Everybody Loves Babies

And Lent continues.  For those that may have not been reading all of my lent related blogs, I have committed to not reading or watching anything fictional.  This has meant me being creative with the evening hours of my day, which were previously composed of TV entertainment.  I will admit that finding non-fiction books has been easy as the subjects available are varied, being forced to search out new genre's has been a fun challenge.

Currently I am reading through America's Women: 400 years of dolls, drudges, helpmates and heroines by Gail Collins.  I have enjoyed the women from history that this author has pulled out and highlighted.  The women that came over on some of the first ships to America and had to build a life from the dirt around them to the women that strapped themselves into corsets, attempting to squeeze out the perfect figure.  The rugged life of a pioneer is pointed out in the furniture that was available at the time, maybe one family chair and table and then the family bed.  No place for a women to sit down in comfort.  Pointing out that there was not much ease in the life of these early American women.  I will say that the author has a feminist bent, no wonder as she was the first female editor of the New York Times Editorial Page, but it is not overwhelming, yet anyway.
 
Conversations with my husband during this season have abounded, playing games (currently I hold the record of most won, but we have only played one game so that record is not worth too much), enjoying Everybody Loves Babies (click to watch the trailer) documentary and listening while my husband records his radio show.

What has come out most through this commitment is how relaxed my evenings feel and also the creativity that has been required.  I don't just fall to TV to entertain.  When I have laundry to fold I wait until one of my favorite afternoon radio hosts is on, Hugh Hewitt.  I call a friend on the phone and connect when down time presents itself or I read over old journal entries (I loved reading my entries from after my wedding day and during my honeymoon), listen to music and do my Biblestudy.

The noise level in my home has diminished, I feel that I can more easily hear God calling me with His still small voice.  Today, while taking trying to take a nap with my husband, I was reminded to pray for my neighbors.  They were having a fight that drifted to me through the ceiling and though my husband was snoozing away, I could not sleep.  Through this alertness God encouraged me to pray for my neighbors and the other residents in the apartment complex where we live.  This lead to questions of how I could be used to reach my neighbors for Christ, specifically using the upcoming Easter season as a way to start talking with about church and spiritual things.  The origination of these thoughts came from the sermon at The Chapel today but I feel that I would not have ruminated on them had TV been clouding my mind.

I am sure that you can all tell that I am also blogging more with my new found free time so I hope that some are enjoying reading as much as I am enjoying writing.