New Year, New Project

Hi all! Did you miss me? I know last year I was sketchy. I had so many big plans, and they all fell through. I went manic for the first 6 months of the year, and then had to pick up the pieces of my life for a while. Then, I found a wonderful man, and am now planning a wedding. Yay!

I have only one reading project this year, and because I now know that Real Life will always get in the way at SOME point, I will not recruit others, but make it a personal project which I can put down and take up at any time. Other than that, I just joined a book club which reads one non-fiction and one fiction book per month. 

Currently reading: 

New Month, New Plan

Ok, I totally dropped the ball on The Unwinding. I know I did. And I'm way behind on my Bible reading. But, as you know from my last post, I have my excuses. Real life does get in the way sometimes. I wasn't entirely honest in my last post when I said everything was going normally besides my dad's surgery. I also broke up with my boyfriend during that time. We just got tired of arguing about politics, and we realized we'd never been in love...so what's the point? And thus ends that era in my life. I've started online dating and met some interesting people. Interesting. Indeed. And then when I thought everything was settled down to start reading again, well, I was intimidated by being behind on my own goals. So here's what I'm going to do. I'm going to say thank you to everyone who participated in The Unwinding discussion, and I'm sorry I dropped the ball. But I'm going to start over with Strangers in Their Own Land, and now that I'm not behind on the reading, I'm positive I can get this blogging ball rolling again. :)

I'm Back! You were worried, weren't you?

Hey all! Sorry I disappeared from my blog for a while. My dad was having carotid-subclavian bypass surgery and I was helping him out. He's doing great now, so it's back to the grind. Unfortunately I totally missed all discussion of Exodus - which I haven't even started yet. I'll read that at the same time as starting Leviticus, though, so that I stay on schedule. Just need to put a fire under my butt and catch up. I'm supposed to post my questions for The Unwinding Part II on Monday the 6th, I MIGHT be able to get that far by then, but no promises. I might be a couple of days late. But I'll catch up! 

The Unwinding Part 1 Discussion Post

The Unwinding is the first book for my discussion of 6 books to explain Trump's win, and this is the first of three discussion posts. 

Jacob earns Rachel as his wife

After Jacob steals Esau's blessing, he flees Esau to journey to the land of his maternal uncle Laban. At a well, Jacob sees and falls in love with Rachel, Laban's daughter. He asks Laban for Rachel as a wife, offering to work for Laban for seven years in order to earn Rachel. After the seven years are up, he has a wedding, and only discovers after the consummation that he had been tricked into marrying Leah, the older (and less attractive) sister of Rachel. Laban points out that Leah is the older, and should be married first, so Jacob offers to work for another seven years for Rachel. After his marriage to Rachel, Jacob fathers several sons by Leah, a couple by Leah's servant woman, and a copule by Rachel's servant woman. Finally Rachel bears Joseph (Jacob's favorite son) and Ben. 

The story of Jacob and Esau

After God's test of Abraham in the sacrifice of Isaac, Sarah dies, Isaac marries Rebekah, and Abraham dies. Following these events comes the story of Jacob and Esau. The story almost ignores Isaac's life as an adult, and skips on to his sons Jacob and Esau. 

Abraham's offering of Isaac

Finally, God gave Sarah the promised son, Isaac. Due to her love of Isaac and her jealousy of Hagar and Ishmael she expelled the two. Abraham was loathe to abandon Ishmael to the elements, but God promised to take care of Ishmael, and that he would be the father of of a nation, so Abraham trusted God and did what he was told.