Friday Links: Labor Day Edition

Happy Friday, friends! Man I am looking forward to this three-day weekend. Of course, we have lots of plans. We are going to our first family baseball game and probably to the splash pad for one last romp before they close it. (I don’t understand why they close all pools and splash pads after Labor Day in the south. It is still SO hot!)

On the home front, I will be picking paint at Home Depot for our kitchen + dining room, as well as attempting to remove the popcorn from our bathroom ceilings. YouTube makes it look easy. We’ll see.

Things I’ve Read/Learned This Week
If you read/click on one link in this post, make it this one. My friend Kristen’s Lessons from My 28th Year is a story worth reading + for every comment Walgreens and Shot@Life will give a desperately needed vaccine to someone in a developing country. So simple. So amazing.

Sarah Bessey’s post on the grace of good love had me nodding the whole way through. Love this woman. Love this line: The buck doesn’t stop with my husband, it stops with us together, and we wait in the in-between places and pray and learn again the grace of good love and true honour together.

What’s In It for Me was on my mind this week, especially this line Real Love doesn’t have any qualifiers attached. Real Love doesn’t discriminate. Real Love gives, simply because it’s what it does.

And this post, What I Won’t Tell You About My Ballet Dancing Son pulled at my mama heartstrings. A must-read.

This post about teaching your kids to embrace diversity is so practical. (Be sure to check out the books she mentions: One Green Apple, The Big Orange Splot, The Sneetches and Other Stories and The Colors of Us.)

Video to Watch

This video of Lenny Kravitz when he discovers The Voice of Praise Choir from the First Baptist Church in New Orleans singing Fly Away made me smile big. Love when celebrities are kind and fun.

App to Download

Have you heard of the 1 Second Everday app? My agent Jenni shared it with me and I am FREAKING out excited about it. It’s amazing. Basically, you record 1 second of video footage every day, upload it to the app and they put together a video of your year for you! ACK!! This weekend I am getting a new phone and will be promptly downloading this.

Books to Read

I finished my friend Tsh’s book Notes from a Blue Bike: The Art of Living Intentionally in a Chaotic Worldlast night. (Perk of author friends are advance copies of their books!) I loved it so much. Easy reading with so many a-ha moments for me as a woman and a parent. Definitely worth pre-ordering.

Also worth pre-ordering is my friend Emily’s Million Little Ways, A: Uncover the Art You Were Made to Live. I am about half-way through the galley and can honestly say it has already changed the way I see myself and the world around me. It is fantastic.

Yesterday in the mail I received Margaret Feinberg’s Scouting the Divine book and bible study. If you are looking for some great Christian books, check out her shop. Margaret was recently diagnosed with cancer and by buying through her store (and not on Amazon) you are really helping support her during this difficult time.

Anyone notice it’s been awhile since I did a reading update? Be sure to check back Monday for my summer reading update with lots of good books!

Fave Instagram of the Week (follow me here)

Have a great holiday weekend!