Some Inspiring and Fun Blog Posts

 “2010 (the year she decided to get divorced) was a year filled with grief and loss, betrayal and rejection in its most intimate form. The well in which I fell was so cavernous I thought I would surely die.

Then driving home on her second Christmas alone, in 2011, she experiences.

“A collision. Not between steel and plastic and fiberglass but between grace and the well in my heart. Something so large, so redeeming and indescribable ran me over on northbound I-65 and my heart’s draw to the well was released. Freedom exploded in my chest as I wept from a fount of joy and living water I had never tasted before. I laughed and cried for a solid ten minutes wondering if this was a lavish gift from God, full of life and it was finally the day He chose to give it to me…or was I certifiably manic? I didn’t care. The truth would come with each sunrise.

It is now December 2, 2012, 365 sunrises later. A full year has passed since the glory of God literally filled me. And I can say without hesitation it was His gift in His time. Even when the anxieties and uncertainties threaten me today, I know my heart is protected by a God as Father, incarnate as Son, and comfort as Holy Spirit.

Hope was born in the least likely place to the least likely people so I must conclude the hope that changes the world will be poured down on us in the least expected ways.”

2 Jody Hedlund completed a book with thirty minute challenges. Set a timer for 30 minutes, write distraction free. Take a mini-break if you need one, then reset your timer. She got her novel written that way– in 30 minute increments!

3 Les Norman talks about our huge competitive advantage when our plans are based on revelation from God, firstly, complemented by inspiration, before we apply information and dedication.

“A perfect plan is always born in the heart before it rises to your head and then moves to your hands. It’s God before Google every time and revelation theology before information technology every day because although Google can tell you or sell you things that can be known, to have that really competitive edge we need to hear God say, “Call me and I will tell you great and unsearchable things that you do not know.”

4 In The Night I Met Jesus: A (True) Christmas Story Frank Schaeffer describes how an imaginative English headmaster sacrificed a night’s sleep to teach an unforgettable lesson in empathy!

5 Did your children love Goodnight Moon? The New Yorker has updated it.

 GOODNIGHT NANNY-CAM

Posted by Jen Nessel and Lizzy Ratner

In the great green-certified room

There was a smartphone
And a silver spoon
And a picture of—

A high-contrast, brain-stimulating black-and-white moon

And there was a musical concert by Baby Mozart

And high window guards
And French flash cards

And a fireplace safety gate
And toys without phthalate

And a sterilizer and bottle brush and bowl full of organic mush

And a bilingual nanny who was whispering “hush”

Goodnight room

Goodnight recycled baby wipes with no perfume

Goodnight high-contrast black-and-white moon

Goodnight baby monitor
And the nanny-cam

Goodnight French flash cards
Bonne nuit petit canard

Goodnight non-slip socks
And goodnight sustainable-wood blocks

Goodnight friends with unique, unusual names
And goodnight brain-development games

Goodnight digital archive of baby’s first years

And goodnight Doctors Karp, Leach, Ferber, and Sears

Goodnight wipes warmer and yoga mat, HEPA filter and sun hat,
Sunscreen, sunglasses, sleep sack, outlet cap, sleep coach, G &T coach, star charts, consumer reports,
Vitamin D, anything with Omega-3, French au pair, filtered air and—

Goodnight alpha parents everywhere.