Kisses From Katie

Have you ever found yourself so engrossed in a book that it felt like it was ... speaking to your soul? You connect with it so much you can actually feel yourself among the pages, playing out a role. Following the actions and comings and goings of the characters/people -- believing what they believe.

A few weeks ago, I picked up Kisses from Katie. Within a few pages, I was borderline obsessed with this story. Based on real events, A woman named Katie follows a calling from God, and leaves everything familiar for Uganda. Originally, she sets out to be a teacher, and simply help out the community in any way she can.

She quickly finds a love for the children -- a deep-rooted, can only be explained as God, kind of love for these sweet and innocent little people whose lives have been wrecked and ravaged by horrible things: war, poverty, AIDs, malnutrition, lack of clean water, and more. She takes in one girl to foster, loving her as only a mother can. As time progresses, she takes in more and more little girls - 13 in all. She feeds them, worships with them, teaches them, and shows them Christ's love and adoration. She teaches them their worth, and their importance, in a world that tells young girls otherwise.

The story really hit a spot with me. For a long time, I've thought a lot about fostering, and have been praying about it -- to see if its something in my head, or if it's really God calling me to it. And to see someone so young, so unsettled in life just know that this is what she was supposed to be doing, its so inspiring. The book made me laugh. It made me cry. And more than anything, it made me think.

But to be honest, reading a book like that makes it hard to follow up with something else to read. And that's exactly where I find myself lately -- so enthralled by Kisses from Katie, that I am now having a hard time finding anything that will suck me in as hard, or even half as hard. I guess that can be a good thing -- just means I really really enjoyed the book. But now, reading anything else is just ... sort of ... falling short.

If you haven't read Kisses from Katie, seriously consider it. If you have, read it again. I know I plan to in the near future.

What have you been reading lately? Anything that just sucked you in so hard that you know I need to read it?!