The description of the book definitely intrigued me. Written for “Christians actively involved in mixed-gender partnerships, whether they hold leadership positions or simply collaborate in groups at work or in church. The author takes seriously biblical passages about gender and invites hard questions from readers, making this a solid resource for individuals and groups alike.”

She delivers on that. The writing style is clear and readable. This is not a lecture or a technical thesis. It is a conversation. She touches on some complex and even controversial topics, but her explanations of what the Bible says, what other experts say, and how all of that information contributes to understanding and taking action is all well put. She doesn’t try to say more or make explicit things that the Bible doesn’t say or make explicit. But she does raise the possibility that some common perceptions are based more on culture or tradition than what the Bible actually says.

As I expected and as I hinted above, she spends some time discussing the roles of men and women and how our understanding of those roles affects how we participate in ministries and partnerships. But she has so much more to say. There are other issues to be addressed, such as communication, handling conflict, offering and receiving grace and forgiveness. She treats all of these without repeating the same usual things we know, but going deeper and further with them to attitudes and actions that Christians should adopt and work to make the basis for relationships.

She discusses our individual responsibility for our own behavior, how to work with others even when they won’t accept personal responsibility for their behavior, and things the church should do to encourage healthy partnerships. While she does discuss gender, much of what she covers applies to groups of women or groups of men. But one of the most useful things this book does is encourage more mixed groups – men and women working together to accomplish great things.

This book comes with a study guide, questions to consider for each chapter. I have seen plenty of study guides that did not really contribute any further value to the book. I am happy to report I found the study guide questions to be a great help in clarifying and reinforcing the points made in the chapter and provide an environment for thinking through to the next level of understanding of a topic, see how it affects and changes our beliefs and positions on these things. It challenges the reader to really put the concepts into practice.

I recommend this book. I think it is a balanced and biblical book that provides a starting point for even further thought in the areas of gender and partnership and forgiveness.

The Bound & Determined sell sheet with further information about the book.

I just have to mention this interesting event. Whenever I lie down to take a nap (which isn’t that often), I somehow trigger the coffee grinder and other loud noises in the kitchen. There is some suspicion that Anthony is involved in all the noise making as soon as I lie down, but I know he would never do something like that when I’m trying to sleep.

On a related note – when your spouse snores or your neighbors have a pool party, a white-noise machine is a wonderful thing. Don’t be afraid to turn it up loud!! The only thing it won’t do is stop the cat from walking over you or nibbling at your fingers to get some attention.

To the family with the weeping willow that drapes out over the sidewalk – thank you for trimming it! Running is so much easier when I’m not dodging willow tendrils.

I got an iPhone, finally. I have had a rather old but good phone with the unique feature of being able to time the silent mode. I could tell it to go silent until 12:15 and then I don’t have to remember to turn the sound back on. If someone calls at 12:16, it rings out loud. I really really like that feature and think all cell phones should have it. But every time Anthony upgrades his iPhone, we spend a few minutes talking about whether I want to get one too. I finally succumbed. The iPhone has lots of benefits to it, including a keyboard (I admit texting my nephews with my old phone was a struggle), a calendar that syncs with my desktop, email, and a complete address book. But none of that was enough to give up my timed silent feature. Finally, I realized that with the GPS and the RunKeeper app, I could map my runs and know while I am running how far I have gone and how fast I’m running. It isn’t a huge deal, but it was enough to tip the scale this time and I now own a nice shiny new iPhone 4. It is pretty cool! Now we’re talking about giving the old one to my Mom so she can have some of those same benefits.

The story is interesting, as we get to know Simon’s wife and his two sons, Alexander and Rufus. We also see the brutal rule of the Romans and the struggles of the Jews of the time. Much of the Bible story and church history is also included. We meet Veronica, Mary the mother of Jesus and Mary Magdalene, as well as Joseph of Arimathea and others. The different aspects of the crowd responding to Pontius Pilate and along the long walk are all shown and described well. The origin of some of the holy relics are also described.

