the same page

what an honor it is to share with you how proud i am of my sister-in-law and friend, shauna pilgreen.  not only has she co-written a book, the same page:  living your happily ever after, but the book is available today!

from the early stages of development, i fell in love with the core theme of the same page:  a story of a mother and teenage daughter in the middle of every typical mother and teenage daughter relationship.  what i did not know was just how much i would connect to each character until i was holding the book in my hands and reading the story, both stories, from start to finish.  you see, the same page is a unique book because one half is the story of independence and a journey of self-discovery from the viewpoint of the teenage daughter, and on the flip side (literally) you have a mother with unfulfilled dreams and a heart full of love for her daughter.

my heart immediately connected with the heart of ysabel, the daughter.  as a teenager, i was just as independent and determined that my mom could not possibly understand or connect to my life.  don't get me wrong, my mom and i had a pretty good mother-daughter relationship.  just as most teen girls though, i was convinced that regardless of what she said, i knew what was best.  thankfully, we both came out of that time in life for the better.  she never gave up on me, and she allowed me to learn from my mistakes.  as an adult and mom, i can relate to my own mother as well as adela of the same page because i want the absolute best for my child.  as hard as it is and will continue to be, i want to allow him to make mistakes, learn from them, and come out better because of the experiences.  i want my love for him to reflect God's love for us as adela's does toward ysabel.

i am confident that girls and women of all ages can find themselves in one or both of these characters.  we all have dreams.  big plans for our lives.  goals we want to accomplish.  the best part is that all of that and more is ordained by the King.  this is what the same page is all about.  we are all daughters.  some of us are mothers or will be mothers one day.  we all LOVE fairytales...and happily ever afters.  shauna and co-author courtney bullard bring all of us together through the same page.

i hope you choose to discover this love story for yourself because ultimately it is just that.  a story about our King and His love for us.  if you would like, you may purchase the same page from amazon.com or barnesandnoble.com .

reading list for 2010

time for reading while working is a bit harder than last summer when i had no job and all the time in the world to read. however, we have still managed to find some time to read through a few books. yes, this lists consists of books from both of us!

lindsey's list:
The Blind Side by michael lewis
The Help by kathryn stockett
Sarah's Key by tatiana de rosnay
I Will Carry You: The Sacred Dance of Grief and Joy by angie smith (not for the topic but because i read the author's blog)

Current reading: Wild Goose Chase by mark batterson (a gift to lee from ben. lee loved it so now it's my turn)

lee's list:
The Tangible Kingdom by hugh halter and matt smay
Love is an Orientation by andrew marin
Wild Goose Chase by mark batterson

Current reading: Forgotten God: Reversing our Tragic Neglect of the Holy Spirit by Francis Chan

what have you been reading? what do you plan/recommend to read this summer?

summer reading list

now that all of our recent events have been blogged about, i thought i would take the time to discuss a recent accomplishment that i am pretty proud of. *disclaimer: i really would like your feedback...just wait until the bottom and you will know what i mean. :)

in high school, i hated summer reading lists and being required to read certain books when i just wanted to sleep in, hang out with friends, or go to the pool, and the books were probably destined to be terrible anyway. except they weren't...i.e. the great gatsby, to kill a mockingbird, the list goes on...many of these became some of my all-time favorites.

i love reading and love having the time to read. thankfully, this summer has provided plenty of time for reading. between moving and traveling and job searching, i have read SIX books. yes, six...just finished the last one yesterday. all of this brings me to the point of this rambling...i thought i would share my 6 with you along with a couple more that are awaiting their turn to be taken off the shelf and read.

1) Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince and 2) Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (both) by J.K. RowlingIf you remember, I became quite engrossed in the Harry Potter saga a few months ago. Right before we moved, life got very busy with finishing class, ending my time at work, and packing so i had to take a break from the books. once i got back into them though, it was over. i think i read these two books in less than two weeks. amazing. can't wait for the last movies.

