Started A New Book...

Dad bought me Stephen J. Nichols' "For Us And For Our Salvation: The Doctrine of Christ in the Early Church" while we were up at Hippensteal's Mountain View Inn in Gatlinburg, TN.

So far, all I can say is "Wow!" I was intrigued into wanting this book by a post on Desiring God's blog. That post says it so much better than I can.

I'm only 34 pages into the book and I can't wait to get back to it. Highly recommended.

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Catching up...

This post has been a few weeks in the making - I've been much busier than a long-tailed cat in a room full of rocking chairs... I won't bore you with those details (after all, it's the people who read this who already know the details because they were the details.) This post is about my book reading...

Three weeks ago, I finally finished this book. WHEW! I think one day (when I have very little to do - as if that'll happen!!!) I'll go back and read the book and make notes such as: Where, When, Background, Who vs. Who, Pivotal Action, etc. It would probably make the book more interesting and I'd probably get more out of it.

Then I picked up and started Thr3e by Ted Dekker. I read it in two nights. It was a pretty good read - suspenseful and well paced. I might not agree with the background theology that Dekker's characters believe, but it was nice to read a book without foul language, and without having to skim over "racy" sections...

But now, three weeks later, I've again fallen behind on my Bible Reading for the Year. Today is as good a day as any to get back rolling... I should mention that I think I really started to fall behind when I ordered and started reading J. Vernon McGee's Thru the Bible series. I was hoping to use it to expand on my daily reading: reading my daily portion and then read the "Thru The Bible" commentary for that portion. The problem is that I started reading it (the day after I finished "Thr3e") and reading through Genesis chapter 1 took thirty-two pages. Ouch!

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Another Photo Album

I just uploaded another set of pictures from the past. This time I found pictures from Christian's Easter Party at First Methodist Early Learning Center. What's really interesting is how well he sat *still* for snacks, lunch, and craft time.

I'm still not sure that Christy or I can get him to do that now. Enjoy!

PS. Christy is giving me some stuff to put on her wishlist. I'll post a blurb here when I've got that done.

PPS. I've made some progress on that book - finishing the battle of Marathon (Athenians defeat Persians) and now getting into the battle for Syracuse (Sicilians defeat [correction] Athenians).

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A Wasted Day?

I wonder if I really did just waste a day. It certainly didn't start well, but at least it didn't end badly.

I started looking for the deed for the house - the documentation that the IRS needs to release the lien that they mistakenly placed on my house. Of course, I couldn't find it which necessitated a trip to the courthouse to get a copy. Not only that, but I wasn't at work that long before Christy called and informed me that the vacumm cleaner had died. Yippee! Another good day on the way...

I guess I then wasted most of the rest of the day trying to get the non-working Google Desktop Search working. I should have just given up, but somehow found myself on one of those quests to find out what was wrong and to get it working. Like the search for the proverbial fountain of youth... I've given up now - I'll have to leave my problem to the computer gurus at Google and hope they can fix it sometime.

I really need to get back to reading that book. That first battle just became more interesting since I realized that it is the origin for the meaning of the word marathon. Maybe I can force my way through the politics and name dropping without falling asleep.

In other news, I did sale something on eBay yesterday, and mailed it out today. Yeah, it wasn't much, but I did get rid of something I no longer used and got money for it in the process!

I also got my digital camera back from Christy. She used it yesterday - taking pictures at Christian's pre-K Halloween get-together. As soon I process them, I'll post some here. Christian - who can't stand to wear costumes - went as the only thing that didn't per se require a costume. If I haven't told you what his "costume" was - fell free to guess. You'll just have to wait on the pictures... :)

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Don't Ya Just Hate... [What I'm Reading]

When you start a book that is so dull / boring that you want to put it down and hide it somewhere. If there's any part of me that is obsessive/compulsive, it's that I *must* finish any book that I've started. The book that has caused this post is Twenty Decisive Battles of the World. Why in the world I started this book I have no idea... The battle of Marathon is the first battle described and I'm having quite a time getting going on it. So far, the major points I've gleaned are: Athenian armies numbered approximately 10,000 with 1,000 Plataens and they were up against a veteran Persian army of approximately 60,000 that had landed and camped out at Marathon on the shores of what is now Greece. That's it. That's as far as I have gotten. I tried to keep going, but the names and the politics that have been injected into the storyline are killing the book - at least for me... I started this book over again last night. (I had a premature start on it previously that stopped at page 2.) I'm hoping I can work my way through it tonight. Goal of two battles finished tonight (plus or minus 10 days to finish the book)...

By the way, I'm purposefully expanding my blog to have more than just picture stuff. (Not for your benefit! :P ) Look for other stuff to follow...

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