The subject and the confusion and the purpose of the crucifixion are handled well in this novel. I am not Episcopal (or Catholic) so I don’t hold to all the traditions told as part of the story, but that didn’t detract in any way. By focusing on Simon, we see the struggle and pain of Jesus from a very understandable point of view, and we watch Simon’s perspective change as he suffers in such close intimacy with Jesus.

Some of the writing style was not as tight as it could be, with some shifts of topic being disjointed and repetitive in an attempt to reinforce the emotions and struggles. But it is a very readable story.

This book looked interesting, collecting documents, speeches, and even sermons that “compose the American soul” as the subtitle says. The book is small (hence the portable title) with the ragged cut pages that make a book feel older.  Before each entry is a short description of the person or the event, placing it in context of the history of the nation.

The contents are broken out by time period, from the Mayflower and other beginnings, just before the revolution, during the revolution, the founding, and the first documents of the republic. They have fit a lot of information in here. Of course the Constitution, the Declaration of Independence, even some selections from the Federalist Papers. Plus any other writings not as well known. I see us referring to this book for years. As a former home schooler, I can see it being a cool resource for American History.

But I must admit some disappointment. I didn’t think portable would mean it had to be quite so small. Everything runs in together and the descriptive text is really only a few sentences. It is all about the actual documents, but the font and page size doesn’t even make reading the documents easy. I’m not saying it had to be a text book, but I think a different format would have been more pleasurable to hold and read.

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Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from Thomas Nelson Publishers as part of their BookSneeze.com book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

Memorial Day weekend we had C & D over here. I can’t believe they are 14 and 13 now. Sunday night we had a joint birthday party with some friends, a total of 6 birthdays celebrated. Anthony took the boys out on his jet ski with a tube – I get the impression everyone had fun. I stood on the dock and watched much of it. They experimented with various ways of riding the tube and eventually decided on their back with their head toward the jet ski was the best to avoid water up the nose or early tumbling. They also provided advice to the driver on how tight the circles could get before it was impossible to ride. It’s so fun to see how big they are getting!

That week was hot and humid, as usual, but I still got in 3 runs in the mornings. Saturday was workday at church, cleaning blinds is not fun but was certainly necessary. Lots got done in a pretty short time.

Monday morning Anthony left early for the Synod meeting. As I helped him pack the truck I realized it was 60 with 51% humidity – the perfect running day and I wasn’t running. Tuesday when I did run it was back up to 76% humidity, and by Friday we were back to the normal 91% humidity. I still managed to run 5.75 miles!! Woohoo, my longest run yet.

Friday afternoon A was back in town and we went out for sushi with our friend Val. It’s always fun catching up with her and the sushi is yummy! Before meeting Val we went out on the jet ski and I totally remember now why I don’t go out on the water. An area of growth for me this summer I guess.

Saturday was down time – catching up on some errands and spending time together. Monday night we had dinner with friends. It takes some effort to fit these dinners in, but it is so much fun!!! Next time they will come to our house so we can show off the patio out front and on the side.

I have set a running goal – I want to do a 10k in September in Davidson. I am adapting this plan from Runner’s World to up my mileage and work on my speed. I did the fartlek run this morning. I was pleasantly surprised at how well I did adding the bursts of speed and recovering well.

We were talking to Val about running and it is exciting to talk about how far I’ve come in the past year. My breathing is easier, even on the humid days, and my endurance is certainly up. I ran one race so far this year and the heat was brutal so I’m avoiding races this summer, but September and maybe a Turkey Trot in November certainly seem doable.

That’s it for now.

I did find the book encouraging as he described some of the same struggles and blahs I have, while reiterating the positives that got me out there. I’ve had a very good few months of running and that has lead me to revisit why I run. I have had a classmate and pastor mention they run to lose weight and I pass that fact on to my husband who has some pounds to lose. While I wouldn’t mind weighing just a few pounds lighter, I don’t run to lose weight. (Which is good because I haven’t lost weight with all my running.)

