Wednesday, August 31, 2011

Books (of course!)

Well, it has been some time since I posted about my third favorite topic - books. (Want to know the first and second favorites? Try to guess!). The summer generally means more reading for most folks, but since we spend so much time on the farm, in the yard, outside, etc. it actually means less reading for me, at least. Emma Kate did get quite a bit of reading, carrying a book with her when we went to the dentist, grocery, or pool. Every spare minute was a minute for her to read (wonder where she got that desire from ??!!). If you are interested, her books included The Hobbit, The Fellowship of the Ring, Perelandra, Out of the Silent Planet, Adventures of Northwoods (series), Viking Quest series (books 1-3),

Ethan has not jumped into individual reading very enthusiastically yet. He spent lots of hours reading/browsing nonfiction books, mostly about Motorcycles and Dirt Bikes, Star Wars, Legos and the history of guns and airplanes, but hopefully by next summer he will be into reading more on his own. He did read some Three Cousin Detective books, Frog and Toad series (for the umpteenth time), and some Matt Christopher fiction (that had motorcycles or dirt bikes in the action!).

For the beginning of school, Emma is reading Eagle of the Ninth, Ethan has read Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, and this week we have read Beowulf together (abridged version of course!). Next week we will be reading Augustine Came to Kent together aloud at lunch, and Emma will begin Otto of the Silver Hand.

But the most exciting news for me personally is that I am reading several wonderful books. I have another copy of Bertha Smith's Our Lost World (from Amazon for 99c and it was signed by her - very precious to me!) which I am rereading along with the book Back to Jerusalem by Paul Hattaway. I will definitely be writing a blog soon about how these two books, written 30 years apart, show that God's plan and timing are so perfect and so beyond our limited understanding, and yet He allows us to glimpse His compassion and love for each and every person in every nation if we will just open our heart to His. For devotional thought I am reading Ruth Bell Graham's book about Prodigals. Very heartening! We are still reading together through the Bible using the McCheyne Reading Plan

May the Lord bless the words we read to open our minds to His amazing glory and wisdom!