Story Warren

Kindling Imagination for Kingdom Anticipation

The Warren & the World Vol 6, Issue 43

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Hello! We’ve got a new look for The Warren & the World this week, and there may be a few tweaks to come. The biggest change is that this design should be more mobile-friendly, so check us out on your phone as you’re out and about and invite a friend to come join the party. They can sign up for The Warren & the World delivered into their inbox weekly here!

Around the Web

Can picture books meet the crisis in children’s mental health?

There’s a fascinating piece over at the Guardian this week on the benefits of picture books to the mental health of kids.

  • Matt Haig is feeling hopeful. His first ever illustrated story, The Truth Pixie, is published in the UK on Thursday – and he is optimistic it will encourage young children to talk about their anxieties. “It’s a book I want parents to share with their children – a read-aloud bedtime story,” Haig says. “Bedtime is a time when children’s heads are full of fears, and those don’t go away by just ignoring them. They go away by talking about them, externalising them and dealing with them.”
    Read more.

Sticking to Hope

Kelsey Miller shares a gorgeous, heartbreaking story about a beloved second mother, the loss of childhood, and the steady resilience of hope alongside grief.

  • I grew up next door to a family with a willow tree with a swing in their backyard, a family who allowed me to be as one of their own for summer days on end. For years and years, I was as much an O’Connor as their own daughters and son. The two girls, Erin and Cara, were younger than me by a few grades and so I sometimes took a surprising role as leader in our tiny tribe, a space I didn’t often fill as a little girl with a quiet voice and a tender spirit.
    Read more.

Bible Verses for 31 Days of Thanksgiving

As we head into November, you may be turning your mind and your family activity toward the theme of gratitude. Here’s a great resource for you.

  • If you would like to prepare your heart for Thanksgiving, here are 31 verses about giving thanks. Start the Monday four weeks before Thanksgiving (this year it is October 22, 2018) and meditate on one verse a day. Think about what each verse is telling you about gratitude (what for, how, when, why…) and put it into practice.
    Read more.

Gift Books for the Holidays: Puzzle and Activity Books

Looking for some good gifts for this upcoming season of family time and travel? Melissa Taylor at Imagination Soup has a booklist for us.

  • Do your kids like puzzle and activity books? One of these new 2018 activity books would make a great gift for any upcoming travel plans that you have. You’ll appreciate how these activity books encourage playful thinking and learning, too.
    Read more.

Around the Warren

A Modern Admonition for Sons (…or parents?)

Jessica Deagle reminds us of what is truly valuable.

  • Oh, young man, I want you to rise up early and seek the face of God. To reach over to your bedside table, still bleary with sleep and grope for God’s word, hungry to put just one line of it into your awakening soul.
    I want you to hear the voice of the holy Spirit calling to you instead of the chirp of a text message coming in that draws you out of your slumber.
    Read more

Rascal, by Sterling North

James Witmer shares a favorite re-discovered book with us this week.

  • Sterling North’s Rascal is a gem I re-discovered by reading to my kids. It is a story supposedly about a raccoon, but really about North’s boyhood growing up in Wisconsin during World War I — the war that affected everything yet, compared to the decades that followed, changed so little of essential American life. He narrates the story as an adult, retelling a treasured part of his childhood from the perspective of his eleven-year-old self.
    Read more

For Kids: Jamin Still’s Illustrative Writing Prompt

Don’t forget to submit your pieces to accompany artist Jamin Still’s illustration! Young storytellers between the ages of four and eighteen can submit their work by November 1.

Something to Do with Your Kids

Remembering gratitude is a daily task for most of us. As you enter into the month of November, you may be wanting to keep that in focus for your family. In Scripture, God often had his people stack stones together to remember things. You could try the same by taking these DIY wish stones and instead of writing wishes on them, write things you’re thankful for. Then build a cairn somewhere you can see it so that you daily are reminded of God’s faithfulness.

Something to Watch

Ever wonder whether those masks in Mission: Impossible were anywhere near realistic? Here’s former CIA Chief of Disguise telling how things really work.

Thanks for reading. We’re on your side. 

-The Story Warren Team
Carolyn Clare Givens
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