Books and a List

If you ask anyone who knows me they will tell you I love to get lost in a good book. I literally get lost- I leave reality until the book is finished, only to re-enter and live in a brief post-book depression. Maybe you are an avid reader and can relate. What is ironic is that there are few books besides a good fiction novel that hold my attention. Now I don't know if it was me graduating college and suddenly being able to read whatever I wanted, or if it was the lack of constant information influx that I received in college thus producing a void, but I suddenly read many books besides fiction. And whats more, I am on track to finishing them. This is a rare and impressive feat for me. Give me a 600 page novel, and I'll finish it within the week. Give me a 200 page Christian self-help, I might make it to page 50, and then it joins my bookshelf delinquents.  Not so, recently!

I've been reading The Circle Maker by Mark Batterson. Its an incredibly challenging and insightful book on prayer, and what a bold life of faith-drenched prayer looks like. I also just started reading One Thousand Gifts by Ann Voskamp, and no book has hit so close to home as this one. I'm still in the first half of the book, but its fascinating. She tells about her journey from a life of wanting to a life filled with one thousand gifts, and how all that changed was how she viewed thanksgiving, and grace, and the Giver himself. Its exactly what I need to be reading right now. Basically she was dared to write down one thousand things that she was thankful for every day. Now to accomplish that I would need some major discipline. But she talks about how it altered her entire life because her focus was on the gifts, and the Giver instead of the lack or the void.

So today, here's my list.

Today I am thankful for

1. Cereal and vanilla rice milk
2. Waking up to the sun
3. The weird but cool dream from last night
4. Breeze in the trees outside the window
5. the Holy scriptures
6. Bennet and Archer being excited to see me
7. Sadie's morning baby smell
8. little voices talking gibberish to me
9. Baby clothes
10. Friendly park moms
11. Homemade zucchini bread
12. The boys eating (and liking ) my homemade zucchini bread
13. Sadie's smile whenever she sees me
14. Bennet's rare cuddle-mood
15. Archer just wanting to lay in my arms while everyone else naps
16. Talking to Leslie on the phone
17. Hearing that I have a place to stay a little longer
18. Tweets about the Olympics
19. My camelback water bottle
20. the boys waking up happy from naps
21.  Healthy, happy kids
22. Backyard baby pool splashing
23. Chicken salad
24. Sunglasses
25. Baby fingers poking my eyes, nose ring, ears
26. Curiosity, eagerness to learn
27. My mom's children's ministry background
28. 5:00 pm
29. Independence
30. My (Lisa's) mini fridge with a cold drink after work
31. Afternoon sun on the futon
32. Good movies (Transformers)
33. Blueberries
34. Danielle planning our hike
35. Laced sneakers
36. Ipod
37. The tension leaving my body as I run
38. Perfect running weather
39. The prairie path
40. New running shorts swooshing
41. Seeing Kate Z
42. Water over my hot skin
43. Mary Kay products
44. The bath robe Coach E gave me 6 years ago
45. my computer screen
46. Good people
47. Sore feet
48. My phone
49. Yellow nail polish
50. Another day for thankfulness