stuff i think

getting settled

Today was a work day at the house. We hit the ground running when we returned to IHOP...we pulled in around 7 pm on a Monday and I was getting email that night about meetings. I had several the next day and by Wednesday was at the Missions Base 12 hours/day. This all left Kelsey with setting up the house and homeschooling and a million other things. I took today (and will take tomorrow) off to try and set some order to the house.

In the midst of unpacking today, we took out a lot of boxes we'd put in storage. My favorites were the boxes of books. It was not hard to leave our furniture when we went to DC. It wasn't hard to leave most of our clothes, our favorite cd's or our dishes, either...but when Kelsey told me we could only take two boxes of books, I nearly croaked. I like books. I like reading them. I like handling them. I like them on shelves. I like them laying in stacks around the house.

I saw a few of my favorites today...a tattered commentary set, a few by E.W. Kenyon, and even my dog eared copy of Bowling Alone. If you have not read Bowling Alone, please quit leading until you do. Years ago, Ross Perot described the exodus of jobs from the US as making a "giant, sucking sound". Bowling Alone will explain, in part, the giant sucking sound emitting from our churches.

I also found a few books that made me shout out loud at the pages like this one. I read a fair amount of books by people who make me angry, because they make me think. I have little or no confidence in people who don't read things they disagree with. Seems a little intellecually fishy to me.

We added a piece of furniture to the living room/dining area as well. Sitting here on the dark hardwood floors, walls in a dusty green and couch covered in the requisite pottery barnesque khaki, is an old, heavy dresser looking thing. I'm not sure what to call it. It's banged up in places and scuffed on top to the point that I feel no need to put a coaster under my drink when I sit in my favorite chair next to it. Once I put a few books on it, this baby's going to be perfect.