church. Lets fall in love with our Savior again. Ask Him to renew your love for Him and to make it a perfect Love. 

 Our Prince is coming, lets prepare ourselves to receive His coming!

*Photo from Flickr  

Updates

     Well, the english course I'm taking is going so well!  I'm thoroughly enjoying it!  Discussion just flies back and forth, it's so neat being able to freely express your thoughts.  There are three other girls taking it with me and I'm enjoying getting to know each of them!  We have our first  assignment due next week and I'm kinda nervous about it, I would appreciate your prayers!  

     Our reading assignment has been in Mere Christianity by C.S.Lewis, what an awesome book it is!  I have been learning ever so much from it!

    Violin lessons have been going well, though you can't imagine how utterly dreadful a violin sounds if you don't play it just right :p I sometimes wonder if I'll ever get it right!  Hold the violin and bow just right, keep wrists straight, keep the bow parallel with the bridge, keep your feet in the proper position. And then, through all that, try to play and make it sound right. Well, I guess with plenty of practice I shall do well, or so I've been told :)