A glimpse into our crazy life

“Jesus Calling” by Sarah Young is a daily devotional with a unique twist- the devotionals are written in the first person, as though God is speaking directly to you. Young created the devotional by writing down whatever she felt God was saying to her during her daily prayer time and through her prayer journal. Relevant scripture references are also provided for each day. I was intrigued by the premise and thought the small size (approximately 6×5) would be great for bringing it to work. However, I found the daily readings disappointing. The devotionals are fairly brief and I thought they were nice, heartening “thoughts from God”, but not challenging in any way- they didn’t force me to reflect on my faith, which is something I personally prefer in a devotional. They were uplifting, but didn’t lead to much reflection or self-evaluation. Also, hearing guidance from God is such a personal experience and is most meaningful in the context of one’s one life; in this context, the words seemed too vague and impersonal. To sum things up, while it’s an interesting spin on the usual daily devotional, I wouldn’t recommend it.

That’s right- there’s finally going to be something other than dog pictures on this site…. book reviews! I heard through a friend that a couple of publishers will provide books for free to bloggers who are willing to post their honest reviews of the books on their blog. Since I’m an avid reader, am always looking for something good to read, and love to get free books (I dream of having a study filled to the brim with books, even if it goes against my typical tree-hugging ways), I decided to give it a try. I signed up with a Christian publisher and will be posting reviews from time to time here, with the first one up later today.

Happy reading!

As promised over a month ago for Emily’s birthday, we went horseback riding a couple weeks ago.  Due to some untimely weather in mid-April I ended up having to work on the weekend before her birthday (which included Easter) so it spoiled the surprise I had been planning.  Nevertheless, we rescheduled at First Farm Inn…a nearby bed and breakfast I found that would allow us to come out and learn to ride without staying there.  It’s a 30 acre farm that acquires most of its horses from race and show arenas that have been retired or abused. 

Our two hour sessiono started with becoming familiar with our horses, “Blue” Romeo (Emily) and “Bode” Bodacious (me), as our instructor tacked them up.  We learned about the horses, the basics of riding and how to control them.  Next we saddled up and went to the riding arena for some practice.  Somehow I wound up with the mega-horse and the leader of the herd so I tried to act like I knew what I was doing.  After about 30 minutes of steering practice, we headed out to the rest of the farm and rode around.  We both had fun and Emily’s horse, I think, had a crush on her.  Blue Romeo tried whooing her by biting Emily on the foot anytime she made him do anything he didn’t want to.  He messed with the wrong person because she corrected him promptly.  Overall it was a good day.  The skies were overcast and rainy when we arrived, but the rain stopped and held off until the very end of our ride.  We’d like to go back again…if Emily doesn’t go out and buy a horse before then.

Emily in riding arena          Emily and “Blue”    Frank and “Bode”

We started our 2009 wedding season last weekend with a trip to St. Louis to see one of our hometown friends, Micah, (whom I’ve known since preschool!) get hitched to the lovely Emily. As always, it was great to see the ol’ Hutch gang and catch up and I got to enjoy some dancing with my crazy husband.