Motherhood Reminders

This blog post really spoke to me tonight. Being a Mommy is a lesson in selflessness, and it's not an easy lesson to learn. I have loved being a stay at home mom for the last 6 months, but it has truly been an adjustment. This "job" doesn't end at 5:00 every day. My sweet boys want attention every. single. minute of the day. Some days there's a little one at my feet even while I'm in the shower! I'm still trying to figure out how to get 30 minutes a day to myself just to get some exercise. There are many days where I think "If I could just have a break, have some ME time, I could do it all again tomorrow." Even though the moments of motherhood are truly sweet, there's an inner struggle for balance and personal time that I'm willing to bet most mom's have experienced. I'm too tired to have any grandiose answers right now, but reading this post tonight was like coming up for a breath of air on a day that felt a little more like drowning than swimming.

I'm thankful God's mercies are new every morning. I need His mercy and grace each and every day.

Growing Babies

This pic was taken back in October. They've done a lot of growing in just 4 months!

David loves to try and grab the spoon while I'm feeding him. This usually ends up in a big mess... :-)

Naptime?

Caleb was supposed to be napping. I walked in and found this scene and a cute little boy who was so happy with himself. Oh goodness.

I love these two little boys like crazy!

Monthly Reading Plan

his and her's reading lists (mine's on the right)

I have a confession to make. I love to read. I have ever since I can remember. I have vivid memories as a little kid hiding in the closet after I was supposed to be in bed and losing myself in great adventure stories. But I've found that life can often get busy (and I waste too much time online) and I'll find myself going months without reading a single book.

This is a problem for me because at least every other week, if not more often, I find another book that I really, really want to read. I would end up looking at our book shelves or perusing Amazon and thinking, "Man, I've been wanting to read that book for forever!" and not doing a whole lot about it.

So the last few years I've made a very loose reading list. This helps me a lot because rather than thinking "There's soooo many books I really want to read" and not knowing where to start, I actually have some direction and find myself making progress on my reading list. Also, if don't pick up a book for a few weeks, just a glance at the list reminds me how much I want to read them and helps me get back on track.

This year I've decided to split my list up by months. It's still pretty fluid, and I find myself adding another book to the list every few weeks or so. But it should give me a great starting point for my reading over this next year. A few of these are books I've wanted to read for YEARS and just never got around to it. This is the year!

I'm also excited to look back at the end of the year and see how many books I finished. I'm planning to do a monthly update of which books I read and which ones I'm hoping to read the next month.

So without further ado, here's my 2012 Reading List. Some are books we have on our shelves, some are ebooks on my Kindle, and a few are books I hope to purchase or borrow from our local library.

January
-The Hunger Games (Trilogy) by Suzanne Collins
-So You Want to Adopt... Now What? by Sara Dormon & Ruth Graham
-You Can Adopt by Susan Caughman & Isolde Motley
-Spurgeon by Arnold Dallimore (inspired by a conversation with Olivia Pugh and in honor of my oldest son, who is named after this "Prince of Preachers")

February
-Women's Ministry in the Local Church by J. Ligon Duncan & Susan Hunt
-Radical by David Platt (reading with Stephen)
-One Thousand Gifts by Ann Voskamp (love her blog!)
-The Money Saving Mom's Budget by Crystal Paine (I follow her blog & won book from a giveaway!)

March
-Word Filled Families by John Barnett (reading with Stephen)
-The Variorum Walden by Henry David Thoreau

April
-The Gospel and Personal Evangelism by Mark Dever (reading with Stephen)
-Banker to the Poor by Muhammad Yunus

May
-John Owen The Man & His Theology by Robert W. Oliver, etc. (in honor of my youngest son's first bday. He was named after Owen, "The Great Doer")
-Shepherding a Child's Heart by Tedd Tripp

June
-Transforming Church in Rural America by Shannon O'Dell
-Kisses from Katie by Katie Davis

July
-Heaven by Randy Alcorn

August
-Love That Lasts by Gary & Betsy Ricucci (our wedding anniversary is Sept 1!)
-Orphanology by Tony Merida

September
-Expository Listening by Ken Ramey

October
-Twelve Ordinary Women by John MacArthur

November
-Total Church by Tim Chester and Steve Timmis

December
-A Love That Multiplies by Michelle & Jim Bob Duggar

I don't know if anyone still reads this little blog, but if you do, I'd love to know if you have any books you're hoping to read this year!