the books of 2008

At the end of last year several people were talking about how one of their New Year's Resolutions was to read one book every week. This prompted my curiosity, how many books do I read in a year? So I decided to keep track. I read 54 books this year, having just finished the whopper Don Quixote this afternoon. And so here, in no particular order, are the books I read in 2008:

Plus "Adventures in Reconciliation" for which I couldn't find a picture.

4 hours and 22 minutes

That's the time it took my sister Emily to run 26 miles and 385 yards. Today was her very first marathon and we spent the morning driving around to different spots in Charlotte to cheer her on.

(Just before the finish line, surrounded by friends and one other random runner)

At our last stop before the finish line, somewhere between mile 18 and 20 she handed me an empty water bottle and said, with the pain on her face, "I feel like hell." But though others around us were walking or even taking a pause to stretch she never stopped running. Em, I'm so proud of you!

ezekial

"Extortion is rife, robbery is epidemic, the poor and needy are abused, outsiders are kicked around at will, with no access to justice. I looked for someone to stand up for me against all this, to repair the defenses of the city, to take a stand for me and stand in the gap to protect this land so I wouldn't have to destroy it. I couldn't find anyone."

a little taste of my weekend

We have 5 days together. Two nights with homework, three without. Two basketball games. Some (American) football to watch. A movie to see (Madagascar 2). Stories to read and card games to play. So far so good, except for the darn cat who woke me up needlessly in the middle of the night.

i am thankful for Jesus

because of his love for me. Because, no matter what, he never stops calling my name.

I am thankful for Jesus because he cares about the things that are important to me, no matter how silly they are, and he goes out of his way to show me that.

I am thankful for Jesus because he trusts me enough to share his heart and his vision with me.

I am thankful for Jesus because he always knows just the right thing to say and he says it at just the right time. He isn't afraid to correct me or confront me about the ugliness in my heart, but he always speaks to me with love because he is making me beautiful.

I am thankful for Jesus because he puts a smile on my face, he makes me laugh.

I am thankful for Jesus because he doesn't hide from me, he always tells the truth.

I am thankful for Jesus because he lets me love him.

i guess Chris was right!

So some of you will remember this quote from fellow Transit-er Chris Berry: "Everything green comes from Ireland." I guess he was right, but not only that, apparently everything in Ireland is green as well. How do I know? Well, yesterday I was watching Jack's Big Music Show.And there was a guest singer, Rebekah Jordan, who had "just come back from Ireland." She sang a song for Jack, Mary, and Mel so they could hear what Irish music sounded like. That is when I learned that not only are the mountains, trees, rivers, collies, and sheep in Ireland all green, but if I dress completely in green and dye my hair green then everyone will know that I'm from Ireland too!

And on top of all that, apparently Barack Obama is Irish too!

So, I don't know if anyone pays attention to what I'm reading or not. But I started a book called TrueFaced the other day and just decided I didn't want to read it. I've learned what it has to say already. So I returned it at the Christian bookstore I used to work at and got my first Rob Bell book. (You can see it to the right in my currently reading list.) I've never read Rob Bell, his books never grabbed me before. But this one did. I've been thinking a lot about exile recently and noticed that this book has some themes of exile in it.

In other news I'm going out tonight to hear one of my favorite bands. They are not my favorite band of all time, but they are my favorite band to hear live and some of their songs are my absolute favorites. I'm very happy!!! Oh, they are called Over the Rhine. Check them out, they're awesome!

a superficial post

My birthday presents:

I actually got this in a different color/print, but they don't have the one I got online. It's black with a brown, blue, and red florally/paiselyish print.

I am also going to get my hair cut, but haven't yet.