I'm back home in Arkansas for Christmas break and It's nice. I missed my family and friends and it's good to be back for a while : )

I've had some free time so I finished Christmas shopping and finished "The Four Love" by C.S. Lewis. I won't put an entire review of the book on this blog but I will say that it changed the way that I look at love and the relationships that I have with people. This book really caused me to read, focus, and re-read (and pull out the dictionary a few times). I'd recommend "The Four Loves" to absolutely anyone. C.S. Lewis categorizes love into four parts. Affection, Friendship, Eros, and Charity. Notice, Endure, Smile, Enjoy, and Appreciate (the title of this blog) are the five stages of Affection. I think I need to let what I've read sink in a little before I say too much about the book but if you've ever thought about love in any form, please read "The Four Loves".

I'm extremely tired so I'll leave you with one of my favorite quotes from the book..

"No sooner do we believe that God loves us than there is an impulse to believe that He does so, not because He is Love, but because we are intrinsically lovable".

Ok.. I've got to include one more quote because it really opened my eyes.

"There is no safe investment. To love at all is to be vulnerable. Love anything, and your heart will certainly be wrung and possibly broken. If you want to make sure of keeping in intact, you must give your heart to no one, not even to an animal. Wrap it carefully round with hobbies and little luxuries; avoid all entanglements; lock it up safe in the casket or coffin of your selfishness. But in that casket - safe, dark, motionless, airless - it will change. it will not be broken; it will become unbreakable, impenetrable, irredeemable. The alternative to tragedy, or at least to the risk of tragedy, is damnation. the only place outside Heaven where you can be perfectly safe from all the dangers and perturbations of love is Hell".

Goodnight.

-Bobby