a quiet day and a bit of random

Today was (yet another) unusual day.  Jonah and Noah had the opportunity to go to work with their dad, and Graham and Drew worked from ten till two.  So I had complete quiet for four hours.

Do you know how happy that makes my soul?  About as happy as all the voices that will soon fill my house again...seriously, I only enjoy the quiet for so long.  :)

If you're wondering what I did, here's a picture of what part of my morning looked like.

I had Bible study homework to do...I am so sad that this is the last week of our study on Spiritual gifts.  It's been awesome, and all of a sudden, the precept upon precept way of studying the Bible clicked in my brain and I love it.  It's so hard, and definitely not a fill in the blank way of studying, but it is so worth all the time and effort it takes.

I don't know if I'll ever go back to another way of studying the Bible.

I posted this on Instagram, and the caption read something about how much I love color.  I do.  It's all over my house and throughout all the things I love, like in my Bible, my journal, my planner, my notebook and my pens.  I also would like to take a moment to tell you how much I love the pens pictured above.  They are Paper Mate Flair pens.  They write like a very thin marker (a little more thick than the fine tipped Sharpie markers).  And they don't bleed through!

I love them and am always in search of pens that are colored, that I love.  These fit the bill.

I started writing in my new journal Monday, and I won't tell you how many pages are filled already.  I have been in the habit of writing out passages from the Bible.

And speaking of my Bible...this year I am in the market for a new one.  I get a new Bible every three years or so, and I begin to mark it up the day that I receive it.  I am torn on what I want this time, though...I definitely want a different translation, probably New American Standard, because (a) that is what my pastor preaches from and it's the closest translation to the original languages of the Bible, and (b) because this is what I use for my precept upon precept Bible studies.

But there's also this thing called a journal Bible that appeals to me~it's a single column Bible with a wide margin to write and journal in.  The whole reason why I love marking up my Bibles is because I want my kids to have them some day.  I just can't find it in the NASB translation.

I am also interested in a Hebrew and Greek word study Bible.  Because in studying the Bible the way we do at our homeschool group, we are always looking up certain words in Hebrew or Greek.  And so a lot of that work would already be done for me.

I'm torn.  See my dilemma?  I know~first world problems.  Most people don't even have one Bible, and I have multiple.  I love reading the Bible, though, and after all the markings I make, it eventually gets harder to read and I find myself skimming over verses.

So, in all the quiet of today, these are the things that have been going through my head.

But now the two older boys are home and doing their school work.  I am loving this cold weather!  I have pulled out my most beloved sweatshirt of all time, the one that's sixteen years old, and have been cozy in it all day.  I am hoping to enjoy a fire one of these days...

How's your day been?  Do you have a Bible that you love and can't part with?  What's your favorite translation?  Feel free to share the love and comment...I'm curious to find out what people like.

Oh!  Look what I pulled out last night.

My Christmas books!  I started reading  I'll Be Home For Christmas by Julie Cannon.  It's really good and I'm about to read some more.  :)  Love to all!