Reading Challenge ~ November notes

My goal for reading this year was to read 52 books or more in 2012. That is one book a week. I wish I was doing better. I was so far ahead a few months ago. I did so poorly in October (I didn't finish any books) and in November (I only finished 2 books) that now I am just barely going to meet my yearly goal. I do have a few books I should finish soon: one that I am reading with the whole family and one that I am reading with my hubby. I am currently reading 10 books and if you are interested to know what they are, check out my Goodreads profile. If you are on there send me a friend request.

 I love reading!

You can explore so much of our past and present and gain so much knowledge and encouragement! Also, reading is and can be Fun!

Read A Book Today!

Each month for the Reading Challenge we are supposed to do an update and link up. This month I read....

Lion of Babylon by Davis Bunn
378 pgs

Started reading - Aug. 29, 2012
Finished reading - Nov. 05, 2012

A very good book. The first in a series about Marc Royce. The second book, Rare Earth I was given for free, read first and reviewed for Davis Bunn. You can read my review, if you missed it or forget, by clicking the link in the previous sentence. You can read them out of order, but I do think reading them in order would be better. Knowing the character and what happened to him in this book before reading the second. The second book was so good though, that I had to go back and read the first in the series and I hope Davis Bunn writes some more about this character. 

Lion of Babylon was way more complicated, at least to me, than Rare Earth was. It took me a lot longer to get into the book. Not that it wasn't good, it was very good, there were just more characters to keep track of and there was a much more complicated plot. The subject matter of conflict in the Middle East was very timely. Suspense, Action, Godly Characters, Good vs. Evil... this book has all that and it is great. I highly recommend Davis Bunn. My 15 yr. old son is reading them now.

The Resolution for Women by Priscilla Shirer
288 pgs.

Started reading - Sept. 24, 2012
Finished reading - Nov. 21, 2012


This book was read little by little as part of my devotions. It was written in partnership with Sherwood Pictures' upcoming film, COURAGEOUS. I loved that movie. In the movie the men signed the resolution. This book was written based on that premise... but for women of course. This was NOT a light read. In books like this I like to highlight things... and boy did I highlight in 6 different colors. And, I signed 14 different resolutions, one for each chapter. It will be a struggle to keep them. I will not be able to do it without the Lord's help and much prayer. This is a book I will need and want to read again and again. My daughters plan to read it next though... if they can read around my colorful highlighting!! LOL I loved this book, it was challenging, Yes, but a good kind of challenge. Here is one quote from the book... this will show you the challenges ahead if you read this book.

"What do you sense heaven is calling you to do and be? What do you believe to be God's overarching purpose for creating you and then setting you down in this generation at this particular point in history? Do you know? Are you seeking to discover it as you wake up in the morning listening for the hush of heaven? The best way to begin is by being faithful to what He has set before you to do right now." pg. 73

See what I mean... not light reading. Some of the resolutions I felt I could sign right away. Others I struggled with and had to pray about before signing. One I am not sure I can live up to at all... but I am trusting God to help me change in this especially difficult area of my life.

That is 2 books for November. That makes 47of 52 books read for the year. As of tomorrow I will be 1 book behind and I only read 2 this month instead of the 4 I was supposed to read. This is TERRIBLE. I did horribly in Sept., worse in October and not so well in Nov. I have a lot of reading to get done and December is going to be busy. Oh well, I guess I will have to spend less time on Facebook and playing games on the computer and more time reading if I want to achieve my reading goal for 2012. I was hoping I could get to 75 books but I know that won't happen now. I will just be happy to get to my goal of 52 books.

Here are the previous updates if you are interested:
Reading Challenge ~ January Update
Reading Challenge ~ February Update
Reading Challenge ~ March Update
Reading Challenge ~ April Update
Reading Challenge ~ May Update
Reading Challenge ~ How I did in June
Reading Challenge ~ July's Book
Reading Challenge ~ August Amendment
Reading Challenge ~ September Reading
Reading Challenge ~ October Oops (no post, because no books read)



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5 minute friday ~ Wonder

1. Write for 5 minutes flat – no editing, no over thinking, no backtracking.
2. Link back here and invite others to join in.
3. And then absolutely, no ifs, ands or buts about it, you need to visit the person who linked up before you & encourage them in their comments. Seriously. That is, like, the rule. And the fun. And the heart of this community..

