Novel Reflections

I am reading a book right now called Ever After by Karen Kingsbury. I have cried my way through most of this book, and I plan on finishing it tonight for two reasons:

1-I can’t put it down. She’s an amazing story teller, and this story is captivating!

2-I can’t spend another day weeping over this book. I need to enjoy the story and move on to happier books for a time.

Having said that, this book has encouraged some contemplation that I wanted to share. I won’t go into details of the story because it is definitely worth reading even though it is a tear jerker! So, here are some reflections

I do not think I would be a good military wife. From where I sit today, I don’t find in myself the strength it takes to let my husband (or child, if I had one) go off to fight in dangerous places. I admire these wives so much!!! I also admire the men (and women too, but I’m thinking more about husbands at the moment) who in many ways might rather be stateside protecting their families still choose to go where duty calls because they have such a passion for protecting so many others. My mind just doesn’t want to wrap around it because I’ve never experienced it for myself. But, I can tell you, I pray for these families. For those overseas and for those still at home hoping everyday that their loved one comes home. Selfishly, I’m thankful I do not have to be a military wife. Who knows about my children, but for now I pray for all the wives out there who find the strength from Above to be mom, dad, nurturer, and provider while their husbands protect our freedom!

Thank you soldiers! Thank you wives!

“This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers.” 1 John 3:16

On My Bookshelf

I have been reading up a storm recently. The craziness of engagement and wedding plans slowed down my usual frantic pace with which I read through books. But, since the wedding I have gotten back to my usual book reading fetish. In fact, my husband is becoming quite the reader himself, and we’ve enjoyed reading some of the same books and talking about them. Isn’t he a dream come true?!?! Okay, I digress…

This post is meant to catch you up on what I’ve books I’ve made it through recently as well as give you a list of what is awaiting my reading pleasure in the future!

Harry Potter Books 1-7 by J.K. Rowling

It is no secret to many how much I love the Harry Potter books. Before my recent adventure back into the land of Hogwarts, I had read books 1-5 two or three times each. When six and seven came out I downed them each once, and promised that after a little time passed I would start back at the beginning and absorb Rowling’s amazing story from start to finish. I started back in February at the beginning and worked my way all the way through without stopping to read something else. I finished a couple weeks ago, and once again, Rowling has wowed me. She is a masterful storyteller. I had forgotten so much of what happened at the end of the saga that it was like reading it for the first time. Her good vs. evil story line is phenomenal, and I love the morals she emphasizes throughout the course of the series. Most importantly, her story stresses the power of choice over an individual’s fate. That we can chose good or evil, and it is not put on us simply as a result of our background or life circumstances. There are so many spiritual allegories that can be drawn from that idea. Aside from the serious portion of the story, it is just plain funny too. Rowling has imagination and creativity unlike anything I’ve ever read. She is funny and has an amazing knack for character development. If you have never ventured into the life of Harry Potter, I encourage you to do so. If it’s been awhile since you lost yourself in this world, I suggest you do so again—it’s very worth your while!

The Tales of Beetle the Bard by J.K. Rowling

This is in many ways the sequel to the Harry Potter series. In Book 7, the character of Hermione is bequeathed this book from Dumbledore, the headmaster of Hogwarts. Basically it is a collection of wizarding fairy tales and fables much like Aesop’s fables are to Muggle (non-magic) children. After the publication of Book 7, Rowling wrote this book because of the extreme interest in the collection that is mentioned numerous times in Book 7. Beetle the Bard is a cute book, but definitely not my favorite of Rowling’s. She still fascinates me with her depth of insight into the wizarding world that she created in her own mind. My favorite part of this book was the commentary after each fable “by” Album Dumbledore. I always like the way Rowling wrote Dumbledore’s sense of humor, and his commentaries are full of funny thoughts.

The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield

After reading something I adore and getting extremely lost in it is often hard for me to fall in love with the book immediately following. So, I jumped into The Thirteenth Tale thinking there is no way it would blow me away because I had just come off of my months-long journey in wizard world. However, I was completely wrong. This is a story that is intriguing, disturbing, and wonderful all rolled into one. I do not want to give too much away, so let me just say this. Margaret Lea is a biographer who gets called away from the antique book shop she operates in order to write a biography for a dying novelist named Vida Winter. Miss Winter has fabricated her life history many times to many biographers in the past, but as her days on earth draw to a close she decides it is time to tell the truth. The truth is disturbing full of tales of unrequited love, broken families, fascinating twin behavior, and devastating disasters. It has so many twists and turns that when you close the final page you have to sit with it for a few minutes while you brain wraps around all you just read. It has a touch of science fiction mixed in with the mystery. I highly recommend it to anyone who doesn’t like a predictable plot. Also, if you are a book lover, this is a great one for you because the narrator (Margaret Lea) describes so beautifully over and over in the story what it is like for a reader when he/she is completely involved in a story. It is fascinating.

