Today I am thankful for...

Today, I am thankful for a God who knows what we need before we do.
Today, I am thankful for the stability that Jesus offers (Is33:6).
Today, I am thankful for a husband who loves and supports me.
Today, I am thankful for precious friends who pray for me when I need it most.
Today, I am thankful for my God still being on His throne.
Today, I am thankful for Jesus, my Prince of Peace.

So, what are you thankful for today?

Books and Reading

I have loved books for the majority of my life. Since I was very young, I have had what would probably be an obsession with books. This doesn't mean that I always enjoyed reading. I actually struggled when I was learning to read and it wasn't exactly my favorite thing to do, but I still loved books. Weird, I know.

Eventually, I got the whole reading thing down and have been on a roll ever since. I read everything, even cereal boxes... and I read those more than once, not on purpose though, only because they are in my face when I eat cereal. But I digress.

Anyway. One of the reasons I love to read is that my parents, particularly my dad. My Dad and I had a very special way of spending time together: he would read to me almost every night. This tradition stated when I was very young. So young that I could barely write my name on the check out card at our church library but that didn't matter. I can remember that although I could barely write my name, I would still check out a Nancy Drew Book (I felt very much like a big girl for choosing such a big book) and my Dad would ask, "Now, are you sure you want me to read this to you? It might be kind of scary.". But I told him that I didn't care and to read it anyway. (To this day, I still love Nancy Drew books.) This tradition with my Dad slacked off for a few of my teen years but right up until I got married, my Dad would still read to me and as I listened, I would work on a knitting project (yes, I know, I'm a very boring person) or something similar. 

I have always felt that the characters in books we my friends and that by reading books, I could be part of their story. It's time traveling and flying around the globe without buying the plane ticket or having a time machine. Bliss. 

For my college graduation, my husband bought me a Kindle eReader by Amazon. I had originally thought that I would never like an eReader because "I like to turn the pages. Books must have real pages and a real cover. Anything else is fake..."... Yeah. I was a book snob. And discovered that I was wrong about the Kindle after playing around with one. I LOVE my Kindle! {Please note, this is not an endorsement of any product. Amazon doesn't know me and doesn't care what I think.} I love that I can read a trial section to determine if I like the book and want to buy it. I love that it is so light and holds 3,500ish books. I love it. 

This is not to say that I don't still buy "real" books, you know, the ones with the cover and binding and pages made from paper. I definitely still love real books. I will always love real books and will continue to purchase them when I feel so inclined. 

My husband and I have quite a collection of books. See: 

What's kinda sad is that most of them are mine and that's only about 1/2 of the ones I own (most of my children's books are in storage). {The reason they are on the floor under a table is because we were painting the living room and had to more the book cases.}

Yes, we like to read. Yes, we like books. And yes, we are okay with that. I hope that someday we will instill in our future children a love for books and reading too. Silly, I know, but it's true. Then again, they might not stand a chance with book addicted parents like us! 

Happy Thursday!

Blog Love: Photography

One of my newest favorite blogs is improvephotography.com. I love taking pictures but I am in no way a photographer. I have my totally great Nikon camera and haven't used it as much as I'd like. This blog is fantastic because the instructions are simple and the topics range from basic to more advanced- great for someone like me who wants to learn how to take better pictures without spending $100's-1000's of dollars in classes and stuff that I don't need right now.

If you like photography, check it out- you will be glad you did!

I'm a Grump

Ever have one of those days where it just starts off wrong? Yeah, me too. Today as a matter of fact is one of those days. I won't bore you with the details of it all, but starting the day with any type of adrenaline rush before your feet it the floor isn't a way that I suggest starting your day. 

Today, I am struggling with my attitude. This is more like me at the moment. 

{Grumpy}

I know that I will spend the rest of the day fighting to keep my inner Grumpy under control. Somedays are just like that. The good news is that my Jesus loves me even when I have a bad attitude (or as a friend used to say, a "bad-a-tude"), and he is working daily on changing my "bad-a-tude" into a "glad-a-tude" (an attitude of gladness). 

I hope today you have a "glad-a-tude", and I'm going to do my best to have one too!