Joy in Answered Prayer!!

What tremendous joy in receiving good news from afar... or however the verse goes!
Check out a HUGE praise for our friends that's been a long time coming...

2010 Reading List

So, in relationship to another one of our New Year's goals about staying in our budget, we decided to make 2010 Reading Lists based on books we already had. Seminarians, even former ones, have bookooooooos of books! And I had a bunch when we got married. Sadly, we haven't read many of them, but we're always itching to buy new ones. Not this year. No new books. If I want to read some other stuff (like novels or classics, ha, I realize these are all Christian books), I'll just have to borrow, hit up the library or read online.

So, here you have it. I may let you know how they are going from time to time. One of our main goals is to not let our goals fizzle out by February. We made realistic ones we want to keep all year long (like make my bed every day - ha!) so here's hoping. Of course, goals and keeping them don't save anyone! I'm reminded constantly that the only good in me is Jesus, so I hope I don't look to these goals or the keeping of them to find my worth or stumble into pride (if I keep some) and despair (if I don't).

That aside, (for real) here's the list. Dustin's list is a lot harder, as several of my books are pretty short. I was inspired by my friend Laura Cutherberson who has kept great reading lists up for the last several years, posting about them on her blog, which I'll add to my sidebar for ya!

Ask me how they are going. You can ask about making the bed too. Or my Postnatal Tae Bo workouts. :P

Jamie’s 2010 Reading List

Passionate Housewives: Desperate for God by Jennie Chancey and Stacy McDonald

Church History: A Crash Course for the Curious – Christopher Catherwood

Whiter Than Snow: Meditations on Sin and Mercy – Paul David Tripp

Heaven on Earth: Capturing Jonathan Edwards’s Vision of Living in Between – Stephen J. Nichols

Women & Evangelism – Sharon Beougher and Mary Dorsett

The Mystery of Marriage: Meditations on the Miracle – Make Mason

The Hidden Art of Homemaking – Edith Schaeffer

War of Words: Getting to the Heart of Your Communication Struggles – Paul D. Tripp

The Truth of the Cross – R. C. Sproul

What is a Healthy Church Member – Thabiti Anyabwile

Some pictures...

1. After years of LOATHING chopping onions (my eyes would KILL me... I wonder if allergies make the process even worse), I finally found a way to chop them up without any eye pain. It even works better than my old (equally dorky) strategy of putting my head in the freezer. Don't worry. I close my blinds first.
2. Big Boy Nate is 2 months old today, and he looks way too grown up in this picture. We could not keep our hands off of him when we saw him in this sweater vest from Aunt Mel. It's so fun! Month 2 was way easier than Month 1, but it's all been fun. We're literally shocked at how much he changes each week!
3. The smiles are flowing freely now! (And finally, he smiles in response to us and quite often. It's not just gas anymore, although that still makes him smile too!)
4. Nate's cousins Ethan and Henry were absolutely precious with him. They were so gentle and sweet. Ethan (in the picture) and Nate locked eyes on each other like this for about 3 minutes straight! We miss those boys!! It was so good to see and play with them. I love being an aunt and we pray for them each night when we pray for Nate. They will be awesome big cousins!

5. Finally, one of my favorites from the month... a candid picture of Dustin and Nate. We were at my parents, and one morning Dustin took Nate so I could keep sleeping. I heard Dustin reading from the Bible to Nate and snuck out to snap a picture. It was so sweet. Later, Dustin had a funny story from it too! He had been reading from the OT and it talked of the plague of killing the firstborn son. He said that Nate started crying at that part. Seriously. :) Poor guy. It was a tramatic story for him, but he loved cuddling up with Daddy!