5 Links, Books, and Things I Love – October 2018
What was a highlight of your September? What are you looking forward to in October?
1 Second Everyday
[If you can’t see the 1 Second Everyday video, click here]
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5 Things Around the Web
1. 5 Ways to Be a Godly Grandparent
by Avery Foley
Thankfully, we’re getting the opportunity to do this. Here are five ways to impact the next generation.
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2. Why People Don’t Report Sexual Assaults
by AJ Willingham and Christina Maxouris
A few reasons include: victims are made to feel it’s their fault; they’re told to dismiss it; they’re afraid no one would believe them. Painful stuff.
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3. You’re Welcome, World! You Can Thank Alabama for These Things
by Kelly Kazek
Don’t believe all the negative things you hear about Alabama (although many are true, unfortunately; see below).
But here are 20 good things that Alabamians have contributed to the world (yes, Wikipedia!). I knew most of them but some were surprises. Which ones have you heard of?
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4. Why Pastors Should Consider Preaching (At Least) 5 Minutes Shorter
by Kevin DeYoung
My pastor must already do this. I don’t get tired of his sermons.
And along the same lines, but this can be applied to most ANYTHING:
Say it in a Sentence
by Justin Buzzard
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5. Can’t Get Comfortable In Your Chair? Here’s What You Can Do
by Michaeleen Doucleff
Jean Couch, 75, perches on the edge of a chair at her home in Los Altos Hills, Calif. She teaches people the art of sitting in chairs without back pain.
Erin Brethauer for NPR
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5 Things with Words
1. “Thinking the Best of Your Spouse” (podcast episode)
on Family Life Today
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2. 25 of the New Words Merriam-Webster Is Adding to the Dictionary in 2018
by Michele Debczak
Do you know what these mean?
- BOUGIE (ADJ.)
Short for bourgeois, this term means “Marked by a concern for wealth, possessions, and respectability.” - TL;DR (ABBREV.)
“Too long; didn’t read—used to say that something would require too much time to read.” - BINGEABLE (ADJ.)
“Having multiple episodes or parts that can be watched in rapid succession.” - PREDICTIVE (ADJ.)
As in predictive text: “Of, relating to, or usable or valuable for prediction.”
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3. Are Audiobooks as Good for You as Reading? Here’s What Experts Say
by Markham Heid
It seems we have this discussion a lot: Is listening to a book really the same as reading one? How would you answer?
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4. The Top 10 Books Everyone Lies About Reading
by Ariel Zeitlin
How many of these would you say you’ve read? I don’t think I ever read all of Romeo and Juliet.
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5. Six Books I Recommend – September 2018
These four nonfiction books and two novels made me laugh, cry, and inspired my faith, each in their own way.
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5 Things I Love
1. Ashley came to town
I love the adventures that Ashley and I got into when she came up from Mobile to spend the weekend with us for a wedding + much, much more. I hope I didn’t scare her from visiting again.
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2. I don’t golf
Golfing is not my thing. But PAR, our local Prepare and Respond Disaster Response team, holds an annual charity golf tournament each year. This is year 2 that Jeff and I have been witnesses to watch for a hole-in-one to win a new car. No winners yet!
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3. Mini-Civil Rights Pilgrimage
Go! If you get a chance, go to Montgomery, AL, to The Legacy Museum: From Enslavement to Mass Incarceration. Then to The National Memorial for Peace and Justice.
We did our own little mini-pilgrimage last week of civil rights sites in our state. Unfortunately, there are lots of sites to choose from because racism has been so rampant in the deep south. We went from Montgomery to Selma (Edmund Pettus Bridge) to Monroeville (home of Harper Lee, author of To Kill a Mockingbird).
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4. Friends
Mr. Turner wanted to have a picture with Kay and me, so we took a selfie and printed a hardcopy for him. He’s one of our dear friends that we get to see every Wednesday. He’s a praying man.
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5. And of course, my little sweetie
It does my heart good that our sweet granddaughter loves to read books! I can’t get enough of her.
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5 Things on the Blog
- How a Christian Concert Affirmed This Memory Challenge {Join Me!}
How did this Christian concert affirm my decision to memorize this scripture? It’s how God works.
+ Here is the new Bible memory challenge!
- Enjoy the Harvest
Remembering God’s goodness in your past increases your joy with him in the present. Enjoy the harvest. - Missing Something? 5 Steps to Find It
Have you lost your peace? Joy? Rest? Here at 5 steps to find what’s missing through the parable of the Lost Coin. - Reframing the Soul
Just like a frame around a picture, our words frame our lives. Can we change the frame by changing our words? Review of Reframing the Soul. - There’s a Grace for That
Maybe there’s an app for that. For the easy stuff. But the meaningful stuff? God’s got a grace for that.
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What was a highlight from your September? What are you looking forward to in October? Please share in the comments.
I’m also participating this month in #Write31Days. It’s the last year for it, sadly. Knowing that, I committed to doing it one last time.
Join us to answer 3 questions a day to help us find God in our stories.
What a fun list you have! And your 1 second video is great! I’ve seen that a few times, but never tried it. I may have to soon! Is it hard to remember to video every day???
It’s not always easy to remember to do the video every day. But I keep it as a daily reminder on my digital calendar, which is my brain. 🙂 Poor Jeff – if I’ve forgotten to take a video during the day, I usually turn the camera on him at night to get that one second. He’s gotten used to it. ha.
I enjoyed your list, Lisa! The article about how to sit in a chair was interesting – I had not heard that before. And I always enjoy your one second videos. They are fun!
Thanks, Alyson. I always benefit by putting this list together because it forces me to clean up my safari bookmarks and straighten up my photo folders. 🙂
Loving Lamentations!
And of course that “little sweetie” who is basically the star of the show here!
