Books to Go

A few weeks ago, my Man took me with him as he attended the Basics Conference near Cleveland, Ohio.  I had been looking forward to this trip for some months and thought that the date would never arrive.  
As our time to travel together crept up on us, I began ordering books from the library and picking up a book or two here and there so that I would be ready to nestle down under the covers of a quiet hotel bed full of fluffy hotel pillows and READ!
Our hotel room was perfect, bright and inviting. Here's a tour...

 I had plenty of reading material to keep me entertained while my Man was at the conference...

Looks like a huge selection for just a few days away, however, one never knows in what kind of reading "mood" she will find herself!


Our hotel was a few short miles from a large bookstore, so after dropping my Man at his conference the first day, I followed the GPS to Borders Books.  I bought a book that was recently recommended to me and read little else.  Pictures at an Exhibition by Sara Houghteling is a novel about the search for art stolen by the Nazis at the end of the Second World War.  It was a so-so read, but one that once started I felt compelled to finish.

I also added many new titles to my stack while traveling.  I found these at a used bookstore:

The Book Thief

Little Bee

Mollie Peer

Away: A Novel

I found more than a few treasures at the bookstore in the church where the Basics Conference took place:

Family Worship (Family Guidance series) by Joel Beeke
God's Alphabet for Life: Devotions for Young Children also by Joel Beeke

Good Manners for Today's Kids by Emilie Barnes

and two from my favorite "series"...the Journibles. Journibles are much like the blank journals you find all over the place, blank inside with lined pages.  These journals however, have a different purpose.  The series is called The 17:18 Series, named for Deuteronomy 17:18 in which Moses gives instructions to the future kings of Israel.  

"The king is commanded to not simply acquire a copy of the law from the 'scroll publishing house,' but to hand-write his own copy of the law....Thirty-four hundred years later, educators are 'discovering' that students that physically write out their notes by hand have a much greater retention rate than simply hearing or visually reading the information.  Apparently, God knew this to be true of the kings of Israel also.  From such understanding came the conception of this series of books."

~Rob Wynalda, Journible Designer

My Man gave me my first Journible for Christmas, the book of John, and I've been enjoying a much richer time with the Word ever since.  It was with great delight that I rounded the corner at Books on the Park to find an entire shelf-full of these wonderful study tools.  I can now claim three.  John, Romans, and Galatians~2 Thessalonians.  After a few weeks of copying Romans, I have gained, among other things, a new appreciation for the beauty of the language used in that ancient book.  To find out more about Journibles, click on the word Journible or on the link: www.heritagebooks.org  to view everything that this excellent publisher has to offer.

I shall forever refer to this little getaway as "My Book Retreat."  My time away to experience some rest and relaxation turned in to an experience of reading, relaxing and reloading (my bookshelf, that is).

Good friends, good books and a sleepy conscience:  this is the ideal life. 

 ~Mark Twain

American Adventures

Today the Wright family scattered into opposite directions. Divided along lines of gender, we set off for our separate destinations-- the girls and I to a nearby Barnes and Noble for an American Girl event, and "the boys" to Cole's little league baseball playoff game.

Upon our arrival at the big bookstore, we unloaded the van, loaded the stroller's seat with a wriggling 10 month old, loaded the stroller's cup holder with a lovely Caramel Macchiato, loaded the stroller's tray with baby snacks, and loaded the stroller's basket with an overflowing diaper bag, an American Girl doll, and a sassy new purse. It is appropriate to pause here and give thanks to the makers of the how'd-anybody-ever-raise-a-child-without-it travel system (a.k.a. baby stroller). I'm not certain how much this marvel of infant engineering weighed, but suffice it to say that if called upon to do so, we would have been unable to make any sudden stops.

After piloting our craft into the children's area of the store, Meg and Kate took their seats among twenty or so young ladies, most of whom were carrying their own American Girl dolls. I didn't see any other doll who had arrived in the grand manner that Meg's doll did--riding in the stroller basket, hair blowing in the breeze. We had a blast matching each doll with her name and admiring her outfit.


We also enjoyed meeting the latest addition to the American Girl family, the Rebecca Reubin doll, as well as hearing a reading from the new book about her. Actually, Kate and Meg heard the reading about the new doll and her American adventures. I, on the other hand was having my own adventure keeping Molly (our newest American Girl addition) quiet and happy-- tricky business as lunch time approached. Just as I was fresh out of baby kibble, I heard the young college-age reader of the story say, "That is the end of chapter one, do you want me to read chapter two also?"

"NOOOOOOOOOOOO!" I screamed quietly to myself in my head.

"YESSSSSSSS!!" screamed the twenty or so young barbarians out loud to the way too-eager-reader of the story.

On they dove into chapter two. On went the battle between me and my youngest. I took her from the stroller and set her beside me on the floor behind the girls. I turned my head to look for my gourmet coffee drink, only to find it on its side, seeping quietly into the carpet. Grabbing it up while there was still reward left to be enjoyed, I looked the other way only to find that in that brief moment Molly had made her way onto the platform and was headed toward the lovely young too-eager-reader of the story. I was very tempted to let Molly take her course, but remembered at the last minute that I was supposed to be among the responsible folks in the group and so, rescued the reader of the story just in the nick of time.

After completing a craft, eating a cookie, and purchasing a book, we trailed back to the van and loaded a cranky baby into her car seat, loaded two happy young ladies into their seats, loaded two American Girl posters, two American Girl crafts, one American Girl doll, one new American Girl book, and one overloaded diaper bag into any remaining spaces in the van, loaded one sassy new purse into the passenger seat, and loaded one bedraggled superhero into the driver's seat (I did rescue the reader of the TWO chapters of the American girl story!).

Together

I drove through the Fort Pitt tunnels four times today. I hate those tunnels. Age has plagued me with a bit of claustrophobia which is triggered 100% of the time by those tunnels. It was worth it though, for a few reasons.

First, anytime I start at point A and arrive at point B without getting lost (esp. in Pittsburgh) my foggy mommy brain hears an audible "atta girl" which, let's face it, we could all use from time to time.

Second, I think I impressed my children. After dropping Daddy off to visit at the hospital in the big city, they were amazed that I was able to get them to not one, but two promised book stores on the other side of the big city, without getting lost! That Kate was a bit nervous as we drove away from Darrin at the hospital saying, "We're getting a long way from Daddy......." did not offend me as I was telling myself the same thing with each turn of the wheel. Yet, we made it! We snagged some books, signed up for a summer reading program at the Barnes & Noble, and piloted our Honda back to pick up our guy. Did I mention WITHOUT GETTING LOST? In the interest of full disclosure I was using a borrowed GPS.

Finally, braving the Fort Pitt tunnels four, count 'em four times today was worth it because I got to spend two and one half "car hours" with my man. Car hours are extra special morsels of time in which finds one seated next to her "other one" with no TV playing (in the front seat anyway), no dishes to put away, and no baskets of laundry battling for attention. There are, of course, children in the back of the vehicle who sometimes need attention, but they are by law, required to be strapped in during car time, so how much trouble can they be? Sometimes during car time my other one and I will talk, read, or listen to music. Today we sat mostly in silence -- strange yes, but nice. I think we were trying to regain the energy it took to get this trip "on the road". Like a camera that somehow gains more battery power merely by being turned off for a while.
When we arrived home, we had 65 minutes to eat supper and attend a meeting at church. After church, we met sweet friends for a fun Dairy Queen treat. The kids are in bed now and my other one and I, are weary from a day on the road with four children, but better off for having made the effort to eek out some time together.