Month: December 2013

I love lists so I thought I would write one.

One of my New Years resolutions is to read more books. My goal is to read 20 books this year. Which is about one every two and a half weeks. I am also trying to broaden my subject base (a bit) by reading older books than I have read recently. C.S. Lewis said, “It is a good rule after reading a new book, never to allow yourself another new one till you have read an old one in between.” I am going to adopt this philosophy. I have defined old books as anything older than 40 years, it was going to be 50 years, but The Hiding Place was published in 1971. Most of my old books were written within the last 100 years, which is not that old with regards to books, but I had to start somewhere.

Old Books.
Propaganda – Edward Bernays
Oil! – Upton Sinclair
Fahrenheit 451 – Ray Bradbury
The Hiding Place – Corrie Ten Boom
For Whom the Bell Tolls – Ernest Hemingway
Essays on Positive Economics – Milton Freidman
Equality, the Third World, and Economic Delusion – P.T. Bauer
Orthodoxy – G.K. Chesterton
The Great Divorce – C.S. Lewis

New Books.
Orbiting the Giant Hairball – Gordon Mackenzie
QBQ – John G. Miller
Death by Meeting – Patrick Lencioni
Doctrine – Mark Driscoll & Gerry Breshears
Every Man’s Marriage – Steven Arterburn & Fred Stoeker
I Have A Dream (Writing & Speeches) – Martin Luther King Jr.
Defiance – Nechama Tec
Ball Four – Jim Bouton
Desiring God – John Piper

I am currently reading The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien and EntreLeadership by Dave Ramsey. I will finish these books before I begin on my list. I will read EntreLeadership again as a part of a group that is going to read and discuss the book. I am also going to read through the Bible in 2014. I only have 18 books listed so I am still in search of two more books to read and am open to suggestions. I also would love to receive “favorite book” suggestions from anyone that reads this for future reading. All of the books above are books that I have accumulated from listening to and reading suggestions.

Oh what a wonderful Christmas! Bailee and Evie got in bed with us sometime last night. Bailee woke up at about 6:45, sat straight up and said “Santa’s been here,” and took off running down the hallway. His shouting woke Evie and I up, so we proceeded to the living room to open presents. They had a blast opening presents. I have enjoyed seeing Bailee’s complete elation when he open presents, he has had a blast. He is so excited he bounces and shouts and is having such a fun time. Evie has enjoyed her boots and babies. She got three pairs of boots that have all been worn around. She also got several babies that she carries around and says through her bobby, “I love it!” I have greatly enjoyed the day with my family. Mom and dad came over this morning to watch the kids open their presents. Lacey made chocolate gravy for breakfast. I took a nap snuggling with my little girl. I feel very blessed to have such a loving wife, wonderful kids, and a wonderful family.

I am going to write a blog.

This blog will be about God, faith, family, parenting, the trash business, farming, maybe some gardening, leadership, management, the quest to get out of debt, chicken farming, books, and who knows what else.

One of my purposes for writing this blog is to attempt to influence my children to write. I have often heard, “more is caught than taught.” I want my kids to read, so I want them to see me reading. I want my kids to be able to write, so I want them to see me writing, and read what their dad has written when they are old enough. Another purpose for this blog is to learn how to write and communicate more efficiently by writing and communicating.

I will write frequently about my kids and the humorous things that they do or say. I will also write about what I have learned through the parenting process. I have some ideas for some “faith” based posts.  I have some old blog post from when Bailee was a baby that I will try to import. I have some post from a blog called “Adventures in Gardening” that was short lived, that I will try to move.

I would like to encourage anyone that reads this, or any post that follow, to please feel free to comment and/or critique anything from grammar to content.

I am going to write every week!

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