Oh and Ahem, if you would take pity and turn off comment verification, it would make leaving some love on your post that much easier for folks!

Sorry. I will not be turning off the comment verification. When I do I get scam... I hate it!

OK, are you ready? Please give us your best five minutes on:::

Wonder…

GO

I wonder what next year will be like. The last year has been very hard. When my husband got unemployed almost 3 years ago I did not expect that 31 months later he would still be unemployed. I wonder what God has in store for us in 2013. I don't really want to know. I just wonder. Knowing may frighten me more than not knowing does now.

I wonder what the future will hold, not just 2013 but longer than that. I wonder when the Lord will come back and take his bride home with him. I wonder how much longer the world can last. Things are crazy... and all seems ready for his return. I must just go on and trust him for today. I cannot think to far ahead right now. There is just enough light for the path in front of me. A light unto my path. A lamp, like they used in Bible times does not shed light very far.

We have been reading by candlelight on Sunday nights. A new tradition. The light is not very bright and certain candles are better for reading with than others. The light of the Word of God is enough to guide my steps today. It does give me a peek into the future. I do know how the story ends... but the middle part, between now and then... that I don't know. But I do know The One who knows my future and it is Him I must trust. I must trust my Lord and Savior, to guide me and to guide my husband as he leads our family.

Time is up!


Want to know how Five Minute Friday got started and how to participate? All the details are here.
Now, set your timer, clear your head, for five minutes of free writing without worrying about getting it right.


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Think Back Thursday ~ You/Yourself/Self-Portrait

Today11/29

You/Yourself/Self-Portrait
a photo of you, taken by you or by someone else

a recent photo or one from days gone by

I decided to day to feature just one photo of me.

This photo was taken on the boardwalk, probably at Ocean City, NJ, our usual beach choice. I look to be about 4 or 5, I think. LOL I had no idea this photo existed. It is one of those sit in a booth and get a strip of photos deals. See the ripped edge at the top?? This is the only one of the photos from that strip in existence... that I know of. I miss my daddy so much some days and so this photo is very precious to me. In case you don't know my dad died in 1976 when I was only 14. So great to see us laughing and having so much fun together. So precious that I digital scrapbooked it and then only wanted to feature it and no other photos of me.

  and miss you so. Having the Lord and You waiting for me in Heaven makes me "home" sick. ... Praying the Lord will come back soon.

This photo was recently given to me by my mother. It was in a little, old, blue carry around in your purse type of photo book.

I used my My Memories software and
the Swim On- Mini Kit

December Themes

Togetherness

Holiday Decorations

(suggested by Kym @ Homeschool Coffee Break)

Christmas Traditions

Christmas Long Ago 

(how long ago is up to you :-)

Here are the Rules for participating:
The purpose of Think Back Thursday is to link up a photo post about something from the past. You can reach back all the way to your childhood and bravely post pictures of you in your wild clothes and hair styles or post something from last year and tell us about it. I'm not picky. Hey, even yesterday was the past... LOL My posts will mostly be about events that happened prior to blogging, as a way to share those things with the world.

• It can be about you, about your kids, about your parents, whomever. You can include video, I will not exclude video alone posts, but I prefer them along with photos, as this is a photo meme. I am doing a weekly theme now. That should help narrow it down from the myriad of photos we all have. For ideas check out the other posts in my label Think Back Thursday. 
• Link up below. Please use a permalink that sends readers directly to the correct post. If you are not sure what that is click the word permalink for an explanation. 
• Mention my blog and offer a link back. This is a requirement to take part and a kind gesture to me your hostess as well as your readers--they will know where to join in the fun, too. You can put the Think Back Thursday button on your site and in your post. You will find it on my right sidebar. Please use it to link to my site, to spread the word about my meme. Using the button will help others know how to find me and how to join. Tell others to click on the button in your post to find us here.
• Leave me a comment. First so that you can let me know what you think of my pictures and secondly so that I will know a new post has been linked up and I can come visit your blog and comment on your photos. 

Join me!

