I am sad to say the end is near when it comes to brick and mortar book stores. Not all of them will close of course, but we’re going to be continually surprised to see what seemed like rock-solid establishments break down and cut their losses. It’s all moving much faster than any of us anticipated. The digital firestorm is raging at an incomprehensible speed.

“Yes Ava…when you were really little we went to this place called Blockbuster and rented movies to watch. You don’t remember it?”

“But why wouldn’t we just get the movie on NetFlix, or Hulu, or Amazon, or iTunes?”

“It’s just how it used to work – we would drive to the video store and see what they had on the shelves and pick something out. If they were all out of a movie you wanted to see then you would find something else. Then, a couple of days later you would return the movie to the video store or else you would have to pay expensive late fees for not returning it on time.”

“What do you mean ‘If they were all out of a movie’? They never run out of movies online.”

“I know baby…it was a different time. And it didn’t really bother us when they were out of a movie. It’s just different now.”

A few months ago, e-books outsold paper books for the first time. In April, Amazon sold 105 e-books for every 100 paper books and the gap is growing wider and wider. That’s not counting the massive numbers of digital books sold through the iBook store for Apple’s iPhone and iPad. Half of the last dozen books I’ve purchased personally have been for the iPad or e-books for the computer.

It’s strange, I remember skipping school to attend the grand opening of the Border’s book store up the street from my house. It was even stranger stepping into that same Border’s a couple of months ago and looking at the prices of shelving units and coffee supplies from the cafe. Everything must go…and everything did. To think of how packed that place was every single night of the week 8-10 years ago and now it’s closed. And I helped it close.

It’s just easier most of the time. A few weeks back I checked 3 different local bookstores searching for a copy of Dallas Willard’s The Divine Conspiracy for a message I was working on. No luck. It was an epiphany when I finally thought, What the heck am I doing? I can just download it.

Clearly there are benefits to e-books; environmental impact, convenience, price, and you can store a thousand of them on a Kindle or an iPad. But you also lose so many great things. That new book smell…heck…even that used book smell. Not to mention the experience of just going to a bookstore and holding it in your hand to see if it’s going to be a great read. But things are not just changing…they’ve changed.

Here are a few of my recent book buys that I’d have to recommend:

Bossypants by Tina Fey

- Hilarious memoir
- Ultra sarcastic and witty
- Self-deprecating to the max
- Interesting to make connections with her life experiences
- Easy to pick up and just read a quick chapter
- Hard to only read just a chapter at a time
- Actually contains some decent advice on being a boss
- Some foul language, but not so much to be off-putting
- Has man arms on the cover…so creepy
- Bought this one on the iPad

The Thank You Economy
by Gary Vaynerchuk

- I love this guy
- Entrepreneurial, innovative, genius
- Good for anyone who works with customers
- Customers can be defined in many ways
- Bridges the gap between technology and front-porch thinking
- Helps understand why social media is a good thing for everyone
- Filled with ideas that could change the way the world works
- An absolute must read for any business owner
- I got excited every time I read this book – bought it for iPad

The Priest’s Graveyard by Ted Dekker

- Even better than the last Ted Dekker book I said was good
- I devoured this book on the plane ride to California
- Eyes sore and blurry, but I just couldn’t stop reading
- A real thriller based around “acts of justice”
- Questions what true morality really is
- Filled with awesome vigilante-ness
- Think “Dexter”…only a different version
- Fantastic plot twists/confusion followed by “Aha!” moments
- If you’re looking for a good story to get wrapped up in…
- I bought this one in the good ole’ hardback version

So who has made the shift from paper to e-books?

If you have shifted, what are you reading them on…Kindle? iPad? Something else?

…the wonderful surgeon of knees.

Well, the time has come. Today at 11:15, the doctor will slice into my knee deeper than the grammar police on a blog post. I’ll be under full Anesthesia so who knows what kind of fun times we’ll have.

Anyone have any funny or interesting surgery stories? I’d love to wake up and read them.

Do any of you remember (or maybe you even purchased) those diapers that looked like jeans last year? I thought those things were totally ridiculous. Granted, if my wife said she wanted to buy some of them for Finn at the time I’d have probably went along with it…but I still thought they were stupid. I didn’t really get the concept of why you would want a custom printed diaper when it’s covered up 99% of the time.

Then a couple of things happened that shifted the way I think about those diapers:

#1 – Finn began to hate pants. He despises wearing shoes, loathes socks, and seems to have his pants off 99% of the time. What can I say? He’s a free bird. He gets it from his mama.

#2 – I found out that those custom printed jean diapers were not just for looks…they were for a cause.

A little while back, I was contacted about becoming an ambassador for the Huggies® Every Little Bottom Program. They wanted me to be one of 5 bloggers in the U.S. who would contribute to the spread of information about the diaper need in America. I’d been looking for an opportunity to be called an ambassador all my life, so I decided I should do it.

Actually, I decided to help out when I saw the research study that had taken place and thought about my own kids. Seeing that 1 in 3 moms in the United States struggles in some way to diaper their child hit a little too close to home. We’ve struggled. Sometimes the excess is there and we don’t even think twice about buying diapers, but I’ve also been in the position where I’ve skimped on other stuff we need to buy the diapers that we needed even more. We’re rich by most standards, but growing up in a home where the electricity wasn’t always on helps me to feel the burden of those parents who truly have to fight for the most basic necessities. The kicker – the reason I really decided to help with this – finding out that 1 in 17 parents have actually REUSED a soiled diaper.

Say what? Cleaning out an old disposable and putting it back on your child? I can’t even imagine.

It was pretty cool to discover that Huggies donated 22.5 million diapers to parents in need last year. This year they are going to match that and want to go above and beyond. As a pastor, I’ve seen firsthand many mothers who cannot find a way to buy diapers. This initiative helps to alleviate some of that burden by partnering with local food banks and holding diaper drives all around the country.

My goal right now is simply to get you to read more about this Huggies® Every Little Bottom Program and see if there is something that calls you to get involved somehow.

I’ll be posting more about this dealio over the coming months, but be sure to check out the posts from…well…you know…the other mom bloggers who have partnered with the Huggies® Every Little Bottom Program:

Sarah @ Whoorl.com

Emily @ Not That You Asked…

Stacie @ The Langs

Whitney @ Rookie Moms

Help us to cover their butts!
Ryan (the mom blogger)

Disclosure: I have partnered with the Huggies® brand to help promote the Huggies® Every Little Bottom program. I have been compensated for my time commitment to the program, which includes writing about it here. However, my opinions are entirely my own.