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
For the Mom Who Feels Helpless
At Risen Motherhood, Christina Fox has words of encouragement for the helpless days.
- I called my husband one day in tears about our child, saying, “I just don’t know what to do.”
It was a deja vu experience because I had said the same thing with the same tears multiple times since becoming a mother. I guess I assumed that as my children got older I would grow in wisdom and understanding and things would be smoother than they were when everything was all new and confusing and exhausting—when they were babies, then toddlers, then preschoolers. But the truth is, I still feel just as helpless as I did the first day I held my oldest son at the hospital.
The Organizing Secret No One Tells You — That Can Change Any Life
Ann Voskamp reminds us that the organizing principle of the cosmos is Logos, the Word–a Person.
- Just after midnight, I’m standing there in the kitchen swigging back a bit of a bottle.
The house that looks like a stampede of wild horses had rode through mad sometime after dinner.
I have no idea why there are several splayed dolls, tangled balls of yarn and the innards of some mechanical car remains strewn across the living room floor — with a gentle dusting of allen wrenches everywhere.
I’m not saying that the whole thing wouldn’t drive a woman to drink whatever she found in the fridge.
I’m just saying that a swig or two (okay, it was more like four or five) from that slender necked bottle of pure maple syrup was sweet relief there in the dark.
I’ll deal with the mess in the morning.
Abigail Adams: Witness to a Revolution by Natalie S. Bober
The folks at Redeemed Reader recommend Natalie S. Bober’s biography of the second first lady.
- My dearest friend, as you have been called in Providence into the chair of government, you did not accept it without knowing that it had its torments, its trials, its dangers and perplexities. Look steadfastly at them, arm yourself with patience and forbearance and be not dismayed, and may God and the people support you. Having put your hand to the plow, you must not look back.
So wrote Abigail Adams, her husband’s biggest champion as well as his friend, lover, and helpmeet.
Hospitality with Small Kids Is Worth It
Devi Duerrmeier writes at Grace Table on living a life of hospitality, even when it seems like an inconvenience.
- Hospitality was so serious to my husband and I, it was part of our wedding vows. I commit my heart and my life to welcoming people into our home. Our small apartment in Geneva, Switzerland was home to many gatherings in those first years of newlywed life.
There was no dishwasher in the kitchen, and we had a small, four-burner stove and oven with a broken thermometer. But those things that seemed like limitations did not stop us.
Around the Warren
Think Small and Carry On
S.D. Smith dives deep into Karate Kid and the importance of doing the small things.
- Scholars agree that the Crane Technique, if done right, cannot be defended. Mr. Miyagi pointed this out in the Eighties and it’s since been tested by roughly every single one of the humans who were boys in that era. I refer, of course, to that cinematic masterpiece, The Karate Kid. After I saw that movie, I ran around kicking air, punching boards, and, most importantly, trying out the Crane Technique. When I was a kid, whatever I saw in a movie, or heard about in a story, I wanted to do and be.
John Ronald’s Dragons—A First Introduction to Tolkien
Carolyn Leiloglou tells us of a picture book introduction to the imagination and life of J.R.R. Tolkien.
- My son’s favorite books are the Lord of the Rings series, so buying John Ronald’s Dragons: The Story of J. R. R. Tolkien by Caroline McAlister for his birthday was an obvious choice. Even if he was turning ten. A well-written, beautifully illustrated picture book has a magical quality of appealing to all ages.
Something to Do with Your Kids
At the Artful Parent, they’ve got instructions on how to make Ice Cream prints with your kids.
And Something to Watch
Ever wonder why we call The Netherlands “Holland” and its people “Dutch”? CGP Grey sets out to explain it for us.
Thank you for reading. We’re on your side.
Carolyn Clare Givens is a displaced Northerner exploring the foreign ways of the South. She lives in Charlotte, North Carolina with her literary cat, Lord Peter Wimsey. She's the author of The King's Messenger and Rosefire and in her free time helps run Bandersnatch Books.
You can find her at carolyncgivens.com or on Facebook or Instagram at @carolyncgivens.
You can find her at carolyncgivens.com or on Facebook or Instagram at @carolyncgivens.
Latest posts by Carolyn Clare Givens (see all)
- The Warren & The World Vol 13, Issue 13 - April 19, 2025
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- The Warren & The World Vol 13, Issue 11 - April 5, 2025
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