My dad Larry and his dog Toby

This is a picture of my dad (the little guy on the right in the striped shirt), his sister Naomi, his brother Ted, and his dog Toby. Dad considered Toby to be his dog. When Dad was 4, he was running towards the road. Toby saw that a car was coming and he ran ahead so the car would hit him instead of my dad. Toby was badly injured and had to be put down. Dad was so heartbroken, he found a secluded place in the attic and screamed and cried as loud as he could for as long as he could until he was completely exhausted.

He carried this emotional wound with him for many years. In 2nd grade, he wrote a paper about the experience, and got an A on it.

I had never heard the story until a few months ago. Dad had found this picture in a tub of junk in his house. He still doesn't have any idea how this picture could possibly have gotten into that tub of junk. But when he saw this picture, God reminded him of that experience with Toby. And he opened my dad's eyes to see that Jesus did this for all of us... He threw Himself in front of the truck, so the truck wouldn't hit us. Thank you, Jesus!

Compelled to Control

After God used "The Meaning of Marriage" to save our marriage, he used this one to completely transform it. I love my husband more than ever, and we have a marriage of true intimacy, acceptance, and safety. God is so good! I love you, Keith!

The Meaning of Marriage

God used this book to save my marriage. Learning that marriage is not about being happy, but about becoming holy, completely anchored our marriage in the deepest cement. We'd heard it before, of course, but when we read this book together (weeping most of the time), God moved the knowledge from our heads to our hearts. Thank You, Lord!

The Host - The Book & Movie

This is the first book I've ever read twice in a row. It spoke to me on a deep level and I absolutely devoured it. The words flew off the pages at me. But then...

I saw this:

We all know how when we love a book and then see the movie that was made from the book, many times we're disappointed in the movie because of all of the changes to the storyline. I noticed the changes right away, but I still feel that the movie The Host captures the essense and spirit of the book better than I ever hoped. In fact, I think I like the movie even better than the book. The only other book/movie combo I felt the same way about was The Horse Whisperer... I definitely liked the movie better than the book in that situation.

Anyway, I love the movie The Host. There's something about it that speaks to the deepest core of me. I don't even know how to explain it. I cry through the 2nd half of the movie every time I watch it, and I crave it like a pregnant woman craves Chinese food, or pickle and peanut butter sandwiches. God brought this movie into my life at a very critical time, and I know that it is He who is speaking to me and encouraging me and uplifting my spirit through it.

Realization

All my life I've had horrible trouble sleeping. Most recently, I've been waking up at 3 or 4 in the morning and not been able to go back to sleep. This has been going on for literally years. Just this past week I've finally decided to embrace the fact that when that happens, I'm literally just one big ball of kinetic energy waiting to be put to good use. Instead of laying there trying hard to fall back asleep and feeling like a failure for not being able to do so, I'm going to get up and put all of that kinetic energy to good use. Needless to say, I've had a week of very productive mornings. Yay!

I've done dishes, de-cluttered, sorted paperwork, cleaned out my purse, and now I'm actually blogging (!!!) for the first time in over a year. Yay again! It feels really fantastic!