The Books of 2013

I love to read. It's my escape from reality without actually having to leave my house. Miss Emma stopped napping during the summer, so the past six months have involved less reading than I'd like, but such is life.

Here's what I read in 2013. (The * denotes books read for my book group.)

Matched
Crossed
Reached - Ally Condie
This fictional trilogy is about a young woman in a dystopian society who comes of age and has to figure out what to do with her life. It sucked me in right away and was a very enjoyable read. It's sort of Hunger Games meets Twilight. I liked it.

* A Girl Named Zippy - Haven Kimmel
A memoir of a girl growing up in a small town in Indiana. I confess, I didn't finish reading it, partly because I couldn't get through it fast enough before it was due back at the library. Some of the stories she shared were hilarious, though.

* Princess - Jean Sasson
Wow. This book was an amazing, horrifying eye-opener. It's a true story of a Saudi Arabian princess in modern times. Her stories of wealth and extravagances contrasted with stories of horrific female oppression had me riveted. I couldn't put it down. I was hooked and disgusted at the same time. You should read it.

* Star Girl - Jerry Spinelli
A young adult novel about a unique girl who shows up out of nowhere and turns a clique-filled, judgmental high school upside down.  It's awesome. You should probably read this, too.

Heaven Is Here - Stephanie Nielson
A true story about a mother, not much older than me, who survived a plane crash which burned 80% of her body. This woman nearly lost it all, but held tight to her love for her family and her faith. It's a great story of hope, faith, and survival.

* Ruby Red
Sapphire Blue
Emerald Green - Kerstin Geir
I LOVED these books! Another fictional, young adult series that sucked me in with the first page. The story is about a girl who inherited a rare time traveling gene. These books are full of humor, adventure, young love, and mystery. I can't wait to read them again!

The Maze Runner
The Scorch Trials
The Death Cure - James Dashner
Yet another fictional, young adult series (I'm sensing a theme, here.) that I enjoyed. The first book was my favorite. It's a very mysterious, adventure-filled page turner. I was hooked and had to know how it would all end. By the second book, I started to tire of the bad luck the characters face over and over, but it was still a fun read. I'm thinking of reading the prequel, The Kill Order.

* A Wrinkle In Time - Madeleine L'Engle
I chose this one for book group because I loved these stories as a kid and like any opportunity to reread them. It's a sci-fi adventure where the kids save the day.

The Host - Stephanie Meyer
I saw the movie first and decided I needed to read the book. This story of aliens who have taken over humans' bodies and conquered the Earth was fun, with great characters and creative experiences. I really enjoyed it.

* Pope Joan - Donna Woolfolk Cross
I absolutely could not put this one down. I recommend it to everyone. Pope Joan may or may not have existed, but this historical fiction novel tells the story of her life as she was educated, disguised herself as a man, and rose through the ranks of the Catholic church. The characters are well developed, and the author did a fantastic job of displaying what life was like during the Dark Ages. Read it!

* Stumbling On Happiness - Daniel Gilbert
I confess, I didn't get very far into this one, but I liked what I read. (After Pope Joan, I just wanted to get sucked into another novel.) The author is witty and explains how our minds work and that we only think we know what makes us happy. I'd like to come back to this sometime and try it again.

* Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen
This is a favorite of mine. I enjoy Austen's novels, because of her characters, their dialogue, and the wit of her heroines. Plus, reading the book gave me an excuse to re-watch the movies, which I did with Emma this time around! Yay!

* The Christmas Miracle of Jonathan Toomey - Susan Wojciechowski
This is a great picture book about a wood carver who is befriended by a young boy and reminded of the spirit of Christmas. It made me cry a little. You should read it.

Seventeen completed books. Not too bad.

I'm currently reading To Kill A Mockingbird, but am about to put that on hold to read The Little Prince for book group. I'm planning on reading The Book Thief and Wool in the near future too, along with a book a month with my group! Here's to another year of great reading!!!! Cheers!

Happy 2014!

It's a new year! Again!
Didn't we just do this?

A quick snapshot of Liam at 17 months old...

LIKES: His family, cars, turning on the vacuum, eating, tackling his sister and pretending she is a horse to ride, playing with toys, petting the cats, being outside, baths, reading books, climbing, putting food on his head and calling it a hat, and sleeping.
DISLIKES: Being told "no", growing his upper molars, the hair clippers, his sister taking objects away from him, being made to come inside, the mornings when I tell him that Daddy is not home today.

Welcome, welcome 2014!
My thyroid levels appear to be in a happy place, my family is healthy, my year is wide open for all kinds of fun and adventures.
Let's do this!

How many tries does it take to get a family photo? Apparently, just one more...

The Goodness of Others

This Christmas is different than any before.

Barry is a union carpenter. That means he gets paid the same union wage and benefits regardless of the construction company for which he works. He refers to some of his coworkers as "company guys" because they are able to stay employed with one company through the good and bad. Others switch between companies because they lose their jobs at the completion of a project and move along to where ever work is available. Try as he might, Barry has not really become a "company guy." As a result, when the work at his job site slows down and the company's new projects have not yet begun, Barry gets laid off.

This year Barry was laid off on November 7th.

Three days later our bishop approached Barry to inform us that an anonymous group wanted to adopt our family for Christmas. The bishop needed to know if we would accept their generosity.

I don't know how or why, but a local medical group reached out to our bishop to ask if anyone in our congregation could use help this holiday. Bishop prayerfully considered and felt strongly that he should submit our family's name. The group's spokesman also carefully pondered and agreed that we were to be the recipients of their generous goodness. All of this happened before Barry was laid off.

At first, we didn't want to accept. How could we, when we know so many families who are more in need than ours?!? We're certainly not rich, but we get by well enough. We have food and money in reserve because we know that these lulls between jobs happen unexpectedly. However, the bishop felt that this was all inspired by the Lord, so we trusted him and agreed.

The first gift showed up several weeks ago. I asked for a holiday door mat and it was given to me. I love it.

The remaining gifts were delivered by our bishop on December 21st. He brought three large boxes full of presents. Barry and I were overwhelmed. On December 23rd the bishop called to say that one more box of gifts had arrived, so he brought that over as well. Barry and I were overwhelmed some more.

Tonight, Christmas Eve, I sorted through all of the gifts and placed them beneath our Christmas tree. I started crying. I can tell that everything I wrote on our little wish list was given to us, and then some. The kids don't need all of this! They would have been happy with a few presents, but they will be excited to see so many! Knowing that people went above and beyond for my family, (Who they don't even know!) touches my heart very deeply. It's a good thing I have lots of tissues.

We could have had a fine Christmas on our own, but it would have involved fewer gifts and more stress. I would have worried about money and our savings account the whole time.  Barry was out of work for over a month and the job he has now may last only a week. I'm glad I didn't spend the past month biting at my fingernails and cursing the holidays.

Christmas is about Christ and about the gift of the Atonement that he gave to all mankind. Christmas is a time to give and love freely, as Christ did through his life. Christmas is a time to celebrate our blessings in this life and our blessings to come in the next. I love Christmas and I love that my precious family has been so richly blessed this year by others who embrace the true meaning of Christmas.

Thank you, Bishop, for listening to the Spirit and for encouraging us to accept this kindness. And thank you, Santa's anonymous helpers, for giving so generously to my little family and for blessing me with the knowledge that My Heavenly Father knows our needs and loves us. 

Merry Christmas, Everyone!!!