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At last, the Carnival is in town!

All summer, the city’s children have gazed longingly from the windows of their family vehicles, asking their parents yet again, as they passed by the Carnival grounds, “How much longer?” Groups of youngsters have ridden their bicycles past the grounds numerous times en route to or from each others’ houses, the softball diamond, the pool or the movie theater, double-checking the sign to make sure that the opening date of the Carnival hasn’t changed.

And then this morning, long before dawn, the trucks rolled off the interstate and through the streets of the sleeping village, pulling one by one into their designated temporary home. The ride operators and their assistants spent the wee hours assembling the rides — checking the mechanisms and safety devices to assure a smooth, but exciting experience for each carnival-goer who steps up, presents a ticket, and boards. The souvenir and game vendors worked feverishly to display their wares in the most alluring and irresistible way, while the food concessionaires ensured that their inventory of corn dogs, pretzels, beer, caramel and candy-coated apples and, of course, sugar and coloring for the cotton candy-maker are sufficient.

Ladies and gentlemen, step right onto the Midway and enjoy the thrills that await you here at the Carnival of Family Life!

Family Cooking & Recipes

K shares Food Shopping and Menu Planning published at Almost Frugal.

Matthew Philip shares EHI Quick Tip: Clean those Stinky Onion Hands published at EnviroHumanImpact, explaining, “You may be surprised at how easy and ‘green’ the method to remove the smell from your hands after slicing or cooking with an onion actually is.”

Family Finance

Stephanie shares What is lurking in your closet? published at Stop the Ride!

Matthew Paulson shares How to Improve Your Chances of Retiring published at American Consumer News.

Debt Freedom Fighter shares How Much Is Enough For Retirement? published at Discover Debt Freedom!

Silicon Valley Blogger shares Making Money Through Day Trading: The Secret Lives of Stay-At-Home Mommy Speculators published at The Digerati Life, “an offbeat story about some suburban moms and their families.”

Education

mom & dad share Books for Teaching Kids About Puberty, Sex, and Growing Up published at raising4boys.com.

cate3 shares Thoughts about health, food, and parenting published at Why Homeschool.

Family Health and Wellness

Alvaro Fernandez shares Computerized Cognitive Assessments: opportunities and concerns published at SharpBrains: Your Window into the Brain Fitness Revolution. “You know your weight and your level of physical fitness, as well as a variety of other health-related metrics. But what about your degree of brain fitness?” asks Alvaro.

Jeremy Neal shares Three Kids in the Summertime - Dealing with Sleep Deprivation published at Discovering Dad.

Dianne M. Buxton shares Shocker - Sugar and Inflammation Make Life Less Sweet published at Ultra Omega 1200.  Inflammatory illnesses are afflicting children at younger and younger ages.  This article will help you assess whether you need to make lifestyle changes in order to safeguard your family’s health.

Aparna shares Mango bite to save your sight published at Beauty and Personality Grooming.

Chief Family Officer shares The Jardine crib recall is being handled poorly published at Chief Family Officer.

Family Crafts and Activities

Melitsa shares Letter Scavenger Hunt published at Play-Activities.com.

Family Humor

Madeleine Begun Kane shares My Confession published at Mad Kane’s Humor Blog.

Tony Chen shares Cr– and Other Four-Letter Words published at Savvy Daddy, a description of how, not surprisingly, his child learned four-letter words from him.

Parenting Tips and Advice

Lisa Mitchell shares Group Writing Project: Let’s Talk Sleep published at Let’s Talk Babies.

Jennifer Johnson shares What Am I Going to Do With You? published at MommyABCs.com.

Andrew Scotchmer shares How To Choose A Name For Your Baby published at Complete Kaizen.

Reina shares Teen Pregnancy published at BestForYourKids.com.

Kevin Heath shares Parenting Tips for New and Expectant Dads published at More4kids.

Super Saver shares A Kitchen For The Mind published at My Wealth Builder.

Family Fiction

Jenn shares The Drawing published at Mixed Metaphor.net, a fictional story about a woman determined to ensure that her daughter’s childhood is far different from her own.

Family Relationships and Self-Improvement

Kristy shares count ‘em: four published at Our Life in Colorado.

Jonathan shares Misunderstanding: The Root Frustration In Families published at Better Relationship Builder.

Joseph Smith shares Things it means to be a Dad . . . published at Joe’s Thoughts.

Family Travel

Money Answer Guy shares How Do We Take A Vacation - We Cannot Afford One? published at The Money Answer Guy.

