a couple books worth reading

On my Mother's Day (more to come on that later), Matty V gave me some alone time to journal, write a thank you card for the amazing sermon I heard this morning, finish a book I have been glued to for a week and of course, do a little blog post!  I just finished this book...

I got it at Mardel on the clearance rack months ago for like a dollar!  Which is a steal because its been recommended to me several times over the course of the past couple years.  God has such perfect timing though.  I finally picked it up and then I couldn't put it down!  It met me right where I am at about the miscarriage and a couple other things I have been struggling with lately.  I marked at least a dozen pages that I want to write down quotes from.
Here's my favorite quote:
"I don't always change my clothes just because I'm leaving the house. I wear yoga pants 99 percent of the time, and I pretend that other people don't notice that I'm wearing my pajamas in public.”
                                                                                             ― Shauna Niequist, Bittersweet
Why do I love this quote...about 2 months ago a mom came up to me at Jack's school and introduced herself because Jack and her daughter are "bff" this year in class.  I was in my regular weekday attire, yoga pants and sweatshirt.  I left and immediately text Laura to ask her if not getting invited to a play date by someone could be a direct result of the fact that I am in yoga pants and a sweatshirt everyday of the week and particularly this day when I finally met this mom.  After she finished laughing hysterically, she assured me that it could not and that meeting the mom of a child that your son is friends with does not always lead to a play date, usually they just want to meet you.  Sidenote: I am in yoga pants and a sweatshirt every second Thursday morning of the month when Laura and I meet for coffee.  I apologize every time and she assures me that she wishes she were in the same thing.  Although she looks more adorable in her cute hats, jeans, and pigtails!   This book inspired me to be who God has created me to be and be proud of that (yoga pants and all), which by the way is a constant theme and lesson in my life right now.  God just seems to be shouting it over and over at me and this book was no exception.

These two books are changing the lives of our family, marriage, and our life group.

 Matt and I got the book because our dear friends told us that it spoke greatly to them and was a way to connect in their marriage and in the word together each day.  It has done the same for us.  We each read it every morning.  We pass it back and forth in spots we know one another will see it and in that way, encourage each other to have our devotional time each day.  I read the children's one to the boys at breakfast or lunch time and then the whole family is reading the same devotion which is pretty cool!
The women in our life group have also begun reading it each day.  We encourage each other throughout our weeks when we are struggling through the passages we have read together.  Three of us were discussing one of the passages this morning at church and how it related to each of our weeks and encouraged our hearts.  One of the girls said how incredible it was that each day just hit you exactly where you are at.  And that is the truth, it absolutely does.  It's as if the Lord is directly speaking to my soul each day.  Get it, you won't regret it!