It’s August. AUGUST. When did that happen? Where did summer go? What’s going on with this time thing moving forward all the time? SO strange. If anyone can solve this mystery for me, I’m all ears. I just can’t figure out what’s happened to seven months of 2019.

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A Necessary Ally

My friend Leslie Bustard dives into what it means to be an ezer, a Necessary Ally, in our daily lives.

• The phrase “Bloom Where You’re Planted” used to grab my attention. So much so that white-distressed chalkboard frames, embellished with this saying, found their way into my shopping cart. At one point, I even made this phrase the theme of a ladies’ gathering at my church.
  Motherhood was just another way to bloom as I used my creativity and strengths in new ways. When I only had one child, the idea of blooming where God had planted me seemed attainable. But when two more children and homeschooling were added to my everyday life, my struggle with deep feelings of inadequacy began.
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9 Heartfelt Prayers from Psalm 119 for Your Children

Sometimes we don’t have the words to pray over our families. Fortunately, God gave us a prayer book in the Psalms.

• With my cup of coffee in hand I settled into my chair to read the assigned passages of my “Read the Bible in a Year” plan. One of them was Psalm 119, the longest of the psalms. “Ughhh,” I thought, more focused that morning on getting through the reading than meditating on God’s word. Something I now find ironic considering the chapter is all about delighting in the gift of God’s Word.
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Unchangeableness

Lore Wilbert reminds us that though we may be prone to wander, we have an unchangeable anchor.

• Since Harper was a puppy she’s made her circle of curiosity larger and larger, exploring only in the same room as me, then to the next room over, then to the yard, then through the fence to the neighbor’s yard, but she always comes back to me. Intermittently throughout her curiosities, her constant watch for small critters and passers-by, she ambles her way back to my side for a moment or five, for a pet, a word of affirmation, the calming presence of my leg against her head.
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August Read Alouds to Beat the Heat

Erica at What Do We Do All Day has some great read alouds for us as we wrap up summertime.

• Beaches, sunshine, heat, laziness, outdoors. These are the things that come to mind when we think about August (in the northern hemisphere, anyway). To me, August always seems like a month for waiting. Waiting for the heat to let up, waiting for kids to return from camp, waiting for school to start… And what do we do when waiting?
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Around the Warren

Our Holy God is Wholly Other

Ian Anderson reminds us of the abiding strangeness of God.

• A line from one of C.S. Lewis’s essays has poked its head up with the daffodils; it comes from “On Stories,” and it’s one of those beautiful things that a person can’t help but share. He writes, “No man would find an abiding strangeness on the Moon unless he were the sort of man who could find it in his own back garden.” As I make my own garden ready, this idea turns me over, and God prepares to change me.
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Narnian Equality

James Witmer dives into the idea that it is good for things to be themselves.

• Family tradition says my dad’s youngest sister once believed she could fly. To prove it, she climbed the stairs and leapt from the top.
  Predictably, she flew only a little way (mostly down), and rolled the rest of the way. Hilariously (according to her siblings), she did not stop at the bottom of the stairs, but revolved onward until she disappeared into a laundry cupboard.
  Once they dug her out, she was strongly encouraged to spend her time doing little girl things, and leave flying to the birds.
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Something to Do with Your Kids

Math was always a struggle for me–and keeping ip with math during summer even more so. If you’ve got a math-struggler in your home, perhaps this math game from What Do We Do All Day will help make it fun.

Something to Watch

Ever wonder how far gum will stretch? So do Courtney and Shane!

Thanks for reading. We’re on your side.

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Carolyn Clare Givens

Carolyn Clare Givens is displaced Northerner exploring the foreign ways of the South. She lives in Charlotte, North Carolina with her two literary cats, Lord Peter Wimsey and Harriet Vane. 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.

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