BLOG REVIEW: The Story of King Jesus

"And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might, and these words which I am commanding you today, shall be on your heart; and you shall TEACH them when you sit in your house and when you walk by the way and when you lie down and when you rise up.  And you shall bind them as a sign on your hand and they shall be as frontals on your forehead.  And you shall write them on your doorposts of your house and on your gates." Deuteronomy 6:5-9  (NASB)

This school year in Bible Study Fellowship (BSF), we have been studying the Life of Moses.  Our study has taken us through the books of Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and finally Deuteronomy.  I have been moved immensely by the WORD and these old testament books have profoundly impacted my daily thought life.  One of the recurring themes throughout these books is the importance of passing on faith in the ONE TRUE GOD to the next generation.  We have learned there were always consequences for not passing down their faith.

MY REVIEW:  We want the best for our children, don't we?  We want to see them blessed beyond all measure!  One of the best ways we can provide for our children is to share the FULL story of God's plan for redemption.  The Story of King Jesus does just that in a short, concise way with beautiful illustrations to captures a child's heart and mind.  I love that Ben Irwin scripts a book with such rich truth in a perfect amount of pages to read during one setting!  He quotes "God's redemptive tale can't be reduced to a few memory verses from Scripture.  It's not a formula or a plan or a prayer you recite.  It's a drama that you life, and it's woven throughout every book of the Bible, from Genesis to Revelation."

Don't get me wrong, I LOVE our Jesus Storybook Bible and the other Bible storybooks we have, but you can't sit down and read the whole thing in one setting.  My experience is that preschoolers and early elementary kids don't have long attention spans, so something that is concise is perfect!  It is short enough that it can be read over and over again, with different parts of the story impacting the kids lives at different times.  The book is written in language that our kids can understand perfectly.  It also, focuses on Jesus as KING, which is so crucial because that is what transforms our life.  Overall this book is an excellent "launching point to explore the Bible together."  It has generated additional conversation with my oldest two children.  We discuss the pictures in the book, which then leads to additional bible teaching.

Ben encourages us as parents, "Show your children --- with your life and words -- that this is your story, and it can be theirs too."

One of my favorite lines is towards the end of the book ... "God gave us the King we needed."  Isn't that so true?  He didn't give us the type of King we wanted, because He knew that wouldn't be the best.  So often in my life, God gives me what I need and not what I want.  Thank heavens He knows better than I.  Jesus is God's Best and because of His sacrifice, we have the opportunity to once again be in a restored relationship with God.  And that my friends is GRACE!


Question to ponder: What has God given you recently that is what you NEED, but not necessarily what you WANTED?  


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

What a DINO-MITE 2nd Birthday!

Wow!  What a difference 2 years makes!  I can't imagine life without my sweet son Jackson!  I feel extremely blessed by the gift of a SON!  Who would have ever known the special bond between a mother and her son!  Words can't describe my love for my son!  I know he won't be a mama's boy forever, so I will savor these extra hugs, kisses, and snuggles deep in my heart!

Jackson's Birthday!

Look at that face!  What a chunker!

"Look at me now!"

Being true to her role as big sister, Sophia took it upon herself to pick the theme of her brother's 2nd birthday: DINOSAURS!  She did a great job with the theme!  With some a lot of inspiration from Pinterest and blogs, I came up with lots of fun decorations!!  

Palm Trees and a dinosaur hanging in the tree!

ROAR Jax is 2 banner!

String Dinosaurs!

 

Our sign welcoming guests!  

Come in at your own risk ... dinosaur sighting

 

I actually splurged for dino theme plates, napkins, and cups!

Sweetivores!  Dino cupcakes with "dirt and worms"

Jax's cupcake in the middle!

Some of the Dino toe nails were dipped in dark chocolate thanks to the help of Sophia

Who knew there was a dinosaur called a "Fruitaden!" Oh the things you learn!

My version of healthy dinosaur eggs!  

With hummas as a yummy dip!

Ham or Turkey and Swiss sliders! YUM-O!

The Watering Hole - orange and mint water

Gluten Free Chicken Nuggets

Yum!

Reading "How do Dinosaurs say Good Night" to the kids!

Family Picture!

"Yes, I am pretty good at getting into trouble!  Can you tell?"

Only took us about 20 tries to get a good smile!

Swimming in the family grain bin pool with kids!  

