Read by tens of people every single day
– Ashley Judd’s Heart of Darkness – This article is not for young readers, certainly – but it’s well worth reading for grown-ups.
– My sweet friend Kristi has written a wonderful book about her journey through infertility, and she’s giving away three autographed copies on her blog. Hurry!
– And finally, sweet JMom can turn just about any situation into a teachable moment for her kids. Love it.
For the last two months I have vowed and declared that I wasn’t going to post on my blog at all while the Compassion bloggers are in the Dominican Republic. I was going to post their links at the top of my page to emphasize how incredibly important I think their trip is, and then I was going to jump out of the way so that people would click over and sponsor lots of children.
I had myself a plan, I did.
But one day last week I was talking to Shannon, and I mentioned my plan in passing, and she said, “Oh. That’s interesting.”
NOTE TO READER: when Shannon says, “That’s interesting,” it means she’s trying to figure out HOW IN THE SAM HILL LOGIC LED YOU TO THAT FAULTY CONCLUSION.
And after a few seconds, she spoke up in that sweet Arkansas accent of hers and said, “Um, don’t you think you’d probably be able to direct more people to the Compassion bloggers if you were posting new content every day? Because that way you’d have more people reading?”
OH.
That makes lots of sense.
It would seem that sometimes I struggle with seeing the big picture.
But now that I, you know, GET IT, I’ve decided that yes, I’m still going to post here this week. That doesn’t mean that I think anything I have to say is remotely as important as what these people are saying, oh my lands no. But maybe if you’re here and you see a link, you’ll click through and read about what they’re experiencing – and as a result, you’ll read about what you can do to make a difference in the lives of children in the Dominican Republic.
That’s what I’m hoping, anyway.
So in the spirit of making a difference, I’m going to post a link to the Compassion Bloggers at the bottom of my posts this week. They’ll only be one click away. And my prayer is that hundreds of children will be released from poverty this week as they result of the bloggers’ trip.
So. There you have it.
Now do have a lovely day.
You can read updates / look at pictures / watch videos from the trip by clicking on the widget below.
1. The other night my husband watched “Heroes” on the DVR. I have tried to watch this particular television program for two years now, and I still don’t understand it even a little bit. Parallel universes, time travel, superpowers – totally out of my league.
However, if it were called “Project Heroes” and the objective was to design the most rockin’ superhero costume ever over a period of ten weeks with a finale at Bryant Park in New York City, I would be ALL OVER IT.
2. Flannel pajama bottoms make me happy. Particularly when paired with a long-sleeved t-shirt. In case you were wondering.
3. It occurred to me the other day that our busy October afforded us the opportunity to see the beach and the mountains all in the same month. This has happened in my life approximately never, mainly because I don’t think I’ve ever spent time in the mountains, period.
But sweet mercy at the gorgeousness of both.
So, so grateful to have seen such beauty during my absolute favorite month of the year.
4. I am covered up with great new music right now. I LOVE THAT. And I have a giveaway coming up for an incredible new artist whose lyrics are utterly captivating and thought-provoking and wonderful.
5. Please keep the Compassion Bloggers in your prayers as they travel to the Dominican Republic tomorrow. When I think of them, I think of this passage of Scripture:
“If you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any fellowship with the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and purpose. Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.” – Philippians 2:1-4
Amen.
Ever since I’ve been home from Africa I’ve felt a little weird posting about clothes. It’s not that I don’t like clothes anymore, OH HEAVENS NO, but somehow I feel strange telling you that I spent $30 on a pair of cute pants when, HELLO, that $30 would almost cover the cost of child sponsorship for one month.
So I’ve felt a bit conflicted. Maybe that’s because balance has never been easy for me. I tend to operate in extremes (BUY MANY, MANY CLOTHES! WAIT! BUY NO CLOTHES AT ALL! CLOTHES ARE BAD! BUT I LOVE THEM AND WISH TO SPEND HUNDREDS OF DOLLARS! CLOTHES ARE SO FUN! CLOTHES ARE EVIL!)
Bottom line: I’m trying to be more mindful about where things are made and who may have made them, thinking a lot about wants vs. needs, and reminding myself over and over again that God’s not particularly concerned with my comfort or my wardrobe.
He’s not even that concerned with whether or not I have fresh set of highlights or a good hair day, and if that doesn’t rock you to the core of your faith, people, then I don’t know what will.
And so, with that ENORMOUS – and lo, even exhausting – disclaimer, I want to tell y’all about some sweaters and jackets that I think are really cute because it’s getting cold and that makes me think of how to be warm and I’ve been looking at lots of sweaters and jackets on the interweb and there’s so much great-looking stuff and why do I feel the need to justify this, I’M A GIRL AND I LIKE CLOTHES, MY WORD.
(Suffice it to say that my brain has been a fairly exhausting place to hang out for the last eight or nine months.)
(WHAT WITH ALL THE CRAZY RUNNING AROUND IN THERE.)
(Except in our house we call it “carzy” because one time I was explaining to David that I thought a certain situation was crazy, but I didn’t want Alex to know what I was saying, so I thought I’d spell it out, and I said, “I’m telling you, I think we’re dealing with some serious C-A-R-Z-Y right there,” and then we got very tickled and have spoken fondly of the carzy ever since.)
(Two degrees in English. Can’t spell “crazy” out loud. Thank you. Thank you so much.)
Now. Who wants to see some cute clothes?
Good.
The one that I’ll be ordering as soon as I post this.
The one that’s perfect for jeans (I’m a huge fan of the short-sleeved sweater with a long-sleeved tshirt).
The one that’s oh-so-versatile.
The one that doesn’t require you to hold in your stomach.
The one that comes in great colors (Big Mama told me about it, though if I bought this coat I don’t think it would button on me if my life depended on it. But still. It’s fun to pretend.)
There. I got the clothes out of my system.
All better now.
Carry on.
– Watching two different news channels at once? Downloading so many political podcasts that you have to take a road trip just to have time to listen to them all? Well, you may be an election addict.
– It’s not “awesomeness” because I wrote it, oh my lands no, but I do think it’s awesome to encourage our bloggy friends. Which exactly what I aim to do today over at allaccess.
– And Bee’s perspective on the election is a great reminder to us all. Like her, I’m a little sick of all the coverage – and for the last couple of days I’ve felt flat-out burdened by the whole thing. But I’m grateful to live in a country where my voice – and your voice – matters. Amen.
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