B's Big Girl Bed

B. has been in a big girl bed now for a few months.  And I just realized that we never put pictures up of her special new bed.

Book Review: Read and Share: Stories about Jesus by Gwen Ellis, Illustrated by Steve Smallman

My daughter and I read through the Read and Share Stories about Jesus book by Gwen Ellis, illustrated by Steve Smallman today.   This is a large board book written for Children ages 1-4.  It has 13 Bible stories about Jesus and after each story one or two questions are asked.  Also, under each title, the Scripture reference is listed of where the stories are located in the Bible.  The stories that are included in this book are: 

God's Baby Son Grows Up                       John Baptizes Jesus

Jesus Heals a Sick Boy                             Jesus Brings a Girl Back to Life

Jesus Walks on the Water                          Jesus Loves Children

A Very Short Man                                     A Blind Man Sees Again

Jesus Stops a Storm                                  One Lost Sheep

A Coin in a Fish                                       One Man Says Thank You

Jesus Goes to Heaven  

I think the illustrator did a great job with the art for this book.  His art was appealing and captured the attention of my lively two year old.   I like the fact that it is a large board book since little ones have a hard time being careful with thin pages.  The pages are really easy to turn for little hands, and the book should hold up for quite a while.  The questions at the end of the stories are a great idea to get children thinking and not just reading another story.  Many of the questions make them think about what it would be like if they had been right there with Jesus.
Some of the stories and questions could be too old for the intended reader.  The second story in the book is about Jesus' baptism.  The question then asked is, "Have you been baptized?"  Children ages 1 to 4 will have a hard time comprehending the full impact of baptism.  There is also no mention of belief in Christ before one can be baptism.  I would rate it as okay, but not outstanding. 

***I received this book free from the publisher through the BookSneeze.com book review bloggers program. The opinions I have expressed are my own.

Treasuring God's Word

A while ago I wrote about a new blog endeavor with my mom.  Well, the blog is now up and running.  We will be going through the book of Psalms for our first study.  Yep, that is quite a huge project for the first one, but a book that I have come to love and enjoy.  It reveals the human emotions and inner turmoils that we all face every day.  I love how open it is emotionally b/c I know that I am not that way.  I often hide what is truly going on inside.  The Psalmists often bear their souls for all the world to see...good or bad.   This book instructs, comforts, gives hope to the hopeless and teaches a true worship of God.  So, feel free to head over to Treasuring God's Word and join us in studying through the Psalms.

Remembering a Year Ago and Our Room pictures-before and after

Believe it or not, last year at this time we were packing up to move into our first home!  On January 30th it'll be a year that we have lived in our new home.  Many days we look at each other and just exclaim that we can't believe we are finally here.  We LOVE our new house and are so thankful for all that God has provided for us.  You can read about the move and see the pictures here. 

I finally got around to taking some pictures of our bedroom.

Before:

 After:

 New night stands from IKEA

 Closet organized!!

 The window treatment will eventually be on the other window too whenever my mom is back over here and can help me sew it......ok, she does the sewing and I watch.

The Hiccupotamus

I have to do a write up about this book by our friend, Aaron Zenz.  We read it for the first time last night with our daughter and just LOVED this book.  She asked to read it again this afternoon for nap time too.
The art is beautiful.  Aaron did the art with colored pencils...just amazing.  The wording is fun and playful.  Here is an excerpt:



      "There was a hippopotamus
       Who hiccupped quite-a-lotamus.
       And ever time he got'emus....
       He'd fall upon his bottomus."

I would recommend this book for any little one's library!  So adorable!

You can visit aaron's site here.  And you can find the book on amazon.com here.  Aaron and his kids also review the books they read together on their blog Bookie Woogie.

Let it Snow!!!

I have to post some pictures of all the snow we've gotten since New Year's Day.  We had a huge melt down right before that and the snow was gone.  Now look at it!  It's taken just 3 weeks to get it looking like this.  I guess that is what you get when you live by a great lake.

