The Warren & the World Vol. 3, Issue 38

The Warren & the World is Story Warren’s weekly newsletter, providing a round-up of our favorite things from around the web as well as a review of what was on our site over the past week. We’re glad you’re here!

Around the Web

The Myth of Ready

Alison writes at Courage for a Better Story about learning that “being ready”–for a new baby, for the next transition of life, for anything God throws our way–is a myth.

When I got pregnant three months into marriage, I did not feel even remotely ready. . . As with many major transitions, there were moments of human emotions, like panic and fear. In one such moment, I remember telling my husband how I did not feel ready at all. He responded by asking me when I would have felt ready.I entertained this thought and wondered about what my plan would have been if I was calling the shots. I quickly dismissed the current year, and the next year, and the year after that, and the year after that. I considered when we might move and possible career switches for both of us. I thought about the responsibility of caring for and educating another human. By the time I had finished “mapping” out my readiness quotient, I had determined that I would be ready probably around when I was just about hitting menopause.

Wordless Books to Spark Imagination

Carolyn shares a new book list at A House Full of Bookworms:

Have you ever noticed that wordless books can be more challenging to “read” than other picture books? The pictures tell a complete story, but you (or your kids) have to come up with words to express it.Wordless books are a fantastic resource to help your kids develop their own descriptive and story telling skills! Have your kids tell the story to you. Ask lots of questions!

Building Emotional Intelligence: What to Say to Children When They Are Anxious

At Hey Sigmund, Karen gives some insight on walking with your children through anxiety.

Anxiety has a way of making everyone feel helpless – the ones in the midst of an anxiety attack as well as the ones beside them who would do anything to make it better. It’s difficult to know exactly what to do when your little person is flooded with anxiety. Different things will work for different people, so don’t be afraid to experiment with what works best.
Whatever you can do to be a strong, steadying presence will be the right thing to do. Nothing you say or do can make it go away, but if you can walk through it beside them, you’ll make a difference.

This Isn’t How I Die

Joe Sutphin reminds us at The Rabbit Room that we know how the story ends–even when we are walking through the hardest parts of it.

Being able to spend every day of life immersed in your passion is a dream for many of us. I am tremendously and gratefully humbled to say that I am able to do that. But for sixteen years, my wife Gina and I strived for this life, pleaded for it, worked away all spare time for it, always able to see its existence, but never sure when it would arrive, some days wondering if it really would. Some days we just didn’t have it in us to keep carrying the fire. Maybe that is you.

Around the Warren

Naps

Helena Sorensen reminds us of the beauty of rest.

There was a time when I cringed to hear parents excuse their children’s appalling behavior by saying, “They’re just tired.” It’s a copout, I thought. Then God, in His infinite kindness, gave me children.
At this point, I’ve come to expect any number of awful behaviors to rear their heads when my kids are worn out. Bedtime is when they refuse to clean, when they actually agree to have their toys taken away so they don’t have to put forth the effort to lift cars and books and princesses off the floor and toss them into a bucket. Bedtime is when my children (who refused to eat their dinner and, thus, agreed to the stipulation that they would get nothing else to eat for the rest of the night) wail and moan that they’re starving and they didn’t mean it when they said they wouldn’t be hungry until breakfast tomorrow.

“…the way He works is shocking.”

Good words from Brant Hansen. Good art from Paul Boekell.

Ellen and the Winter Wolves

Jamin Still is Story Warren’s newest contributor, and his new book, Ellen and the Winter Wolves is currently underway with a Kickstarter campaign. S.D. Smith introduces them both:

I am very happy to share this wonderful new project with you! Jamin Still is the newest contributor to Story Warren and this is his debut book. I enjoyed reading Ellen and the Winter Wolves and I am a HUGE fan of Jamin’s art.

A Man Named John Smith

I’m a little giddy that I get to share one of my stories with you all today at Story Warren. I’m even more giddy that Jamin Still illustrated it!

Something to Do with Your Kids

It’s been sweeping my Facebook feed, so maybe you’ve seen it already, but “Peanutizing” is the next big thing, people (well, actually, by this time, it might be the former big thing). But whatever, we don’t care about being cool here at The Warren & the World. We care about having fun! And it’s definitely entertaining to see a whole family of Peanutized versions of yourself. So get cracking!