24 Nov 2015

Praying for Your Kids (and giveaway)

by | posted in: Books, Shepherding Children | 6

I Prayed for You

Let’s be honest for a second, sometimes (in the midst of temper tamptrums and bouts of continued disobedience) it is hard to be really thankful for our children.

But, God has given them to us as a blessing and should be one of the greatest gifts we’ve ever been given – and they need to be told over and over again how thankful we are for them.

One of the times i usually love the most, is when I get to lay down with my older one and pray over him as he goes to sleep at night.  He has some sensory delays in his development, so he absolutely loves to sleep in the floor.  We’ve made him a soft palette and pile on his stuffed animals and his night night (the blanket he has slept with since he was a few months old).  He always wants either me or his Daddy to lay beside him until he falls asleep.  And as soon as I lay down with him, I pray aloud over him with my hand on his back or his face.  Such a sweet time.  I pray for his little heart to be turned to God because God would be calling him, giving him a new heart.  I pray that he would be obedient and that he would love God.  I also finish each prayer saying how thankful we are for him, bubba, mommy, daddy, and most of all Jesus.

It is so important for our children to hear us praying for them – not just telling them about it.  I learned from my mentor the importance of writing down prayers and journaling for future generations.  I admit that the discipline has been a struggle for me in these early years, but I do it some.  And it is such a treasure for me when I do journal and write out my prayers for them to my great Heavenly Father who listens to our prayers.

Tommy Nelson sent me Jean Fischer’s new book I Prayed For You – and I love it.  A cute board book complete with cute illustrated bears.  Tells of prayers a mama can pray for her cub as he grows up.  And yes, like any good mom I cried as I got to several of the prayers.

This will be a book you can treasure reading to your little one – even until he or she is 5 or 6.  Treasure the time.  Treasure the prayers.  If you want to have a chance to win this book – leave a comment with something you pray for your children.  That’s it!  I will pick the winner on Wednesday.

3 Nov 2015

A Precious Moments Giveaway

by | posted in: Books, Shepherding Children | 2

Precious Moments Giveaway

If you have a little girl – then this post is for you. I am a boy mom, but I got this from Tommy Nelson because I thought it would be good to be able to recommend to all the girl-moms out there.  Yes, Precious Moments can be for either gender, but I think it best fits little girls.

This Bible, with its padded board book style, is beautifully illustrated in pastels that is traditional of Precious Moments.  I actually love the retelling of Bible passages that are perfect for little ears – think older preschool to early grade school.  As a parent, it would be great just to sit down and read them the story – but even better to read the Bible passage out of the Bible (especially as kids gets older and have more of an attention span and understanding) and then read the passage in the book.  It covers a wide variety of stories.

If you want this Bible for your own little girl (or boy), just leave a comment telling me one special thing that you love about your child.

28 Oct 2015

Teaching Kids Theology Through Books (Book Giveaway)

by | posted in: Books, Shepherding Children | 2

Win or Lose I Love You

I love reading to my boys.  It is definitely one of the highlights of being a mommy.  I love the fun pictures and the cute rhymes.  I also love it when the books I’m reading with our boys teaches them good theology. It is never too early to start teaching them good theology.

Two things I definitely want to teach the boys early on (we are already doing so) is Jesus is everything and they need him because they are sinners.

I get to review books and usually I love them – but even if I don’t love everything about them – I want to introduce them to you, give you some wisdom hopefully in how you can read the books to your kids (whether you agree wholeheartedly or not), and tell you what I do like about them.  Tommy Nelson is great about sending me books each month in exchange for a review (and all thoughts are my own) and also giving a copy to one reader!

Lysa Terkeust, of Proverbs 31 and the Best Yes fame, put out her children’s book (ideal of young school age) Win or Lose, I love You. It is a book about woodland farm animals and some best friends.  I love her use of imagination – I definitely want to instill imagination and creativity in my boys.  It teaches some good encouragement to how to deal with competitiveness and greed and self-centeredness among friends – which I see in my boys already. I love the verses that Lysa encourages parents to read over and instill in their kids.

Here is my problem with this book – and there really is only one, but its a big one: Coyote doesn’t get his way and smashes all the pies.  His response to Lulu (one of the main characters) is “I’m the worst animal in the forest.”  Lulu said “Coyote, you behaved badly, but you aren’t bad.”  ALERT!  FALSE THEOLOGY!!  This is when, if you choose to get this book with all its great other qualities, you can teach your children about what the Bible says.

