A long overdue book post

Sometimes I think my book posts are like a five-year-old gossip magazine. I can't tell most people anything they don't already know. I really am late to a lot of parties.

Last night I finished the second book in Margaret Young and Darius Gray's Standing on the Promises series, "Bound for Canaan." This is a book that I meant to read forever. I read the first one as soon as it came out and gave copies away as gifts.

Specifically, I remember getting one for the family who scooped me up at church in Raleigh with a newly-placed, five-day-old baby A in my arms and found me places to stay within their ward for 11 whole days while I waited for interstate compact papers to clear. They had several adopted African American children. They were awesome and deserved a whole lot more than a book, but it was the best I could do.

And then, you know, I had two little kids and not a lot of reading got done for a very long time.

Not that I have more time now, but at least I can usually be reasonably sure that nothing really horrible is happening while I neglect the children -- nothing beyond too many videogames or a nine-hour Pink Panther marathon, that is.

Back to the matter at hand. Can you see why I am late to everything? No focus, I tell you.

This was a hard book, and a wonderful book. It documents the beginnings of the policy that prevented Black members of the LDS church from holding the priesthood, and how that affected individual lives of those members at that time.

It also resoundingly affirms those members' determined faith and provided a great deal of insight for me. By the end, I was all teary and at the same time trying to figure out how I can get another baby boy so I can name him after the absolutely amazing Elijah Abel. (Honestly, if I had as many children as I have cool names for them I would be in serious bad trouble!)

I'm trying to figure out when my kids will be ready for these books. I am so grateful to have them. I really hope they will help my boys understand the way they have helped me. The careful documentation gives them so much credibility, and I know my fact-focused S will really appreciate that someday. ("My stories have to be real," he said to me once.)

Thumbs up from the latecomer's corner.