The Saturday 7

Apparently these weekly blog posts have become biweekly. (Or is it bimonthly? I've never understood the difference.) I didn't even mean to skip last week. I was just super busy and super exhausted! Let's see if I can make up for it tonight . . .

1. I finished The Anxious Generation by Jonathan Haidt and loved it.

Seriously, I could gush about it for hours (and some of you have been recipients of that in person - lol). It's written by a self-proclaimed atheist, and refers heavily to evolution, but the research he's done and the conclusions he's drawn are so important! The research clearly shows that unfettered access to the internet (specifically social media, pornography, and video games) is destroying the next generation. Suicide rates are through the roof, depression and anxiety are reaching epidemic status, and teenagers are not growing up - remaining, instead, perpetual adolescents. The constant onslaught of stimulation has created a generation of kids that can't focus on anything that doesn't move at the speed of light - especially school or anything "boring." Attention spans are down, ADHD is up, behavior problems are ubiquitous, and respect for adults is at an all-time low. Haidt shows how constant internet access has literally rewired the brains of today's kids, and he paints a bleak picture of their future without intervention.

I thought it was so interesting that despite his religious beliefs (or lack thereof), he reached some very Christian conclusions. Take, for instance, this passage, which came in the middle of a chapter on the importance of "spiritualism" for kids as they grow up. He posits that almost every religion (or "wisdom tradition") sets forth a set of virtues that are imperative for the health of society, and social media teaches kids to embody the very opposite:

I was also intrigued by Haidt's assertion that the gradual safety-ism of children over the past two decades has laid the groundwork for a life immersed in the digital world. We've bought into the lie that the real world is too dangerous for children while simultaneously allowing them free rein of the internet. Haidt insists that we live in the least dangerous time in history and our children NEED independence, unstructured play, and freedom from parents who solve all their kids' problems for them.

Seriously. There's so much more. You just need to read it for yourself. My kids will thank you if you get on board, so I'm not the only one who forbids a smart phone before 16 and social media before 18.

#meanmom #bemeanwithme

2. When I haven't been reading over the past two weeks, I've been working on setting up the church library. Esther, Jenae, and I spent 9 solid hours organizing and labeling books last Saturday. Then another 7 hours on Monday. I was there for a few hours on Wednesday, and another few hours yesterday. And we're still not done! Lol. It doesn't help that we keep finding more books. It's time consuming and semi-exhausting, but I love it so much. I just really hope people use it and all this work isn't in vain.

We're currently sharing our space with the directory photos team, so don't mind the backdrop and lights in these pictures. Haha.

The first piles of books.

In progress . . .

After a couple days of work! (Not pictured: hundreds of children's books.)

Oops, I found some more books . . . Haha!

I'm sure you looked at those shelves and wondered how on earth it took us so many hours to do such a small amount of work, but let me give you a peek behind the curtain at all the steps required between acquiring a book and placing it on the shelf ready to check out:

1. Scan the barcode to enter it into our library management system.
2. Assign the book a call number.
3. Download and print barcode numbers (the online system makes this part easy).
4. Export call numbers from the online system to an excel document so they can be put in alphabetical order. Then upload that document to an Avery file to make them fit on the labels. Download the Avery file as a pdf then print it. (For some reason, the online system does not have a better way to do this.)
5. Each book gets a barcode, spine label, and a piece of protective tape to cover the spine label.
6. Then it can be put on the shelf.

3. The other thing consuming my brain space over the past couple of weeks is our school's online auction. Part of my new position is hyping it on social media - which includes following the release schedule, making images to promote certain big-ticket items, and scheduling facebook/instagram posts and stories. There are some pretty great things up for bid if you're interested in taking a look here.

4. Justin wrapped up his fourth year of coaching varsity soccer at ACS with a final tournament this week.

He left Tuesday night and got home last night, and I realized that single momming gets so much easier every year as my kids get older. Whew! We were all still happy to have him home, though, and I'm very much looking forward to having our evenings together again now that nightly practices are over! I have big dreams about a cozy winter gathered around the table for dinner and in the living room for reading time each night. Stay tuned to watch that dream die.

A study in red? I was reading a book while Levi was listening to one, snuggled up on the couch next to me. In our red shirts under a red blanket, wearing red headphones. Totally unintentional.

5. And now it's time for a confession that may come back to bite me . . . I'm kind of excited about the election. Mostly just because I can't wait for it to be over, but also because it's going to be so close and I can't wait to see people lose their minds if Trump actually wins. Lol. My sisters have said since the beginning that there's no way he'll win, and I've maintained all along that he has more of a chance than they give him credit for. This is neither an endorsement of Trump or an invitation to argue politics. It's just me noting that the race is closer than anyone expected and I'm excited to see how it plays out. . . . and for the commercials to go away.

6. Today, I finally cashed in my birthday date with Justin. I made him take me to Embrace Books (the free book"store") where I looked at every single book for two hours while he sat in the car reading. Lol. Actually, I didn't get to look at every single book like I wanted to because time just goes so fast. Maybe someday I can go do something that I want to do at my leisure without keeping an eye on the clock, but today was not that day. We hurriedly scarfed down some disappointing Red Robin then zipped home so I could scoop up the kids and head off to the next activity: Cousins trunk or treating. The whole crew isn't assembling until actual Halloween, but some of us had fun doing the trunk or treat crawl at a bunch of area churches tonight.

7. Just a couple more pics and memes:

A couple of Doritos loving cousins at one of Justin's last home games. (Can you tell they get their hand-me-downs from the same source? Lol. Thanks, Amy!)

Lena set out an outfit on the table and Stella immediately made herself at home.

This is a beautiful milestone. I can bribe my kids to clean the house in exchange for McDonald's and they actually do it well enough that I don't have to follow behind them!