I’ve heard some people comment that running or working out is just too much work and if they can watch what they eat and stay trim, they prefer to do it that way. But again, while watching what you eat and having a reasonable weight is all good, that isn’t really the only reason to run.

As I stated a year ago, I started running because my cholesterol got over the acceptable limit. Exercise, and some strenuous movement are know to be good for reducing cholesterol. I, of course, have also modified my diet to add more good things and remove more bad things. But this is about exercise.

Over the years I have watched the old women on the streets of Brooklyn hunched over and shuffling down the sidewalk, I’ve seen friends and family  reach the age where their excess weight and/or lack of exercise caught up with them – the strength fails, the legs and lungs give up, and moving around gets much harder. I am rational enough to know that there are things I should be doing now to combat that. And at the age of 40, time is running out to get started and build a foundation.

One year ago today I went out for my first run/walk. I covered 1.9 miles in 27 minutes (that’s about a 14 minute mile). It wasn’t my first walk or even my first attempt at running, but it was the start of a new commitment. Today I ran 5.3 miles in 60 minutes (that’s about an 11 min mile). It isn’t all about the distance and it doesn’t have to be an hour, but it’s been fun to push my limits a bit to see what I’m actually capable of.  I’m most proud of the consistency as I have run almost every week, usually 2 or 3 times a week.

We have also started a second round of P90X, doing the strength training workouts mainly. It took us a week to get back into the rhythm, that month off really made more of a difference than I expected, but we are still further along than when we first started it in January.

I’m running for my health, for the discipline, for the sense of accomplishment. I’m running because I can.

I liked this book. The information seemed sound and encouraging in an area of finances too many of us ignore. The writing was well done. The pages were not overcrowded, but had headers and sidebar quotes, and tables and diagrams that all helped to keep interest in what can be a boring subject. They also provided just the right support to demonstrate the points, without getting too crowded.

The book starts with a great overview of financial responsibility and why we should shop for a mortgage and treat it seriously. He also talks about the downside of consumer debt and pulls in some very good descriptions of what was happening before and during the recent economic crisis.

It contains some sound advice – shop for what you can afford, not what you qualify for. Buy on the total price, not the monthly payment. Pay attention and be in charge of the largest debt most people will ever have. This book was very timely as we are thinking of refinancing. We’ll definitely put the principles of this book and the tools at mindyourownmortgage.com to work.

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Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from Thomas Nelson Publishers as part of their BookSneeze.com book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

First good thing: No cars on the road while we’re cycling. But, that isn’t as perfect as it sounds. First, they had to allow some traffic so at times in Manhattan we were bunched up and waiting while they let traffic through a particularly busy intersection.

Plus, there are some places that just can’t handle the traffic of so many bicyclists at once, so we ended up walking. A prime example was the entrance to Central Park.  We walked at least half a mile, maybe more and stood around a lot as well. We got through Manhattan and were in the Bronx before we felt like we were really riding our bicycles.

Ah, the Bronx. It is a 5 Borough ride, so we had to hit all 5 boroughs. But we weren’t eager to spend too much time in the Bronx. We looked at the map and saw that we were only there for a short bit. Actually riding it was pretty funny. As I said, coming off the Madison Ave bridge was the first time we felt we had some space and had actually started riding. They had a rest stop with some folks playing the drums but we opted to keep moving. So, we rounded the corner after the rest stop and we were headed back into Manhattan already!

In Manhattan we got to ride on the FDR down to the Queensborough bridge. That was pretty cool. We ended up walking on the exit and then slowly made our way up and over the bridge. Then braked all the way down the other side.

Coolest parts – the FDR and the Belt Parkway in Brooklyn where we hit speeds of 15 or 16 mph, passing some but mostly just being able to move. The Belt was great because the wind coming off the water was so cool if felt like air conditioning!

Worst parts – trying to maneuver between so many people and keep some momentum going up the hills as we entered the bridges. Neither of us fell or ran into anyone, but we had some close calls.

