Literary Junkies [v. 2]

*Disclaimer: I was not paid in any form or fashion to advertise anything I did in this post. Everything is truly my 100% bonified opinion with no incentives for giving it.*

I'm sure the adage of my blog is making circles around one word: time.

I'm always finding myself saying, "It sure has flown!" or "I can't believe we're already here (whatever here may mean at that moment)." And right now is just another one of those moments.

Last month I found a link-up entitle "literary junkies". And I knew I would be linking up as long as they hold it. Even though I rarely get to read as much as I would like to these days, I still love to read as much as I possibly can.

I also set a goal that I would complete SSMT 2013. This is huge for me because I've always had a burning desire to memorize more scripture, partially got onto myself way too much about how little I have done this in my adult years versus my childhood (AWANA = an awesome program for children to learn about Christ and memorize scripture), and always found myself defeated when I would try probably because I beat myself up too much. (Yes, I just admitted how much I struggle with continually punishing myself for my mistatkes rather than learning from them and also learning to forgive myself for them. An ever present way Christ is changing me and working in my life to become more like Him. I can confidently say I am not where I was with this a year ago and He continually helps me daily. So thankful for His unfailing love and never ending grace to see me through!)

And that both are here again for me, well, I told you whatever adage I could adopt is making laps around Time.

So, without further ado, my Literary Junkies post for January 2013. (I decided to do two seperate posts, because I would like to post the scripture by itself. And then if I have any thoughts on it, well then I won't have one ridiculously long post :]) If you would like to join in, please feel free to do so! I'm sure Lesley and Taylor would love if you did.

1. Which book could you read over and over? Why?
My answer may seem very cliché and/or very much "the right Christian answer" to some, but honestly, the first book that popped into my head and the one I couldn't get away from was this: the Bible. I can even bonify that with a good story: My freshman year of college I lived in an all freshman door. (You know, a bunch of very mature people. hehe) I had stayed up late studying for a huge test and as such, ended up going to be at some 2 or 3 am. I don't think it was long after that I woke up to what I thought was my alarm. However, that was not the case. Some genius had decided it would be funny to pull the fire alarm. And by golly, how I confused that with my alarm clock on testifies to how stinkin' tired I was. That thing was BLARING loud! I'm pretty sure it was right outside my door. Anyway, when I finally came to enough to know I had to leave my room, I began to walk out with everyone else. Just before I made it through my door way, I ran back in because I realized I was leaving my bible and I was not about to let it burn should there be an actual fire. True story. Anyway, I know that wasn't completely pertinent to the question. Just felt I should share so you know I'm not using this as a cop out. I truly love...well, sometimes it makes me angry but God always has a way of bringing back full circle to where I love scripture. I don't always set a goal to read through it in it's entirety every year, but I have before and know I will again. I'm always learning something new, being changed for the better, healed in the moments I think I can't go anymore, refreshed with whispers that He makes me feel are for my heart alone even though I know He's used them to speak to many. To me, it is my love letter from the Lover of my soul and that is a very vague encompassing of why I could read it time and time again. 2. If you could be any character from any book you've read, who would you be?
Oh geez. (I guess mom has rubbed off on me so much, Linds, that I think it even when I'm typing...oh boy!) Well... For now, the one character who keeps popping into my head is Lucy Pevensie. I would want to be her because of her child-like trust and wonder. I also can highly relate to her in the way she doubts herself when she has seen something or knows Aslan has shown her something. I miss both of those in myself and continually ask God to restore both to me, especially knowing that is how He wants me to relate to him. He repeatedly spoke of how we should be like little children or how the Kingdom is theirs. That is how I want to follow Him, the way Lucy followed Aslan. 3. Do you ever put a book down because you can't get into it? Or do you stick it out to the bitter end? Any examples?
Ooi. I think generally I stick it out until the bitter end, but I have put down a book or two that either I just absolutely didn't like, for whatever reason, or couldn't get myself to drag through the beginning to see if it picked up. The one example I can think of is Love and Respect by Dr. Emerson Eggerich. I know a lot of people who absolutely love that book, but to me it was him trying to talk about what a woman has to do to make the marriage better. And I read through at least half way. To me he kept talking about respect and how love and respect go hand in hand but I never could get myself to see if he talked about both. Maybe I need to give it another go, except my problem here is this: we got rid of the book. And I just asked Ben who we gave it to. His response, "The trash." Apparently, I highly disliked that book. HA! I would have thought I could say I never throw a book in the trash. But apparently, I'm wrong. I'm dying laughing thinking I would have ever thrown away bound paper that someone else might have found very useful. OMG! That just is so not like me! And yet, here we are...I did that. Bahahahaha *ok...I'll stop that now. hehe. sorry* Ahem... 4. Show us your book shelves! Do you have one designated spot in your house for all your books? Do you scatter them around?

These are the children's books we have. Quite a good start for having none just a little over 10 months ago. And yes, they get pulled down every. single. day. BUT I love that Zoë loves to look at them. And that she loves for me to read with her. (Yes, she's brought me books off the shelf before.)

This bookshelf is to your right when you walk into Ben's and my room.

And this beauty is straight in front of you when you walk into our room.Visible as in this photo from our bed. And I love seeing them. :)

So for the most part, all our books are in one place. Zoë's are definitely all in one place.

I say for the most part because we have a scarce few out in our living room on one of the couch end tables. Aside from that, our books reside on these shelves. However, once we start having the ability to invest in book again, I'm not sure what we'll do as both book shelves are packed full. No room to budge!

Well, that wraps up this link-up. It ended up being a bit more personal than I thought it would be, but I don't mind one bit. Just goes to show how something so simple can shine a light into the deeper places.

Oh...

And I must share with you, because I'm oober excited: my older sis (the blogger I linked earlier in this post) designs blog pages and is working on mine :) She showed me what's she's got so far and I cannot wait for you guys to see it! It's gonna look so good! Eeeeek!

Just wanted to let you in on my joy of anticipation!