Human beings aren’t born good.

Romans 5:12-14

Romans 5:19

Psalm 51:5

Romans 3:9-23

Here’s the good thing: if we know the problem – and there is an answer – then the Gospel can become clear to our children.  If we always tell our children that they aren’t bad (inherently, they aren’t born good), then why would they ever need a Savior?

Question: how do you teach your kids theology?

 

26 Oct 2015

Life Change in Your Kids (Bible Giveaway)

by | posted in: Bible, Books, parenting, Shepherding Children | 2

As a parent, I love both of my boys, but I long to see lasting change in their behavior and heart.  But, I’ve realized in a very short period of time that I can’t change their hearts – only God can.

One of the ways that God changes hearts is by the Word of God.  And it is very important as parents who love the Lord to help instill in our children a love for the Word.  I know they won’t love the Word unless God saves them, but we can work on creating moments where they Word gets in them and the Word works in their hearts.

Tommy Nelson just put out a new study Bible for kids (8-12) and I think its awesome. They gave me this Bible as a part of Tommy Nelson Mommies and are giving you a chance to win won too! It is in the NKJV and that is readable and understandable while still sticking to the languages pretty well.  It has bold colors and a style that pre-teens will like  Easy thumb tabs built in to the pages so the books are easy to find.  Has application points that are geared toward pre-teens.  Has further study points throughout the Bible that will help kids learn more about God’s will for their lives.

The Bible is living and active and life-changing.  Get it into your kids’ lives and hearts.

If you would like to win won, comment with your favorite verse that you like to pour into your pre-teens, or kids of any age.

27 Sep 2015

Teaching Your Child the Discipline and Joy of Reading the Bible

by | posted in: Bible, Books, illustrated faith, Kids r Readers 2, parenting, Shepherding Children | 2
Illustrated Faith 1-2-3
Illustrated Faith 1-2-3

 

When our children are small, we teach them many important things to do: tie their shoes, brush their teeth, look both ways before crossing the street.  We teach them how to go to the potty, drink from a cup, and use a fork.  We teach them how to do so many things that are crucial for life.

Sometimes we forget to teach them important spiritual disciplines to help them get to know the God who created them.  The most important one we can teach them by both example and instruction is reading the Bible.  And what a better way to teach them how to read – then to read the Bible.

Why do we need to teach our children to read the Bible?

  1. The Bible is God’s voice to us today.  He breathed the Bible into life.  He used common sinners to record what the Spirit breathed.  This was written down and kept for us for all of forever.  This is by far the main way he chooses to communicate with his children today.  It is how they will know what is right and wrong.  It is how they will know what God is like.  Psalm 119 tells us so much about the importance of knowing the Word of God.
  2. The Bible tells them how they were created.  Even from a young age, our children will be bombarded with many deceptions about who they are.  God created them in His Image and it is crucial they understand that.  They were created beautifully and wonderfully: no matter the skin color or chromosome count, or their family status.  Psalm 139 and Genesis 1 tells us that.
  3. The Bible tells them why they were created.  All of creation exists for one reason: to bring glory to God.  God created human beings in his image so we could reflect the grand glory of God to the world.  Isaiah 43 clearly illustrates that truth.
  4. The Bible helps us get to know God.  There is no person we need to know better than God.  And we can know God by reading His Word.  We can know his actions, his character, and his truth.  We can know His plan for salvation.  Psalm 19 and the Gospels illustrate this.

These are just the simple basics of why we need to teach children the Word of God.  We need a book on teaching Spiritual Disciplines to our children – anyone know of one.  I guess I could write it if someone is willing to publish it.  Any takers?

Tommy Nelson just released a 365 Read Me a Bible Story for young school age children and gave me a copy to giveaway.  What a great way to get them in the habit of reading the Bible and learning God’s truth.  It has fun pictures, a Bible passage for each day of the year, and a short recap of that story.  What I would like to see is some follow-up questions that will help parents engage with their children during family discipleship time.

The most important thing to remember is that children are going to learn by your example.  If they see you reading your Bible, living it out, memorizing it, quoting it, then they will hopefully desire to know the Word as well.  We can pray that God would give them a heart like his – that desires to know God intimately through his Word.

If you would like to win a copy of this Bible story book from Tommy Nelson – tell me which of the 4 reasons listed above is the most important to you – and why and maybe how you are teaching your children that.