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Think Back Thursday Themes

The purpose of Think Back Thursday is to link up a photo post about something from the past. You can reach back all the way to your childhood and bravely post pictures of you in your wild clothes and hair styles or post something from last year and tell us about it. I'm not picky. Hey, even yesterday was the past... LOL I hope you will join us.

Now here are the themes:

Tomorrow 11/29

You/Yourself/Self-Portrait
a photo of you, taken by you or by someone else

a recent photo or one from days gone by

December Themes

Togetherness

Holiday Decorations

(suggested by Kym @ Homeschool Coffee Break)

Christmas Traditions

Christmas Long Ago 

(how long ago is up to you :-)

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Goal Planning Monday ~ Week 96

 Time to write some goals and strive to accomplish them this coming week??

Join us by clicking on the button above...
after you read my goals.

Goal Planning Monday has a new home - the banner above will take you to the new home for Goal Planning Monday @ Real Life Unscripted even though it says it is @ mamamanuscripts. I changed the link to send you to the new place.

A really good week as far as accomplishing things. Not so great relationship wise. But, we survived and got things done that were on the schedule/goal list to get completed.

My Goals from last week and how I did:

Spiritual Goals    

1. Morning Devotions - including Bible reading, prayer, listening to music and reading a spiritual boo. I finished The Resolution for Women and went on to continue reading Promises, Promises: Understanding and Encouraging Your Husband which I already started but have not made much progress on. It only has 12 chapters but I will not be reading a whole chapter a day. If I finish 2 chapters a week I can finish it in 2012 and then start a new book in 2013... that is my goal. Done - I had a good week. I finished The Resolution for Women and I got a chapter of Promises Promises read and the questions done as well... so that is good.  
2. Read some of My Utmost for His Highest before bed at night.  Done- We are ahead and reading December's devotions now. We still have to choose what to read next. We have a week or 2 to decide. 

Homeschool Goals

1. Make sure Christopher works on the Lapbook for the Rainforest study we are doing. I included some elements from Homeschool Share's Great Kapok Tree unit and from 2 pages of the Dynamic 2 Moms website - Here and Here.  Done - He is finished rainforests now and this coming week will be doing deserts.
2. Log Christopher's work in DAILY and make sure he does it ALL and fills out his assignment sheet. Done 
3. We will be taking off Thurs. and Fri. for Thanksgiving break.  Done - I also figured

Blog Goals   

1. Comment on the ladies blogs that link up to Goal Planning Monday. Done -  I commented @ Kym's Blog at Kym Possible and @ Meg @ Adventures with Jude (our hostess was under the weather and did not post last week) 
2. Post reminder and future themes for Think Back Thursday on Wed. Done
3. Prep Think Back Thursday and have it scheduled to post early am Thursday because I will be busy with the turkey and won't have time 'til later in the day. I want it up early so the ladies can link up whenever they have time.  Done
4. Post Think Back Thursday. Done - and I posted possible themes for Dec. Thanks to one of my regular participants I will change one of the themes add her suggestion, which she left in her comment.
5. Comment on each person's post that links up for Think Back Thursday. Done

