Book Heaven

There has never been a time in my life when I was in such heaven about the books that surrounded me and that I could currently put my hands on. I am reading the Donald Miller book - Searching for God Knows What. I know I keep mentioning it – but I just can’t help it! It’s so real and good. Lemme share a little piece of Donald with you:

The scary thing about religion to me, is that people actually believe God is who they think He is. By that I mean they have Him all figured out, mapped out, and as my pastor, Rick would say, “dissected and put into jars on a shelf.” You’ve got a bunch of Catholics in Rome who think one way about God, and a bunch of Baptists in Texas who think another, and that isn’t even the beginning. It goes on and on and on like this, and it makes me wonder if God created us in His image or if we created Him in ours.

This is amazing. When he starts talking about opinionated, hyper-conservatives who slap God’s name on whatever political agenda they happen to have at the moment he says, and I quote, “People like that should have an island.”

On top of the Donald Miller buzz I currently have going, (or could that be the Blackberry Merlot?) I am surrounded by other books that are feasts for my soul. Two Franky Schaeffer books came from Amazon today – Addicted to Mediocrity – which I used to borrow annually from my friend, Tina – but it is just such a long drive from TX to WV now – and Sham Pearls for Real Swine – a new book on a similar thread. Both of these books are about Christians in the arts. Here’s a little excerpt from the book jacket of Sham Pearls:

What other age beyond our own of anesthetized, plastic propriety could accommodate us? What past leaders would meet our standards of piety? Luther? We would find him vulgar. Shakespeare? Filthy. Bach? Secular. Verdi? Catholic. Joan of Arc? Insane. Winston Churchill? A drunken warmonger. George Washington? A reactionary chauvinist. Jesus of Nazareth? Rude, sexist, offensive, and inscrutable. All of these would be too complicated, too real, too human for the ‘nice’, the timid, the shallow, the ignorant – the church.

Yep – controversial. But real. I love it. I also ordered some Anne Lamott – who I discovered for the first time the other day during a major iced coffee high at Borders. I sat and just drank in her thoughts. I am not sure if I will end up loving her books – but I can be sure they will make me think outside the box.

So here it is – reading for research – to be inspired to write.

Oh – and I’m also reading Gossamer by Lois Lowry with my son – and that book is hard to put down!

I’m in book heaven…….

Writer's Blog

Lately, I have not been posting as much on my blog. It isn't because there isn't stuff going on, or that I am not thinking about blogging or writing. The thing is that what I really want to do, my heart's desire is to write a book. So I have a confession to make. Lately, I've been holding out on you. Instead of writing a couple paragraph blog entry, I've been jotting random thoughts into a writer's notebook. Believe me I have tons and tons of random thoughts and only seem to capture about one-third of them in my handy-dandy notebook. I have also been doing a lot more reading than usual. It seems that I have a propensity for neglecting that part - and yet, I've heard over and over that reading is a good way to spark your inner-writer. Yesterday, I was trapped (ah, much to my delight!) at a Borders for two hours while we waited for my friend who was taking a test in Houston and I discovered a book in the religion section by Anne Lamott! And the there was coffee - I was in heaven. (I think I have Stockholm Syndrome now and wish I could be held captive there again!)
I have always hesitated to call myself a "writer" because it sounds arrogant. If someone would ask what I've written, I would mainly only be able to point them to this blog - and it's crazy ramblings. Not much literary genius. Oh yeah, and then there is this - but that's not the kind of writing I really want to do. I think I've decided that consistently throughout my life, the one thing I have always loved to do is write. The first birthday present as a child I ever remember getting that I was thrilled about was a diary. In later years, after a messy divorce and custody battles, nobody encouraged much writing for fear I would write about them. But I am a writer. I love to write, and I will write. It seems delusional - and I fear rejection - which is why I haven't endeavored to do more than writing for myself. But enough of that. I throw caution to the wind.
So if I'm holding out on you on this blog - you'll know why. Don't think I won't be posting - I'm just saving some stuff for myself for right now!

Now I need some affirmation - do y'all think anybody would ever want to read what I write?

