House is clean...floor is a mess!

I walked into my living room this morning and noticed that this was the way I left my books laying beside the couch last night....and to me, other than my husband and children, there's not much more in this temporal world that is more beautiful. I stayed up late last night reading. I LOVE TO READ! The children know that mommy gets so very excited when there is a new box on the porch with my name on it...and yesterday there was! Right on time. I had ordered a few new books to keep me busy until I go back to work next week and they look so great!

The ones I am diving into this weekend are:

The Cross-Centered Life by C.J. Mahaney

Lies Women Believe by Nancy Leigh DeMoss

and

Feminine Appeal by Carolyn Mahaney

I actually already started Carolyn's book and got 1/3 of the way through it last night and it is just down-right full of good stuff! I just finished Beth Moore's Believing God (...again - and did I need that right now!)

My study in Ephesians continues to be a tremendous opportunity for growth for me. For those of you who have shown interest in how I go about my personal Bible Study methods, I would be glad to share with you one-on-one, for I am personally persuaded that nothing can impact me (and you!) more as a Christian, wife and mother as my daily time in the Word of God...studying, searching, learning, and growing. I am currently working through a Precepts course by Kay Arthur on Ephesians on my own...digging deep into the Word and letting it speak, studying the contexts, the history, the words...letting it become LIFE TO ME!
I urge all Christian women to dig into the riches of God's Word...

On a different note, I have spent two delightful days with my almost 4 year old daughter this week. We have played, conversed, played some more, visited with wonderful friends, shopped, visited some sick people, and much, much more. She told me yesterday that she wanted a

"Bi-bul like my brudders have because I'm getting bigger mom." Who could resist that? So we stopped by the local Christian Book store and looked around. Of course, this one ...

... immediately caught her attention. The nice man behind the counter told her he would put her first name on it for free and she squealed with delight. She said, "Mommy, it has diamonds on it" and I thought to myself, "Oh, honey, if you knew the treasure that you held in your hands...it is worth far more than diamonds!" She held it in her little hands in the car, singing
"Jesus loves me...the Bib-ul, it tells me soooo." [her own made up version]
She said, "Mommy, can I call my daddy and tell him all about it? It has real Bib-ul words all in it and he will be soooo excited about dat!" We called him and she told him all about it - and of course, as in his usual fashion, he did completely share in her delight! What an awesome father!

Oh, if us grown-ups would be that excited about the Bib-ul Words!