"Oh NO" he said!  

We had such a fun time celebrating Jackson's 2nd birthday with our family!  We look forward to the many years to come with this sweet, fun-loving, silly boy!  Oh how much he adds to our family!  We are blessed!

Close to the end ...

Does your backyard look like this?  

Nate and I have struggled to get our grass cut for the first time this spring!  (Well, I guess we can call it spring even though it still feels like winter most days!)  Honestly, it has been pretty close to the end of our priority list!  Most people in our neighborhood have cut their grass at least 2-3 times, and we are ready to purchase some goats and let them chow down on our "luscious greens!!"  When we didn't have kids, it honestly wasn't a problem to get the grass cut or the weeds pulled.  It was usually enjoyable to spend time outside together doing the yard work.  When the original landscaping was put in, the main request was for it to be "low-maintenance."  Two kids later, we have concluded nothing is low maintenance about our landscaping.   If you have decent size mulch beds around your whole house, that in itself = high maintenance.  Pulling weeds ALL THE TIME, spraying for weeds in the grass, putting down new mulch every year, and keep the large amount grass cut with a push mower ... honestly it is overwhelming!

You might be thinking ... it doesn't take THAT long to cut the yard or go pull the weeds each day?  Right?

Honestly, it isn't that easy.  To have a pristine weed-free yard, it seems as though other areas in life have to be sacrificed.  A person only has so much time in the day -- some have much less time than others!

(Disclaimer: For some without a commute like Nate's, I totally understand it is possible to keep up with the yard work when you are home more hours in the day.)

Here are a few reasons we have come up with ...

- Nate spends at least 13-15 hours commuting to work EVERY week!  That is a lot of hours in the car, not around the house doing work.

- We have two small children.  Enough said?  Nap time is the only quiet time in our house!  The last thing I want to do is be out cutting the grass when I can be spending it relaxing my mind, reading a book, doing a Bible Study, or relaxing and connecting with my husband during those precious weekend nap time hours.

- When we wake up on a Saturday morning, the first thing in our mind is NOT yard work, rather it is spending time together as a family surrounded by exercise!  We exercise as a family, that is just what we do! On beautiful days, our natural default is "how can we spend time together outside having fun?"  Yard work doesn't even cross our mind!  Sunday mornings are full with church and Sunday school and usually small group in the evening!

- In the evening, when Nate gets home from work, we immediately eat dinner, clean up the kitchen, play for a max of 30-60 min, then it is usually time for the kids bedtime.  When we haven't seen daddy all day long, the last thing we want to do is have him go spend an hour or more cutting the grass!

- During the weekend hours, we love to relax and have fun with friends and their kids!  Anything we can do to create lasting memories!  Relationships baby ... that is what we are about!

When you add up all these reasons, you can see how the yard just doesn't get cut the number of times when it should.  Slowly, I am starting to realize we can't be "SUPER" people.  We have limited time to do the things in life that is enjoyable to us, and yard work isn't one of those!  I have been a people pleaser my WHOLE life and have struggled with "What do the neighbors think of us?"  "I wonder if they are complaining about our yard and the fact we have some yellow "flowers" popping up (as Sophia calls them), or why the grass is a few inches taller than theirs?" We have been blessed with such INCREDIBLE neighbors that I don't want them to be frustrated with us!  Nevertheless, I have started to realize, we will just have to do the best we can do!   My hope is the neighbors will look past our grass and see our heart for people and relationships!  I hope they will remember the joy in our kids eyes when they see our incredible neighbors and love to go talk with them!

I don't want you to think we have weeds up to our chins and grass as tall as our preschooler!  We keep it looking "OK", but it isn't pristine by any means and well-manicured!  We aren't willing to sacrifice the little, yet precious family time we have to have a yard like the one in the picture above!  So, there will be a few dandelions (even though we put down pre-emergent), our grass will be cut most weeks only one time, and there will probably be a few weeds in our mulch beds, but I have to remember that the time we are spending together is precious in the sight of our Lord!

When I think of trying to scale down the "things" in our life ... I am reminded about this blog post!  It is amazing!  Check it out!   Minimalism: Addition not Subtraction.  So much joy is added to your life when you cut out the "excess!"  I am also reminded by a quote by Ann Voskamp in a recent blog post ... "The virus of distraction is cured by the art of subtraction." 

