June was an absolute whirlwind with travel for my husband and I, a mission trip for my husband, a visit from my mom (who kept us all sane while my husband was gone), camp for one child, swim lessons for the other, and trying to maintain some semblance of routine with the kids while enjoying the last couple of weeks before the firstborn heads back to school. I love the year-round school schedule but I think I may need another year to get used to the shortness of summer break!

Here are this month’s reads and other random tidbits:

Reads

I am finishing up a couple of books that I started in June, one of which is a pre-release I got access to through NetGalley. Looking forward to sharing those with you in July.

Articles

The Ford Executive Who Kept Score of Collegues’ Verbal Flubs

Mike Colias
MSN

I laughed out loud at one point while reading this. I love a good-natured joke or prank on someone (as long as they can take it), and feel I would do this with typos.

Pentagon Pizza Index: The theory that surging pizza orders signal global crises

Eve Upton-Clark
Fast Company

Scientific? Probably not so much. Entertaining and oddly coincidental? A little bit, yes.

The Dumbest Phone is Parenting Genius

Rheana Murray
The Atlantic

The timing of this article was serendipitous, because we literally got a home phone just a week prior. It’s not a literal landline–it runs through our internet–but it’s a phone our kids have access to that’s not our cell phones, particularly if they need to call someone in an emergency. However, this article touts other benefits of a home phone as kids get older. And I am here for it.

The House is Empty of All but Memories

Andy Stearns
Thoughts Worth Thinking

A beautiful look at the places that hold our earthly memories, while pointing us to our eternal home.

When Ball Becomes Baal

Jim Elliff
Christian Communicators Worldwide

My kids have recently entered extracurricular age, and the pull to sign them up for all the things is real. So I’m grateful for any article, advice, and encouragement to swim against the current on this particular topic.

Review: The Philharmonic Gets Dressed, by Karla Kuskin

Jane Psmith
Mr. and Mrs. Psmith’s Bookshelf

While I don’t necessarily agree with the CTA at the end of this book review, it is my goal to write a review of a children’s book as compelling as this one.

One Step Closer

Till We Are Home

The author reflects on the loss of his daughter with the weight and hope that only comes from someone who both grieves deeply and trusts God implicitly.

My School Banned Phones for the Year. Here’s What Happened

Gilbert Scheurch
Fit to Teach

This article was reposted in Jonathan Haidt’s substack, and while anecdotal, I imagine if more schools implemented the same kind of phone policies, the results would look similar. Some colorful language in this one, but worth the read.

Listen

Movie Scores

I am not really a music person. I used to like music more, but apparently I have reached the age of “turn that racket down.” Actually, I think part of this is that 90% of my car rides consist of DannyGo songs or PawPatrol episodes (yes, you can listen to some on YouTube and my kids treat it almost like an old-timey radio program), so I enjoy the quiet when I have it. The other part is that I can never think of what I want to listen to if I get a moment to choose myself. All this to say, I have found that I really love putting on movie scores when I’m working. I like instrumental music for working because it’s not distracting from the actual work, and movie scores are just really fun to listen to. Any playlist will do, as long as it contains music from Pirates of the Caribbean.

Things I’m Loving

• Every year, we attend the annual meeting of the Southern Baptist Convention. While it probably sounds like the least exciting thing to most of you, it’s always so fun to see so many old friends each year. My husband and I have both worked in various circles of the SBC for most of our adult life, so we have lots of reunions to attend to each year. (I also didn’t mind having two whole days in a hotel room by myself while my husband had meetings before the meetings.)
• Speaking of reunions, we were able to get brunch with one of our friends from Houston, who just happens to have family in our area. Not many around here quite get our love of Houston (which is fair, it’s a terrible place to simply visit), so it’s always nice to be with people who share our love for the city.
• Speaking of Houston, we came across a Shipley’s donuts in Charlotte, NC on our way to visit my family in SC. Praise the Lord for finding a kolache in the Carolinas (yes, the Buccees in SC does have them but they only carry them at breakfast, which is super lame because we are never passing through there at breakfast time).
• I mentioned above that we recently set up a home phone, and my kids love calling their grandparents on it. They also called us while we were out of town just to say “I love you.” So I think it was a worthwhile purchase.
• As my children have gotten bigger, I’ve loved watching them get to participate in things like camp, dance, soccer, etc. While we don’t want to overload them with activities, it’s so fun watching them learn to do new things and have fun.

_{Photo by Glen Carrie on Unsplash}