Saturday, August 30, 2014

Blog Review: Treasury of Bible Stories




"God made Adam a beautiful place to call home, 
a garden with flowers and trees.
The garden of Eden had plants of all kinds
that swayed in the warm, gentle breeze.

There were tropical trees that had blankets of blooms; 
some had fruit that was tasty and sweet.
There were apples and oranges, bananas and pears
and cherries for Adam to eat."

Once again, I have the privilege to work alongside of David C Cook publishing to introduce one of their newest books: Treasury of Bible Stories: Rhythmical Rhymes of Biblical Times.   This 351 page book is a collection of 20 of the most common Bible stories geared towards preschoolers and early elementary children, but fun for the whole family.  This is a storybook Bible perfect for kids who are too old for toddler Bibles, but too young for complete Bibles.  Its lyrical stories will make your whole family laugh!  The illustrations are extremely clever and colorful!

The back cover describes it perfectly, "Magnificent Tales are rhyming Bible stories with clever art and clear lessons the whole family will enjoy.  The stories and illustrations are so engaging that you won't grow tired of reading a Magnificent Tale night after night!  From "The Salty Tale of Noah's Ark" to "The Lasting Story of the Last Supper," the rhyming tales in this book remind us that God loves His people -- in the Bible and today!"

My Review:  The Treasury of Bible Stories is a beautifully illustrated storybook geared towards children ages 4-8.  The rhyming stories pair great spiritual truths with attractive and fun-filled illustrations!  It is the perfect book to read aloud to your little ones because of the fun rhymes!  I found Sophia laughing at each story with the many plays on words.  The rhyming helps the children commit the stories and spiritual lessons learned to memory!  

Sophia really enjoyed "God's Bigger Plan: The Beautiful Story of Queen Esther" as well as "The Good Neighbor: The Parable of the Good Samaritan."  Of course Jackson's favorite story was "Every Beast Times Two: The Salty Tale of Noah's Ark" since he is obsessed with every animal known to man!  He also enjoyed "The Biggest and Toughest: The Story of David's Big Faith."

Both kids truly enjoyed the illustrations!  Kelly Pulley, the illustrator, has a unique and clever style, which distinguishes this book from the many children's Bible storybooks available!  It is pleasing and quite engaging to the eye.  I also felt that the language/word combinations used made it very easy for the children to understand the story and the lesson behind it.  This is ideal for teaching such young ones the spiritual truths from the scriptures.

Overall, I was very impressed with this treasury and am very thankful that we have it in our personal library!!

I will close with a section from my favorite story, "He Has Risen!  The Magnificent Story of the Resurrection."

"So Jesus hung out with His friends for a while,
till the day that He left with a wave and a smile.
He said, "I must return to My Father above, 
You must preach to the world about God's endless love.
You must preach the good news.
You must tell all creation,
and preach of salvation from sin to each nation."

Then He held out His hands and He lifted them high
and He blessed all His friends as He rose in the sky."  

The next time you are in the Christian bookstore, please check out this book!  It would make a great gift for a child's birthday or Christmas!  Give the gift of truth and love! :)



Disclaimer: I received this product free of charge. All thoughts and opinions are my own. I was not monetarily compensated for this review.









Monday, August 25, 2014

Welcome to the World .... Jonathan Robert Long


Friday August 8th at 12:13pm, our HUGE surprise was born ... Jonathan Robert Long.  He was 9lbs 7oz and 21 in.  Once again, I was blessed with incredible care, fantastic L&D nurse, and an INCREDIBLE physician!  I am so thankful for God's protection over our lives during my three deliveries!  I am also thankful for the extra grace He provided to deliver a 3rd child ... something I never thought I would do!

Funny story you see ... Nate and I swore up and down that we were done having children!  Our family of FOUR was perfect in our eyes.  However, God knew in advance that our family would be perfect at FIVE!  2 days before our 8th anniversary, on a very cold wintry December morning, we found out we were pregnant.  The pregnancy was extremely hard the first 27 weeks.  Tons of nausea, no energy, lots of puking, you know ... the fun stuff!  During January and February, I was so sick, it was hard to care for Sophia and Jackson.  Friends and family stepped up to the plate and really helped us out with meals, childcare, and prayer support.  Alas, we made it through, and gave birth to a healthy baby boy!

Picking a name was an extremely hard challenge.  We wanted something that would describe our journey of faith through this SHOCKER of a time!

Jonathan, means given of God, and we felt like that was the perfect description!  He truly was a gift to us, something we did not plan for nor ask for, but am thankful that we walked in His will in obedience!

Robert was the middle name of my late maternal grandfather, Kenneth Robert Lewis.  He was an incredible man of God, one that I wish could have met my amazing husband and our children.  We were thrilled to be able to use a family name!

So there you have it ... some of the reasons behind my lack of blogging and "presence" in addition to being a VERY busy mother to two other little children!

Enjoy these awesome pictures from Captured Beginnings!  Sabrena did an awesome job capturing our new beginning!  So thankful for this wonderful Christmas present from my parents!  Birth photography ... something I never would have asked for, but something that I am so thankful I have!  Memories to last a lifetime!


Kisses, kisses, kisses 

Sharing Jonathan's name with my mom ... 

This is how he really felt ...

Yes, he was born with a FULL HEAD OF AMAZING HAIR!
The other two were bald for 2 years ... thankful for this guys hair!  

Finally, here is a snapshot of the "bigs" meeting their little brother!  They were so excited!  They have been awesome with him!  I LOVE having 3 years age difference b/w each kids!  Such a huge help for this mama!

My heart melts ...

Hopefully more pictures to come!