Personal/Other Goals

1. Write my goals down on paper, add some details I want for me. Done -
2. Read, Read, Read. Done - still reading The Face of God by Bill Myers. If you want to see all the books I am reading and my reviews check out my Goodreads account. You can friend me if you have an account and we aren't friends yet.
3. Log in books and get the books to the basement and out of my bedroom.
   Done - I got all the books logged in and all the tubs put into the basement.
4. I am adding this goal because I also got a lot of cleaning and organizing done in my bedroom. Things are all cleaned up and organized. I put things in small tubs and boxes so that I can access them faster and easier and it keeps things looking neater. I cleaned up all the stuff in front of my dresser/closet and things look much better now.
5. Work on my Christmas ornament. Done - This is what where I was at the beginning of the week. This is where I am now.  I still have work to do and more projects after this. I hope to spend a little time each day working on these projects in the coming weeks.
6. Celebrate Thanksgiving with my family without stress, if possible. Done - without stress, nope. Without any arguments, nope... but the arguers were reconciled and things ended up fine in the end. I enjoyed the leftovers on Friday more though, it is so much less stressful. Next year I want to start earlier, I was not so happy eating so late. I didn't even have any pie after dinner. I am glad my hubby decided that since dinner was going to be late we should have a piece of apple pie and ice cream in the early afternoon! It was really good.
7. Put up the Christmas decorations on Black Friday. Have to get it done early because ds has to go to work at 4pm. Done - we put up the decorations but not Black Friday. My son asked if we could do it on Sunday instead because he wanted to help and had to work Fri. and Sat. Just like I suspected we could have done it on Friday because he did very little. He only carried the boxes down from the attic and then back up after we were done. I am glad it is all done. Things are so stressful in our home these days that normal traditions are not any fun any more. I was a day full of arguments, stress and tears.
8. Enjoy the long weekend with my family. Spend some time with them... don't spend all the time working. Done - though I don't know how much enjoyment we all got. The only real enjoyment I got was in seeing it done, finally, and in reading in the living room with a few candles, the Christmas tree lights on, and as little other light as we could manage with, on Sunday night. But, since we didn't really spend much time together, due to the arguments, I got a LOT of work done.

For this week that is 17 Done, 0 Partly Done, and 0 Not Done. 


My goals for this coming week:

Spiritual Goals   

1. Morning Devotions - including Bible reading, prayer, listening to music and reading a spiritual book currently Promises, Promises: Understanding and Encouraging Your Husband 
2. Read some of My Utmost for His Highest before bed at night. 

Homeschool Goals

1. Log Christopher's work in DAILY and make sure he does it ALL and fills out his assignment sheet. 
2. Check out what books we will need for History and Science and order them from the library.
3. Make sure he has all that he needs for school this week: desert activities and books, a hymn for hymn study and anything else I think of.

Blog Goals   

1. Comment on the ladies blogs that link up to Goal Planning Monday.
2. Post reminder and future themes for Think Back Thursday on Wed.
3. Post Think Back Thursday.
4. Comment on each person's post that links up for Think Back Thursday.

Personal/Other Goals

1. Write my goals down on paper, add some details I want for me.
2. Read, Read, Read.
3. Work on my Christmas ornament. 
4. Work on my prayer book, I have some pages I want to change.
5. Get some of my boxes and notebooks covered with wallpaper scraps my sister sent me.

That's it for this week. How about you. Our hostess, Katrina, is looking for some new participants (or participants that used to participate and don't know) to join in... Won't you join us??? Come on. Set some goals. Post them on your blog. Link up.


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Think Back Thursday ~ Thanksgiving

The theme today is, of course, Thanksgiving.

I am thankful for a lot of things but I will not list them all today.

I will just list a few.

Today I am thankful for:

Family

Friends

Salvation

God's work in my life

Traditions

This is my daughter Jessica (left) and my niece Jennifer. 

It is 1995 and Jessica is 7 yrs. old.

This photo was taken at the home in which I grew up.

Oh, how I miss that house.

My mom lives with my sister now.

The girls are getting the bread ready for the stuffing.

This is my son Nathan.

He was about 1 1/2 yrs old and boy did he need a haircut.

But he is adorable!

Nan (what most of the grandkids call my mother) gave him one of the beaters to keep him occupied and happy until dinner was ready. Eating off the beaters was a tradition of my mom's she loved to let people eat off the beaters and never scraped all the potatoes off. We had to test the potatoes and see if they were worthy of being put on the table. I loved doing this and so did the grandkids.

Those are the only 2 photos I have of that year and the only 2 I could find of Thanksgiving at my mom's house. I don't know if any other family members have any.. but that was all I could find.

It seems I don't have as many Thanksgiving photos as I thought.

The next photos are 10 years later.

Thanksgiving 2005

Nice looking bird.

 Back to front, left to right: Jessica, now 17, Me, Rachel age 20; Nathan age 11, my mom (Nan), and Christopher (our youngest) almost 9 yrs. old.

 Notice our Thankful tree. Each hand print is something we were thankful for. Each person had a color of paper to trace and cut their own hand prints out of for the leaves of the tree. Each day in Nov. up til Thanksgiving we each put a hand on the tree. Thanksgiving day we read the things we were thankful for.

