Christmas in October!

I love my husband! It is not often that Mike is able to truly surprise me with gifts. The only reason is because I am in charge of all our finances, so I'm aware (pretty much on a daily basis) when money leaves our checking account or is charged to our credit card. But yesterday Mike was able to surprise me with the new Amazon Kindle! For those of you who don't know what it is, it is an avid readers dream.

Last Friday, Oprah revealed the Kindle on her show as her new favorite thing. I was immediately hooked. Luckily I had DVR'd her show. So after I watched the segment on the Kindle, I rewound the show to the beginning, paused it, and left it cued up ready to play for Mike once he got home from work.

After Mike watched the show, I knew that he realized just how much I would like a Kindle (I don't usually get excited over electronics, but this little machine was making me bounce around and giggle like a little girl). Since they are pricey I figured (if I was lucky enough to receive one) I would probably be getting it for Christmas, but no big deal because I still have a whole shelf of books at home that I can read between now and December.

To my surprise a little brown box was delivered to our house yesterday afternoon. Even though the box was addressed to Mike he insisted that I open it. Once it was opened this is what I found...

Christmas came early:) I love it! What a great surprise. Thanks honey, you're the best!

The Story of Edgar Sawtelle

When I read a great book I have to tell everyone I know. A couple weeks ago Oprah announced "The Story of Edgar Sawtelle" by David Wroblewski as her new pick for her book club. As mentioned in previous posts, I love to read and I especially love the books that Oprah picks!

As I was listening to Oprah describe this book I new immediately I would be heading to Borders to make a purchase. I am not going to give anything away, but those of you that are interested in possibly reading this book I will pass along the two things Oprah shared with her viewers. First, DO NOT read the insert of the book. She says it gives away to much of the story. I finished this book about a week ago and still haven't read the insert. The second thing Oprah said was that if you are a dog lover you will love this book (and it is true). The book just holds special meaning for those of you that are dog owners/lovers. Please hear me when I say you don't have to be a dog lover to really appreciate this book, but if you are it makes it that much better.

This book is 562 pages and I finished it in four days. I couldn't put it down. If you have read it I would love to hear your comments about the book. To any others that might read it, I hope you enjoy!

The Shack

For those of you that do not know, I LOVE to read. It was a habit that started in college. I am not exaggerating when I tell you that I do not remember reading a book prior to that time. Sure I used to read the text books in high school, but when it came to reading books for literature class I was a cliff notes kind of girl.

There are four category of books that I read:

1. Oprah's Book Club

2. Harry Potter (LOVE!)

3. Nicholas Sparks

4. Anything else that has controversy attached to its name (DaVinci Code, A Million Little Pieces, etc.)

Well, a couple of weeks ago I read a christian fiction book called "The Shack" by William Young. I am embarrassed to admit that as much as I read, this is the first christian fiction book that I have ever read. I think I have stayed away from christian fiction because I thought that it wouldn't be as interesting as the books in Oprah's Club, or the story line would be boring or hard to follow. Boy was I wrong.

This book was amazing. I am not going to give away the story or any of the details, partly because this is the kind of book that can mean different things to each individual person. What I will say is that this book for me has really made clear the relationship between God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit, and what kind of relationship I personally can have with them. It also answered a lot of questions that I think almost every human being has asked before or wanted to ask especially when going through a tragedy. I couldn't put the book down.

I am going to have to stop typing because I keep wanting to tell you all the details in the book. So I will end by saying if anyone reads "The Shack" let me know so we can talk!