Weekend Daybook: the welcoming each other edition

Seven days of collecting what I've been up to lately: places, people, books, podcasts, music, links & more for your weekend downtime.

(1) photo from this week

October.Seaside Park1.JPG

After a difficult weekend that knocked me out emotionally for a couple of days, I felt deeply restored by my walk along the Long Island Sound in Seaside Park, Bridgeport. This park is two blocks from our apartment, but sometimes I get going in life and stop paying attention to this space. If some time goes by without me mentioning the park or sharing a photo here, you have my permission to bug me about it!


(2) new posts in the Work Stories series

  1. Work Stories: Christie Purifoy's placemaker calling (What a joy to share my online home with Christie this week, and lots of you have told me you’re grateful, too.)

  2. An unexpected cost of our calling (Continuing to reflect on the winding pathways Brian and I have taken to get to a place better than we ever expected that cost us more than we ever imagined.)


(3) links about the beauty of gathering around a table (in honor of Christie Purifoy’s encouragement to us as placemakers)

You also might enjoy my Pinterest board: Liturgy of Life

  1. Why Do We Feast? by Sarah Hauser via The Rabbit Room (Anyone who quotes Robert Farrar Capon while suggesting feasting is a spiritual practice gets my full attention!)

  2. Learning To Cook, And Why It Matters by Andi Ashworth via Comment (An older post that never gets old because when Andi Ashworth speaks, I want to listen.)

  3. How To Start A Cookbook Club by Tara Austen Weaver via Serious Eats (Filing this idea away!)


(4) excellent insights into parenting

You also might enjoy my Pinterest board: Liturgy of Life

  1. 10 Dangerous Things for Kids and One True Danger, A Quiz by Rachel Pieh Jones via A Life Overseas (This topic represents some deep concerns Brian and I have about current parenting expectations, and there’s no better instructor than those who’ve broken their kids out of our national bubble.)

  2. An Encouraging Word for Mothers of Small Children by Anne Kennedy via Preventing Grace (You know, in case mothers of small children might need encouragement.)

  3. When Your Kids Won’t Bow to Your Idols by Jennifer Phillips (Another post I’ve held on to awhile and so in line with much of what I hoped to share in the parenting series I wrote a few years ago. This is excellent and worth re-reading often.)

  4. Families, Discipleship, and the Church by Rev. Dr. Emily McGowin via Churches For the Sake of Others (Parents, you and your children need the Church. I promise.)


(5) personal responses to the Judge Kavanaugh confirmation

Some day I will say more. Kyrie eleison.


(6) informative and restorative links since the Kavanaugh hearings

  1. When Justice Fails by Peter J. Leithart via First Things (“We can shatter the idols that bind and blind us, and turn to God in prayer. That may seem a priss-pious response to what R. R. Reno has called a “political knife-fight,” but prayer is in the arsenal of spiritual weapons, one of the church’s primary ways of pursuing justice.”

  2. The Kavanaugh Hearings Have Demonstrated How Desperately America Needs Restorative Justice by Lara Bazelon via Slate (We’ve been holding a conversation about what it means to navigate life on a middle road. Restorative justice is a great example of middle road thinking.)

  3. Canticle of the Turning by Rory Cooney as recorded by Katherine Moore (A friend shared this song with me on social media in response to my tears. It’s a favorite song, but I tend remember it only during Advent. This is a lovely recording at the perfect time.)

  4. Discerning the tune: Two new poems for our times by Malcolm Guite (Another friend texted these poems to Brian and me this week. It was a rough week, and these were good, beautiful, and true words. God bless Malcolm Guite.)

  5. Daily Prayer for October 12 via Plough (I was grateful for the timing of this prayer prompt. May I encourage you to print this prayer based on Matthew 6:12 and say it out loud from time to time? I’ll be doing the same.)

  6. Into Your Hands: Retrieve Lament (Still rehearsing the power of confession, forgiveness, and redemption that I’ve learned through my own experience with sexual wounding and shame.)


(7) blog posts from this week in the archives

  1. 2017 - My top 14 favorite art & faith books (I want to keep reading this over and over again!)

  2. 2016 - You Are Here to Kneel [sharing at Art House America] (Might not have been the most restful part of our trip to Ireland, but there’s no memory I hope to remember more!)

  3. 2015 - Autumn Daybook with Pumpkins [look.listen.make.do.] (Autumn brings out all the nostalgia.)

  4. 2015 - {pretty, happy, funny, real} in a briefly quiet season (Still amazed at this timeline.)

  5. 2014 - 7 melancholy blurbs (Sometimes it’s the smaller, bittersweet memories worth recording.)

  6. 2013 - The meaning of your name [tiny stories] (Gah! My niece!)

  7. 2011 - Top 10 When Company’s Coming (A guest post from my Mom that will never get old!)

7 years ago

Marble Falls, TX


May your weekend include some time at home and some time with friends that welcome your tears as well as your laughter. Peace...

p.s. This post may contain affiliate links because I'm trying to be a good steward, and when you buy something through one of these links you don't pay more money, but in some magical twist of capitalism we get a little pocket change. Thanks!