Time to cut the bird.

 Someone is excited to get eating!!

Silly kids.

It is over and done with, the bird picked clean and the food put away all to quickly for all that work.

I hope you are having a wonderful Thanksgiving this year and I hope you take lots of pictures so you can join my meme next year and post your family photos.

Now it is your turn. I hope you have you post ready.

If you don't the linky will stay open all week so work on you post and get it linked up.

You can even do this year's photos if you want to or need to.

God Bless

"See You" next week for more TBT.

 Future Themes:

11/29 You/Yourself/Self-Portrait
a photo of you, taken by you or by someone else

a recent photo or one from days gone by

I still have to work on Dec. Themes

I am thinking of

Laughter

Togetherness

Christmas Traditions

Christmas Long Ago (how long ago is up to you :-)

What do you think of those themes?

Do you have a better suggestion?

Should I leave them in that order?

Leave me a comment.

Here are the Rules for participating:
The purpose of Think Back Thursday is to link up a photo post about something from the past. You can reach back all the way to your childhood and bravely post pictures of you in your wild clothes and hair styles or post something from last year and tell us about it. I'm not picky. Hey, even yesterday was the past... LOL My posts will mostly be about events that happened prior to blogging, as a way to share those things with the world.

• It can be about you, about your kids, about your parents, whomever. You can include video, I will not exclude video alone posts, but I prefer them along with photos, as this is a photo meme. I am doing a weekly theme now. That should help narrow it down from the myriad of photos we all have. For ideas check out the other posts in my label Think Back Thursday. 
• Link up below. Please use a permalink that sends readers directly to the correct post. If you are not sure what that is click the word permalink for an explanation. 
• Mention my blog and offer a link back. This is a requirement to take part and a kind gesture to me your hostess as well as your readers--they will know where to join in the fun, too. You can put the Think Back Thursday button on your site and in your post. You will find it on my right sidebar. Please use it to link to my site, to spread the word about my meme. Using the button will help others know how to find me and how to join. Tell others to click on the button in your post to find us here.
• Leave me a comment. First so that you can let me know what you think of my pictures and secondly so that I will know a new post has been linked up and I can come visit your blog and comment on your photos. 

Join me!

all content on my blog is ©

Think Back Thursday ~ HELP!

Tomorrow 11/22
Thanksgiving
previous years or preparations for this year

 Future Themes:

11/29 You/Yourself/Self-Portrait
a photo of you, taken by you or by someone else

a recent photo or one from days gone by

I still have to work on Dec. Themes

I am thinking of

Laughter

Togetherness

Christmas Traditions

Christmas Long Ago (how long ago is up to you :-)

What do you think of those themes?

Do you have a better suggestion?

Should I leave them in that order?

Leave me a comment.

all content on my blog is ©

Goal Planning Monday ~ Week 95

 Time to write some goals and strive to accomplish them this coming week??

Join us by clicking on the button above...
after you read my goals.

Goal Planning Monday has a new home - the banner above will take you to the new home for Goal Planning Monday @ Real Life Unscripted even though it says it is @ mamamanuscripts. I changed the link to send you to the new place.

A really good week, except for Thursday and Friday because I was sad and down due to our continued struggles with $$$ after 31 months of unemployment. I got a LOT done on the other days. I need and want to get more reading done this coming week. If I don't get a book done soon I will be behind in my reading. I was way ahead in my yearly goal and now I am even. I have 46 books read and so I need to read at least 6 more before the end of the year to reach my goal. I have ordered some Tales from Grace Chapel Inn books from the library and I usually speed through them because they are so good. And hubby and I are making good progress and are ahead of schedule for My Utmost for His Highest, we should be done soon and that book will count as well. I am also almost finished reading The Resolution for Women I only have 3 more chapters, so that will be done before Thanksgiving. I also should finish off those History books I had started reading to my son Christopher, or else take them off my Goodreads list. I want to take time every day to read. I used to turn off my computer early and read every evening. I would like to get back to doing that, but I am not making it a goal... I will just try.

