Excited to round-up some of my favorites from this week to share with you!

My Favorite Blog Posts:

CHALLENGING READS:

A terribly sad, but beautifully wrought post about a church, a sex offender, and the aftermath. Shawn Smucker writes, “I will plead with God that peace rains down on the family who has entered the nightmare, and I will pray that they will find their way as best they can. I pray that they still know, deep down, that they are good parents. Because they are. I will pray for my friend, too, though I do not know how.”

This is an important post for all you people pleasers out there. How to Survive Criticism by Stephen Martin. He writes, “The Gospels can be read, among other things, as a case study in coping with criticism. During his three-year ministry, Jesus spent inordinate amounts of time responding to misguided and mean-spirited assaults on his ideas and actions.”

FOR WRITERS:

I’m always fascinated by how other writers spend their time writing. This was an interesting read about Elizabeth Gilbert’s writing habits. She echoes my philosophy: “Everything that needs to be done in my life has to be done before 11:00 am, or it won’t be done well, or may not even be done at all. I love the early hours because the world hasn’t tracked me down yet. My best mind is my mind at dawn, after a good night of sleep,” she writes.

FOR THE HOME:

The Handmade Home: I just love these tablescapes, particularly as I prepare my annual friendship brunch!

 

My Picture of the Week:

We spent a lovely few days in Puerto Rico to celebrate our 23rd wedding anniversary. It was glorious and warm, 85 degrees. And yet, we landed in Dallas when it was chilly-chilly-chilly, and for a time, skated all over highway 635 on our way home.

 

Video of the Week: A fairy tale finale for foster teen

This story happened where we live! How cool is that?

Facebook Post With the Most Interaction:

Important message for my Facebook friends: Recently Facebook wrote, “We expect organic distribution of an individual page’s posts to gradually decline over time…” And a Facebook spokesperson said, “the best way to get your stuff seen if you’re a business is to pay for it.” (According to AdAge)

This means you may not receive my content on this Facebook page because I can’t afford to pay Facebook to send you my normally free content.

If you’d like to be sure you’ll receive my essays, blogs and stories about living an outrageously UNCAGED life, all you have to do is sign up for my list.

The cool thing? You’ll get my free ebook, The 12 Steps to Impossible Joy, 50 pages of awesomeness to help you start 2014 with JOY JOY JOY! Woot!

Thanks for reading this message. I appreciate it!

Warmly,

Mary