Do you know what makes me happy? Super happy? Well, a few things,but for the purpose of this post, it would be books and paper. Oh, I love a good book, and just as much, a notebook to write things in while I'm reading said book.

This is an actual picture taken of my Pile of Stuff.

I like to have at least 5 notebooks laying around the house for my various "entries." I can get a little twitchy if I run out of paper. And thank the Lord my husband knows this about me, and will completely indulge my obsession. I mean, it gets pricey when I have to stock up on those .50 cent spiral notebooks, but he's a good man, and has agreed to stomach the cost. Bless.

SO, after lunch is over, and the kids are in their respective quiet places, I get my little Pile of Stuff (which I was going to abbreviate into POS from now on, but I considered the negative connotations and decided against), hang out on the couch, and dig in. Now, I've previously admitted that I spend some of my quiet time resting (which means sleeping), but I really like having that time beforehand to read my books.

My mom blessed us earlier this year with her old Kindle, which was brand spankin' new to us, and we all love it. As soon as I'm done in the afternoon, Nina plucks it up with her hot little hands and gets to reading. I can not complain. Today, she read Rikki Tikki Tavi, and was narrating it to Erik and I when we realized that there is a cartoon or movie of the story we remember seeing as kids. I pulled it up on YouTube, and the kids enjoyed watching it. Nina kept saying, "that is exactly what happened in the book, wow!"

I typically browse the free book section on the kindle, because, that's how we roll here, but I have splurged on a few books recently. Sidenote: Those books? Yeah.  God is really messing with my head, and the more I read about intentionality in Christendom , I am blown away. By so many things. That I can't speak about yet. Rest assured, the Lord is plucking the weeds from my overgrown garden, and giving me fresh eyes to see His purpose. There are some gems in the free book section, though! I usually try to read the reviews on the book first to see if there is anything outrageous I should watch for. I tell you what, there is nearly nothing that burns me up more than starting a good book, getting completely sucked in, and then out of nowhere, the GD word is introduced. I have to stop reading immediately, and delete it from my device. Why, why do authors even use that detestable word? Moving on.

I read an amazing book last week called Echoes of an Angel by Aquanetta Gordon. This is a poignant, touching story about a young mother trying to make it on her own with 4 young children, when she finds out that her youngest son has cancer, and has to have both eyes removed. The book travels along this amazing life story as they overcome obstacles and defeat to find out that even without eyes, you can see so much in this world. This book was amazing. It was honestly brutal, and the author makes so qualms about admitting her life wasn't perfect or easy, and she made some bad decisions along the way. (I'm really into authenticity right now, so I pretty much cheered when the book started with drug addiction.) Let's get real about those struggles, people. It looks like this book is still free on Amazon, so if you like to read, check this one out. And then Google YouTube for the videos of her son Ben Underwood. Just amazing.

Also, our bible fellowship class (this is a fancy ,new Christian term for Sunday School) just started a new study called It's Not too Late by Tony Evans. So far, I am absolutely loving it. We watched the first video on Sunday, and when he said, "God can meet you in your mess and turn it into a miracle," I swooned and nearly passed out in class. Can you do that, Lord? Because this is really a mess, and we could sure use a miracle.

I was kind of hesitant going into this study, because I absolutely did not enjoy the last one our class did at ALL. At ALL. It was called His Needs, Her Needs by Willard Harley. It was about satisfying each others needs to have an affair proof marriage. I just thought it was straight kooky. Not going to lie - I pretty much checked out the first few weeks, and retained nothing from it. Sorry. Not perfect. I remember one video we watched where he was talking about how the husband should approve the wife's makeup/ style/ clothing/ overall look. He was talking about how he goes shopping with his wife and approves each outfit based on what he thinks looks good for her overall style and look. He recommended all men do that for their ladies. Yeah. It was like that pretty much the whole time, and for the life of me , I just kept thinking... uh, kids... people are perishing to hell rightthisminute because they've never experienced the Word of God, and this is how we're using our discipleship time? To talk about make up approval? I'd rather scrub my face and smear ashes all over it, thankyouverymuch. Anyway, it was a short study, thank goodness, and it's over, never to be seen again. And confession? The first week of class, I threw my book into the bottom of my purse and the next day my water bottle flooded said bottom of purse, and I had to throw my book away, and I replaced it never.

I really love our BF class. I love our teachers, the other couples in there, and growing and learning together. I am so encouraged by the new growth that I see in that class each week, despite the fact that our church is going through a struggle. I am praying that God will instill a passion inside of us, to spur each other on towards the gospel.  I think this new study by Tony Evans is going to be perfect for Erik and I to work through. The fact that the first week is about Moses, who is my favorite bible character , is just icing on the cake.