*breathe*

Well, since I didn't want to close in on the three month mark without posting, and I DO want to post again... I just thought I'd say 'hi' and 'I'm still alive!'. It's been another crazy set of months... living life with no time to reflect/record it ;) Every weekend was something. Oh, there was a birthday somewhere in there, too! :)

But suffice it to say, there are a lot of things I'm learning (some harder ways than others) and a LOT of cool books out there, so I need to get back to posting! There's been new Fancy Nancys and Mo Willems, Summer Reading to discuss, and much more! I don't quite know if I'm ready for the summer (and its insane pace), but it's coming whether I am or not, so *breathe* ready, set, GO!

All You Need is Love

Yeah, I know. A little late for Valentine's Day. But I got a belated Valentine's Day gift on Sunday. It was kind of "ah-HA!" moment after weeks/months of nagging thoughts and half-hearted attempts at change.

All you need is love. Hmm. And if it's not there, man, do you know it! I'm not talking about husband/wife, boyfriend/girlfriend, family, friend... don't get me wrong, all that is important! But the one Love I can't do without is God's love. Time for a little honesty. I never lost faith in God or loved Him. But I had lost my love for Him a little. If that make sense. My passion. My first Love. I still saw Him at work in my life and I desired more of Him, but there was still this something missing.

At times, I thought it was because I'm too busy. And I still am. But I also realized that simply taking things off my plate... only to fill them with other things or nothing substantial... was useless. I wasn't using much of the time I gained by removing things for more time with God. I still had my quiet times and was learning. But I was still just missing the point. It's so easy to do in the busyness of life.

So this little feeling deep down and realizing I want more than this... led me to yesterday. Sunday morning. I have to say, I am SO lucky to have found a church family that is family. I look forward to going, am sad to miss a Sunday, and feel so energized after worshipping and fellowshipping with my family there. I'm usually one of the last handful of people to leave, and most Sundays go by without having had a chance to talk to everyone I wish I could. So yesterday was like many other Sundays, but something... more. Sunday School was great. Not because of anything in particular, but I did see something new about a familiar story. My Sunday School teacher is one of the best I've had and just knows how to open up discussion, make it a safe environment, and push you to see things you didn't see before. Then, our new youth pastor gave a great message on family discipleship; it left me wanting to dig deeper in the Word, always a good response. One thing he said stuck out... God's plan for our lives is something we stumble upon while on the path of obedience. For any of us wondering God's plan for our lives, wow, does that help. And I got to talk to many friends and laugh and catch up and see how their lives were going. Just a good morning. I remember seriously wishing that every morning could start like that!

Then, when I got home, I had a good conversation with my parents, got to go on a walk, and read a book that had been neglected for a few weeks... but surprise, surprise... it was just the moment I was ready to hear what the author had to say. It's called The Most Loving Place in Town by Ken Blanchard, and it's about a local church elder who realizes he's become so focused on doing he's forgotten his first Love. It hit home. And so this long post is drawing to an end.

All you need is love. As much as I hadn't turned from God and still loved Him, my heart had grown complacent. And for me to love anyone else... close relationships or not-so-close (like some patrons who make me want to turn and run)... I have to be grounded in my love for God. If I'm not filled to over-flowing with His love, how can I possibly love others well? I will never love everyone perfectly... don't expect miracles! But keeping my heart filled with Him is a start. I can't even explain the difference. As I said, it's not like I had turned my back on God, but I did know I wasn't where I wanted to be. So while it may not look like anything changes, for me, it feels like night and day.

It's Just Like Christmas!!!

After a couple months of no new books, seeing the (not-so-thrilled) UPS man enter the library with 15 boxes from Baker & Taylor a few days ago was like Christmas. Seriously. It's one of the perks of the job to get to order a couple thousand dollars in books every month... none of which you have to pay for, but all of which you get to see before anyone else! But that means my to-read list has once again grown in size! Even worse, I already have a couple I'm in the middle of (the Newbery winner, The Graveyard Book, is doing nothing for me a third of the way in)... but I want to take more home. I have to be good and not hoard the books though. Having also just sent an order into Amazon for the Erin Free Library, I thought I'd share some authors/illustrators/titles that I'm loving in this gluttony of new books.