Best part of the worst part is that my weakest point is slow riding. Keeping my balance, steering in tight quarters, and starting and stopping. I got a lot of practice at that today and I saw a lot of improvement.

Downside – my upper body is much more sore than my legs. Staying forward and keeping hands on the brakes almost the entire time was tough. I also kept my left foot unclipped much of the time as it was truly stop and go traffic. My right foot went to sleep a few times but otherwise, I handled that well.

I did fall – but not until the very end. As we were entering the festival area I prepared to stop but the bike tilted to the right instead of the left and the right foot wasn’t unclipped yet. Now I have a goose egg and scrape that looks almost exactly like my injury from a ride (or two) last year.  But I’m skilled at falling now. I got back up quickly and kept going (walking).

Timeline:

Up at 5, out of the hotel before 6, at the ferry by 6:30, waited in line and got onto the ferry by 7:00. (Port-o-san at the ferry had no paper.) Cold ride on the ferry (perhaps a jacket just for that part of the trip if we do this again.) Off the ferry and in place at the end of the crowd at the starting line by 7:30. (Port-o-san here had plenty of paper.) Still standing in line at 8:00. Still standing at the same spot in line at 8:45, talking to a guy from Fayetteville who had lived in Austin and now lived around the block from Trinity Church where we were standing. Started walking at 9:08. Walked 3 or 4 blocks and actually got on our bicycle. Somewhere about here we crossed some invisible starting line. We rode for a few block, and stopped at an intersection for pedestrians to cross. We rode a few more blocks and stopped again for more pedestrians. We eventually got to Central Park where we stopped and stood and walked for quite awhile.

We biked slowly (between 5 and 10 mph) with a few stretches of 12 mph through Central Park. We got to uptown and stood in line for quite awhile as traffic was going down 5th or 6th Avenue and we had to wait for the light. A few lights later we got through and were moving over the Madison Ave bridge into the Bronx. On the FDR we hit 16 mph and it was fun. Anthony set the pace and I was chasing him through the crowd. Much of it was in the shade which was nice as it was getting close to 90 by now.

We walked again at the exit to the Queensborough Bridge. We had gone 14 miles in 1.45 hours. We made it over the bridge (trying not to run over people on the way up, and sitting on the brakes all the way down. Rest stop here to get more water and listen to the steel drum band! Also reapplied sunscreen. Note to bike ride organizers – the best goody I’ve gotten from a bike ride is a small bandaid carrier and a single-application container of sunscreen. Both got used today. That wasn’t from the New York Ride, though, we got it at one last year.

We actually rolled well through Queens and Brooklyn, it was fun setting the pace knowing Anthony was keeping up with me. We passed a lot of people but still got to see the sights. Some cool plans for the Brooklyn Bridgeway (or whatever that place is going to be called). The Belt Parkway was pretty flat but long and sunny with no breeze for much of it. I stopped us for an upper body stretch and refuel. About here we started differing in mileage from the official posts. We said 24, they said closer to 30. Maybe they redirected us somewhere. Anyway, the stop and go had been rougher on me than a regular hilly ride in NC, so I wasn’t complaining.

Wonderful right along the short as we approached the Verazzano Bridge. Anthony almost took out a kid who rode is bike right across our paths. But we dodged successfully and kept going. The bridge was long but not as bad as some hills we’ve conquered before. I kept going, while A stopped to get a picture. That means he missed my fall as we entered the festival right at the bottom of the bridge. We caught up with each other much easier than expected and grabbed a hotdog and drink. The last 3 miles to the Staten Island Ferry were tough – the body had sort of stopped while we ate so the sit bones and legs were sore and unhappy. But we made it. We found the truck – yay! And we didn’t have a ticket – yay! (Not that we should have, but it’s been a consistent experience in NYC for me.)

Got it all packed back in and then on to showers and a rest before dinner. Having a hotel and parking on Staten Island and taking the ferry in the morning was definitely the right way to go!

