Posted by a busy Gabrielle
One of the projects that has been keeping me so busy these past few weeks
is heading a complete reorganization and inventory of our books...I'm serious!
A few years ago I would have pushed this off as a "dream in the clouds".
No more.
I've gotten tired of not knowing where certain books on various topics are,
not knowing what we even have,
and just running out of 'reading material'.
Solution:
Actually materialize our family dream for years of organizing our vast library.
I certainly can't say it hasn't been fun exploring shelves of books I
hardly knew existed and quite literally "uncovering" loads of
new reading material!
It came as a pleasant surprise to realize I'm actually
equipped with plenty of new books to keep my mind occupied after I get
my wisdom teeth out some time soon. :)
One of the biggest challenges has been categorizing every single book into one
narrow- well, in some cases not so narrow -category.
It provides a wonderful opportunity to scan the back-cover summaries
of all those books! :)
Here's a sampling of the categories I've created:
Christian Theology/Commentaries/Apologetics
Church History
Literature/Classics
Home Education
Biography/Autobiography
Children's Classics/Fiction
Poetry
Sewing/Crafts/Origami/Decorating
Art
History
Law
Economics/Finance
Science
Herbs/Nutrition/Health
So, with all these books and such a busy schedule, what have I been
reading lately?
Quite a bit! :)
In the hour or so every evening that I have time to curl up with
a book, I've been fairly devouring a stack of
wonderful reading.
First and foremost, the Bible. I'm currently going
through a Bible reading schedule that goes through the NT in a year.
The Feasts of Israel by Bruce Scott is a fascinating study of the
OT Jewish feasts and their significance in pointing toward the
coming of Christ. It's a great book to supplement my study of Hebrew
and I'm really enjoying it.
A Path Through Suffering by Elisabeth Elliot has been a wonderful
and encouraging read. I'm inspired to find the rest of her books and
read those now.
The past few months I've been enjoying
Emma as I have the others of
Jane Austen's works that I've read.
I just started
The Poet's Homecoming by George MacDonald as it came
very highly recommended. I am only a couple chapters in but enjoying it so far.
And, I'm just finishing
Endurance by Alfred Lansing. It's the riveting
adventure story of explorer Ernest Shacklton and his crew from their
ship Endurance who set out to "conquer" the Arctic and the North Pole.
When their ship was caught in the ice and they had to abandon it they
set out on a trek to the nearest civilization that brought them a different
sort of fame. Very interesting.
What on earth is this???
It's one of my two diaper-box bookshelves! You read and saw that right!
Bookshelves, especially more custom ones that fit the spaces I need them for are
so expensive and out of the question right now budget-wise.
The Solution:
Diaper boxes!
Not the most sturdy structure but with a few well-placed metal clamps
and gentle handling they accommodate my rapidly growing library well.
They almost deserve a post in and of themselves! :)
Yours truly! (18)
Timothy (16)
Christianna (13)
Elliot (10)
Jedidiah (8)
Tobias (6)
Benaiah (2 1/2)
Yours truly!
Timothy in our days of one computer. ;)
Arianne-but she's still our blue-eyed bringer of sunshine!!!
Christianna-from a series of pictures taken between us when we were being silly in our room.
Elliot is still the family ham!
Jedidiah...
and Tobias! My, how they've changed! :)
This was Benaiah about a month old! Wow!
Introducing, the new smile: Ta Daaaaa! 
Gabrielle is very thankful for her new smile, and that the braces are "dearly departed!"
Arianne, Benaiah, Elliot the hambone and Tobias(the one who is always eating snow!)
Benaiah and Tobias on their snow "horses"
My snowman
Jedidiah and Elliot goofing off
Jedidiah is proud of his snowball!!! I'm proud of my cute brothers!!! :)
Toby being funny for the camera
In the three years we've been here, this is my second "official" picture of our house in the snow.
Arianne and Elliot being silly together
Benaiah being just plain ol' cute!!!
Happy Birthday, dear daughter.
Hamming it up with Tobias, and about ready to divide (and conquer) the cheesecake.
We stopped to dip our feet in the Gulf of Mexico, in Biloxi, MS. Unfortunately, it was a little too cold and messy to literally do so this time around.
The beautiful ocean view
Mommy, Benaiah and Jedidiah drawing in the sand
Benaiah had something to learn about throwing sand and the way it falls...
But it looks like he had a fun time anyway! :)
Jedidiah, Timothy, Arianne, Tobias, Mommy and Daddy enjoying the beautiful beach.
We stopped at a park in Greenville, SC on our way home that day. It was very pretty and well worth the visit.
A lovely view of the bridge we walked on
Gazing at the waterfall-Tobias, Mommy, Benaiah , Elliot and I
Pretty falls. The sound sensation was even better!
A view from the bridge
A lawn along one of the many little pathways we strolled along
This was too cute not to post-Jedidiah, Benaiah and Timothy on the park bench swing
Timothy and Buddy-Boy
This amazing tree had only half its roots embedded in the soil, and the rest were growing down the side of the hill. We were surprised it was still standing, but then, we've seen plentyof unusual trees on this trip. :)
Cute Toby!
The little boys loved watching a flock of ducks in the stream below the bridge.
A fine specimen of a...duck!!! :)
And, a snapshot of southern scenery taken while driving.