3) The Voyage of the Dawn Treader by C.S. Lewisi love everything about The Chronicles of Narnia...at least everything about the books i have read so far. i have the big paperback book that has all the Narnia stories in one and decided to continue reading through when i unpacked it in july. Dawn Treader was next in line and did not disappoint (not that i expected it to...The Horse and His Boy is the only one that has done that). there is such a great metaphor for redemption and a new life in Christ. i won't spoil it for those that have never read it, but you really should read it. i do hope the movie is done well.

4) Dear John by Nicholas Sparksthis one was actually a re-read because (gasp) i actually forgot what it was about. even after reading the summary, nothing triggered my memory. this normally does not happen, especially with nicholas sparks' books, so i knew i needed to refresh my memory. a story of love at first, this one is a bit more realisitic perhaps than some of his other books because real life tries to interfere with the main characters. again, i will not give away any part of the story...read for yourself if you want...but i recommend it and all of his books. *his new book the last song comes out september 8!

5) My Sister's Keeper by Jodi Picoulti obviously knew the general storyline to this book before reading it since it came out on the big screen earlier this summer. i never had a chance to see the movie so i thought i would read the book and wait for it to come out on dvd. if i were an "OMG" user, then i would say something like, "OMG! this book is so emotional. get the tissues ready!" thankfully, i am not a user, but i would say it is a bit of a tear-jerker. i enjoyed the way the story was set up and how much backstory is given to fill in the present-day scenario. i may move on to some of the author's other books soon because i enjoyed this one, but i do not know if i will be seeing the movie after all. i hear the endings to the movie and the book are very different, fyi.

6) Love Walked In by Marisa de los Santosnow if any of you have heard of this one, i will be thoroughly impressed. i had never heard of it when it was given to me, and this is the author's first and only book out. sadly, this was actually given to me as a gift a couple of years ago. i read a couple of chapters but eventually forgot about it. however, i am very glad i gave it another chance because it proved to be quite a fun story. she references old movies via the main character and leads you down a path where you think you know the ending, or at least you hope you know the ending, but then throws a few surprises in along the way. it is not a typical love story, contrary to what you may think from the title. i highly recommend it and hope she gets another book out soon. *UPDATE while finishing this, i found that she does have another book out! just google her name.

Current Read: Crazy Love by Francis Chanwow. i could have written an entire post or more about this book alone. i heard chan speak a few years ago at the passion conference in atlanta, and i knew he was a great speaker. i had no idea just how thought-provoking this book would be though. not only thought-provoking, but life-examining too. lee and i are actually reading this together, taking turns on a chapter, underlining our favorite thoughts, and sharing some of our favorite points. the book has challenged us to think about how we are living our lives...are we really living for God with every ounce of our being? or are we just giving Him what we feel like giving Him at the moment? are we so in love with God that we desire to spend time with Him? give back what He has blessed us with? share His truth with others? serve Him wholeheartedly? i didn't mean to get so deep with this reading list, but the book is definitely worth reading. Chan does not have it all together perfectly, but God does seem to have used him through this book to remind us of some pretty important elements to having a relationship with Christ.

Next books on the list:
Same Kind of Different as Me by Ron Hall and Denver Moore
The Last Song by Nicholas Sparks
Love is an Orientation by Andrew Marin

what have been your favorite recent reads? do you have any recommendations for me or for both of us? i'd love to hear your suggestions!

muggles, quidditch, spells, & more!

that's right. i have become one of them...one of those who has fully embraced the world of harry potter. no, no...contrary to what some said in the height of their popularity, the books in no way change my religious beliefs or cause me to want to practice magic or any other silliness that some might associate with the books.
the books do, on the other hand, keep me quite compelled to follow the lives of harry, ron, hermoine, and the other students and teachers through their years at hogwarts (this is actually the link to the upcoming universal studios harry potter-themed park). i am currently on the third book and it is by far the best (in my opinion) of the first three. i feel strongly that i will be caught up in plenty of time for the newest movie to arrive in theaters later this summer. lee is beside himself with the fact that i am growing to enjoy them more and more with each book. he was right...i did not know what i was missing.
due to work and school, this is essentially the only reading i am doing at the time (that i enjoy). it sure beats anything out of here . yuck.