I’m glad you’re loving Lamentations, too, Michele! I’ve got the first couple of verses down already, thanks to songs I’ve heard through the years. 🙂
Yes, the little one is definitely the star of my life now! I have to restrain myself to keep the photos to a minimum. ha.
Love this idea for a post! I may (with your permission) steal it at some point! And…your granddaughter is adorable!
Feel free to steal this idea, Laurie, because I got it from Leigh Kramer. Up until this month, she did a monthly linkup of this style of posts called “What I’m Into”. She hosted for almost 6 years so I understand her wanting to step down. I hope to continue writing them on my own, but I’ll miss the community there.
I’ve said it before and will say it again: Ain’t nothing like a grandchild. Always enjoy reading your “rambling” blog. Love hearing what you are reading and doing Lisa. But you make me tired. ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ
I know now that you are SO right, Bill. 🙂 I knew it was going to be good having a grandchild, but I didn’t know it would be this good.
And I am quite tired this year. I thought that empty nest years would be slower, but they keep picking up speed. But it’s been fun!
Love all these touch points of your life and what you value, enjoy, appreciate, etc. It feels like I am sitting having coffee with a dear friend.
I wanted to mention that we put your 1 minute video review of Bring Me A Vision on the Resources page of my website….it was so outstanding!! Becky also loved hearing that sweet Alabama accent. Thank you…again!!
Have a blessed day!
Wouldn’t it be wonderful to get together in person one day and share a cup of coffee (or hot chocolate for me, ha)? Who knows?
I’m glad you were able to use the video. And I have an accent? lol. It’s funny how we never notice our own. 🙂
YES, I would love that!! Actually, I love coffee, tea, AND hot chocolate? Yes, we never notice our own accent or that we have one. Yours was delightful to the ear to these Ohioans. My husband’s brother was an Ohioan who has lived in TN for years and he shows it in his “accent” now. Our son has lived in TN for 30 years and we don’t tend to notice an accent, but we do notice certain words and phrases that are definitely southern.
I don’t golf either! Ha ha. But you look good in the golf cart! #trekkingthru
Ha. Thanks, Tracy. As one older gentleman suggested to me that day, I was just there as eye candy. 😉 I let it go because we both knew that wasn’t true either. lol.
I wasn’t planning to do Write31Days. But then I heard it was the last year for it, so I brainstormed a couple of ideas. But I felt like I was forcing it, and I have other writing projects to work on, so I decided against it. I wonder why Crystal didn’t pass it on to someone else like the Nester did. Maybe someone will approach her about taking it over.
I love Milo’s Sweet Decaf Tea, so thank you, Alabama! It’s hard to find decaf, especially decaf that does not have lemon in it (bleah).
Cute to see your granddaughter sitting up!
In the article about sitting, the lady does not look comfortable to me. She looks like she’s tense, or on the verge of leaving. But maybe I’m just too conditioned by cushy chairs.
I’m listening to a series of lectures about great British literature, and the lecturer pointed out that literature was originally audible and communal – people told stories, usually to groups, before they started writing them down. I wondered what people who say listening to audiobooks is not “reading” would say to that. 🙂
Of the ten books listen in the one article, I think I have read them all except Harry Potter, Great Gatsby, and Of Mice and Men. I know we studied Romeo and Juliet and Tom Sawyer in school, but I don’t know for sure if I read them through. I would think I would have been required to, but I don’t remember.
Back in August I decided I would do 31 Days. But as it got closer, I decided I wouldn’t have time. Then at the last minute when I saw that it was the final year, I changed my mind AND my topic. ha. So now I’m just totally winging it. I’m like you; I’m hoping someone else will take it over so it won’t have to end. I really enjoy getting connected to new bloggers every October and learning new things.
The lady in the chair – yes, it does look like she’s about to pop up and go somewhere. 🙂 I sit like that occasionally but just because my legs are often too short to touch the floor otherwise.
Great point about everything being audible years ago. Oh, how we turn into time snobs so quickly and forget our roots. ha.
I made the blog! That weekend was definitely a highlight.
BSF started, I got a new job, visited with a lot of friends, and saw God’s provision everywhere.
October. Avery turns one Thursday! Birthday party this weekend.
College/young professional gathering at a local fishing club at the end of the month.
That 10 books people lie about is interesting. I’ve read Harry Potter. I think I’ve read Of Mice and Men. Romeo and Juliet, I think we had to read the play in high school.
I wish we’d taken a picture of us as tea-servers. 🙂 That was good for a lot of laughs too. lol.
You have had a very busy month. I know you’ll have a blast at Avery’s birthday party! Happy Birthday to her! I want time to slow down before Riley turns one.
Lisa,
The Legacy Museum link: thanks for sharing it. So powerful. So needed.
I’m like you, sitting in the golf cart, if I accompany Brian, on those rare occasions, like for his birthday 🙂
Listening to James Comey’s book…put it aside for a while because it was so hard to listen to …from an emotional standpoint…but I plan on finishing.
I was crying just walking into The Legacy Museum. It’s been put together very well. The images, the words, the sounds….they’re all so powerful and so heart-wrenching. But sometimes a good heart-wrenching propels us into more sensitivity and compassion. I was glad to see that there were so many other people also there on a random September Monday morning.
My favorite column of yours. Really enjoyed the godly Grandparent article.
I’m glad that I fall into the grandparent category now for real instead of just theoretically! 🙂 I’m going back down to see my sweet little thing on Sunday. Can’t wait! Hope you have a blessed weekend, Jean.
Can I just say, “I love the way your mind works!” Such a diverse and interesting list here. I’m particularly drawn to the list of words. One of the things I do is write a “strange” vocabulary word on a small whiteboard outside my office door frequently. Interesting how many students read it and comment.