Something's Abuzz

Three pots of coffee last night and a sink full of cups this morning means that there were friends in the house last night. And a lot of them. There were 3 adults and 3 teenagers aside from the members of our family. The adults sat and drank coffee all evening and discussed spiritual things until well past midnight. It was incredible and awesome. I am hungry for God's word again in a way that I haven't been in a long time - which is why this post will be short this morning - I am off to my quiet time. But I just wanted to say - what joy was overflowing my heart to have a house full of friends who love the Lord last night! It soothes the homesickness that seems to always ride underneath the surface.

Afternoon Delight

It is Friday afternoon and I'm here at my computer with a hot cup of coffee with Irish Creamer and life is good. It was a yucky day in which I had to do huge, major grocery shopping, but hey - I was finished before noon before Billy Bob and all of his cousin's get their paychecks and head over in pickups brimming over the sides with kinfolk to the Wally-world. Thank heavens.
It was a traumatic experience - grocery shopping. I really hate this task. I love to cook though, and my family won't stop eating even though I tell them how terribly inconsiderate it is, which means we need supplies. I try to only go every other week - but money is tight right now (could it be TWO formal gowns and a 3 week trip to WV?) and alas, I shall have to go again next week.
It is also traumatic looking at the carts of passers-by (should that be passer-bys?). The amounts of processed food that people consume scares me! I had a moment where I started to reach for the hot dogs and Little Debbies in the cart of an unsuspecting woman with the words, "You can't eat THAT!" on my lips when the Lord gently reminds me that I fed my kid SPAM yesterday. It just scares me. There are advantages to buying processed foods - they fit in the cart nice and neatly - all the square little boxes standing neatly in a row.
Grocery shopping completed, and heading in mini van full of plastic sacks, in a torrential downpour, my son and I spy what appears to be a MASSIVE tornado to the west. Ugh. I'm in a van no less, and I'm thinking of sacks of flour flying around in my van as it is sucked up into the vortex - MORE than I am thinking about our safety. Then I decide it doesn't really matter because the van is already covered with about 10 pounds of sand from the beach excursion. Oh and yes, I finally put a bra on to go grocery shopping and I finally got the whole sixties "burn your bra" thing - I mean who invented this twisted torture device? Anyway - it was apparently NOT a tornado. The weather - not the undergarments.
All this to say that it is Friday afternoon - I'm having a hot cup 'a joe, and blogging without a whole lot of demands to meet at this very moment. Ah! I'm thinking that maybe afternoon coffee is not such a good thing for me as I scan back over this post! Anyway - what's in your coffee?

Two Pots of Coffee and Four Boxes of Captain Crunch

My girls wanted to have a small group of their homeschooling friends over for a late night of playing cards, watching movies, etc. the way we used on occasion when we lived here. "Homeschooling" being the operative word which means that the late night part could be flexible. After talking to some of the parents, we determined it would be best if instead of having to be picked up at midnight, that everybody just stay overnight. Being able to stay in this lovely house that belongs to my friends provided this opportunity. The boys slept in the basement and the girls slept upstairs near me - although sleep seems the wrong word - we were talking and playing games until 3 am.
When I got up the next morning, Kameron was the first one awake, and he had made a pot of coffee. (Evidently he drew the short straw and got the floor or the chair to sleep on and didn't sleep all that much!) The weather was nice so we sat on the screened in porch in the back and drank coffee and talked for about an hour and a half before anyone else made an appearance. Kameron is like me, he needs other people and relationships to thrive. I get him.
It is an amazing thing to me to be in the lives of young people that I knew when they were small and see them grow up into these incredible young adults. I grew up moving around so much, and was always in so much chaos that I was in junior high school before I developed any long term relationships - and that was only because I had a friend that held on to me no matter where I moved. That morning, Kameron and I talked about all kinds of things. It wasn't what we talked about that meant so much, but that he is a 15 year old that values a relationship with me - and I with him. Somewhere along the road my lives intertwined with these kids - and they are almost like my own in my heart.
When everybody got up they started in on the four boxes of Captain Crunch cereal that I got for a quick and easy breakfast. Tayva asked if I'd ever move back to West Virginia, and I told her I'd only be back if Travis died. (off the cuff - which by the way was just a joke!) Just for a moment I thought I saw an evil glint flash through several sets of eyes!