Status Report June 2011

With nods to Lisa, here’s my status report for June:

Sitting.....in the kitchen, enjoying the air conditioning.

Drinking....Tea, Earl Grey, hot. Mr. Data, warp speed, please. Couldn’t resist an obscure Star Trek reference. College roomies, remember Star Trek every afternoon? Like Captain Picard, I enjoy a nice, hot cup of Earl Grey.

Reading.....Christianity and Liberalism by J. Gresham Machen and looking forward to reading the discussion over here. I’ve got a little catching up to do already, though. Also reading This Body of Death by Elizabeth George, the latest in the Thomas Lynley series. Also reading Slave by John MacArthur. Once again I’ve gotten myself in the position of having too many books going at once.

Enjoyed....watching my boy at his awards ceremony this morning. He got several awards for his progress in reading - he’s in fourth grade and reading at least at a 12th grade level with scores off the chart. This being the boy we weren’t sure was going to be much of a reader when he was younger. Once he decided he liked to read, he took off. Yes!! So much fun to share the joy of reading with my kids.

Also enjoyed....a little trip to Target where I treated my girl to a popcorn and a drink as a thank you treat for being so well-behaved at the boring-to-her ceremony.

Celebrating....that today is the last day of school! So looking forward to summer break. I paid our family pool membership fees today, and I’m planning to use that pool A LOT this summer with the kids. Summertime, summertime!!!

Pondering....getting a Kindle. I've been researching and asking opinions on this. The whole e-book thing is new to me, and a little overwhelming and confusing. I know that e-books won't replace real, paper books for me....I just love the feel and smell of books and I love seeing the progress as you flip through the pages. But, there are a lot of books I'd like to read but don't really need paper copies around, and the Kindle seems so portable it is interesting to me. Anyway, I thought briefly about the iPad, but decided I really don't need the temptation to be online any more than I already am, and that would be the only reason for going with it over strictly an e-book reader for me, I think. Now it's to decide between the Kindle and the Nook, but I'm leaning mostly toward the Kindle. I've already asked my Facebook friends, how about here? Any opinions or experience with e-readers? Any advice?

Thinking....about how I want to not only run well for a time, but to finish well. I was reading in 2 Chronicles about King Asa, and I got excited when I read 14:2, “And Asa did what was good and right in the eyes of the LORD his God.” It’s always a breath of fresh air when reading about the kings when one of them gets that commendation. However, near the end of his life, Asa did something foolish and rather than repenting when the prophet confronted him, as King David did years earlier, he got angry with the prophet and put him in prison. That, to me, is very sad. It got me to thinking about how my strength and ability to stand firm are rooted in Christ, not in my own fickle heart. It also got me to thinking, as we discussed in our devotional at choir practice last night, that I do not want to position myself in an attitude of pride before the Lord. I am so grateful for grace and for the fact that it is Jesus who is the anchor for my soul, and it is He who will complete the work He has begun in me and will bring me safely to the end, secure in Him. I want to live for Him, faithful to the end, because He has made me His own. And because He has made me His own, I trust that He will cause me to stand.

Thankful.....for so very many things. God’s mercies are abundant and more toward those who are His, and I am grateful.