Thankful Thursday (Vol. 1): The Gift of Reading

This week, I am feeling especially blessed by the gift of reading! As the kids and I have spent ample time sorting through our collection of children’s books, dividing them into “keepers”, “freecyclers” and “Paperback Swappers”, I have been pleasantly overwhelmed by just what a treasure trove of children’s books we have. I have also thoroughly enjoyed finding forgotten gems amongst the piles.

Luke and Nina have shared my excitement! It has been a usual scene this week to find a pile of books missing here, or a box half-emptied there, only to discover, a few minutes later, Luke and Nina hiding themselves among the missing books, pouring over one after another after another... As a matter of fact, this morning, the first thing Luke did upon waking was abscond with a book from the sorting pile.  I could not have been happier than to witness my little literature (and, admittedly, fluff) lover make this his first activity choice of the morning reading a book.  And, I was happier still when, just moments afterward, he began "reading" the book to Nina!  Not only was he pretending to read by using the picture cues, but he was occasionally sounding out a word here and there.  Yes, our little man – with great thanks to Bob Books that I borrowed from the library for my tutoring students – has started to dabble in "real" reading, concentrating on sounding out consonant-vowel-consonant words

So it is that this morning I find myself praising God for blessing us with ample access to great books – from our own stacks to those at our local library – and, likewise, for granting us many hours to snuggle and enjoy them. I recognize many families do not have such resources and time and pray that changes so that children able to enjoy a love for reading. As such, I am also grateful for opportunities we have to share our wealth, by passing some of our treasure trove of books along through freecycle, paperback swap and donations, as well as through lending ones we aren’t ready to part permanently with yet to tutoring students, friends and family alike. God’s Word, of course, is prime among all the books we treasure, but the rest are pretty enriching, too. Thank you, God, for giving us such a wealth of words and pictures to entertain and enlighten us!

To be enriched by reading about others' blessings this week, check out the links at Grace Alone.