The Choice by Nicholas Sparks

I have always enjoyed Nicholas Sparks. His stories are usually extremely romantic and also sad. I’ve been known to cry profusely in the movies that have been made of his books. The Choice is probably the least favorite of the Sparks’ books I’ve read. I don’t want to describe this too much either for fear that I would give too much away. The basically gist is that a man is nearing the end of his married life and takes a very detailed trip down memory lane to when he met and fell in love with his wife. While not my favorite, it is still a very sweet story of love fought for, lost, and rekindled.

So, that is what I have mentally digested over the last few months. On my bookshelf to read in the coming weeks is:

-Sunrise by Karen Kingsbury (Book 1 of the 3^rd series involving the Baxter family)

-Confessions of a Shopaholic by Sophie Kinsella

-Shopaholic Takes Manhattan by Sophie Kinsella

-The Pilot’s Wife by Anita Shreve

Another good one I just recently picked up for Taylor is I Love You, Ronnie by Nancy Reagan. This autobiography of sorts tells the love story of Nancy and Ronald Reagan through all the letters that President Reagan wrote to his wife from their days courting all the way through until his health would not allow him too. Nancy fills in the pieces of their life between the letters. You get some history of his career as it related to their personal life, but it is really a story of their amazing, loving relationship. It’s a must-read!!!

I hope you find something on my list that you might enjoy yourself. Now, a question for all of you fellow readers: I am participating in a program on our church’s website where I can read a book and write up a review for others to look at when deciding what next to read. While I can write about anything, I would love a new Christianity-focused book to read and post about. Does anyone have any suggestions? (The Shack has already been done! J ) Happy Reading!!!

My Singing' Sweetie

Taylor loves to sing. He, his brothers, and his best friend began a quartet 2 1/2 years ago that he dearly loved. Recently, the quartet has had to disband due to the many different directions often takes people. A couple weeks ago, Taylor was contacted by a group out of Tyler, TX who is searching for a tenor. After many discussions with the group, we decided that this will be a great opportunity for him right now. So, we are headed to Tyler today to meet the group and give Taylor a chance to sing with them. We are hopeful for this opportunity, and I am excited to my sweetheart to have a chance to be singing again-he misses it!!

Shock

This weekend has been hard. A friend of my sister's, a girl that I went to Harding with was killed by her husband on Thursday night. I know few details and they don't matter anyway. It's heart-wrenching. The Harding and Searcy communities are aching. Friends and family of the girl are shocked and mourning. It's left me feeling very out of it all weekend. I don't understand how something like this happens. I'm quickly figuring out there's no way to understand it, and therefore I'm gonna quit trying. But, it's scary and it hurts.

Dear Lord, cover all of us affected by this tragedy with compassion, comfort, and extra measures of love...especially the family!

Update on the Belts

I was recently informed that I have become bad at blogging. I confess-it is true. :) In all my euphoria of being a newly wed, I seem to consistently forget my readers who wish to catch up with me. So, what has been going on with us?

-Taylor had a very successful percussion concert in mid-March. It was his first concert to completely plan, organize, and run on his own. It was wonderful. The pieces he chose for the kids to play were fantastic. It was very entertaining, and I was so proud to watch him up there showing off his kids knowing that he is the reason they were so successful!

-We spent spring break in Albuquerque with my parents. It was a relaxing, peaceful week. We played Wii, watched old movies, cooked out, did a little site seeing, and a whole lot of talking and laughing. Taylor and I enjoyed the 11 hour (one way) road trip while we listened to Da Vinci Code on CD. Neither one of us had read the book. We loved it. What a well crafted story!

-April at school for each of us has become very busy. Taylor and the other directors took the band kids to Winter Park a couple weeks ago where they played in a contest and spent 2 1/2 days skiing. Taylor came back uninjured (yea!), and the band came back with a first place plaque!! Now that UIL is over for the bands, they are prepping for spring concerts and getting ready for fall marching season. I am in the process of spring testing and identification for kids starting the dyslexia program next year. It is a very busy time of year balancing paperwork, testing, and 09-10 prep at three campuses; but I'm discovering it's one of my favorite times. I really love this job. I'm really looking forward to heading into my 2nd and final year of training.

-On a more serious but still fun note, Taylor and I have been blessed to have many conversations recently about what our future together looks like as servants of our Lord. We are realizing how many possibilities are out there for us as a couple. Now that we are settling into this marriage thing, we are really getting excited about new and different possibilities as Christ's servants! Stay tuned for updates on our spiritual journey as a couple as time goes on.

So, that is a quick and probably not complete update of the still-new Belts! I will do my best to stay more on top of this blogging thing! In the near future look for: a new post of what's been on my bookshelf and summer plans for the Belts!!!

