NanoWriMo starts today. I participated last year (as many of you know) for the first time and really had fun with it. About six remarkably gluttonous people voluntarily read my first little novel (a children’s book) and the reviews were, well…non-existant. LM spent much of his time after reading it telling people that I wrote a children’s book but it was NOT ABOUT HIM. He wanted to make sure no one confused poor Charlie’s misadventures with something LM might have done. Ahem. So I didn’t submit it to any publisher. I didn’t even send it in to a local contest. I didn’t actually do anything with it other than stick it in my hope chest along with all the writings I did when I was seven.

So what on earth am I doing participating again this year? I have no idea. Do I expect to write anything worth reading? Nope. Do I expect to write anything I’d like to send off to a publisher? Nope. Do I anticipate even using my lame chapters as blog posts when I get desperate? Nope. But here I go again.

Did I mention that LM is participating too this year? So for the next 30 days there will be two of us frantically typing away, drinking gallons of lemonade, eating chips and pacing around the room. Great mom and son bonding, huh? 50,000 and counting. Here goes nothing (literally).

I’ve noticed that some people actually reach my blog through book searches. I thought perhaps it would be nice of me to link my reviews to my list of reads so I took the time to do that today. This is not to say that my reviews are golden and should be taken for gospel truth. In fact, I would love for someone to leave comments on posts where they disagree with my take on a novel! If you’ve read any of the books listed to the right, please feel free to leave your own comment, complaint or praise!

By the way, Into the Wild is coming out as a movie!! I really think it’ll be a good one, even if I do wait for the DVD version!

Any book recommendations you might make for me? Let me know! I’m on the prowl for something good!

This book does not even warrant a detailed critique in my book (no pun intended). I didn’t enjoy it. I didn’t think the characters developed into anything, I didn’t think there was any plot to speak of, I didn’t think it had any sort of conflict or climax and therefore was lacking in resolution. It just kind of wandered along a meaningless path until it abruptly ended.

Not worth the time to even think about reading it.

I was introduced to Frank Peretti as an author back in college (thanks, Chris!) and LOVED his trilogy “This Present Darkness” and “Piercing the Darkness” and “Prophet”. Last Spring I happened upon his books again, including one I bought for LM (which he thoroughly enjoyed as I recall, but I can’t remember what book it was.) Recently, I stumbled across some novels he has written in collaboration with Ted Dekker and found two at my local library. I started with “House”.

Boy am I glad I didn’t spend money on this book.

It’s a simple salvation plot drowning in unremarkable dialogue and a never-ending and never-riveting chase. Peretti and Dekker stage this novel in a mysteriously haunted house. The characters are unwittingly lulled into the home and then trapped there against demons real, imagined, external and internal. The house continually shifts and changes creating an ongoing maze for the characters within. The novel takes so much time explaining the changes (which were difficult for me to visually imagine anyway, so I started skipping those parts). There were few characters if any that seemed worth redeeming so it was difficult to even wish for their salvation (I know, I’m cruel).

The book was written so simply it felt insulting to an adult reader and yet the plot was certainly not for a child. I had intended to pass the book along to LM when I finished but it was an easy decision not to when all was said and done.

If the authors are trying to captivate a non-Christian audience and demonstrate the gift of salvation through their plot I would suspect they turned a lot of readers off long before they could even get to it. If they are assuming a Christian audience, then the plot was so transparent as to not be the driving force behind reading, and yet the dialogue and character development was so weak it was hard to tough it out through the end.

All this is to say I’m remarkably disappointed. I brought home “Saint” by the same two authors but now I have little desire to open it. I suspect there are a lot of people who do enjoy these novels, as there are several written by these two, so perhaps they get better. I still highly recommend Peretti’s other novels, but would not suggest you add this one to your list.

I have fallen asleep on the couch to Joe Buck’s voice three nights this week but not tonight. Despite a cold (thanks, Kindergartners!) and a 5:30 alarm tomorrow, I’m not going to miss the final out of the 2007 World Series.

And just like that the Red Sox have won the Series!!

(Jenny, take a week or two off of laundry. You have my permission!)

I no longer own a home. Our apartment is tiny, crammed with furniture and belongings and smells a bit like cat pee (not our cat). I have no full-time job. I spend most days in someone else’s classroom learning the names of 24 students and doing my best to not only keep them in one piece but to educate them at least slightly during the time they are in my care. Our budget is tight, we don’t eat out and we know where to find hot dogs and mac n’ cheese on sale. I’ve had interviews but no job has really struck me as something I want to do for the next five years. I’ve had offers but after careful consideration, I’ve turned each one of them down.

And yet

I’ve never been so content. I’ve never felt such peace. I’ve never been quite so happy. I just feel content. I feel satisfied. I feel as though each and every day God will give me what I need and not more than I can handle. I am not anxious or worried or stressed.

Last week I sat down to calculate how many days I had subbed in the district and when that money will be in my pocket. The car needed two new tires badly and the brakes needed to be looked at. With the cold weather coming, I wanted to make sure we were safe on the roads. I was also looking ahead to Christmas and wanting to be sure I had a little extra for gifts for those that we love. On Friday an unexpected check arrived in the mail. It wasn’t a huge amount, but it paid for the new tires and a little extra for me to start thinking about Christmas gifts. It was exactly what I needed and nothing more.

The church we’ve been attending is huge and yet on Wednesday evenings, each and every week, someone I don’t know introduces themself to me and asks if there is any way they can help me while we get settled. On Sunday mornings now I am greeted by familiar faces and even a hug. This past Sunday my dad and second mom sat beside us in the pew, a special treat that means more than I can say.

I can look at the real estate in the area and know that one day in the not-so-distant future, we will have our pick of homes. We might have that fireplace we’ve always wanted, that garden out back, the sunroom for all my plants, a windowsill just perfect for Jonah.

I am looking into the requirements to convert my Illinois teaching certificate to a Michigan one, and I’m meeting with other school districts to perhaps find a comfortable home for subbing – maybe even secure something long term somewhere. I’m taking my time to follow my passions and my heart and I’m allowing God to lead me as I go.

I’m not sure why it ever took me so long to just let go and let God. But I’m ever so glad I did for I am truly blessed.

Amy and Jacob Fall 2007

My dad will tell you I’m a bit stubborn and usually refuse when they try to help with travelling expenses or to buy me something for our home. This visit, however, when my dad offered to fill a void in our new Michigan lives, I readily welcomed the gift and thanked him profusely.

You just don’t know how much you miss it until you don’t have it.

Welcome our new microwave. More than ten weeks without popcorn is long enough. No more broken glass bowls on the stove because we tried to heat up a cup of sauce on the burner. No more setting LM’s watch alarm to know when the next batch of cookies should come out of the oven. No more heating up the entire oven just to re-heat a pork chop. And did I mention the popcorn? Ahhh, now, this is the life!

Thanks Dad and Judy!!

The cake. I’m telling you, I was seriously impressed with my sis after this marvel!!

LM picked out a remote-control plane for George.
Now they can both fly RC stuff together!

“You’re gonna shoot yer eye out!”
Best Gift Award goes to Papa and G’ma Judy for a BB gun.

George aimed at targets in the yard.

All the kids took turns trying out the new gun.

The Cousins. (Minus one who was home with bronchitis.)

Jenny must be doing some serious laundry!

And now it’s 10-1.

I hope she has a busy (and dirty) day planned for tomorrow so she’ll have more wash to do tomorrow night!