S Club Mama

I am not too picky about sunglasses, my last 4 pairs were either won on blogs or from Dollar General. I'd like nicer sunglasses but I just hate to pay for them. It seems frivolous, which is why I'm excited to share this deal for you from Redstar. This is going to sound too good to be true, but I am assured it's true. If you go to the Redstar Shades website and enter this code-   MTA14 - you will get a $500 gift certificate good toward any pair of sunglasses on their website. All you must do is pay shipping and handling. I received a pair of sunglasses from Redstar to try out. I picked these blue beauties . I haven't taken any pictures of myself in them...or any pictures at all lately. Eek! all images from Redstar website I like sunglasses in varying colors so now I've had red, white, and blue. These are marked at $150 but, to be honest, they don't seem that high quality. Maybe I just don't know my sunglasses well (duh, I shop at Dollar General for...

There is a lot of discussion, we'll say, around the internet about the movie, "Noah," coming out March 28, 2014. I know this movie has taken much artistic interpretation but most biblical movies do to some extent (I think this one looks like it's to a large extent). However, I pray this film brings about conversation. Conversation about Noah that leads to conversation about Jesus. To His grace, sacrifice, and unfailing love. To lives transformed by this amazing love and mercy enacted toward us. Here's a little featurette about what some faith leaders think of this new film. I don't necessarily agree with everything said in this featurette, just like I won't agree with everything in this film (or the Divergent film I saw last night....), but I think it's interesting and can also be good fodder for discussion.

I was asked to review "Eat Like Jesus" by Andrew L. Hoy and thought it was an interesting premise: basically, should Christians still keep a kosher diet? I'm not a theologian nor have I been a Christian for a very long time (about 10 years), so please keep this in mind. I have not studied the Bible in Greek or Hebrew so I cannot talk to Bible translations but I believe those who do translate the Bible do so out of a love for our Savior and they spend pain-staking hours upon this job, doing the best they can. I started out very interested in this book, got confused a few chapters in, and ended the book a little disgruntled. Hoy uses some words that even I, a word nerd, didn't know and a lot of jargon that I couldn't follow. He seems to tear apart the NIV translation of the Bible (which I read sometimes but the Bible I mainly use is NLT) except when it works to his advantage. He digs deeper into translations, going back to Greek and Hebrew, in order to prove poi...

As I'm showing the Noah movie featurettes on my blog, I had to ask myself how I felt about the movie. Any time there is a feature film of a Biblical story there are bound to be artistic interpretation. Is it Biblical to show the stories if they take liberation with the characters or events? My Bible study came across Philippians 1:15-18 during our time this week together. "It's true that some are preaching out of jealousy and rivalry. But others preach about Christ with pure motives. They preach because they love me, for they know I have been appointed to defend the Good News [this is Paul talking]. Those others do not have pure motives as they preach about Christ. They preach with selfish ambition, not sincerely, intending to make my chains more painful to me. But that doesn't matter. Whether their motives are false or genuine, the message about Christ is being preached either way, so I rejoice. And I will continue to rejoice." I second Paul's words. I ...

Toast crumbs everywhere! Broken lightbulb stretched across the floor! Drips of lime juice leaking into the crisper. Ladybugs/Japanese beetles crawling on the window. Evidence of root beer floats clogging the sink. Bits of egg fallen to the floor. What do you call this? A messy (dirty) kitchen? I call this a blessing. although I don't 100% agree with this sign, it's cute and you can find it on Etsy . It occurred to me this morning as I wiped up the usual breakfast mess that this messy kitchen is a blessing. A blessing. A full-on, God-filled blessing. Yes, I have dishes to do (and put away). I have meals to cook (and muffins - yay). I have mouths to wipe (not to mention bottoms...well, only one now). I have toys scattered everywhere! In a few minutes we will rush out the door for school and I will attempt to keep my patience (I hate being even close to late but it just always seems to happen). But I have arms full of hugs. Lips full of kisses. A h...

Thank you to all who entered - more of you should, you have lovely chances of winning here at the S Club. The winners of the Son of God gift package (which includes the Son of God movie soundtrack, 1,000 piece puzzle, and movie novelization) are: Stacey and 1froglegs (David) You will receive email notification of your win some time today (sorry this is a very hectic schedule day). Then Grace Hill Media will be sending you your gift package.