Are we the only family that struggles with this?  I know there has GOT to be at least one family out there!!

Please share your thoughts .....

Happy 1st Birthday Jackson!

What a year it has been!!!  My sweet baby boy is now ONE!!  We decided to have a small family party to celebrate this big event!!

My photo journey of Jackson's 1st year!

Jackson's homemade pumpkin spice cake with homemade cream cheese icing!

My Uncle Harv and Aunt Sue with Jax

Happy Birthday Jax!  Mommy and Daddy love you so much!

My parent's attempt at a picture with all 3 grandkids!

My Cousins Chuck and Lori and Jax!

The family!

The "kids" table!  (Sorry Sarah, Brandon, and Grandma!)

Daddy and his boy!  They are buds!

He did a great job opening gifts!

He totally rocked the cake!!!

Only crumbs were left!   He ate a HUGE piece, no dinner of course!

Group picture minus the hubby!

We are so excited to have our sweet Jackson and I am SO glad the boy is FINALLY CRAWLING now!! Yay, on to walking next ... well, in a few months!

Of note ... Please don't do this ... If you see a baby in the store and you ask their mom how old they are and they tell you ONE and DO NOT ask, "Is he walking yet?" and the mom says, "No." DO NOT SAY, "Really? He should be!"  Not every baby walks at 1 year ... ok, stepping off my soapbox!

I am still alive ... promise!

Wow, life has sure been a blur for the past 8 weeks!!  I can't even believe the big guy is 2 months old!!  The first 3 weeks seemed really easy, then as they say .. the "crap hitteth the fan" ... life became a whirlwind, zoo, crazy, insane, frustrating, yet all the while joyful!  Jackson's newborn sleepiness wore off around 3 weeks, he started getting up every 2-3 hours at night, eating around the clock, became difficult to lay down for a nap, and on and on ...

Just this past week (#7), life became a little more normal.  He started giving me a 5-6 hour stretch off the bat at night, followed by another 3-4 hour one.  Sleep makes all the difference in the world!  Also, I was able to get back to the gym for some "light" workouts.  It really helped my sanity as I started getting that serotonin flowin' in the good 'ole head again!  Gym time = happy mama = happy family = peaceful and less stress.  I know it is hard to believe and some may say crazy ... but I LOVE WORKING OUT and the feeling it gives me!  It is my natural version of Prozac!  For all of you that worry about my milk supply, never fear ... I am taking it easy, little bit by little bit, and hydrating to keep it up!  I have been also making sure to replenish with good, whole, raw, natural foods too!

The other thing that has really improved my life is my new found obsession ... http://pinterest.com/  Have you checked it out?  It is the latest social media craze ... it is an online pin-board!  It is perfect for those like me that are not super crafty ... it has given me TONS of ideas for new crafts for Sophia, preschool homeschool-type activities (to supplement what she is getting at Discovery Days Preschool), craft ideas for myself, new recipes, famous quotes, household tips, etc!  It seriously is more addictive than FACEBOOK!  I never thought I would say that!!  Hahaha!!  However, it is more productive than facebook ... meaning, it gives me ideas to improve my life and my families life!  When Sophia wakes up from her nap each day, I have been trying out new crafts/projects!   Sure beats turning the TV on!

Here is an example of two projects I found on there ...

Giant crayons .. just melted old crayon pieces in a cakepan in the oven.
Princess shape sorter ... Sophia matched the colored shape to the shape on the crown and glued them on!  

I can't wait to blog more about the fun PINTEREST ideas I try out!  Have you joined?  Any fun pins I should check out?  I can't wait to check out the letter hand writing pages and see if I can get her started on writing actual letters!

Well, nap time is coming to a close ... so here are a few pictures to tie you over till the next entry!  Oh how blogging does a mind good ... can't wait till I have a little more time to do it more frequently!

Kelsay Farms Cow Train!

Milking a cow!

CHEESE!

On the hayride!

Jackson, Al, and Sarah

Zoo Boo 2011

The group at Zoo Boo!  (Thanks JEN for inviting us!)

My little RED HOT CHILI PEPPER! (and boy was he hot!)

The FAM!

Annual play date at Beasley's Orchard!

Happy Halloween!

My Princess on Halloween!

My sleeping red hot pepper!

Loving time with her little brother!

My little Indian! :)  

Hope you enjoyed the pictures!  A little glimpse ... until next time!