The Warren & The World Vol 12, Issue 41

ByCarolyn Clare Givens

It’s that time of year to start thinking about Christmas gifts and catch all the sales. I’m sure you’ve seen the Story Warren Store’s Christmas Specials already, but here are a few more places you could look for gift ideas!

Around the Web

Daughter of Encouragement

Melissa at Your Mom Has a Blog tells of the gift of an encourager in her life.

  • Every Sunday morning when I walk into church, I look to the right-hand side of the sanctuary to see if she’s sitting there. Some days she makes it to church, and some days she’s unable to. But more often than not, I see her there, 89 years old, smiling in her velvet tops with her sparkling costume jewelry from days gone by. 
    Read more

Forget Trying to Capture the Spirit of the Season: Do This Instead

Ann Voskamp reminds us to be captivated by the Spirit.

  • When I turn around in the round-about of our little country town, and head down main street, there’s this white banner, painted with a flurry of snowflakes, strung up across the street, and I drive right under this scrolled script font that reads:  
    “Capture the Spirit of the Season…” 
    And I’m the one caught, snagged on a completely different notion that strikes like a bit of a glorious epiphany:
    What if you didn’t have to capture anything, neither the spirit of this season nor anything else — but simply accepted the invitation to just slow down enough to let the Spirit captivate you this season? 
    Read more

A Song of Thanksgiving

Sharon Rockwell reminds us how songs tell stories.

  • Folk songs tell us stories in musical form. The Smithsonian offers a collection called “Classical Folk Songs for Kids.” The recordings are songs that I remember my parents singing, and now I sing them to my grandchildren (they are all too young to notice I cannot carry a tune!). Who does not remember the words to “Big Rock Candy Mountain” and “Puff the Magic Dragon?”
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*Drawn Onward by Daniel Nayeri

Megan Saben at Redeemed Reader shares a starred review of Daniel Nayeri’s new picture book.

  • A boy struggling after the loss of his mother goes on a fantasy adventure and finds peace in her memory.
    Read more

Around the Warren

Review: Home is Right Where You Are

Erica Robertson reviews an illustrated, imaginative rendering of Psalm 23.

  • Sitting in her bed, her large blue eyes full of joy, my daughter hugged me and said, “Mom, we’re never really alone because God is with us.” My toddler’s words weren’t just a repetition of what she has heard — if you could hear her say it today, you would know she fully believes it. She has said this on countless occasions, all providentially placed to snap me out of whatever unhelpful thoughts I may be having. 
    Read more

Little Christmas Carol

James D. Witmer reviews the new Little Christmas Carol illustrated by Joe Sutphin.

  • Our family loves Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol. We love the original, as it appears on the page, and the audiobook read by B. J. Harrison. We love The Muppet Christmas Carol, too. 
    With this in mind, you may understand my excitement when I opened Little Christmas Carol, envisioned and illustrated by my friend Joe Sutphin. This children’s retelling of Dickens’ beloved tale honors the language of the original, and Sutphin’s illustrations bring the shivers and the splendor to sparkling life.
    Read more

Something to Do with Your Kids

Have you and your family played with chalk pastels? If not, here’s an encouragement to try them out using these art techniques.

Something to Watch

I recently discovered this YouTube channel which does lots of cool videos with excellent musicians. I’m barely a musician, but I found this breakdown of why “Let It Be” by the Beatles works the way it does.

Thanks for reading. We’re on your side. 

–The Story Warren Team

Carolyn Clare Givens
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