Saturday, August 11, 2012

{Catching up and What I am Reading}

Happy Saturday Morning! We are enjoying a quiet one here at our house and I am loving it. We don't have any plans this weekend and I am just thrilled about it! With Nick's job (he doesn't get home until after 6) our family time on weekdays is super limited. So, I am attempting to make our weekends calmer so we can soak up the family time! But man, it is hard to make that happen! But, this weekend it is happening!

On Monday Nick and I celebrated our 7 year anniversary! We had officially celebrated in July when my parents took the kids for a couple days. But, my mom was sweet and offered to watch the kiddos the evening of our anniversary so we could go to dinner. It was such a huge blessing for us. We went to dinner at Kitaro (one of those Japanese hibachi places!) and had the best time. It was fun to reminisce and talk about how far we had come in 7 years. We both agreed that we are totally different people than we were when we got married and we definetely have a different view of what marriage actually is as opposed to what we thought it was going to be! We couldn't help but laugh at some of the truly terrible marriage advice we got from well meaning people at the time. A lot of people gave us advice on "keeping things fair" and "making sure you both split up the work" and all sorts of things like that. So yeah, we had some false expectations in the beginning! But, let me say, I am more grateful than ever that I married Nick Ramsey. God has been so faithful to us and anything good in our marriage is truly a testament to who He is!

I have been trying to get some organizing projects done around the house and hope to do a few more this weekend. My parents are coming over later today to help with one of them (and let's be honest... by help I mean do the whole thing). They are amazingly handy when it comes to house projects and I am very thankful they are willing to help us! So, I will hopefully have a fun blog post on that later this week!

I have also been reading some great books lately I thought I might share with y'all in case any of them interest you! If you haven't noticed I read about 5 books at once! It is kind of a bad habit and maybe a sign of me having some weird form of ADD or something. But, either way!

2 of the books I am reading right now are uber practical which is just what this mom of soon to be 4 children needs!! Like I know ANYTHING about having 4 kids? HA!

The first is Large Family Logistics by Kim Brenneman.
Large Family Logistics
It is full of the nitty gritty practical things that you have to do with a large family. Tons of tips on laundry, cleaning, and just making it all work. I keep a highlighter in my hand while I am reading this one and am finding so many useful tips in it! I know for some people 4 kiddos is not a large family but for me that is twice as many kids as I grew up with so I am gearing up! Ha!

My other practical book is Managers of Their Chores by Steven and Terry Maxwell.
Managers of Their Chores (Managers, 1)
This is a guide to children's chores. A few weeks ago I posted on Facebook asking what kind of chores people had their kiddos 3-6 doing. My kiddos do a lot to help but we don't have regular chores or any sort of system so a friend recommended this book and another friend loaned me a copy to read! Plus, The Duggar Family said they used this book so let's be honest... it has got to be good! I am certainly getting a lot out of it so far.

The next book I am reading is one I think I will be recommeding to every woman I know! (I can't say for sure because I haven't read the whole thing but unless the author goes crazy at the end I think this book will go down as one of my all time favorites. It is Practical Theology for Women by Wendy Horger Alsup.
Practical Theology for Women: How Knowing God Makes a Difference in Our Daily Lives (Re: Lit Books)
First I must say what this book is NOT. It is not a dry theology text that you read to fall asleep at night. It is NOT a light and breezy girly book avoiding the tough issues. It is a hard hitting look at who are God is and what we should know about him, written from a woman who has learned some of these things in the trenches and then shares her story with us. I have already realized some false things I was believing about God. I think this book would benefit a woman who has been a Christian her entire life and has read through the Bible 26 times and it would also benefit the woman who is still trying to figure out who this Jesus is.

Side note: On Monday I finished my Bible in a Year reading plan! I read through the entire Bible for the first time and I did it in one year! This is something I have attempted to do every year since I first became a Christian but I never kept up with it. I am so excited to have finally done it!

Okay, back to books... The last book is the one we are reading for our discipleship program at church. It is Christian Beliefs: Twenty Basics Every Christian Should Know by Wayne Grudem.
Christian Beliefs: Twenty Basics Every Christian Should Know
I am just starting it but am enjoying it so far! I think some of the content will be the same as Practical Theology for Women but told in a more straightforward manner. Either way, I am excited to learn about God! And I think this will be a neat book to talk about with my friend Crystal as we go through it together.

I hope you all have a good weekend! It will be another birthday week around here for us as our little Sophie Lou turns 4 on Tuesday and then we will party it up the next weekend!

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