Have you been watching the Olympics? I’ve gotten more spotty viewing than I usually do, but I’ve been loving the split-second wins at the ends of races, the hometown stories, and the feats of strength and beauty. It’s been fun to see new sports and I know more than one person who is now considering a full sleeve eagle tattoo. If you can’t get sentimental once every few years for the Olympics, when can you? What are your family’s favorite sports to watch?
Around the Web
Picture Book Roundup: Art and Artists
Our friends at Redeemed Reader have some recommendations for us.
- Three picture-book biographies introduce children to the work of three very distinct artists: Ben Shahn, Judith Scott, and Winslow Homer.
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How to Help Your Children Discover Their Passions
Kate Stevens explores the challenge of helping your kids discover what brings them to life.
- When our oldest daughter turned four, we figured we should start trying her out in activities. Our friends with older kids were well into their kids’ sport and artistic paths with multiple practices a week, club tryouts, big stage recitals, and dreams of college scholarship offers stuffing the mailbox.
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My Last Name, Timeless Rhythms, and the Grace of Memory
K. B. Hoyle reviews a novella by Eric Schumacher that may challenge you to deepen your relationships with the elderly friends and family members in your lives.
- One of the first things I told my husband when we moved from Alabama to Wisconsin this year was, “I feel like we returned to a place of rhythms.” There’s something about living in a state with real seasons that draws rhythm out of sameness, but we also needed to shake off the sameness of over a year of pandemic isolation.
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Patience: More Than a Virtue for Motherhood
Kristie Anayabwile digs into the challenge that is patience.
- The last thing I wanted to hear as I hurried the kids to get ready for church were the words I had spoken to them many times during the week, “Mom, remember patience is a virtue and a fruit of the Spirit.” They can’t remember to say thank you or where they last left their shoes, but they remember this?! I was beyond impatient. I was angry and aggravated—but also convicted. How easy it was to come up with such a memorable and catchy quotable to use on my kids, but how hard it was for me to receive it back from them!
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Around the Warren
Love Like Birch Trees
James D. Witmer considers the fact that people are like partial-shade plants.
- My wife loves plants. I love beautiful places that encourage a restful heart. The result is that I have learned to love gardening and the general niftyness of the plant world.
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Julie Edwards’ Mandy
Laura Peterson reviews an old favorite.
- On the scale of my favorite quiet, dreamy, introverted book characters, the protagonist of Mandy, by Julie Edwards, would score pretty high. A long-time resident of St. Martin’s Orphanage, ten-year-old Mandy knows all the staff and children well, but mostly prefers to be alone.
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Play Therapy
Rachel S. Donahue has a new poem for us from her forthcoming collection, Beyond Chittering Cottage: Poems of Place.
- Down by the creek
Where the salamanders creep
And the water spiders all tip-toe
Squats a boy on a log
Staring hard at the frog
That he caught just a moment ago.
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Joe Sutphin’s Little Pilgrim’s Progress
James D. Witmer reviews our friend Joe Sutphin’s new edition of Little Pilgrim’s Progress from Moody Publishers.
- Today I am extraordinary pleased to announce that Moody Press has released a book destined to capture the imaginations and liberate the hearts of children in a way that will surpass nearly all the other books printed in this decade. That’s a bold claim, I know. And it’s not the sort of thing I would ordinarily say, but I’m talking about New York Times best-selling illustrator Joe Sutphin’s re-envisioned edition of Helen L. Taylor’s Little Pilgrim’s Progress.
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Something to Do with Your Kids
Do you need some suggestions for your closing ceremony Olympic party? Well, then, let this list guide your fun.
Something to Watch
The competition for the gold medal in high jump is up there among my favorite Olympic moments this year. Follow it up with watching the Men’s 100-Meter final, which took place about 20 minutes later.
Thanks for reading. We’re on your side.
–The Story Warren Team
You can find her at carolyncgivens.com or on Facebook or Instagram at @carolyncgivens.
- The Warren & The World Vol 11, Issue 30 - September 16, 2023
- The Warren & The World Vol 11, Issue 29 - September 2, 2023
- The Warren & The World Vol 11, Issue 28 - August 19, 2023
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