It’s been a rough week. You’re probably as weary as I am and you’re still fielding questions (from your kids, your family, your neighbors, that random friend from high school you still interact with on social media) that you can’t answer. It’s ok not to have answers.

We’ve got snow in the forecast, and one of my friends just posted on another’s Facebook wall reminding him that it’s ok to still be excited about the prospect, even when he’s sad. I love that—it’s ok to look for the beauty in the face of disappointment and fear. 

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Inspiration from The Green Ember

Nathan Patton has a post up at Rambling Ever On about one of our favorite books, and how it’s helped him frame this past year.

• I keep a commonplace book of sorts where I write quotes from things I’m reading, watching, or listening to. If something I encounter causes me to pause for whatever reason, I try to record it in that notebook. Back in January of this year (2020), I read the first two books of S.D. Smith’s The Green Ember series and transcribed five quotes from them in my commonplace book.
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How to Get Out of Parental Survival Mode

Sometimes survival mode is all you can do, but it doesn’t have to be where you stay.

• Everything just felt “off.” I woke up instantly anxious, and irritable. I couldn’t put my finger on it as I frantically rushed to get the kids out the door and myself off to work. Later when everyone got home, chaos ensued. But then I realized what it was. I was in parental survival mode again.
  Every few months something sends a shock through our household that throws us into survival mode. 
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Introduce Your Kids to Shakespeare

Sarah Mackenzie, of Read Aloud Revival, has an awesome opportunity on the horizon: a livestream conversation with Ken Ludwig.

• Join world renowned playwright Ken Ludwig (author of How to Teach Your Children Shakespeare) and Read-Aloud Revival host Sarah Mackenzie in a FREE Video livestream.
  Find out why Shakespeare is foundational to a great education, and the simplest way to get started (even if you aren’t familiar with much of Shakespeare’s work yourself!).
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Five Key Questions for Setting Gospel-Shaped Goals

Elizabeth Turnage points us to a biblical grid for goal setting. 

• She looks almost beatific in her black velvet senior drape, her bright hazel eyes gazing heavenward. Next to her portrait, her senior quote reads, “Not that I have already obtained all this, or have yet been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ has taken hold of me” (Philippians 3:12).
  It was an apt senior quote for the young perfectionist, who spent hours of every day striving to achieve—A’s in her courses, the approval of peers and faculty members, and most of all, a perfect Christian life. It was an apt senior quote for the young perfectionist, who keenly felt her failure to “obtain all this,” who knew how short she fell in every area where she longed to succeed.
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Around the Warren

Tookish Bagginses

Bethany J. Melton looks at how 2020 made their family more like hobbits.

• We learned how to be at home even as we stayed at home in 2020. We planted zinnias and baked bread from scratch and walked the countryside and waved to our neighbors, and to me, it’s all felt very Shire-like. If my friends weren’t losing their grandparents or my church members slipping out of fellowship, I wouldn’t trade the way this year has made us more like hobbits.
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WITH A HEY-HI-HO

Doreen Tamminga shares a delightful new poem.

• Justus has his tiger suit,
  Jesse has his mane,
  Myra wields a mighty sword
  (That brave, unlikely dame!)  
  
  Loaded up with chestnuts
  Little Tay makes up the rear,
  As Myra leads the little troop
  In one long, rousing cheer.
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Something to Do with Your Kids

Have you guys seen the hot chocolate spreads people are doing these days? During the cold months, a fun activity with your family could be throwing a hot chocolate party!

Something to Watch

I was recently reminded of the existence of this song, and I think, perhaps, you might need the reminder, too.

Thanks for reading. We’re on your side. 

–The Story Warren

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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.

Latest posts by Carolyn Clare Givens (see all)

• The Warren & The World Vol 10, Issue 2 - January 15, 2022
• The Warren & The World Vol 10, Issue 1 - January 8, 2022
• The Warren & The World Vol 9, Issue 48 - January 1, 2022