General thoughts – 32,000 sounds like a lot of people but somehow I thought we’d be able to get away from some of the crowd. While I did handle the start and stop way better than I feared, we were ALWAYS in the middle of a huge crowd of people with fairly limited maneuverability. The stop and go through Manhattan was enervating, a rough way to start a ride. I am really glad we did it and learned a lot if we were to do it again, but (at least right now) I’m not excited enough to do it again.

This book is written to provide thoughtful advice and alternative options to what the world provides. It is suitable for women at college age or above, and has helpful information for mothers of younger girls. She lays it out there in a few examples, never beyond acceptable, but it is probably not useful for younger girls to read those details, protect their thought-life. The book is also very useful for women of all ages. Given the bombardment of the media and the feminist messages, I believe we all need some corrective reminders of what scripture says and what is truly wise.

The structure is identifying contrasts between the wild girl and the wise girl. The writing is clear and keeps the subject interesting. The chapters are short enough to allow for some real contemplation of what is being discussed, and there is a companion website with questions that can be used by an individual or in a group to spur deeper thought.

I will be recommending this book to friends. I even thought that I’d love to share it with my nephews so they can see the truth behind the wild girls no matter how fun they may look, and really appreciate the wise girls of the world.

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Disclaimer – I did receive a free copy of this book to review. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own.

The night before, my mom and my aunt came over, along with her husband and 2 step grand-children ages 5 and 8. There was much laughter, jicama and humus (or is that hicama and jumus?), the movie Cars on the big screen, flames in the fire-pit and tiki torches by the patio, wine and Guiness, and the usual refusals to go to sleep at a decent hour.

The next morning we tempted everyone out of bed with bacon on the grill (the good news – no bacon smell in the house 2 days later, the bad news – no bacon smell in the house that morning), French toast with powdered sugar, fresh strawberries, eggs cooked to order, and lots of coffee. We loaded the dishwasher, packed up some of the stuff, and headed out!

We parked and waited in line to buy tickets (the cash line moves faster than the credit line, just a suggestion). First thing in the gate was a booth from the Raptor Center so we got to see a hawk and owl. Then the boys got to do a bungee/trampoline thing. By now we’d missed the opening ceremonies (pretty cool if you get a chance to see them) so we headed off to get something to drink for the wee one. I had forgotten to pack water bottles as planned. I bought my first haggis pocket of the day (yum!).

We got passports for the kids and had them start working around the clan tents getting the passports stamped. We were briefly stumped by the Clan Donnachaidh (or something like that) but were happy to see Duncan on the same banner. Then it was time to walk back toward the entrance to the rock music tent where Albannach was playing. The music was loud and rowdy but wonderful! The 5 year old loved all the drum work.

As that performance ended we began the walk back toward the field to see the massed pipe bands. This is a wonderful display, but we missed it this year. We got to the field after the crowds had thinned out a bit, in time to see a bit of the Heavy stone Lift & Carry and the flag retirement ceremony. This went well until the 8 year old made the 5 year old think about how sad it was the flags were burning and made him cry. We quickly left the field and went in search of some distraction. The boys were interested in the pieces of the kilt uniform, especially the sporran (a purse that hangs around the waist, like a fanny pack but cooler). Due to our wandering and trying to chase down the boys, we also missed the sheep herding demonstration, a truly fascinating skill to watch (think Babe).

The boys’ parents still hadn’t arrived, it was getting close to time for Albannach to perform again but neither boy wanted to sit still for that again, so we headed to the car for lunch. We could hear the band from there and I made sandwiches for everyone, including the parents as they showed up with the baby (food works like a magnet every time).

We did pass a fairy a few times – the 5 year old was very well aware that it was just “a costume” but he let me call her a fairy anyway. (The Irn-Bru wagon is where you buy haggis pockets. And Irn-Bru, a softdrink.)

After lunch, the boys and their parents headed in to explore. We who had been with the boys headed to find a seat and listen to some traditional music and eat another haggis pocket. Then one more set with Albannach, no more haggis pockets (they sold out), and the boys were heading home, so we did too. Tired and happy and carrying 4 cans of haggis.