Spring break, glorious spring break!
I love teaching, I do. I love working with my students and colleagues. I love books and folders and office supplies and discussing books with kids and teaching them to how to use technology and all of the things. I also love getting a break from teaching. I love having lunch with my husband and going shopping with my sister and being the manager of my own days. And, of course, I love having extra time to read! Since I had time that is not always as readily available to me, I finished my second book of the #yearof50books during spring break! This read, recommended by one of my favorite writers, is a non-fiction book about letting go of things that get in our way when it comes to serving God and the people He created. Book #2 is...Falling Free: Rescued From the Life I Always Wanted by Shannan Martin. The freedom of LESS is such a theme through the Martin family story. God does so much in our lives when we free ourselves from the world's MORE. I enjoyed reading about the risks they took as well as how they redefined their idea of family, downsized their "stuff", and gathered more often with people. The value of relationships cannot be diminished, and the Martins certainly value relationships over things. At the end of one chapter she says, "...the shortest routes to relationships are carved when everyone takes two giant steps past the gates of their comfort and toward each other." This concept is something I'm working out for myself. I value people and know I have so much to learn from others. Inviting people into my home is something I want to do often, but it makes me anxious: Are things clean enough? What do I fix? What if someone's allergic to something? What if I mess up? What do we talk about? On and ON my thoughts race. What's funny is that if someone else had these same concerns and told me, I know the advice I would give them: People aren't here to inspect how clean your house is. If you're not sure what to fix, ask your guests if they have any favorite things. Or make your favorite thing to introduce it to another family! Same for the allergies..just ask! If you mess up, handle it with grace and humor. It will make a good story! Talk about life. Conversation will flow. If not, there's always a family-friendly list of trending topics on Twitter. (Kidding.) As I continue to grow as a wife, I want to be a person that people feel comfortable coming to as a safe space. I want our home to be a place where others always feel welcome (even if the place is a mess). I love imagining the laughter and dishes clinking as everyone sits down to a cozy meal! --- Check out Shannan's blog here to learn more about her family, her life, her story, and her bathrooms. (Sounds strange, I know, but she's written blog posts about them and they are cute!) --- Book #3 is already in progress! This fiction novel is written in letters, so I'm enjoying the difference in style from my first two reads. Do you have any tips or stories for me as I work to be more intentional about inviting people into our home? Share them in the comments! Wonderfully Yours, Kristin
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Well, this is embarrassing.
Here we are about three months since I started this journey, and here I am finally finishing my FIRST BOOK for 2017. (Don't judge me.) --- My first book for this wonderful journey is a prequel to The Mysterious Benedict Society by Trenton Lee Stewart. I've read the first two books in that series, but haven't read the third one yet. After my sister's prodding, she told me that reading the whole series was not a prerequisite for reading this book, and that this one was her favorite! So, my first book for this #yearof50books is: The Extraordinary Education of Nicholas Benedict by Trenton Lee Stewart I'm not going to summarize the story for you. You can easily look that up for yourself. Instead, I'd like to share some of the things I noticed about and learned from Nicholas Benedict and his friends. 1. Nicholas is a noticer. He pays attention and recognizes things that no one else sees. Of course, this is what affords him so many opportunities in the story, and one of the reasons I love it so much. He's not magical, nor does he have any "special powers"...he just pays attention! (He's also a genius, but I mean. Whatev.) 2. The importance of friendship. Nicholas has always done things on his own, so it doesn't really bother him to be alone. BUT, in this story, he learns the true significance of what it means to have (and be!) a friend. 3. It's interesting to me, and might be to you, that very little in this story is actually about the literal "education" that Nicholas receives. The extraordinary education is not one in the classroom, but the life lessons he learns through his interactions with people, his adventures at (and around) the orphanage, and his time spent in the library reading book after book after book after... This book, and the series in general--even though I haven't read the last book yet--get my recommendation. I often recommend it to my middle school readers if they're looking for a page turner that is still quirky and creative, too. Trenton Lee Stewart has also written another book, The Secret Keepers, that I'm looking forward to reading eventually, too! If you want to check out the Benedict Society books, click here. I enjoyed reading about the characters and playing the strategy games there, too! --- Starting this journey has been an extraordinary education for me. I took an online class this winter, which of course became quite a hindrance to my reading goal for this year. HOWEVER. That class is over now, and spring break starts tomorrow, so I'm hoping to get through at least one more book, maybe two, during this next week! I've realized that if I say I value reading, then I need to spend more time doing that. I'm working on finding ways to incorporate more reading time into my daily routines, so if I come up with any extraordinary tips, I'll be sure to share them. I've started a non-fiction read that I plan to share with you next, but do you have any reading recommendations for me as I continue? Share them in the comments! In the meantime, be a Benedict. Be a noticer. The wonderful is happening all around! Wonderfully Yours, Kristin Every goal needs a plan. A way to manage and maintain how it's going to be accomplished.
So, here are my rules for reading 50 books in 2017: 1. The entire book must be read in 2017. (No reading in 2016, finishing in 2017, and counting it. I might end up doing that some, just to finish books, but I won't count those in the 50.) 2. Books must be from a variety of genres. (It's a given that they'll be a variety of lengths.) 3. At least one blog post must be written about each book to document the process. That's it! I'm currently finishing a book I started in December before I embark on this year's reading, so that's giving me some time to get together a brief list of the first ten books I plan to read. (The less decision-making between reads, the better.) Check out the Books page to see the list thus far! Can you tell I like using parentheses? (I'm learning my own quirks as I write these posts. Know thyself!) Wonderfully Yours, Kristin "And most of all and best of all it all never ends, for the wonderful happens and happens again.."
Starting a blog feels weird. I enjoy talking to people, and I'd much rather talk about important things than just make small talk, but it's a difficult task in our seemingly disconnected world. Writing where I know anyone who wants to can read it is a bit alarming--it's putting it all out there, which can feel a bit selfish, or arrogant, like being in a one-sided conversation and you're the one doing all the talking, not the listening. I feel somewhat better about it because my motive isn't to talk about me, but to talk about things. I'm excited to share with you about Jesus and books and music and pop culture..all of the things! If starting a blog feels weird, then naming a blog feels even weirder. Every time I thought I came up with something original, I was shot down with a big red X and "TAKEN". (Great feeling, let me tell you.) In a last ditch effort to find words I'd saved in the past that were meaningful to me, I scrolled through my personal Instagram feed and saw a picture I'd taken of a page in a children's book: and most of all and best of all, it all never ends, for the wonderful happens and happens again. BOOM. I've always loved those words from Cynthia Rylant in The Wonderful Happens, a beautiful children's book by this West Virginia author, and this thought: the wonderful happens and happens again! Life knocks you down, or you feel lost, and it seems hopeless. But if you look around, it never ends. The wonderful keeps happening and happening again! So, The Wonderful Happens is born. Let's keep the wonderful happening. I'm excited to share with you! Wonderfully Yours, Kristin |
AuthorI'm Kristin. A Christian, wife, daughter, sister, aunt, and friend. Archives
October 2017
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