Welcome back to the #LMMLinkup. We are so honored to have a guest poster this week: Megan Weyebacher. I hope you enjoy her post that shares her personal reading journey.

Over the last year,  memories buried as deep as the Titanic surfaced to my frontal lobe and I wondered why.  The memories were of me when I was a child, in elementary school.  I remember living in such a small town that I could walk its distance in just a short time.

One place I frequented was our town’s small library.  The memory went on further to the many times I ran my fingers across the spines of my vertical friends, until I found what I was looking for.

I was about seven years old when I began reading chapter books.  Reading was never a challenge. I almost can’t remember not being able to.

It is a love and gift I had almost taken for granted until I was blessed with a child who was challenged most in this area.

Through this challenge I have had to woo my child gently and show her why reading is really important, and an amazing gift we have been given.

It was in my book-to-daughter wooing season that these memories began to come back to me.

After those days in the tiny town library, I grew even more.  About the age of ten, I began to pour over the musty smelling encyclopedias my parents owned.  I don’t know what it was about history and reading old stories and different methods, but I couldn’t get enough of them.

This played a huge role in my newfound love of essays, one of which was published in our local newspaper at the age of twelve. It was a historical nonfiction piece about Captain James Lawrence.

I dabbled in poetry, both reading and writing it.  It continues to be a love to this day, but my most favorite moments as a child were the times I climbed up in a tree or curled up in my bed reading Choose Your Own Adventure Stories, or my Little House on the Prairie series.

Preteen years were such a mix with these as well as Nancy Drew and The Boxcar Children.  Being an introvert, books took me to places yet let me make discoveries within the comfort of my own personal bubble.

As a teenager I transitioned into self-help books about the things I was going through.  I’ll never forget the first “teenagery” book I was gifted. Ten Time Bombs: Defusing The Most Explosive Pressures Teenagers Face by Ron Hutchcraft.

As a young married adult searching for answers and identity, I was elated when someone from a church I was visiting cared to give me a fiction book. Redeeming Love by Francine Rivers especially spoke to my hungry-for-love soul that only God can truly fill.

• Now that fiction plots are running through my veins once again as they did when I was young, stapling layers of notebook paper together, filled with story and sketch, I need more fiction in my life.
• Now that I am blogging and running a business, I need more of those kinds of books in my life.

But I can’t let only those things define me.  I can spread my literary wings and fly to other places too.

K. M. Weiland says, “Read widely, so you know what’s original and what isn’t.”

I can’t let comfort book zones define me and I can’t let pride keep me from swimming further from the shore.  There are more adventures to be discovered, more stories to drink in.

And honestly, I want the whole slew.  If God takes me across the globe then so be it, but there will never be a quicker way to travel than through a book.

Recently, I read a blog article by a friend that made me think:  “How A Christian Can Diversify Her Bookshelf,” by Carolina Cisneros. This post spoke to me particularly of the season I am in. A season of transition.

Gravity and faith have us well grounded, but the lessons we can learn from all sorts of books can take us to places and help us to grow in ways we never imagined.

Do you like to read too? Do you need to spread your literary wings and see if there’s more to discover?  Don’t ever think you have to fit in a box.  Boxes were made to carry books in, not the world within the books.

I challenge you this summer to pick a different genre than what you typically read.  If at first you don’t succeed, try and try again.  If you keep going you are bound to meet a new friend eventually.

Meghan bio:

Meghan Weyerbacher is all about slow and simple living so she can focus on the things that mater most: Faith, Family, Writing & Adventures. She sands down sentences for  living and is the host of #TeaAndWord Tuesday over at her blog, thebloggingwriter.com.  You can follow her on her social media : Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and Pinterest .

Now let’s

Last Week’s Top Clicked Post!

Sarah wrote a wonderful guest post for Leslie at her blog : Journey to Imperfect.  You can read the full post here.

This post reflected upon another important journey in our lives: our journey of faith and prayer. I really recommend reading it.

My Favorite Post of the Week

My top five life skills books for teens 

By Jennifer Lamber

My daughter is starting high school in just two months.  This post fits my personal reading journey needs. Thanks Jennifer! I high recommend it.

Remember to check out other hosts’ blogs to see which posts from last week were their favorites. Want to be the next to be featured! Just link up a post and if you are read the most, we will feature you. Also please make sure you link back to us so others will know about our link up and join in. We try to make it worth your while to linkup with us by promoting your posts across our social media networks. We also pin our most clicked and featured posts to our Pinterest Board each week!

Now, it is time to link up to the Literacy Musing Mondays hop!

Linkup Rules:

1. Include a link back or the blog hop button linked to this hop on your posts.
2. Link up the urls to your posts not to your blog.
3. Please remember this is a family-friendly linkup. Although we believe in the right for adults to read whatever they want to read, we prefer to read wholesome posts that feature literature that edify and uplift families. We reserve the right to delete any posts that are not family friendly. We love all kinds of literature and genres including family-friendly inspirational romances, fantasy, or science fiction. We do not welcome any posts that feature excessive violence, sexual content, or any cursing. This rule also applies to book review posts that feature books that are not family-friendly. These posts will be deleted without notice to the blogger or explanation. While we believe in the right for all adults to read whatever they want, we feel our linkup is for family-friendly posts only. Thank you for understanding.
4. We also want to be loving community by supporting one another. Please make a point to do this this week! Visit the two posts before yours and at least one other blogger’s post of your choice! I want to see lots of clicks on everyone’s posts. Remember it is also nice to follow them on their social media platforms like Twitter and Facebook.
5. Follow your hosts and co-hosts on their social media.
6. Tweet about the link up too.

Join the fun at #LMMLinkup this week! Share your family-friendly posts about all things literacy.

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Be sure to check out my Linkup Parties page for great blog hops that I join each week.