Monday Must-Reads (and Watches), July 21

Photo: Linda Nylind for The Guardian

I'm right now sitting in a terminal at the Des Moines airport with a LIFEchurch group heading to the L.A. Dream Center. Just a few minutes to throw up some of the best of what I saw online this week! Happy reading and watching!

Change-the-way-you-live video: Look at what our garbage is doing to birds.

This guest post series on Rage Against the Minivan is very fitting this week as a sweet family in our community lost their 3-year-old daughter. Here's "What I Want You To Know About Losing a Child" by Heather Blaire.

Joey Aszterbaum describes the social climate in Murietta, CA, where picketers protest the processing of child refugees from South American Countries: "I believe that the United States is making the same mistake today by failing to declare these immigrants refugees, and by failing to create comprehensive immigration reform that creates a path to citizenship for refugees. Some things are the right thing to do, no matter how much personal sacrifice it takes." 

Something a little less serious, but also very helpful for me: "How to Survive the Summer as a Work-at-Home Mom."

Darlene Cunha's "This is What Happened When I Drove My Mercedes to Pick Up Food Stamps" is a helpful look at the way financial crisis happens to people, even when they do all the "right" things.

This guest post from Jennifer Ball on Momastery is also a poignant "recovery story": "You Will Survive Being Left."