When Did They Grow Up?

First nephew is joining the navy. I'm not quite sure of the process, but he's done whatever needs to be done, got the call to enlist, and starts basic training next month.

First niece has been accepted into the Social Work program at Lakehead University.

I'm pretty sure this means they're growing up. I'm not sure how that happened.

I miss my babies.

I might be feeling a bit sentimental today.

Guest Post!

As we all know, I'm not posting enough, so I've brought in a guest blogger. She wants to remain anonymous, so she's writing under the name Gertrude Millicent Wigglesworth.

This month she brings you part one of a book review:

The Silver Chair is probably the most unusual book in the series of Narnia. It involves none of the four characters usually associated with Narnia: Peter, Susan, Edmund, and Lucy. Instead, the story involves their cousin Eustace Clarence Scrubb (a name as awful as mine!) who has already been to Narnia once before. He is joined by a girl named Jill, a fellow schoolmate who as never been to Narnia.

They are both taken off to Narnia in a most unusual way. And once there they are almost immediately separated. With no idea where Eustace is, Jill is given a quest by Aslan to find Prince Rilian. Jill is also given four signs to help her on her way. Aslan then helps her reunite with Eustace. And they miss the first sign, which would have guaranteed them an easier journey. The next sign tells them to find the ruined city of giants. To set out on this leg of their journey they are joined by Puddleglum the Marsh-wiggle. On their way to the city they get sidetracked, and almost end up being served or dinner by giants! They manage to escape and find the ruined city.

Expect more from Miss Wigglesworth next month!

Right Now

Right now I'm reading:

Lies Women Believe by Nancy Leigh DeMoss
Growing Your Faith by Jerry Bridges
Radical by David Platt
When Helping Hurts by Steve Corbett and Brian Fikkert

They're all for school and the class at church. My favourites are the second and fourth.

Actually, right now I'm watching Doctor Who and not doing homework (but it's Sunday so I don't have to do homework). When I'm doing homework, I watch Sherlock (it takes less focus).

And specifically, I'm trying to like the 11th doctor. I'm up to the fifth episode, and I no longer actively disliking him (actually, that happened a couple episodes ago). I'm just now starting to like him. I still miss David Tennant.

A Bit of Nonsense I Just Discovered

Okay: go to THIS LINK. Press up, up, down, down, left, right, left, right, B, A. Then just keep pressing A. Trust me.

And the Best of Non-Fiction

Today I bring you my list of favourite non-fiction books this year. It isn't a complete list, but it is a list of what I considered the best of the lot. Much of what I read was various classes, either at school or church. After I finish my degree in the spring, I'm going to have to be more deliberate about reading non-fiction since there won't be any required reading. That's going to take a bit more work. For now, though....

1. John Bunyan, The Acceptable Sacrifice. We read this one for Bible Study. We all enjoyed it, although it was a challenging read (well, after all: 17th Century literature).
2. Thomas Schreiner, Paul, Apostle of God's Grace in Christ. This one was for school. It looks at Paul's theology as revealed in his epistles.
3. Roger Olson, The Story of Christian Theology. This was another school book. It gives the history of Christian theology from the end of the apostles to the present age. It's a great book, and I really enjoyed it. I plan to read it again one day when I'm not worried about learning it all for an exam!
4. Malcolm Gladwell, Outliers. I stumbled upon Gladwell several years ago. I like the way he writes and the way he looks at the world and our assumptions about how things work.
5. Jerry Bridges, The Fruitful Life. This was for another Bible Study. I have always enjoyed his writing (we have done a few of his books before now). He talks about leading a godly life without making it all about works.
6. John MacArthur, Worship, the Ultimate Priority. I picked this one up at school one year and finally read it this year. He talks about the need for proper worship and having a life of worship.
7. James M. Hamilton, Jr., God's Glory in Salvation Through Judgment. I had this one on my list to read one day so I was happy when it showed up on a required list for a class. I love the way he writes.
8. Elyse Fitzpatrick, Because He Loves Me. This one was for a class at the church on women discipling women. It looks at the reason, the need, and the way to live a godly life.
9. Elyse Fitzpatrick and Carol Cornish, Women Helping Women. This was for the same class at church. It was a very good book, demonstrating the importance of same gender counseling and then the means. It's proper Biblical counseling, not straying into psycho-talk or humanistic teachings.
10. John Piper, Let the Nations Be Glad. I read this one many years ago, and it showed up on a reading list this year so I read it again. I like his look at God's sovereignty over missions and how that makes them possible and important.
11. Mabel Williamson, Have We No Rights? This one was also for school. It's a short book and focuses on the "rights" that missionaries have to give up in order to serve well. Although the focus is missions, I think much of it can apply to all believers, at least the willingness to give up our rights.

