Real Sex by Lauren Winner

I borrowed this book from our friend Sarah B. and Todd & I were literally fighting over reading it.  It was a very well done book by Lauren Winner, and I would really like to read her other books- Girl Meets God, and Mud House Sabbath. 

Anyways, I liked this book as much as I did Rob Bell's book Sex God, but they are pretty different just on the same topic of the link between spirituality & sexuality.  The things that I really liked about this book that she speaks of is that the church is not addressing this like it should, and the stats tell us that kids in sports are less likely to engage in sex rather than kids who go to church.  I found that to be sad.  

She looked at all the research, and also speaks of her own journey which I found to be helpful.  That's not all, she talks about the lies we are told about sex and also that truths about sex.  She portrayed Chastity as not just a singles problem but also for those who are married (needed to stay united only with their spouse--which is also not that popular to talk about though clearly it's a problem).  So we are all in this together.  

Chastity is also a lost sacrament in the church that doesn't get talked about like baptism, communion, etc.  One thing that she also addressed is that the lack of modesty which hasn't helped the cause for chastity either, for both men & woman, and she encouraged us to think of how we dress has an affects on others.  If you haven't figured out that I liked the book :-) well surprise I did, and I recommend it.  

On Eating by Susie Orbach

This book is little in size, like The Way to Love, but it is really insightful. Dr. Orbach is a therapist, and had written many books. This books talks about how many of us don't let ourselves get really hungry before we eat (like we are supposed to) or stop when we are full (again, like we are supposed to). So we have issues with food. She also talks about figuring our why we are eating what we are eating if we are not hungry, that we are trying to satisfy another hunger--sadness, loneliness, anger, etc. I highly recommend this book. It'll start you thinking about what your emotions are when you grab that bag of chips or candy, and help you listen to your bodies natural system of hunger trigger and being full sensation.

The Way To Love- Anthony DeMello

I just finished reading this little pocket book that's chuck full of wisdom and deep thoughts from Anthony DeMello. He was a Jesuit priest who was the director of the Sadhana Institute of Pastoral Counseling in Poona, India. He wrote many books (I know this from looking on amazon for this one & found many others), but this was his last before he passed away.

Anyways, this book comes highly recommended by me, if you can read one book that will challenge your thinking, feelings, attachments, cultural programming, etc this is it. He was very integrative in his theology with counseling/psychology. I was very challenged and changed by this book, the man was a genius and knows how to mess with you to the point that you really start challenging the way you are with yourself and others.

MORGAN & me

This past weekend I flew to Chicago for a long weekend to spend with my best friend Maggie and her new baby girl Morgan, here are some pictures, she is absolutely gorgeous! And she is such a good baby, we totally bonded. She has Jeff's beautiful blue eyes, and Mags super social personality (she's more happy when she's with lots of people than alone). Morgan is so blessed to have Maggie & Jeff as her parents, they are such loving people.

Jesus for President

This book is really great, especially if you've read Irresistible Revolution, but even if you haven't I suggest it.

Shane Claiborne is really challenging in his books, but so humble & loving at the same time.

This book compares the Roman empire in which Jesus lived to our current empires in our world. It dreams of another world in which we live challenging the way things are in our systems and dream of how they could be if we all lived a radical life of peace, love, and generosity.

AWIP- another world is possible.

Serve God, Save the Planet

So I'm trying to catch up on my blogging (since in the last 3 months I didn't blog much), we'll I've read a lot of books for me, not by Todd's standards I haven't though. I've read 3 so far this summer. This I finished at the beach Memorial Day weekend, anyways it is a fascinating review of how Christians SHOULD take care of the God's creation. It's by an MD who left the affluent lifestyle to try to fix the origination of many health problem, our environment.

How in the past we haven't, what the repercussions have been, and how our environment effects everything (our health, cancers, water, diseases, births, etc.) And what we can do now to make things better, he gives many practical solutions to being better stewards of God's earth. Basically how we take care of creation, reveals how we feel about the creator. It's a lifestyle challenging book, very humbling.

Matt & Nicole's wedding

So I finally finished editing all 120 pictures from Todd's sister Nicole's wedding on June 13th and here they are:








It was a great week in Chicago, lots of time with the family, it was a beautiful wedding, we had good weather for pictures outside, and Todd preformed the ceremony, so it was really special.