Matthew Paulson shares Nature’s Own Slip and Slide published at The Travel Advocate.

muse shares And S’More Pictures published at me-ander.

Raymond shares How To Get A Free Roller Coaster Photo At Six Flags or Disney World published at Money Blue Book.

The midway lights are coming on — it’s the last night of the Carnival’s run here in our town.  Time to get the kids home and put them to bed . . . they’re exhausted and a few have upset tummies from the combination of the rides and the various foods they sampled.

But we’ve had a great time on all of the different rides, enjoyed our favorite foods, and even won a few prizes in the shooting gallery.  Hope this goldfish lives longer than the one we brought home last year!

After the last visitor passes back through the gate on his weary way home, the Carnival personnel will get to work dismantling the rides and packing all of their equipment and wares back onto their trucks in anticipation of the journey to the next town.

If you would like to participate in next week’s edition of the Carnival of Family Life, you can use the form on the left to submit the link to and relevant information about your post. Be sure to review the Carnival guidelines if you have questions.

Would you like the Carnival to pay a visit to your hometown? Check out the hosting schedule, select a date, and then drop a line to JHS letting her know.

Thank you all for participating and supporting the Carnival’s stopover On the Horizon!

Welcome to the Patriotic Edition of the Seventh Day Blog Carnival. I extend my thanks to this month’s participants and encourage you to support them by visiting their sites and leaving a comment letting each of them know how much you appreciate their contribution! 

Since this is the last edition of the Carnival, I also express my gratitude to everyone who has submitted their work and all who have cheered on the participants.

Allen Scott shares Let Freedom Ring published at Journey Across the Sky.

Michael Snyder shares The Los Lunas Decalogue Stone - How In The World Did The Ten Commandments Get To America Before Columbus Did? publised at Shattered Paradigm.

JHS shares An Independence Day Reflection: “Eeny, meeny, miny, moe. . .” published at Colloquium.

Jenn shares An Unexpected Independence Day Celebration published at Mixed Metaphor.net.

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There is a time for everything,
and a season for every activity under heaven: . . .
a time to weep and a time to laugh,
a time to mourn and a time to dance.

Ecclesiastes 3:1, 4

Knowing this, we are aware that there will be times when our hearts hurt and break. Each of us has experienced that heart break in one form or another. Thinking back on your life, what makes your heart break, and why?

There it is. The elephant in the room. I have decided that it is finally time to acknowledge, name, and discuss it.

One dictionary defines a “clique” as “an exclusive circle of people with a common purpose,” while another describes it this way: “A group of people who are friendly with each other but exclude others.” The word in that sentence that troubles and inspires me to blog is “exclude.” As Christians, we should never exclude other human beings from our presence because they do not believe as we do. To exclude others is to be decidedly un-Christlike.

Other bloggers have invoked different names to discuss the issue, although not specifically in reference to Christian blogs. For instance, Jack of All Blogs wrote about a phenomenon that occurs when one lone voice stands out from a crowd of bloggers who all line up on the same side of a particular issue. He dubbed it the “blogging posse,” noting that blogging often becomes an activity which is “polarizing and tends to tear communities apart. You’re forced to choose a side. Otherwise, it’s ‘if you’re not with us, then you’re against us.’”

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Welcome to this very special Father’s Day Edition of the Carnival of Family Life, the weekly blog carnival spotlighting posts discussing what it means to live within and be part of a family. There are many excellent submissions included in this week’s edition that will inform, enlighten, inspire, and amuse you. Make sure that you leave a comment at each author’s site, letting him or her know how much you enjoyed his or her contribution!

Father’s Day began not as a day to purchase and give greeting cards, but, rather, because of one woman’s desire to recognize the sacrifices of her own father. Sonora Dodd was the daughter of Civil War veteran William Smart. When his wife died while giving birth to their sixth child, he was left to raise all six alone. After growing up on the family farm in eastern Washington, Mrs. Dodd sought a way to honor her father’s strength and selflessness. Thus, Spokane, Washington was the site of the very first Father’s Day commemoration on June 19, 1910, the date chosen by Mrs. Dodd because her father’s birthday was in June.

In 1924, Calvin Coolidge was the first United States President to recognize the observance. It was not until 42 years later that a presidential proclamation declaring the third Sunday of June as Father’s Day was signed — by President Lyndon Johnson in 1966. In 1972, President Richard Nixon signed the law which finally made it a permanent holiday.

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