Veggie Tales has been around for some time; I remember watching Madame Blueberry in junior high. It wasn't until I started to watch the shows with my kids that I learned how valuable the lessons they taught are. Which is why I'm so thankful they started to make Veggie Tales books. We own a Veggie Tale Bible and Saint Nicholas books but have read numerous more. " Pirates, Mess Detectives, and a Superhero " by Karen Roth stay true to the Veggie Tale premise of using time-honored Biblical virtues in their lessons. This is a 3-in-1 book (I love the frugality of that) that centers around Larry the Cucumber and his other produce pals. image via BookLook Bloggers In "Pirate in Training," Junior Asparagus aspires to be one of the "Pirates Who Don't Do Anything" because he doesn't want to go to school anymore. The pirates give him lessons in being a pirate that show him how they use math and reading (things you learn at school) to get by in...

I'm making up posts again as I did this Emotion theme for storytime at the start of February, but I wanted to share these with you. Books : If You're Angry and You Know It - Kaiser & Pillo   - doubled as a song Bear Feels Scared - Wilson The Way I Feel - Cain The Pigeon Has Feelings, Too - Willems   - love these books! Feelings - Alkili Mrs. Biddlebox - Smith & Frazee   - I can't remember if I read this at storytime; it's kind of long but really cute! Glad Monster, Sad Monster - Emberly & Miranda   - didn't read this because I read it with the monster theme but would fit here too. image via Google Songs : If You're Angry & You Know It (along with the book) Craft : I had blank faces for the kids to decorate with emotions. I was going to do masks that they could decorate until I found these and thought they were really cute. image via u-create blog Results : I only got to read these stories once. We had 3 sn...

"Noah," starring Russel Crowe, Jennifer Connelly, and Emma Watson (among others) opens March 28, 2014. I know this film is not going to follow the Bible exactly. However, Paul even gives glory to the Lord for those who share the gospel with false motives because His Word, His Salvation, His Love was still being shared to the world. The same is what I pray for this movie; that when people see it, their eyes are opened and that they open their Bibles to find out the truth. And then are lead to Christ. This featurette is pretty neat, talking about how they built a portion of the ark. Most things are digitally built these days (they did say they enhanced it digitally for the movie but it was a set), so this is cool! I'm excited to see more of this movie as featurettes are released closer to the release date. Enjoy.

This winter is getting long, isn't it? As I'm settling in for a long weekend full of Winter Storm Titus (when did we start naming every storm?), I'm pondering how to off-set the extreme amounts of energy from being cooped up. Here are a few of my tips FOR Moms (and anyone, I suppose): - Get out and get exercise. A walk around the block (bundle well) or a trip to the gym will do you some great wonders. I know we all feel like staying in our warm beds but the quicker you get out of bed, the more you can get done! If you don't want to leave your house, check out YouTube videos or a DVD from your local library. The endorphins will help you make it through to at least nap time. image via Google - Take a nap. Your to-do list and chore chart will wait. Sometimes we just need a rest. And go to bed as early as possible. It's ok. I'm planning on being in bed by 8:30 tonight, asleep by 9:00. No joke. I think it's way cooler for me to be a well-rested mom tha...

Andy Stanley is one of my favorite author/pastor/speakers. I've gone through his "Guardrails" series, "iMarriage," and am currently going through "Big Church." I've listened to him at our church and through the Chick-fil-a Leadercast I attended last year (and possibly the previous year). It was just natural for me to want to read "How to Be Rich" even though I didn't feel like I belong in the "rich" category. image via BookLook  Notice the title is "HOW to Be Rich" rather than 'How to GET Rich.' Big difference. The subtitle says it all: "It's not what you have. It's what you do with what you have." According to Stanley, if you make $37,000/year you are among the TOP 4 percent of wage earners in the world. You are rich. I am rich. Since we are rich, what then? Do we know how to be good at being rich? Or is this the truth: "as long as you're heading up the pyramid, your fo...

Oh goodness! I am not doing a very good job keeping up with this idea of storytime posts (I've only done the Monsters theme). I have missed THREE of them! Oops. I'll write next Saturday about the Emotions theme from early February. For now, on to pizza! Storytime Saturday: Pizza! Who doesn't love pizza?! Apparently at least one child in almost every preschool that I read to these past few weeks. Strange kids.  Anyway, I loved the books that I read to the kids. Books : Curious George & the Pizza - Rey (I can't find this on Amazon) Curious George & the Pizza Party - Rey (my version of this book is just called ...George & the Pizza, too) Secret Pizza Party - Rubin & Salmteri (which tended to be a better one-on-one book)    - When I read this one, I used a raccoon puppet which we've had for years "Hi, Pizza Man!" - Walter (this got the best laughs!) Pizza Pokey - Stoodt Pizza at Sally's - Wellington (the kids got a kick o...