My Goals from last week and how I did:

Spiritual Goals    

1. Morning Devotions - including Bible reading, prayer, listening to music and reading a spiritual book currently The Resolution for Women . Partly Done - I did  my devotions every day but Thurs. and Fri. I was really feeling down those days, my devotions probably would have helped but I could not get myself to do them.
2. Read some of My Utmost for His Highest before bed at night. Done

Homeschool Goals

1. Make sure Christopher works on the Lapbook for the Rainforest study we are doing. I included some elements from Homeschool Share's Great Kapok Tree unit and from 2 pages of the Dynamic 2 Moms website - Here and Here.  Done - He got a number of lapbook minis done this week. Not as many as I would have liked, but he made progress at least.
2. Log Christopher's work in DAILY and make sure he does it ALL and fills out his assignment sheet. Done - I logged the work in daily and made sure he got all the work done before he got his computer for the day. The assignment sheet is helping.

Blog Goals   

1. Comment on the ladies blogs that link up to Goal Planning Monday. Done -  I commented @ our hostess's blog at Real Life Unscripted and I commented @ @ Kym's Blog at Kym Possible and @ Meg @ Adventures with Jude
2. Post reminder and future themes for Think Back Thursday on Wed. Done
3. Post Think Back Thursday. Done
4. Comment on each person's post that links up for Think Back Thursday. Done

Personal/Other Goals

1. Write my goals down on paper, add some details I want for me. Not Done - Oops... never did write them down. But I got a lot done anyway.
2. Read  Done - I started The Face of God by Bill Myers because the other book I had started had to go back to the library. I decided to just skip that book for now and read this one. I also have some Grace Chapel Hill
   
3. Log in books and get the books to the basement and out of my bedroom. Done - I got a whole tub of books logged in. Now I have just one more tub in my bedroom to log in this week. 
4. Work on my Christmas ornament. Not Done - just didn't get to it this week.
5. Clean some areas of my home that really need it and have been neglected. This was the pile last Monday. Not Done - This is not the tub I worked on last week. I worked on a tub that was under the table in our room. This is the tub I will work on this coming week.

For this week that is Done - 9,  Partly Done - 1, and Not Done - 3 . 


My goals for this coming week:

Spiritual Goals    

1. Morning Devotions - including Bible reading, prayer, listening to music and reading a spiritual book currently The Resolution for Women . Once I get done the book, on Wed. I will be finishing Promises, Promises: Understanding and Encouraging Your Husband which I already started but have not made much progress on. It only has 12 chapters but I will not be reading a whole chapter a day. If I finish 2 chapters a week I can finish it in 2012 and then start a new book in 2013... that is my goal.
2. Read some of My Utmost for His Highest before bed at night. 

Homeschool Goals

1. Make sure Christopher finishes up the Lapbook for the Rainforest study we are doing. I included some elements from Homeschool Share's Great Kapok Tree unit and from 2 pages of the Dynamic 2 Moms website - Here and Here.
2. Log Christopher's work in DAILY and make sure he does it ALL and fills out his assignment sheet. 
3. We will be taking off Thurs. and Fri. for Thanksgiving break.

Blog Goals   

1. Comment on the ladies blogs that link up to Goal Planning Monday.
2. Post reminder and future themes for Think Back Thursday on Wed.
3. Prep Think Back Thursday and have it scheduled to post early am Thursday because I will be busy with the turkey and won't have time 'til later in the day. I want it up early so the ladies can link up whenever they have time.
4. Post Think Back Thursday.
5. Comment on each person's post that links up for Think Back Thursday.

Personal/Other Goals

1. Write my goals down on paper, add some details I want for me.
2. Rea, Read, Read.
3. Log in books and get the books to the basement and out of my bedroom.
4. Work on my Christmas ornament. 
5. Celebrate Thanksgiving with my family without stress, if possible.
6. Put up the Christmas decorations on Black Friday. Have to get it done early because ds has to go to work at 4pm.
7. Enjoy the long weekend with my family. Spend some time with them... don't spend all the time working.
8. Enjoy the Christmas tree lights.

That's it for this week. How about you. Our hostess, Katrina, is looking for some new participants (or participants that used to participate and don't know) to join in... Won't you join us??? Come on. Set some goals. Post them on your blog. Link up.


all content on my blog is ©