Fiction List

Here is my list of the top fiction books I read and enjoyed this year. Tomorrow I'll give you the nonfiction. I kept careful track this year (well, mostly; I may have missed a few). These are the ones worth reading.

1. JRR Tolkien, The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings trilogy. I'd read The Hobbit years ago (I think in grade 7) but I didn't remember much more than the riddle scene. When the movie came out, I decided to read it again. I enjoyed it, so I decided to finally try The Lord of the Rings. I loved them. Tolkien was a genius and these may go down as my favourite books ever.
2. Brandon Sanderson, books 1-3 of the Alcatraz series; the first Mistborn book; Warbreaker; Steelheart. I discovered Sanderson thanks to a friend telling me that last year's Christmas concert didn't have enough beheadings; he was taking a line from one of the Alcatraz books. Alcatraz are for children; that's where I started, then moved to the others. Sanderson is a fantasy writer and his books are well written. He creates worlds that are not quite Earth and are consistent to themselves. I think they might be next on the list for my nephew.
3. Terry Pratchett, The Fifth Elephant; Interesting Times; and Jingo. Pratchett was my main author last year; this year I slowed down a bit from reading his books (there are still more; I just got distracted by other books). He's still one of my favourite authors, and was my primary introduction to fantasy as an adult.
4. Madeleine L'Engle. I re-read several of her books at the beginning of the year. She's a very good writer and I still enjoy her stories.
5. Okay, these are only sort-of fiction, and I wasn't sure what list to use. I read 2 books from the "Chosen Daughters" series. They're fictionalized biographies, or biographical fiction. The main characters (and most of the others) are real, and the overall structure is real, but the details are fictional. They're really good, and a great way for preteens and teens to learn about people and times throughout Christian history. Anyway, I read Against the Tide by Hope Irvin Marston and Dr. Oma by Ethel Herr.

Those were my favourite fiction books this year. There were more, and for the most part they were good, but not on my top book list.

And...and honorable mention to a TV show (I know, I know...it doesn't belong here, but I'm not starting a new list for one program). This year I started watching Doctor Who (in fact, I'm watching it as I write this). I'm up to season 4, with the 10th doctor (so the new stuff, not the original). My advice: don't start or you'll never be able to stop. I get the DVDs from the library and watch them fairly steadily. Even when it's really, really odd, or really, really sad, I can't stop. I'm still not sure whether to blame or thank my friend for introducing me to the program.

Christmas Presents

1. My mum got me a cruise for Christmas (well, she's paying for a family cruise in the spring and said that counted as our Christmas present; I'm okay with that). I got her a puzzle and a gift card. Actually, it's only half a gift card since it was for her and Dad to go out for dinner. I hope no one is measuring love in dollars this year!
2. She also sent me a package of chocolate Twizzlers. When we spoke on Christmas morning, she said that she didn't think they were very good. If I don't like them, we agreed that I should share them with my Sunday School class.
3. A conversation with my 7 year old nephew on Christmas morning...  Him: Thank you for the present you sent me. It was very nice.  Me: I'm glad you like it. Do you actually remember what I got you?Him: Um...no.
4. The same nephew was sure that I wanted a box of tissues for Christmas. It's a very nice box, one of the square shaped ones, with a cow on it. Her face is on the front of the box and her tail is on the back and it's designed to look like her legs are on the corners. I like it. It makes me smile.
5. The same small nephew is into crossword puzzles and he found me a pair of crossword puzzle socks. I love them.
6. My sister (or maybe one of the kids) sent me a tin of pickle shaped bandages. It came with a free surprise inside. I opened it right away to discover a rub-on tattoo in the shape of a fish head. Its guts lined the neck where it had been cut off of the body. It's the most disturbing tattoo I've ever seen.
7. Not a Christmas present, but: I sent my 13 year old nephew a book for his birthday, the third in a series (it was in the Christmas parcel, so it counts for this post). We were talking about it on Christmas day. I told him that in the end there is a giant earthquake and everyone in the world dies. He said no way, because the main female character can't die. I'm a little worried now: she actually dies. I didn't tell him. I did tell my sister that he can call me when he gets to that part. I hope I haven't ruined his love of reading.
8. This nephew is a little miffed because I sent him the first 2 books in another trilogy for Christmas, but not the third. I told him that if he liked them I would get him the third book.
9. My sister, because she knows me very well, got me some nice chocolates and a Tim's gift card. Life is good!