Anything illustrated by David Catrow! (Particularly if written by Karen Beaumont.) We just got Doggone Dogs in, but I Ain't Gonna Paint No More is one of the biggest crowd-pleasers during storytime. The Silly Dilly songs books (by Alan Katz), I Like Myself and Stand Tall, Molly Lou Melon are also great!

New series of picture books by Polly Dunbar called Tilly and Friends, featuring Tilly, who lives in a yellow house with her best friends. The first book is Hello Tilly, and Happy Hector and Pretty Pru are the next. Sounds. Words. Simple but beautiful illustrations that both kids and grownups will like. They'll probably appeal most to girls, but with the strong imagery with simple words, I'm planning on using them during storytimes. The best word to describe Tilly and Friends... whimsical.

I'm also loving a series of picture books by Jan Thomas about some animal friends. The Doghouse, What Will the Fat Cat Sit On, and A Birthday for Cow all made my non-children book loving coworkers laugh! Bright bold illustrations and humor preschoolers and grownups alike will appreciate. Definitely using for storytime!

Finally, a young adult book. Princess of the Midnight Ball by Jessica Day George. For Shannon Hale fans (who, me?) this might be for you. I'll have to post a review when I've actually read it. But I've liked George's other books and she writes the same teen take-offs of fairy tales that Shannon Hale does so well. This one is based on the Twelve Dancing Princesses.

And finally finally... a shot in the dark. A first time author. One I hadn't even had on my radar until I saw it and decided to buy it right away (which I normally don't do.) One I hope to be surprised by... One I ordered for myself. Crazy Love: Overwhelmed by a Relentless God, by Francis Chan. I'd seen two friends mention him and say he "kicked their butt" (a compliment) and this came up in a "you might also like" and it just seems... my heart and what God's trying to teach me, so I'm hoping to be pleasantly suprised.

So I don't know if you're looking for anything in any of these categories, but I'm excited... new books!!! New ideas, new stories, new stretching... it makes me happy!

ALA Youth Media Awards Announced!

For the second year in a row, I set my alarm early on a Monday morning (when, in the one perk of working nights, I normally get to sleep in) to watch the live webcast announcing the American Library Association Youth Media Awards. The two biggest include the Caldecott Medal (for distinguished contribution to picture books) and the Newbery Medal (for distinguished contribution to children's literature). The Geisel Award, named after Theodor Geisel, aka "Dr. Seuss", the Coretta Scott King Award, and the Michael Printz Award (Young Adult books) have all been growing in popularity as well.

So, huge Children's book nerd that I am, I was up and watching the webcast. This announcement is like the Oscars for librarians and children's authors. Here's the ALA press release on the winners. The Caldecott Medal went to The House in the Night, a Good Night, Moon-ish picture book. The Newbery was more a shock to me, going to the not-so-shiningly reviewed The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman. That one I haven't read yet, but it's about a boy named Nobody who lives in a graveyard and is raised by ghosts. I plan on reading it soon so I can have an opinion. But, as always, the amazingly awesome Mo Willems can't stay away from the ALA Award circuit. His first Pigeon book and both Knuffle Bunny books were Caldecott honors, while one of his Elephant and Piggie books, There is a Bird on Your Head, won the Geisel Award last year. This year, he returns with another adventure for the crazy duo, Are You Ready to Play Outside? The man is pure genius. This is the fourth year for the award and he's won half of them!

Happy Reading!

Put a Little Hope In Your Heart

I've been hearing that little four-letter word a lot the past few months.

In case you've been living with your head stuck in a hole, you know what our economy's like, that there's about to be a historic inauguration of the first African American president, and people in general are just weary. You either are full of it or fully aware you're missing it. Let me just first say that I know this is a huge moment in history and am proud of the United States that we have moved even further past that horrible time of slavery and racial inequality to be able to have a non-WASP president. And I will be praying for Barack Obama as he takes over the office of the President of the United States of America. But let me go back to something I wrote days after the election last November:

The same way that we need to respect and pray for Barack Obama, we need to respect our current president. We give one (hu)man way too much credit if we believe that this one man alone is the cause of all our nations problems, and on
the flip side, we give one (hu)man way too much credit to believe he is the answer it to it all. I would believe this no matter who had won. These are men, albeit powerful men, but men. In my knowledge there has only been one time in history that God has walked this earth in human form.

