Week in Review... or two...

So we officially have been busier than ever the past two weeks. I can't even remember everything we have done, but I will try.
I started teaching swimming lessons, and man it has been cold. I did however manage to get a pretty good sunburn on the first day. I know, I know I should have worn sunscreen, but it didn't even cross my mind when it was cloudy and misting out. Now that I think about it, it is pretty pathetic that I was so white I got a sunburn in the rain. Anyways, I also have been personal training, writing a business plan, taking care of kip and trying to keep up with chores around the house.
Payton has been busy working full time. Nope, no sun for him. He sits in an office all day with no windows. He will have the sunburn when we go to Hawaii. Anyways, he has also been busy picking up training for a triathlon he hopes to do in September.
Other than that we had 3 very special birthday parties over the last two weeks. One was for my beloved sister Whitney. She turned 23 on June 6th. We celebrated by having a grill out at mom and dad's house. It was nice and relaxing.
The next day we had a birthday party for my great-aunt Fern who turned 95 and still going strong!!! Pretty impressive I think. I get the privilege of being her little "miss daisy" this summer. I run errands with her and help her around the house. There's never a dull moment with Aunt Fern I will say that.
And our last birthday actually hasn't gotten here yet. But it is tomorrow. My sister's new husband Timothy James Bowen (aka TJ) celebrates his .... birthday tomorrow. You can fill in the blank.
We also were privileged to throw a going-a-way party for a couple of Payton's good friends from Iowa State yesterday. They both are going to Turkey on a mission trip for the summer. So we had a few people over Saturday night and grilled out some burgers and brats and just hung out. It was a late night.. I'm not used to staying up that late (We go to bed about 9:30-10:00, lame I know. But rest is important) but well worth it.
Well that's mostly what we have been up to lately. Hopefully we will find more time to blog in the coming weeks as we have a lot of things to share. But I will warn you, the rest of June is still looking quite busy for us.

Books

This post is all about books. I have been getting back into being able to enjoy some leisure reading and thought that I could share a few of my favorites and hopefully do a post every once and a while as to the books that I am reading and hopefully they will be good enough to suggest for you to read.

I will start from top to bottom and give you my take on the book.

Pilgrim's Progress (in today's english) by John Bunyan and retold by Jamesh Thomas
This book, with exception of the bible has been read by more people than any other book in the English language. It is an allegorical tale of a man named Christian, who goes through true to our life situations and helps to show the perseverance to reach the Celestial City. (From the back of the book) Christian leaves his home in the City of Destruction and begins a long journey to the Celestial City with an adventure full of encouters with interesting people until he reaches his heavenly home. He learns many rich lessons on the journey, each with application to our lives. Personally, I was very challenged by the book and the things that Christian went through. He had much perseverance, through suffering within inches of death all the while staying focused on his eternal destiny. The book uses names for people such as Faithful, Ignorance, Hopeful and Talkative, each a perfect description of the person and their spiritual journey. I was sceptical at first when I picked this one up, but it is one I couldn't put down in the end!

Wild at Heart by John Eldredge
This is a book for men and should be read by all. This book lays out God's plan for men, how he created them with a desire to kill, play rough and love their wives. Ever wonder why little boys always turn sticks into guns? John lays out the reasons, from creation to now on what drives men to do what they do. I did a bible study with my guys last year on this book and it had a huge impact on a lot of lives. It gives you a different outlook on how men should act, Wild at Heart. A great book and a must read for all men.

I Don't Have Enough Faith to be an Athiest by Geisler and Turek
Don't let the size of this book fool you. It is definately jam packed with information that is all relevant and ready to use. The purpose of the book is to lay out an explanation of why it requires more faith to be an athiest than it does to be a Christian. It starts out defining truth and the reasons why there can be absolute truths and finishes with explanations of the historical facts behind Jesus, apart from the bible. It touches topics such as Design, Morality and whethere there was actual eye-witness and early testimony about Jesus. If you are looking for a way to defend or understand your faith in a more practical or real way this is definately a book to pick up and start digesting the information in.

The Case for a Creator by Lee Strobel
This book, similar to the last book is focused on providing an explanation for why we should believe that the earth and everything around us was created and didn't just appear out of nowhere. Lee was a journalist for court cases and went on a search to find out if Christianity and the beliefs in it were actually true. He uses his knowledge of court cases and what kind of details would lead to a verdict and lays out his verdict in the end. This book can get into some of the biology details that some of us can't understand, but he does a good job bringing the details down to an understandable level. It's been a while since I have read this one, but the one thing I remember the most about it is that I could never put it down. There's an ISU professor interviewed in the book as well so just because of that it's worth reading.

The Invisible War by Chip Ingram
If you have ever had any questions or were curious about spiritual warfare and the practical applications to life, this is the book to read on the subject. Chip does a great job of providing from his experience to give you real life stories of people who are stuck in a spiritual war and giving into the wrong side. He lays out very practically why we should be aware of the spiritual aspects that are going on all around us at all times. The book can get pretty deep into the spiritual aspects of your faith, but it is definately challenging and eye-opening to the war that is going on around us that we can't even see.

The Five Love Languages by Gary Chapman
This is a book that we read for our engagement class and has become a topic that Alexa and I discuss periodically. Gary takes you through some of his counseling sessions in order to prove what he believes to be five ways that you can show love to your spouse, this he calls the five love languages. It was very interesting going through this book and trying to figure out which of the love languages pertained to me and which ones pertained to Alexa. Gary's argument is that many times in marriages you may be trying to show love to your spouse in a different language than that which is primary to them. You wouldn't speak Chinese to your wife if she didn't understand Chinese so why would you love her in a language that she doesn't understand or care about. This has helped Alexa and I to understand that we may be trying to show eachother love, but it gets lost in translation sometimes. Definately a must read for everyone who is married or dating.

Hopefully one of these books will peak your attention and will keep you entertained until I am able to do another post on some more good books. Until next time.... happy reading!