Blogging has been on hold for the last few days. Our newest baby boy made a memorable entrance into the world. After an uneventful (natural) birth in the hospital with a fantastic nurse and midwife and my amazing husband, it seemed like everything couldn't have gone better. But a situation with his lungs appeared early and required a four day stay in the NICU. (The diagnosis was "spontaneous bilateral pneumothoraces" if you want to look it up. We had none of the usual causes or risk factors of such a diagnosis. It's just one of those things that seems to happen for no reason, or at least no reason a doctor can find.)
This is him in the hospital: healthiest looking baby in the NICU (and one of the biggest, too!).
And now, we've been home for a week and we also survived our church's VBS. Crazy times. He and I pretty much want to do this all the time:
but I have a few links saved up from the past few weeks so let's get on with it:
Learning
- 11 Contemporary Authors Every Christian Should Read by Jonathan Minnema for Relevant. I have, sadly, read very few of these. Lots to add to my stack.
- What We are Reading This Summer from TGC. And the stack grows...
- For Summer or Anytime: A Summer Reading List for 2015 by Dr. Albert Mohler, Jr. And grows...
- Why You Should Be Reading Chesterton by Aaron Cline Hanbury for Relevant. Yes, you should!
- 17 Words of Wisdom from Les Miserables. Trevin Wax shares some favorites from a less common translation of the classic. (Must remember to look for this translation by Julie Rose.)
- The How and Why of Our Classical Morning Time by Mystie Winkler at Simply Convivial.
- The Liberal Arts are Dead, Long Live STEM by G.W. Thielman for The Federalist. If you can get past the provocative title, this is a great read. (I have a post percolating in my brain about how the Liberal Arts advocates and the STEM fanatics are probably not as far apart as they think and how they may be creating a false dichotomy of education, but I'm going to need more than three hours of sleep at a time and an uninterupted blogging time to write such a post, so stay tuned...)
Living
- Who Else Wants Simplified Celebrations? by Christy Fitzwater for The Better Mom. *raises hand* I do!
- Life Without A Best Friend by Elena Foulis at CT. I wonder how many women can identify with this for one reason or another? (I know I can.)
- Possibly related to the above: 4 Things Keeping Us from True Community by Ashley Abramson for Relevant.
- When Our Career Plans Aren't Panning Out by Bethany Jenkins at TGC. My husband and I have had similar discussions many times.This post is encouraging, if you've ever felt the same way.
- It's Never Too Late to Parent by Ed Stetzer for CT. "Never give up, never surrender." (Quote from one of our favorite movies.)
- The Problem with Church Hopping by Joey Cottle at Relevant. Yes, this.
- What We Get Wrong About Women Submitting to their Husbands by Debra Fileta for Relevant.
Loving
- Red State Families: Better Than We Knew by W. Bradford Wilcox and Nicholas Zill for Family Studies. Long, but interesting (with lots of charts).
- 8 Ways to Honor Marriage by David Murray. Practical, encouraging reminders.
- Mirror, Mirror On the Wall: The Rise of the Selfie Generation by Nathan Bingham.
- How to Escape the Age of Mass Delusion by Stella Morabito for The Federalist.
- Understanding the Transgender Phenomenon by Mark Yarhouse. Long, but thoughtful and thought-provoking.
- What a Disabled Person Thinks About 'Transableism' by Andrea Ruth for The Federalist.
- Learning for the Future from the Duggars by Wendy at Practical Theology for Women. And: How Should Christians Respond to Abuse Situations Like the Duggars? by Boz Tchividjian. And with this, I hope I am done sharing links related to this topic.
- 'As Long as the Baby's Healthy'...But What If He's Not? by Micha Boyett for CT. Poignant.
- 7 Ways to Roll Back the Welfare State by Robert Tracinski for The Federalist. Because sometimes I like to read ideas for fixing things, instead of just listing everything that's wrong with our (fill in one: church, country, world).
- Leaning in to Our Grief by Suzanne Burden for CT. What Sheryl Sandberg teaches us about tragedy.
- I want to see this documentary: The Man Who Saved the World.
- This one caught my eye because he created my children's favorite toys: Obituary for PLAYMOBIL Director Horst Brandstatter.
- And it wouldn't be a links round-up without something about the British Royal Family (today is a big day, celebrating the "official" Queen's birthday, so I'm sure I'll have some links about that next week. Prince George made his first Buckingham Palace balcony appearance.) But anyway, until I have links for that I'll share this: Marking 62 Years: The Queen Takes Coronation Oath from Royal Central.
That will do for now. Next week I hope to return to my usual blogging schedule. Watch Monday for a review of a fun educational product for kids.
What caught your eye this week?
Congratulations On the birth of your baby! He is gorgeous! Oh, my!
You have an amazing set of links this week considering all that you have been doing. I read the Leaning into Your Grief. This is a statement that has been told to me. I don't understand it. I try. It is difficult. It is true that our culture wants us to move on quickly. Get things back to normal. I try to do the leaning in thing, and it escapes me.
I also read the STEM one. I was a little irritated by the whole thing. The mindset that there is nothing to be gained from a liberal arts education feeds into the idea that education is merely for employment. If someone doesn't want to pay you, it isn't worthwhile. Unfortunately, this is becoming true, and we are losing beautiful things. Of course, it doesn't t help when literature classes study modern, agenda-driven literature. My husband studied English and you know how much Shakespeare he read? None. So that says a lot. I think a true liberal arts education is worthwhile.
Hope you are getting lots of rest!
Oh, Karen, you make gorgeous babies!
Continued prayers for his health ..... congratulations, momma!
Congratulations! Good to hear the little fellow is home - he looks wonderful.