Feburary: Sustain

How did I do this month?

Connection:
Book club is one of my favorite connections! It has it all; friends, discussion, food and books! This month we discussed Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption. Our discussion mostly centered around book-to-movie adaptations.

I attended a training for Prime Time Family Reading Time. I've written a lot about this program in this blog - I absolutely love it! I am excited that I will be involved in a program this spring. Also, I enjoyed meeting up with people I had known in New Orleans at this training!

I also had a night out with my friend Susan!

Family:
Youngest son: This month my youngest and I read Who Is Sonia Sotomayor? by Megan Stine together over 2 days! He also taught me how to play the game Exploding Kittens. And there was a Friday night that we got to go out to dinner and play Rock Band on the Xbox. 

Oldest son: When a friend got sick, I roped my son into going to the theater with me! First we went to a fairly fancy restaurant in Detroit, Grey Ghost and then we went to the Fisher Theatre to see Finding Neverland. He may have enjoyed the candy at the theater most of all!

Husband: We got in a date night now that youth group has re-started at church on Sunday nights.

Extended Family: I got in a visit to my sister in Traverse City and it was a great visit "Up North." I had a really great time visiting and also walking across the frozen Grand Traverse Bay with my oldest nephew.

Faith: I kept up reading 29 chapter this month in Acts and Romans and purposefully prayed each day. I also started a Lent Photo-A-Day challenge on Instagram.

Health: I exercised 30 hours in a month with 28 days, yea! I did weights at least twice a week. I'd like to do weights at least 3 times a week next month and move up from my little 5lbs!

Intellect: 
I got to take a tour of the Reuther Library at Wayne State and saw tons of memorabilia as part of Wayne State's 150th Year celebration.

Books I read this month

Born a Crime: Stories From a South African Childhood by Trevor Noah.  Wow, this book was eye-opening. Trevor Noah tells about his childhood in the 80's & 90's in South Africa as apartheid was ending. His story is also made different from others by his experience of having a black mother and white father. Noah infuses much humor as he tells tales of growing up as well as adding commentary on apartheid, racism and domestic violence. I thoroughly enjoyed listening to the audio book which was narrated by Noah himself and I also learned more about the experiences of others that happened in my lifetime but were half a world away.

Hunger Point by Jillian Medof. Ugh, this book was a disturbing and dysfunctional look at a family's experience with anorexia and suicide.

The Ship of the Dead by Rick Riordan. Listened to with my kids. As the Magnus Chase (and Percy Jackson) saga gets drawn out, there were parts of this book and series that I really enjoyed. I appreciate that this series has the most diverse characters with attention to Muslim and transgender characters.

Cocoa Beach by Beatriz Williams. I loved this book right up to the last sentence. Williams seamlessly alternates between 1917 WWI France and 1922 bootlegging Florida with a few flashbacks to early 1900's NYC. Virginia became an ambulance driver during the war and fell in love with a man who may not be what he seems. This is further complicated by memories of her early years when she witnessed the murder of her mother. My only complaint is that after things are wrapped up in the end, two characters come to the door needing help and I was confused as to whether I should know how they are. By reading other reviews I can see they are characters from another book which I am now curious to read!