My Amazing Husband

I have been appreciative today of the sweet, simply ways Taylor shows his love and support for me, and I thought I’d share them with you:

-He gets the hot water going for my tea in the mornings, and if time allows he fixes it just right and brings it to me in the bathroom.
-He runs the water for my bath when I’m ready to relax and unwind at the end of the day.
-He scratches my back and plays with my hair.
-If I am laying in bed reading at night and he's not ready for bed, he sometimes comes in and gives me a kiss on the forehead just so I know he's thinking about me.
-Sometimes after a long day, Taylor will tell me to sit on the couch and read a book, catch up on email, or have my quiet time with my Bible while he makes dinner.
-If I put a clean load of laundry on the bed, and then go back to the laundry room to start more laundry, I sometimes come back to the bedroom to find him already folding the clean clothes.
-He helped me hang the curtains in our apartment yesterday at the end of a long day just because he knew I was ready to get them up.
-He brags to other people about how amazing he thinks I am at my job.
-He takes the dog out when its dark outside so I don't have to.

I have an amazing and wonderful husband, and I just had to share him with my readers. There are many, many more ways that Taylor shows me his love; but these are the ones I have been thinking of and appreciating today.

Lessons Learned in Sharing a Bed

Due to being a little on the tired side this week and nursing a little bit of a hurting heart, I needed some smiles. I thought passing them on to you might be fun for you too. The following are my lessons learned in sharing a bed:

1) I hog the covers. I don't know how it happens, but in the morning the sheets are always farther on my side of the bed than Taylor's. There has even been a time or two where the poor man woke up shivering because of the lack of covers. I promise I don't do it on purpose.

2) Taylor snores (okay, so do I-says he...but I don't like to admit it, and I don't think it's very often). Last night Taylor's loud snoring came into my dream as a rythmic noise I was trying to stop. Upon awaking (at 1:15am, mind you) I discover that the love of my life is laying on his back VERY noisily sawing logs. I gently woke him up (unfortunately, with a start) and asked him to roll over. He complied and quickly fell back to sleep with no snores. No sooner had I gone to the bathroom, rejoined him in bed, and found a comfortable position-he rolls back onto his back and promptly starts snoring again!

3) I sink lower in the bed as the night goes on. Another thing I don't know why or how it happens, but there are many mornings where I wake up with my head level with Taylor's shoulder or chest instead of his head. This is funny because you'd think my feet would hang off the bed. They don't because I end up putting them diagonally onto his side of the bed. :) The problem with scrunching lower in the bed, however, is that when Taylor wants to cover up his shoulders in the middle of the night he has accidentally covered up my head. Apparently, in a dozing stupor, I groan as I toss the offending covers off my head and go on with my dreams.

4) Three nights ago, I was having a strange dream that I don't really remember. What I do remember is Taylor suddenly swinging his fist at me from his side of the bed and whacking me on the arm. As this happens in my dream I am awakened by a horrible pain in my realistic arm. Due to the delirium of the middle of the night dream, my feelings are immediately hurt and I declare, "What was that for?" Taylor starts profusely apologizing for hitting me with his elbow as he rolled over (apparently with much gusto). I realized that the "on purpose punch" was only in my dream, but because of the early hour and the sleepies I had trouble shaking off the hurt feelings and going back to sleep.

5) The night after incident #4 mentioned above, I wake up to go to the bathroom. As I return to bed, I sit on the edge of the bed while I apply chap stick to my dry lips. While sitting on the side of the bed, Taylor moans in his sleep, jerks really big, and sends his arm wholloping extremely violently onto my pillow. Even though it is early and I am sleepy, I am aware of how awful that situation could have been if I had been laying there. Talk about a rude awakening! Thankfully I was already awake. It turned out Taylor was having a nightmare and was fighting off some attacker trying to take me hostage.

6) One Sunday afternoon, we laid down for a much needed Sunday afternoon nap. I had just gotten completely comfortable and relaxed when out of nowhere Taylor sits straight up, leans forward and starts messing around with his feet and the sheets at the foot of the bed. By doing this, he has completely uncovered me (which I guess I deserved, see #1) and the fan is now blowing directly on me making me cold. I am laying there trying to figure out if Taylor is awake or asleep because something about it struck me suspiciously like sleep "walking." Apparently the questions of "What is he doing?", "Is he awake?", "Do I wake him up?" were written all over my face because he turns around, sees my face, and says, "I'm awake!" He then dies laughing realizing how silly he suddenly looked and explains that he thought something had bitten his toe (we had been having an ant problem in our apartment). We had quite a laugh before we finally took that nap.

Needless to say it has been an adventure learning to share a bed with my wonderful husband. I wouldn't have it any other way, though, because I love knowing he is there and having his companionship even when catching z's.