love to paint

  I love picture books.  Their stories are often sweet and fun.  They encapsulate the innocence of childhood and the sweetest moments spent reading with my children.  This book arrived today and I had been looking forward to reading it with the girls and Eli.  It was different than I expected, but still sweet.  The pictures are full of fun and the daily moments in the life of a preschooler.  The story is of a little girl, a dog, and a bear doing all the things that we use our hands for through the day.  The story begins with how we use our hands to take care of ourselves and then progresses to how we use our hands to care for others.  At the end of the book, there are two pages that summarize the things our hands are used for--to help, to love others, etc. The story is perfect for 2-4 year olds.  In my mind, I picture a little girl curled up with her grandma or mom or dad reading this story together.  I'm sure it would be ...

Last week, I received a new Bible study in the mail.  It is on 2 Corinthians from the NLT Life Application Bible. At the beginning of the study, there are several detailed pages explaining the NLT translation and the Life Application Bible.  I read the first few pages carefully since I have been concerned over the past few years about the NLT.  It was very interesting.  I didn't know whether to be concerned or not, so I brought it up with my husband who is much more knowledgeable about Bible translation than I am.  I went through each of the detailed explanations of specific facets of the translation with him.  He was able to explain to me that in matters of translation, all of the things that they did that some people (including me in the past) have been concerned about are a part of a good translation. In short, what I'm trying to say is "I'm sorry."  I made a mistake by questioning the legitimacy of the NLT translation.  I know that my motive...

I just finished reading By His Wounds You Are Healed by Wendy Horger Alsup .  It is a Bible study about the book of Ephesians for women.  I have been challenged to think about many things as I've gone through this study.   Before I talk about the rabbit trails I wandered along, I want to share what I think about this study.  It's a really good Bible study.  It's laid out a little differently than other studies I've done, though.  There are 35 lessons that would take about 15-25 minutes each.  It depends on how much time you spend in prayer or reflecting after the lesson.  The length of the lessons vary from 2-5 pages.  I am not a good at reading recipes all the way through before I begin them and I'm the same way with books.  With this book, make sure you look through it first. There's an introduction, then the lessons with space for reflection after them.  After the 35 lessons, there is a section with 1-3 questions for each lesso...

We started our school year yesterday.  So far, it's been a great start.  A few little bumps, but I'm learning along the way.  Overall, it's going much better than the end of last year. One of the things I've started off doing is reading a Bible story book during breakfast and then a chapter from the Bible.  We've started in Matthew.  Today we read chapter 2 which mentioned that Joseph had had in his mind to divorce Mary quietly when he discovered that she was pregnant. Two months ago, I realized that my kids didn't know what the word "divorce" meant.  I explained that my mom, their grandma, was divorced.  I needed to explain that though God hates divorce, that it was okay that Grandma got divorced--that there was a reason.  It was tricky, but I felt okay about it. It was interesting to come across the word in the Bible and for Autumn to notice it.  Later, she suddenly said, divorce is worse than breaking a tea cup.  She paused, and...

One of the best simple pleasures of life I think is watching children enjoy reading.  Yesterday, we found a new Animal Joke book at a garage sale.  Autumn read jokes from the book for such a long time.  She and Sami laughed and laughed.  They laughed even when they didn't understand what the joke was really about. Another seemingly unrelated story from yesterday... my husband and I watched the new Alice in Wonderland starring Johnny Depp.  He was curious about it and someone he knew had liked it.  In the end, we just thought it was a bad movie.  It was really warped and dark--even the light was dark.  As I went to sleep, I wondered what was missing from the movie.  Even the white queen--the kind and good queen--seemed to be missing something.  I think she was missing love.  In the Word, it says that...    I Corinthians 13:1-3 1 If I speak in the tongues [ a ]   of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a ...

It's a very strange thing to realize that we will be starting school full time next week.  We've been easing ourselves back into it.  Just math and reading.  It will be good to have my focus back again and have the purpose to our days that comes with homeschooling!

Two days ago, I started reading Mary Beth Chapman's book Choosing to See.  It was a rough night and I had just received the book in the mail that day for review.  God is so gracious in the little things.  I pulled it out and laid on our bed.  I began reading.  I felt comforted and strengthened as I read.  My hope was renewed by the Lord in those moments. I haven't listened to Steven Curtis Chapman's music in a long time, but many of his lyrics are in Mary Beth Chapman's book and I began singing them in my head.  I was reminded of how powerful his songs are.  The video above is of a song from the album Beauty will Rise.

It's been quite a week here in our house.  We tried to go on vacation and it just didn't work out.  My daughter got sick, my other daughter's cough got worse, our windshield got a star crack, the driver's window stopped working, we had to switch rooms at the hotel two times, our tail light cover fell off one mile from our home...   Life is often not what we want. I don't have time to write more of the story here right now, but a friend posted the second song on facebook and I enjoyed it.  The mess is what I am struggling against feeling right now.  The weight weighs down on my shoulders.   The first song is one that I come back to and have been encouraged by... Nichole Nordeman's Beautiful for Me from Jeff Arnold on Vimeo . BEAUTIFUL FOR ME Lyrics Nichole Nordeman Every girl young and old has to face her own reflection Twirl around, stare it down What’s the mirror gonna say With some luck, you’ll measure up But you might not hold a candle to the ...

Last year, I reviewed a book by Stephen Elkins called 100 Bible Stories, 100 Bible Songs .  The girls loved it.  The Bible stories were simple and good for preschoolers.  The book included two cds with traditional Sunday school songs. Recently, I received 100 Prayers God Loves to Hear: 100 Praise Songs .  I was curious if we would like it as well as the other book I reviewed by Stephen Elkins.  I pulled out the first cd to listen to.  The music was very electronic and my girls didn't really like it.  The hard part is that I asked them why and since my oldest daughter is only 6 years old, she couldn't really tell me why--she just knew she didn't like it.  I read through the prayers in the book and for the most part the prayers were okay.  I liked the 10 Bible Verses about Prayer list in the front of the book.  There is a great table of contents in the beginning of the book so you can find your favorite prayers easily. There were a cou...

Whatever God gives thee be grateful for, for if too proud to take from the raven’s mouth, it will be well for thee to go without, until thine hunger consume thy pride." -Charles Spurgeon

I requested a children's book of prayers to review last week.  It arrived the other day and I started listening to the cds with the book and reading through the prayers.  One of the prayers, of course, was Jabez's prayer.  It was really interesting to me to see what the book wrote, which translation it based it's lesson on, and then go to the Word myself and see the context of the verses.  Over the past year, I've thought often about translation and why it matters which one you read.  The prayer of Jabez is definitely a case in point.  There are actually only 2 verses in the whole Bible that refer to Jabez.  Here they are in several translations: 1 Chronicles 4:9-10 (New King James Version) 9  Now Jabez was more honorable than his brothers, and his mother called his name Jabez, saying, “Because I bore  him  in pain.”  10  And Jabez called on the God of Israel saying, “Oh, that You would bless me indeed, and enlarge ...