{"id":11703,"date":"2016-10-28T06:17:32","date_gmt":"2016-10-28T10:17:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/debmillswriter.com\/?p=11703"},"modified":"2016-10-28T06:17:32","modified_gmt":"2016-10-28T10:17:32","slug":"5-friday-faves-kids-in-costume-infographic-for-learners-words-eric-metaxas-and-walking-to-school","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/debmillswriter.com\/?p=11703","title":{"rendered":"5 Friday Faves – Kids in Costume, Infographic for Learners, Words, Eric Metaxas, and Walking to School"},"content":{"rendered":"

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It’s Friday! Another week finished… I’m looking forward to catching up with some family this weekend. How about you? Choosing favorite finds for the week was difficult – lots to choose from, but some were most note-worthy negatively rather than friendly favorites – political commentary, etc. I decided to stay more upbeat with the faves posted. So here they are.<\/p>\n

1) Kids in Costume – <\/strong>Don’t you love kids in costume? When our children were preschoolers, we had a toy-chest full of dress-up clothes thanks to grandmothers who made or found fun outfits for them. Some of those costumes ended up overseas with us. [See below.}\"img_9943\"<\/a>With Halloween around the corner, I’m sure we’ll see kids of all ages in their favorite character wear. It’s nice when there are more opportunities to dress-up besides just this one day of the year (like superhero day at school). We didn’t celebrate Halloween when our kids were growing up, but I do love the costumes….well, and the candy (but that’s another topic). There’s sometime transformative when kids put these kinds of duds on… Let the bravado begin!\"blog-kids-in-costume-bourdoff-family\"<\/a>Photo Credit: Aaron and Jamie Burdorf<\/a><\/p>\n

2) Infographic of Usual Tips for All Types of Learners – <\/strong>Two of my favorite things to discover are 1) infographics and 2) helps for various types of learners. Here it’s two-in-one. Design Taxi <\/a>created a study guide to aid four types of learners – the visual learner, the auditory learner, the read and write learner, and the kinesthetic learner. I’m a blend of visual and read\/write learner. Check out the infographic<\/a>, especially you students out there – could help you change gears through your heavy reading assignments and exams. As an example, a visual learner comprehends more information off a printed page rather than a screen. Highlighting words in my notes also helps me focus on key concepts. Lots of great study hacks.\"blog-lachlan-brown-infographic-of-useful-tips-twitter\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Photo Credit: Lachlan Brown, Twitter<\/a><\/p>\n

3) Words –\u00a0<\/strong>Gary Chapman<\/a> has written several books around the theme of love languages. Here’s one<\/a>. Chapman defines love languages as the ways we most clearly experience love from a spouse, a friend, a coworker. He lists five love languages – touch, words of affirmation, gifts, time, and acts of service.<\/strong> Words are definitely one of my love languages. I really appreciate when people affirm something they see in me that they love.<\/p>\n

My mama was always encouraged by the gift of words.\u00a0 In 2002, the cancer she had already had for two years was getting worse. She died in November 2002. Some time afterward, I was one of the family responsible for packing up her personal belongings. In the drawers of her computer desk, she had hundreds of cards.\"img_9942\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I just couldn’t throw them away. That day, too near to her dying, I just put them all in a box.\u00a0 Just this week I pulled them out and went through them. It was a huge and healing experience. All the words – cards chosen by friends and family in the year of her fiercest battle. All the words that they also wrote to her to express their love and to remind her how strong she was…and how big her God was. As I read through card after card, I could feel the deep love between these card writers and my mom. Some of these friends have also died since Mom died. So grateful for the legacy of these words and the love they expressed so beautifully. Thankful for them…and for you who took the time to share them with her.<\/p>\n

That era when people sent cards…I miss it.<\/strong> What a blessing to have folks in my life who still write and send cards. Those words fill my heart and lighten the load.<\/p>\n

4) Eric Metaxas – <\/strong>Do you know him? His writing and speaking have been excellent company for me this year.\u00a0 Eric Metaxas<\/a> is a historian, writer, lecturer, and social commentator. His books include Bonhoeffer<\/a>, 7 Men<\/a>, 7 Women<\/a>, and most recently If You Can Keep It: The Forgotten Promise of American Liberty<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/em><\/a>. <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/em>Metaxas has been a strong conservative voice in this election year. I have learned from him.<\/span><\/span><\/span>\"President<\/a>\"blog-eric-metaxas-eventbrite\"<\/a>Photo Credit: Wikimedia Commons<\/a>, Eventbrite<\/a><\/p>\n

What has been especially gratifying for me this year is Metaxas’ take on what is happening in our country. I am ignorant about so many things and he has aided my understanding of some of the cultural changes we are experiencing.<\/p>\n

[A sidebar on Metaxas is that he was once a wary and restless intellectual. Then at the age of 25, he had a dream<\/a> that drew him to a personal faith in God. He describes more about his faith in the I Am Second<\/a> video. Still a studied intellectual, he is focused, fearless, and empassioned…a Christ-follower and patriot.]<\/p>\n

5) Walking to School – <\/strong>This week, on Facebook, I saw a video short entitled School The World: Journey<\/em><\/a>. It compared two children’s very different experiences of getting to school each day. One was a young Guatemalan boy whose trek to school took him 2 1\/2 hours.
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