Summer and winter–that’s what we’ve got in this one. I know we’ve entered the month that holds the official first day of summer, but I couldn’t resist sharing a video about making a winter cloak. Turn up the AC and enjoy!<

Around the Web

Take Five Minutes for Mom this Summer

Summertime is a delight, but also a challenge at times.

Summer is one of my favorite times as a mom. Throughout most of the year, our days are filled with school, sports, clubs and more. We tend to have every minute scheduled, every day planned, every weekend packed.
But in the summer, we slow down. My son doesn’t play sports. We go to the pool when we feel like it. We play in the backyard. And most importantly, we just spend time together.
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Children’s Picture Books About Famous Artists

Melissa Taylor has a list of picture books for your budding artist.

When we learn about famous artists in picture books and stories, it helps us know them. It gives them a place in our lives and in our children’s lives.
Stories help us remember information. Which is why I love teaching children about great artists using narrative picture books. Here are our favorites, starting with a touch and feel board book.
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Wait, what?

David Swanson looks back at 20 years of marriage.

These were the looks on our faces 20 years ago, about an hour after we’d made our marriage vows in Montreat Chapel. We were both 21 years old and this snapshot is a decent representation of at least a part of what we were feeling that day: Wait, we’re actually married? OK… and now what?
Actually, all these years later, this is probably still a good visual of my experience of marriage much of the time. Wait, what?!
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The Secret to “Doing it All” — & how We Can Not Judge Each Other

Ann Voskamp reminds us to be gracious.

Rain on a tin roof this morning.
The rocking chairs out in the ash grove sit quiet, solid — steady in the wind.
Steady in the wind. They’re calling for another inch of rain today, for it to just keep coming.
Our Hope-girl makes brownies, shakes the popcorn over the stove.
And there’s this deep peace that keeps coming about not coming and going at all.
It’s happens when we rest — that we relinquish our ambitions to be like God.
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Around the Warren

Hello my name is . . . (and why it matters)

Amanda Cleary Eastep reminds us that we are Named by the greatest Namer.

Hola, me llamo . . .
I filled in my name big and purple on the adhesive nametag and stuck it on my shirt, the one with the bold graphic of Totoro, a Japanese anime character. Anime always serves as a good conversation starter when I lead writing workshops at the local teen center.
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Growing Young Gracefully – Reviewing Christopher Robin

John Sommer shares his thoughts on the stirring movie, Christopher Robin.

Someone somewhere once said, “Youth is wasted on the young!” But is that true? Maybe it should be said, “Middle-age is wasted on the shriveled!”
How does a person enter the prime of his life and one day wake up to find a shell of himself, a wizened soul covered in a brittle exo-skeleton of duty? These questions underlie some of the struggles gently displayed in the stirring movie, Christopher Robin.
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