Leading up to tomorrow's inauguration, I've seen TV specials, newspaper articles, books, hear conversation, etc. And it's all about how "now we have hope." I think this desire for change and something to hope in is 1) because of how times are difficult now (but that's a natural part of life... some times are hard, some times are easy, some times are in between)... and people want to believe that new leadership is capable of bringing change, and 2) because the desire for hope is evidence of the hole in our heart for God. You may be reading this and not have the same faith as I do. So let me say this to you in apology: I think the Church (universal) has done a very poor job of displaying the realness of God. He's not just some Sunday/Wednesday only thing. No, He is a real part of every part of my day. (Although, sometimes... often times... I mess that up and don't act like it because of my sin.) There are definitely Believers out there getting it, but I think why we're seeing so many people turn from faith in God is that we're not showing people how a relationship with God changes your life. How you should be different because of it. Life won't be easy, but you have hope for something better. Hope that you will be changing to become more Christ-like. Hope that you'll one day be in Heaven. But in a world where people want to know what makes Christians different, we don't always do a good job showing them. We don't show how Christ is real, in the flesh (through our flesh) working in our lives and on this earth. So people continue to search for something or someone to hope in.

But without Christ, there's no hope.

Cleaning Out the Gunk

The following post is not for the faint of heart...

Okay, it's not that disgusting. But God recently showed me a somewhat disgusting-but-true reminder.

I work with kids. I work at a public library. You interact with a lot of people and items that are "contaminated" (for lack of a better word!) People are sick. People read books and take movies when they're sick and put their infected hands all over library items. It's a fact of life. Can't change it. I try to be careful about washing my hands at work, but I can't be anal. And inevitably, it happens. I get sick. I've never been sick (or borderline sick) so many times as I have since I started working with kids. In fact, I rarely got sick in college! But now, between a crazy busy schedule that leaves me less than full strength at times (I'm working on that!) and constant contact with "carrier monkeys" (as Friend Jen lovingly calls her adorable girls!)... well, you get sick! So the disgusting thing? All that "bodily secretion". Pus. Mmmm. Anyone eating?

But what did God remind me of? The fact that we all have "infection" in our lives... sin. And for that infection to be healed and cleaned out, our body needs to fight it. It needs to produce the nasty stuff. That's a sign that our body is healing. The infection is not good. But the signs of healing are. So while colds and the like are not fun, the end result is good. I was recently driving into work and just struck by how cool our bodies reaction to infection is! (I know, weird.) But it's just amazing that God designed that system so our bodies would heal (and not get worse!) and that the gunk serves to warn us "hey, something's wrong here... go to a doctor or take some cold medicine!" (so the problem doesn't go untreated.) Just like sometimes, junk in our lives is hard, painful, challenging, etc. It's our warning "hey, something's wrong here... go to God and clean up the sin infection!" Just think about both cases, if what was wrong/infected continued to get worse with no warning... where would we all be? So yes, I'm thankful for the nasty signs of health returning. It means the infection's getting kicked to the curb!

P.S. I just got Mo Willems' new book, Naked Mole Rat Gets Dressed. Classic Mo. Hilarious. Grand-pah Mole Rat is wise. And seriously, who else but Mo Willems would think of a title like Naked Mole Rat Gets Dressed??

Tis the Season!

... to have more than usual going on! Ha. Okay, I always say that. But with the holidays and different groups and different people celebrating, there's bound to be even MORE things going on! So I've been keeping busy. It's not just been the holidays though (don't ask me where I am on Christmas shopping... with only one week before Christmas!)

Since the beginning of December, I've roadtripped to see two crazy girls (with two other crazy girls) in New Jersey for a weekend, we got a new youth pastor at church (yay!), I had a blowout flat tire on the side of a major highway (and subsequently had to get FOUR new tires), planned a middle school Christmas party, had a middle school Christmas party, am preparing for various more Christmas celebrations to come, been asked out (then somewhat stalked) at the library, dressed as an elf and hosted Santa's visit to the library for 50 preschoolers, got a new haircut that many people have commented on (you never know till you make the change)... Rich Mastronardo's comment doesn't count..., had the BFC wide young adult coffeehouse, had a cold, gone to see the Nutcracker... and probably a few other things I've forgotten. That list probably bored you, but it explains why I haven't posted in a few weeks! Oh! And I read a really good elementary (4-5th grade) book... Newbery buzz... called Savvy by Ingrid Law! I'll try to write a review soon.

But I'm looking forward to celebrating the holiday and reflecting on what it's actually about... the birth of my Savior!