28 Aug 2015

Nightly Devotions with Preschoolers

by | posted in: Bible, Books, Shepherding Children | 8

Preschool Devotions

Something my husband and I are learning how to do (and we are talking about progression, not perfection) is having more time where we talk with our boys about Jesus and the Bible.

And if you have preschoolers, then you know that their attention spans for non-televised viewing is fairly short (one of the pitfalls of our media-driven culture).  So, unless you have creative animals, paid sound effect personnel,and a storyboard producer – your nightly devotions might not live up to Daniel Tiger or the Octonaughts.

But, getting the Bible into your children, teaching them about Jesus, and loving them the way Jesus would love them (by the Spirit’s help) is the most important thing you could ever do for your children.

So, currently, my older son is just about to turn three.  He loves books.  So each night, we put our younger to bed (we read Good Night North Carolina and Goodnight Moon and a Sandra Boynton book and pray with him) and then scoot over to our older son’s bedroom and read a book with him.  We are reading Read and Share 5 Minute Bible Stories (that I just got from Tommy Nelson – thank you).  Our son loves it.  It is short, great vibrant pictures just like in the Read and Share Bible which we also like, and its big (so even if he doesn’t have his glasses on, he can follow along.  I love how even now (we are in the Moses story) it focuses on the work of God throughout the Bible – and not the men on earth who fail and are sinners.  The whole Bible points to God and Jesus who died on the cross for our sins and the Spirit who indwells in believers.  I want that to be what our son gets from reading the Bible.

So, when you are just starting out:

  1.  Be simple and short.  Attention spans are short.  Keep your kids’ focus by reading something, asking questions, and praying.  It doesn’t have to be long – just consistent.
  2. Utilize good resources.  There are so many out there.  I recommend this bible story book, and catechisms for kids.  So many other tools out there, especially as your children get older.
  3. Be faithful.  God will reward even the smallest.  He wants your children to know Him too.
  4. Pray that God would capture your child’s heart!  You can’t do it yourself.  The greatest parents in the world can’t make their kids love Jesus.  Only He can!

If you want to win a copy of the Bible story book I talk about here, then all you have to do is answer the question: what is one way you are teaching your children about God?  I’ll pick a winner Sunday night!

20 Aug 2015

My Toddler’s Favorite Word (and Giveaway)

by | posted in: Books, flowers, Kids r Readers 2, Shepherding Children | 6

Teaching Children Gratitude

One of the big trends in birthday photos or memory books is to talk about the child’s favorite foods, words, people, toys, books, etc at each time they have a birthday.  I wish I had the chalk-lettering skills to do one for my boys’ birthdays coming up, but I will leave that to the experts.

But, if I were to do a chalkboard letter sign for my younger toddler, his favorite word would be “mine.”  And seriously, we didn’t teach him that word.  Its not like my husband and I go around saying mine mine mine in the house.  But, knowing we as his parents are sinners,I’m sure he did pick it up from us at some point along the way.

Mine is not a word we want said a lot in our home.  I usually answer him back with something like that: “Bubs, nothing is yours.  God gave us all things and all the things that we have are from him.  He gave them to us to use and share.  We need to be kind and share the gifts that we’ve been given.”  I want him to learn a few things from this conversation (that happens at least 10 times a day):

1.  God is the giver of all good gifts.  James chapter 1 says that and many times in the Psalms it says that everything in the world is the Lord’s.  We may have been given a gift from our parents, grandparents, friends, etc but ultimately all good things come from God.

2.  God does want hearts full of gratitude.  God desires our hearts to be overflowing with praise for all that He has done for us. And out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks!  So, if we can train our children to be thankful, then as they get older, maybe a heart of thankfulness with take root in them by the power of the Holy Spirit and their little mouths will bubble forth with praise!

3.  God does want us to be kind.  Kindness is fruit of the Spirit, so that makes it something that God desires in us.  Kindness is not something we naturally gravitate towards.  No, we all naturally gravitate toward taking care of ourselves first.  Kindness is showing special care and grace for someone else.  Even in toddler world, that may mean sharing the last cookie or giving up a special toy because another friend wants to play with it.

There is a new book by Tommy Nelson that helps preschoolers not only learn a crucial life skill of counting, but also, more importantly, how to express their thankfulness.  Count My Blessings 1-2-3 is a perfect little shapes book that is durable and fun and rhyme-y.  My boys have loved this book series.  When we read it together I can help them think of specific cases of each blessing (like friends).

