How is that even possible? As the holiday season draws ever closer, and as the end of the year approaches...I love to spend time reflecting over the past year. I love working through Arabah Joy's Grace Goals and one of the first questions she asks is:
'What lessons did you learn in 2021?'
After thinking this over for a bit, I came up wtih these three things :
1) never quit trying
2) people are sometimes nicer than you expect them to be
3) it is exhausting trying to be friends with someone who does not want to be friends with you (same with trying to fit in somewhere that does not want you there)
As I did the month by month review (taking stock of what happened + when), inevitably my mind drifted to 'what did I / we read this year?'. Books often define whole seasons of our life...when it was hard and miserable - which authors did I draw close to me? When I was hungry for friendships...what book(s) did I reach for? When I feel like I am literally going to burst at the seams with joy, what books reflect that? Or when I felt a bit lost and did not understand, could not see what God was doing, where He was leading me...what did I pull off of my shelf? I had fun looking back over the year and making the list. This year, I actually read very, very little that I had planned. *sigh* But, when I went back and tallied up what I did read, I was surprised. I actually read more than I thought I did.
the complete list
I will start with the books we are still reading:
to my girls:
Brother's Keeper by Julie Lee (reading aloud to one of the girls)
Hitty, Her First Hundred Years by Rachel Field (reading aloud to another one of the girls)
City Spies by James Ponti
Pocketful of Pinecones by Karen Andreola
to myself:
Humbled by David Mathis
Running Scared by Ed Welch
Freedom from Emotional Eating by Barb Raveling
Hammer of God by Bo Giertz...embarassingly enough I forgot I was reading this. It is a collection of three stories and I still have to finish the last one.
Books I started, but did not finish for one reason or another:
Finally Focused by James Greenblatt
40 Day Sugar Fast by Wendy Speake (tried three times? only ever got to day five)
Journey to the Cross by Will Walker
Brave Learner by Julie Bogart
Spirituality of the Cross by Gene Edward Veith
Language Based Learning Disabilities by Daniel Franklin
The Last Hour by Amir Tsarfati
Celebration of Discipline Workbook by Richard J Foster
Satisfied! by Rhona Epstein
And finally, the books we completed:
Whose Waves These Are by Amanda Dykes (AWESOME book)
Simply Classical by Cheryl Swope (re-read for me, LOVE this book)
Celebrations of Discipline by Richard J Foster
Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm by Kate Douglas Wiggin (if we had to pick one book this year - this would be it - we absolutely adored this book!!!!)
Warden and the Wolf King * we finally finished the Wingfeather Saga by Andrew Peterson
Adventures with Waffles by Maria Parr (this was a close second as favorite)
Betsy & Tacy by Maud Hart Lovelace
8 Class Pets by Vivian Van Velde (reread, LOVE LOVE LOVE this one!!)
Wide Awake Princess by ED Baker (preread this one for my youngest)
Pages & Co - Bookwanderers by Anna James (also preread for my youngest)
Narrow Gate, Narrow Way by Paul Washer (I LOVE Paul Washer)
The Day Approaching by Amir Tsarfati
Raya and the Last Dragon Junior Novel
Alone by Megan E Freeman (edited quite a few things as I read this aloud)
Mysterious Benedict Society (first 3 books) by Trenton Lee Stewart (HIGHLY recommend this series)
God's Hostage by Andrew Brunson (I loved this story so much. Especially since I remember praying for him and his family, but also, since he details his journey with mental illness and trying to figure out God in the middle of that)
The Incredible Journey by Sheila Burnford
Hello Mrs. Piggle by Betty MacDonald
The Normal Christian Life by Watchman Nee (if you only read ONE book about living the Christian Life - this is IT!!!!)
and finally, the MOST important thing I read all year - hands down - was the Bible in 90 days💖
No comments:
Post a Comment