Friday, March 12, 2010

Bumbo Seat Pics

Here's a few more pictures from the last few days!

John Bunyan Book Review

John Bunyan
Christian Encounter Series
by Kevin Belmonte

I enjoyed reading this biography of John Bunyan, part of the Christian Encounters series by Thomas Nelson publishers. This book gives a great overview of Bunyan’s life and the circumstances surrounding his writing of The Pilgrim’s Progress. I’m not a huge biography reader, and so this book was just the right size and had just the right combination of historical facts and storytelling to keep me engaged through the end. The book is 142 pages long, plus a few ending sections (appendix, notes, etc).
I loved reading about Bunyan’s conversion to Christianity, his endurance and dedication to preaching the Gospel even in the face of certain persecution, his young wife’s bravery and defense of his calling, and I especially appreciated the brief summary of both Part 1 and Part 2 of The Pilgrim’s Progress. I would recommend this book to someone who is interested in The Pilgrim’s Progress or learning more about John Bunyan. It’s not a hugely in-depth look at Bunyan’s life, but just enough information to feel like you know who Bunyan was and what inspired him to write one of the most widely recognized pieces of English literature, The Pilgrim’s Progress.
I received this book free from Thomas Nelson Publishers as part of their BookSneeze.com book review bloggers program.

Thursday, March 11, 2010

Thumbs and Books

My parents are coming to town this weekend and I'm so excited! It's been about a month since my mom saw Caleb last and my dad hasn't seen him since Christmas! I know this little boy has changed a lot since Christmas, so it should be fun watching Dad catch up on all things Caleb.

Speaking of catching up, our sweet boy has turned into a major thumb sucker! He's always gnawed/sucked on his hands, fingers, or anything he can get close to his mouth. But over the last few weeks he has mastered the art of separating his thumb from the rest and more often than not he will fall asleep with that little thumb stuck tightly in his mouth. We've tried to give him a pacifier instead and usually he will take it, but before long that paci falls out and in goes the thumb. I have to say it's kinda cute.Other than that, he's been very smiley and talkative - it's been so fun! Last week Stephen went to Los Angeles for the Shepherd's Conference, so Granna and Aunt Jayci came over in the evenings to help out and play. It was great - Caleb loved it and it was a huge help to me!

On a non-baby note, I've joined a book review website called BookSneeze to review books for them. It's pretty cool because I just browse the books they have available for review and pick one, then they mail me the book (for free-no cost whatsoever!), I read it and post a review on my blog and then on a site like amazon.com. Once I've posted my review, I go back on and request a new book. From what I can tell, all the books on BookSneeze are from Thomas Nelson publishers, which does primarily Christian literature. I'm in the middle of my first book - a biography of John Bunyan. I'm hoping to finish it in the next day or two so you should see a review on here shortly.

I've been trying to be much more intentional about my reading this year because I always have a list of books that I really want to read and at the end of the year I find I've only knocked out a few of the books from my list. So there's books that I've been meaning to read for YEARS that I just never get around to. Well I decided this year would be different! I guess you could call it a New Year's Resolution. I've already finished three books and I'm halfway through two others. That may not sound like much, but for this full-time job working wife and new mom, that's a big deal! So all that to say, you'll hopefully see at least a sentence or two on here about the books I've been reading lately. I'm excited to share them with you!