If you would like to win a copy of this book for your toddler, all you have to do is tell me one thing that you are thankful for in being their mommy or daddy.  That shouldn’t be that hard – and it will help continue to grow a spirit of thankfulness in you as their parent.

 

1 Aug 2015

Building Spiritual Disciplines in your Toddler (part 1)

by | posted in: Bible, Books, Shepherding Children | 3

Teaching Toddlers Spiritual Disciplines

Toddlers: they are the funnest and hardest part of my day.  This afternoon when I was eating Chickfila with my boys on the back porch – watching my older one get so excited about dipping his fries in the sauce or hearing my younger say “coke coke” begging for a sip of my diet coke – I looked at both of them with a huge smile – telling them I love you.  And then there are moments when I just want to put them to bed and have a moment of silence to myself.  And I’ve learned that is ok.  Grace comes with bedtime.

But, grace also is imparted to our children by them learning about spiritual disciplines.  One of the disciplines that we are teaching our boys is prayer.  They clap and say yay when we are done praying at dinner.

A great new resource to help your child learn how to pray is the Say and Pray Bible.  It is by Tommy Nelson resources and is a board book with great illustrations for your toddler. One of the aspects of this Bible that I love is that it helps them identify objects in the story (learning new vocabulary, helping them learn how to spell).  This is purely educational.  But, when tied in with a Bible story and prayer guide – this is a great resource for your toddler – probably my new favorite.

One of the ways I intend to use this as my boys get older is create worksheets that they can do as we read along with the story.  I want to pull of the words and give them space to learn how to write, draw pictures of the words that they can match, There is a variety of creative games or word searches that you can do to help your children learn how to read, spell, match, and learn the Bible.

If you would like to win this resource for your children – just leave a note here or on Social media and tell me one verse that you are teaching your kids to pray.

That’s all.

27 Jun 2015

Teaching Children about the Ark

by | posted in: Books | 3

I love animals.  My boys love animals.  We got to the zoo several times per month.  We had pets growing up.  I’m all for the humane treatment of animals.

Noah’s ark is not primarily about animals.  Basically every children’s book or nursery theme I’ve ever seen about Noah is about the animals.  Even songs that we sang at church camp are about the animals.

The main point of the Biblical account of the story of Noah is how God punished sin and showed mercy to sinners by sheltering them in the ark from his wrath.  Yes, God commanded Noah and his family to bring in the animals.  That was another part of God’s mercy to His creation.

The story is about God’s kindness to sinners (Noah’s family) and his judgment on the world because of their sin.  It has about his promise to sinners by revealing to us a rainbow – to remind himself that he promised never to flood the earth again.  Its not primarily about the animals.

That being said, Tommy Nelson sent me a book, Noah’s Noisy Zoo, and the way the board book fits together is adorable.  You can make all sorts of animal noises with your toddlers as you read it to them.  But, parents – no matter old your children are, please do not end the story of Noah and the ark with the animals.

 

3 Jun 2015

Daddy Loves You So Much

by | posted in: Books | 6

Daddy Loves You So Much

You know when you are supposed to do a book review for a giveaway in May and you can’t find the book because your children love it so much that they’ve hidden it somewhere?  Yup, that’s me.  Thanks Tommy Nelson for the book.

I did find the book stuffed under a car seat in the car.  The Daddy Loves You So Much book.

This is a companion book to one that came out a couple of months ago – Mommy Loves You So Much.  So glad they didn’t leave the daddies out!

Daddy-life gets a bad rap.  I am so glad that they didn’t leave us hanging wondering if the daddies loved their little boys and girls.  My husband definitely does.

I’m so glad that Fathers Day is coming up because it is a great day that my husband gets to celebrate being a daddy to those little boys of his.  HE loves to give them their baths at night (when he’s home), he usually gets up the boys in the morning so he can have some time with them before he goes to work.  He works selling pianos right now and loves to have them come play some pianos at the store and then help him sweep up the store at the end of the day.

This book is full of wonderful illustrations and lovely created father-son/daughter animal characters.  It is a durable board book perfect for those lap-reading sessions at the end of the day.  My boys definitely love to read this one in the car looking at all the beautiful animals.  (Since they can’t read yet).

This book definitely is a great celebration of fathers.  If you would like a copy of this book – perfect for Father’s Day coming up – just leave a note either here or on Facebook about one way you love watching your baby’s daddy interact with your children – or if you are a daddy – how you love to interact with your kids!