What do you do before you go to sleep?

I remember when I was in my first job out of college, and after about two years of working until the time I rolled into bed, I started reading novels again. Just as I had as a kid, before novels became homework assignments for all the English classes I took in high school and college, I read chapter after chapter, sometimes staying up way too late because I was so immersed in the story. A good novel takes me away from the stresses and concerns of my everyday life, it helps me turn my attention to others (even if they are fictional!), and it literally helps my brain and body to slow down. I love immersing myself in a good book.

This week was a fast week. A week with obligations in the evening, a week when I allowed the messages in my inbox and the constant stream of information on Facebook to dominate my bedtime hours. I missed out on the stories sitting right beside me--the book we're reading for book club, Wally Lamb's We Are Water, the novel that arrived in the mail this week, Sing for Me by Karen Halvorsen Schreck.

So before I offer you a smattering of articles and blogposts that might be worth a few minutes of your time, I also wanted to remind myself of the glorious gift of long stories, stories that connect us to people and times and places far away and yet somehow close at hand. Tonight, I'll climb underneath those covers and find myself transported to a different world, and I will fall asleep content.

Faith

Christin Taylor poses the question, Jesus Lives, but Should He Live in My Front Yard? in her piece for the New York Times' Motherlode.

"The real story of Jesus Christ is good news, and it transformed my life. That's why I'm fighting to tell it." In his piece for Christianity Today, Michael Bird reveals How God Became Jesus — and How I Came to Faith in Him.

After a personal loss, an evangelical leader hopes to provide more help. T.M. Luhrmann explains Rick Warren's new mental health initiatives in Saving Minds Along With Souls featured in the New York Times.

Family

Richard Weissbourd and Stephanie Jones discuss David Brooks' recent article for the New York Times (What Suffering Does) in their column for Huffington Post Parents, Are We Too Focused on Our Kids' Happiness?

What is causing the large increase in twin births? Alexis Madrigal of The Atlantic analyzes the latest research in hopes to answer that question and explain why There Really Are So Many More Twins Now.

Disability

Featured on Today's Christian Woman, Margot Starbuck shares the innovative parenting style and inspirational story of Sarah Kovac in Diapering with Her Feet. "We feel like our shortcomings and failures are the end of the world for our kids," Sarah says, "when in reality, they are what prepare our kids to be in a world that is not perfect."

"No one cares about my daughter. She was poor, she was disabled...But she was my world" - Patricia Sankey on the unfortunate death of her daughter, Christina Sankey. Philly.com's daily news columnist Ronnie Polaneczky unveils The death no one cares about.

Ellen Painter Dollar addresses three ways in which we can raise awareness and influence assumptions regarding disability in one of her recent blog posts, Yes, We Can Change Cultural Assumptions About Disabilities. Here's How.