Curl up with a Good Book

I have always loved to read, always loved to curl up with a good book. My love for reading came from my mother. She has always loved to read too, and she read to us and took us to the library from the time we were babies on up. I always LOVED going to the library, although, when I was little, our library was this really old big building. It was beautiful, but at the time, it creeped me out. I wouldn't even go to the bathroom by myself.

Anyway, I've always loved to read, and I credit my mother with the fact that I was one of the very few kids who could read and write before I got to kindergarten. I attribute it to the many trips to the library and her reading to me and getting me interested in books. I am very much like my mother in that I can get lost in a book for hours and cut off everything around me. It's almost like I have been absorbed right into the book and am standing in the middle of the story watching the characters play everything out. My mother is the same way. I can remember her reading and us trying to get her attention. Many times, it would take 6 or 7 times of calling her name loudly to get her attention. I am the exact same way. I began reading a book right after David left for work last night, and did not put it down until he came home. (Don't worry. He works nights, so my children were sleeping.)

I had gotten away from reading for a while, but lately, I have been taking my own kids to the library, and I have been reading to my girls since they were babies as well. I have been reading books by an author named Gilbert Morris. He is a wonderful writer. I love his books! He was a Baptist pastor for 10 years, and then he became an English professor at Ouachita Baptist University in Arkansas, which by the way I believe is the school Mike Huckabee went to, but I digress. His books are wonderful. He uses history and makes it come alive by wrapping a fictional story around it. I am a big history buff, and I love a good story, so his books are perfect for me. Many of them do have a romantic story embedded in them, but it is of course clean romance because he is a Christian writer.

Lately, I have been reading his "The House of Winslow" series. It tracks a family all the way from the first ancestor that came to America to the 20 century. I have read the first two books and am on book 3. The history in these books incorporates American history and the history of the church. In fact, John Bunyan, George Whitefield, and Jonathan Edwards have appeared in these books, and I have learned a lot about church history just from reading them. Of course, the stories are fictional, but he uses historical fact to tell them. Also, in a way, these books have helped me grow in my spiritual walk. Don't get me wrong. The Bible is absolutely the most important book to read, and without the Word of God, you can have no spiritual growth. However, his writing is very inspiring for people of faith.

Anyway, I just thought I would recommend these books to anyone looking for something good to read, especially anyone who likes history, also, anyone who likes romance but does not want to read the smut put out by most romance authors.

P.S. You can tell this guy used to be a pastor too! In the book I am reading now, there is a party at Jonathan Edwards' house, and one of the guests says that if people would quit fighting the pastor and start fighting the devil, the churches would be better off. I just laughed and said a quiet amen when I read that. You can definitely tell he pastored a Baptist church! LOL

Lost and Found

If you've been married for a while, you know that occasionally, a little something gets lost. That happened to my husband and me. Don't get me wrong, love wasn't lost between us. We've always been madly in love, but between kids, work, bills, and the ministry, a little bit of the romance was lost. When we were dating, my husband was so romantic. He always surprised me, always found something romantic to do, especially on special occasions. Lately, though, the romantic side of him has been lost. Last night, we found it again!

As most of you know, yesterday was Valentine's Day. All day, my husband apologized because he didn't get me anything. It was no big deal. He woke me up when he got home from work and told me Happy Valentine's Day. Just the fact that he remembered was enough for me. I'm not picky. And, he was upset all day because he had to work last night. He works the night shift. So, he left for work at 10:00, and I settled in to watch TV as I normally do. I stay up late because I cannot sleep when he is not here. At 3:00 in the morning, there was a knock on the door. That's not unusual because that's about the time he takes his break at work and comes home. I answered the door, and there stood my husband with a rose, a card, and some candy. Then, he said, "You've got me for the rest of the night." It turns out, he wasn't scheduled to work last night. He has been setting me up all day. What a surprise! And if you know me at all, you know it's hard to surprise me.

That's the romantic guy I married! We found him again! I have the best husband in the world. I've always known it, and I've always been madly in love with him. Last night was one of those times though that made me fall in love with him all over again. I'm the luckiest woman in the world!