Book Review: Voices of the Faithful by Beth Moore

I recently received the book Voices of the Faithful by Beth Moore to review for the Booksneeze book review program.  The book is a collection of missionary stories from many different countries.  The book is intended to be read one page a day similar to a daily bread.  Each day has a verse, missionary story and then concludes with a prayer.

I have mixed feelings about this book.  Generally, I like Beth Moore; although, I find that she has issues with interpretation at times.  This book has some of the same issues with it.  I really enjoyed reading the missionary stories since I myself was a missionary kid.  The stories are very inspiring, and I could identify with several of the stories.  I think it is an eye opening book for those who have never had the chance to go overseas and be a part of missions trip to get a glimpse of what missionaries go through in daily life.  On the other hand, there were many stories that revolved around dreams.  Dreams and visions are not happening in this day and age.  It sounds a lot like mysticism to me.

So, if you can overlook the periodic stories of dreams, the rest of the book is good reading.

**I received this book free from the publisher through the BookSneeze.com book review bloggers program. The opinions I have expressed are my own.

Book Review: Remember Why You Play

 I did not know what to expect when I picked this book up to read. I thought the story line sounded interesting and it intrigued me.  Once I began reading this story, I had a hard time putting the book down.  It was like watching a really great movie.  Remember Why You Play is written by sports journalist, David Thomas.  He followed Kris Hogan's football team from Faith Christian School in Grapevine, Texas for their 2007 football season.  Hogan's philosophy is that there is more than to life than winning or loosing a football game.  He teaches his players that living life for God is what this life is all about.  That 2007 season led up to an amazing event in the 2008 season that had everyone around the United States talking.  What was that amazing event in 2008?  A football game between Faith Christian and the Gainsville state Tornadoes would be the talk of the town.  Gainsville State was a team from a prison school.  Faith looked at this game differently then other schools.  They did not see it as an easy win (which it was), but as a way to minister to kids who had no hope.  Gainsville state had no fans to cheer them on in the stands or form a tunnel out of the locker room.  They had no one but the staff from the prison there for them.  Faith Christian sent some of their cheerleaders and fans to their side of the stands.  They cheered for them as if the Gainsville state tornadoes were their own team.  They formed a tunnel for them to run through.  The players were changed forever from the kindness showed to them in that game.
I really liked this book.  It was such an inspirational story of how one team impacted so many through such a small act of kindness.  I would highly recommend the book.
You can visit the official website about the author and book here.   You can also view the story about the team on YouTube here and here.  And be on the look out for a movie inspired by this story called One Heart in Fall 2011.

*** I received this book free from Tyndale House Publishers for this review. The opinions I have expressed are my own.

Building a Gingerbread House and a lot of carebears

Aunt Lynnette had a cute little gingerbread house for us to do together.  Of course, B. ate more candy than she put on the house.  It turned out pretty cute.

Aunt Lynnette has a carebear collection and she put everyone of her bears on her bed one day for B. to see.  What a sight to see all of those bears together.

Sledding

Our Christmas

 On December 23rd, we got a coffee from Mcdonalds and drove around our little city and looked at the lights while in our pajamas.  The next morning we celebrated our family Christmas.  B. really didn't understand about all the presents under the tree.   It was so fun to see her open everything this year.  It was quite a difference from last year.

 Brooke got suckers in her stocking.  I think we could of stopped right there and she would of been happy with that.

 Making pancakes with daddy.

presents opened, mission accomplished

Christmas with Family

 We were able to have a week to split between our families for Christmas this year.  The first 4 1/2 days were spent with Tom's side of the family.  We had a great time together.  B. even got to go sledding for the first time.

 B. helping Papa open his gift from us.

 Looking with Amma at the calendar we gave her.

B. was helping Aunt Lynnette make sure there were no more presents in her big bag. 

The next 4 1/2 days were spent with my family.

We had a good time celebrating with my family.  It was too bad that we ended up getting the flu (respiratory).  It seems like that is becoming the new tradition with my family Christmas.  I'm so thankful for my parents and taking care of B. while Tom and I laid around and did nothing except blow our noses and feel miserable. 

We definitely came home with a car full of presents!  Thanks everyone.  B. loves her gifts and is enjoying playing with everything.