Friday Fave Five

My first blog post in a long time AND my first Friday Fave Five in a super long time! (Please see Living to Tell the Story to join Friday Fave Five.) I'm now on maternity leave so I actually have time to post. I thought that listing the blessings of the week was a good place to start.

1)  My first full week of maternity leave: I am so happy to be away from my job and on maternity leave! I feel so much more relaxed now that I am not working! My last day at work was actually July 31st, so this is the end of my first full week of mat leave (as opposed to the 1/2 week at the beginning of August).

Aside.....It has been a pretty busy week for a "week off". We had a new stove delivered, heater vents have been cleaned, baby room was cleaned and organized, second hand baby clothes were washed, folded, and put away, a visit with friends who have a 3 year old and new born, plus hubby and I had a dinner date night out.

2) Hubby had 2 extra days off this week: I love when my husband has extra days off during the week! For this past year our time together has been somewhat limited. I worked days and he worked afternoon/evenings. So our only time together was Saturday mornings, all day Sundays, and Monday evenings. We see more of each other now that I'm on mat leave (another bonus!) but with his work being slow and giving him 2 extra days off this week I'm a happy wife!

3) Baby room ready for baby: I'm a huge procrastinator so having this one done is wonderful! Plus now that I'm at 37 weeks this baby could technically come any day. (But trust me, as my first baby I`m not expecting baby to come early.)

4) Generous friends: This fave happened through many weeks (even months!). We have received many free baby items from friends who have already had their kids and just want to get rid of their baby items. I received a bunch of newborn clothes from my sister, a crib and many receiving blanakets from my husband`s friends, a baby carrier, baby info books, and bouncy chair from another friend, and my parents paid for the car seat we choose. We truly are blessed and loved!

5) More time to see my niece and nephews: Another bonus of maternity leave is more time to spend with my sister`s kids. I love these kids and just getting to spead time with them is so much fun! We went for a riverside walk and played at the park last week, and next week we plan to take a skytrain trip to Science World. (The skytrain being the exciting part for the 5 year old!)

Thanks for joining me while I re-count the blessings in my life. I hope you all can see the blessings in your lives too!

Books Read in 2012

I read a total of 13 books in 2012. Below is the list (most recently finished list first). My favourite book of the year was The Kindness of Strangers by Katrina Kittle (review in the post below).

Little House in the Big Woods by Laura Ingalls Wilder
Before I Fall by Lauren Oliver
The Stone Diaries by Carol Shields
The Kindness of Strangers by Katrina Kittle
But Inside I'm Screaming by Elizabeth Flock
Up Close and Personal by Fern Micheals
A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini
Blue Like Jazz by Donald Miller
Loving by Karen Kingsbury
Anne of Avonlea by L.M. Montgomery
Longing by Karen Kingsbury
Heaven is for Real by Todd Burpo
The Book of Negroes by Lawrence Hill

2011 list here.
2010 list here.
2009 list here.
2008 list here.

The Kindness of Strangers by Katrina Kittle



This is a quick update to let you know I just finished a great book. The Kindness of Strangers by Katrina Kittle is the best book I've read all year! It does cover a very hard to read topic - the story is about a little boy who is sexually abused... by his parents!! The story tells of his removal from the his parent's house and how his life moves on afterwards. I loved the writting style and how the narrative was told from several different view points. This book (despite the hard to read topic) was a book I had a hard time putting down!

The Happiest Day of my Life

Good intentions....?

I had good intentions when I started the Spring Reading Thing to get back into blogging. I had no idea that planning a wedding was so time consuming!! I barely had time to read, let alone blog... about anything! Well the wedding is over so hopefully I can put a few more posts up here. *crosses fingers*

Spring Reading Thing Wrap Up:

Finished - Anne of Avonlea by L.M. Montgomery ~ I really liked it, and I'm looking forward to reading more of the series.
               - Blue Like Jazz by Donald Miller ~ An easy read , filled with fun stories, and would be great for a new Christian, or someone interested in learning more about Christianity.
               - Loving by Karen Kingsbury ~ Loved it.
         
Almost Finished - Life, On The Line by Grant Achatz and Nick Kokonas ~ I had to return the library book before I could finish it. It started out good, the middle of the book got boring, and it started getting better near the end again. The middle had too much restuarant detail to hold my attenetion!

Did Not Finish (or start!) - The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebbecca Skloot ~ I couldn't find it at my library.

Spring Reading Thing 2012

While reading Suzanne's blog I clicked the link to Spring Reading Thing 2012. I've heard of this before but this is my first time participating. I am of course planning a wedding so my list will not be large but Katrina the host at Callapidder Days advertises this as a low-pressure challenge. Besides reading should be fun right? :)

Finish Reading:

Anne of Avonlea by L.M. Montgomery
Blue Like Jazz by Donald Miller

New books:

Life, On the Line by Grant Achatz and Nick Kokonas
The Immortal Life on Henrietta Lacks by Rebbecca Skloot
Loving by Karen Kingsbury

The above three books were all on other challengers lists. There were others good suggestions I wanted to read but my library doesn't carry them. If I have time I'll start the next book in the Anne series: Anne of the Island.

Sorry for the inconsistant linking... blogger is being weird to me.

Books read in 2011

I read 11 books this year. That's a big increase from last years 2 books! Sill 11 is much less than 24 read in 2010, and 18 read in 2009. Here's hoping that 2012 gives me more reading time.

The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver
Glass Castle by Jeannette Wall
Sarah's Kay by Tatiana de Rosnay
The Blue Notebook by James A Levine
Secret Daughter by Shilip Somaya Gowda
One Day by David Nicholls
Leaving by Karen Kingsbury
Sarah by Marek Halter
Mine is the Night by Liz Curtis Higgs
The Boy in the Striped Pajamas by John Boyne
The Guernsey Literary & Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer & Annie Barrows

My favourite book of the year was Glass Castle by Jeannette Wall. This was a true story of her life and one that I will never forget. It was hard to read in places only because no child should have to grow up like she did.

2008 list here
2009 list here
2010 list here