Book Report! 3 Cups of Tea

About a month after I moved out here, I finally lit a fire and started meeting some awesome girls and making some amazing friends.

One of those friends (go team Harris!) started a book club and I happily joined!

So far, we have read:

Freedom, by Johnathan Franzen

Whatever you do... don't. read. this. book. A chronicle of the most agonizingly disgusting humans (and not in a fun, morbid curiosity way) in one long whine-fest of approximate 416 pages.

If nothing else - it gave us a lot to talk about.

Three Cups of Tea, Greg Mortenson, David Oliver Relin

If Freedom was all about the inability of the American people to be grateful for the blessings that they have, Three Cups of Tea was the antidote.

While the book dragged a bit in places, it was an amazing testament to the power of selflessness.

Plot: Greg Mortenson, after a failed attempt to summit K2, develops a burning passion for building schools in the poorest villages in Pakistan. His intent: To keep boys from being shuttled off to the well-structured extremist Islam schools while girls are left without education or to the failing Pakistani education system.

Key Message: Fight terrorism with education. Fight ignorance with love. Fight apathy with passion. If I took nothing else away from this book, I took away the knowledge that not all of Islam is radical and that the most rational way to fight the spread of radical Islam is to educate the next generation BEFORE they become terrorists.

Likes:

• The eye opener of how much money we, as a culture, spend on meaningless objects.
• The amazing descriptions of the Pakistani mountains
• The sense of passion that Greg oozes through every page

Dislikes:

• The book reads in fits and starts. It's really exciting! ... then you want to fall asleep.
• Greg's inability to see around his passion at times, to the detriment of his family and the organization that is funding the school projects.

All in all - a great, easy read! We're on to Under the Banner of Heaven, which has been a really interesting follow up as both of these books speak a huge lesson in the importance of teaching rational thought from a young age.

The biggest similarity between the two books? Indoctrination in place of education yields frightening results.

***

That's it for library hour! I'm planning to blog at Chute Assis once a week or so as my life gets crazier and crazier - but want to keep you all updated and tell you how much I miss my friends and adopted families all over the United States.

Blessings to you all!

I'M BACK! (again)

I got a nice long letter from a dear friend yesterday who very gently asked me...
"Where the *F* did you go!?"

I've been here! And a total blog bum at ChuteAssis because I've been building Finding Your ZenPulse! My business is slowly growing and my stress + joy levels growing right along with it. :)

Updates:

1. We're not pregnant! Hooray! (although I'm starting to put in a good word for a dog...)

2. We have friends! Had about 6 friends over for the Superbowl to watch the Packers KICK some Steeler ASS and felt so blessed to have built such a fun group of people to surround ourselves with.

WhatRunsLori was there with her new toy... I need one.

3. I joined an awesome book club with a really smart, really fun group of girls as well. We're reading Three Cups of Tea this month and I'll be sure to review it when I'm done with the book! (Book Club is Sunday. Need to finish it soon...)

3. I am SORE. Found an amazing lifting partner and business colleague, so Tuesdays/Wednesdays are usually recovery from Monday's lift. Am teaching spinning Tues through Fri (twice on Wed) and am loving the increase in endurance and power!

4. I am up to about 15 training and teaching hours a week ... up from 3 hours/week in December. We're growing like a weed over at ZenPulse!

5. I made some amazing cookies last week.

6. Last - but not least! - I got a SMART PHONE!

It is smarter than me. I am ok with that.

Love and miss you all!

Please drop me a line, drop by ZenPulse on Facebook or Twitter, or drop it like it's hot! (groan...)