Friday Book Club: May Books

**For those of you looking for a Costa Rica update, on you're going to love next week!  I'll kick it off on Monday, so stay tuned!**

Another month has come and gone and here's another Friday Book Club...where does the time go??  Sticking with my year-long goal of two books a month, here are my reviews for May:  Through My Eyes and Thirty Things Every Woman Should Have And Know By The Time She's Thirty!  (If you missed any of the others, click here to catch up.)

Through My Eyes by Tim Tebow (with Nathan Whitaker)

My parents got me this book for Christmas, and since you have read before about how much I love Tim Tebow, I was excited to read it.  Fair warning--if you're not a football person, you are not going to like this.  He talks a lot about play calls and certain teammates and goes through each game during his time at Florida.  For someone who is crazy about college football like me and remembers several of those games, it was pretty fun to read.

Two things I took away from this book.  First, one thing that Tebow does not get enough credit for was how hard he works.  He's the get there early, stay late, if everyone else does 10 reps I'll do 15 kind of guy.  This, of course, made me like him even more.  Second, I'm pretty sure we're soul mates.  We both grew up in the country, we both get carsick on rollercoasters and airplanes, we both love college football, Jesus and our mamas.  How do I meet him??  Anyone?  ANYONE?

And, as I always do, I figured I'd share a few of my favorite quotes from the book:

"People often seem to think that when you're following the Lord and trying to do His will, your path will always be clear, the decisions smooth and easy, and life will be lived happily ever after and all that.  Sometimes that may be true, but I've found that more often, it's not."

"I'm not sure God is into who wins or loses--He probably is more concerned with what you do in the process and what you will do with either result, to glorify Him and change the world by hopefully impacting one life."

(Discussing the "Those who wait for the Lord will gain new strength" part of Isaiah 40:31):  "I wasn't real good at the 'wait for the Lord' part.  You would think that when we stop and take a look at all He has done since the beginning of time and throughout the universe--let anone in my life--it would be easy to 'wait.'  It would be easy to understand that His timign should be our timing and that ultimately everything He does is for our benefit and our god--even though the time it may not seem so and we may not understand.  God's timing, God's will.  In my better moments, I knew that."

"Somewhere he is out there, training while I am not. One day, when we meet, he will win."

(Discussing Chariots of Fire quote, "I believe God made me for a purpose, but he also made me fast.  And when I run I feel his pleasure."):  I always thought that since God gave these gifts to me, my rule in that exchange was to play as hard as I could and continue giving Him the honor and glory for it.  To me what would be the very best way of thanking Him for the ability.  If I didn't work as hard as I knew I could, then I think it would be a little bit like saying, 'God, thanks for giving me this ability, but I don't really care about it.  I'm goign to do something else, and I'm not going to work quite as hard."

Thirty Things Every Woman Should Have And Know By The Time She's Thirty (Paula Redman Satran)

I bought this book for a beach read in Costa Rica....but I loved it so much that I was halfway done with it just on the flight to Houston, so I had to make myself stop and save at least some of it for the beach!  The book is based on the popular list by Pamela Satran of 30 things every woman should have and know by the time she is thirty.  Things like knowing where to go when your soul needs soothing, having a set of screwdrivers, a cordless drill and a black lace bra, and knowing believing that you deserve happiness. Different famous people wrote about each list item including Katie Couric, Suze Orman, Maya Angelou and Angie Harman.  As always, a few of my favorite quotes:

There's no cheating life.  I don't care if you're rich.  I don't care if you havfe the connections.  I don't care if you're beautiful.  You can't rely on others to carry you where you want to go.  Build your own path, follow your own dreams, and I promise you will discoer how powerful you truly are.  ~Rachel Roy

Why should you wait for a knight in shining armour to give you a ride when you can afford to buy the horse yourself?  If you hold out too long, you might just miss the sunset.  ~Glamour Editors

Life is no ta fairy tale; it's a parade of events that help you accrue wisdom and courage and faith.  ~Fiona Maazel

Stay on your own mat. ~Portia de Rossi (on not comparing yourself to others--in yoga or in life)

Life isn't a contest--beauty, popularity, or otherwise.  And there's happiness to go around for all of us.  ~Glamour Editors

Having great girlfriends is better than having a bad boyfriend. ~Lisa Ling

So.....because the big 3-0 is about a year and a half away for me, I've decided to start my own little series.  First off, over the next year and a half I plan to write a blog on each of the book's list items.  Second (and more exciting for me!), I am working on my own list of the thirty things every woman should know and have by the time she's 30.  I've got a pretty good start on it, and I'm excited to keep working on it.  So stay tuned for that!  And ladies--check out this book.  You'll love it!