S Club Mama

Emotions are a normal part of life, but if not taught properly, they can run rampant over a person's life. God gave us emotions to signal us to things - anger when something is not right, sadness when hard times happen, happiness when life is peaceful and swell! However, as it's taken me a long time and many books to understand, our emotions do not have the right to control our responses. image via B&H/LifeWay This can be a difficult concept to teach children but a vitally important one. "What Am I Feelings?" by Dr. Josh and Christi Straub gives parents a tool to use when teaching this lesson to children. It's one you'll teach over and over again because this book is easy to love - characters that kids relate to, cute illustrations by Jane Butler, and an easy plot to follow. My Princess has brought it to me several times since it arrived for me to read to her. What I liked: Like I mentioned, I like the illustrations by Jane Butler. They are simpl...

I can't remember if I first read or heard Annie Downs. I know she is a frequent speaker at the annual IF:gathering (ifgathering.com) but I've also read Let's All Be Brave (perhaps a devotional based on that?) and Looking for Lovely (which I enjoyed). That to say that I enjoy her. I haven't listened to her podcast but I know that we would be fast friends. I knew right away I wanted to read "Remember God" by Annie F. Downs because I've been through some things in the past few years that make me wonder "if He is really kind - really deeply always kind" as she writes on the back cover. Watching my son have seizures and brain surgeries that affect our whole family (another son dealt with anxiety and still does to some extent...just today my daughter who is three was pretending she was having a seizure...oh dear...it affects us), makes you not doubt but just wonder about God and His character and what you know to be true and how it doesn't seem to...

My nine-year-old son has started to read The Prince Warriors trilogy by Priscilla Shirer. He's working his way through the second in the series. I loved when he came to me while reading the first series, saying, "Mom, there's a Bible verse in here!" He sure couldn't say that when reading "Diary of a Wimpy Kid." I love the faith infused in this Prince Warriors series. It's been fun to hear him tell his friends and older brother about this series (and it's worth 9 AR points!). So I had to read "The Winter War" by Priscilla Shrier, the first in the sequel series to The Prince Warriors. Image via Amazon.com "The Winter War" is basically an allegorical story, much like The Chronicles of Narnia and The Lord of the Rings series. There is a Christ figure (Ruwech), a God-the-Father figure (the Source), and even the Holy Spirit (The Sparks). There's an enemy (Ponèros) and his henchmen (Thayne and Lava Forgers). It took me a l...

Growing up, my sisters and I colored all the time. We used to color really dark by the black lines and then lighter on the inside. I'm sure we thought it was so cool! I remember much of my childhood, even in to college, spotted with memories of coloring. And melted crayons on back windows of cars...oops. image via B&H My sons enjoyed coloring when they were smaller, or at least my second son did. My older son has always been the kid that chooses one color – red – and colors the entire picture of that color in a few fell swoops. He's in 5th grade now and does a much better job but it's not his natural bent.  I naturally assumed when I had my daughter, that she would love coloring. Don't all girls? OK, that is probably not true but my girl does enjoy coloring. Her preferred medium is markers, and her preferred surface is her arms and legs. I generally keep the markers high.  Regardless of her toddler-esque coloring habits, I do enjoy coloring with he...

In 1550, Edito Regia was published by Robert Estienne . It featured the chapter and verse numbers we are familiar with in Bibles. I love the idea that if I say "John  3:16 ," it can be easily found in the Bible.  However, I have sometimes found this system limiting in my reading of the Bible. It can make it seem more laborious than it is. "Oh, I've read 2 chapters!" That seems like a lot but two Bible chapters differs from two chapters in Little House on the Prairie or The Hobbit. But my head knows chapters are long, so it seems laborious.  image via Amazon Sometimes verses are split in half and sections are chopped up with headings. It can be difficult to trace a "therefore " back to its original subject.  Much of the New Testament are epistles, letters. They don't look like letters with the chapter and verse numbers.  image via Amazon I have enjoyed the uninterrupted reading in the CSB Reader's Bible  (CSB = Christia...

I have been a part of the She Reads Truth community off and on for a few years now. I love the insight from real women, digging deeper into the Word of God (and that it doesn't take a seminary degree to understand their devotions). image via Barnes and Noble website When Raechel Myers and Amanda Bible Williams came out with their book, "She Reads Truth: Holding Tight to Permanent in a World That's Passing Away," I was excited to read it. I was not really sure what to expect, knowing relatively little about their lives or writing experience outside of devotions. I had little to dread, however. "She Reads Truth" has provided a balm to my soul in a wearying time of the holiday chaos. Now, if I try to tell you about details of the book, I will mess up. It's written so that each chapter is by only one author at a time, telling a bit of her story and tying it to Scripture and lessons she's learned through reading Truth. While their stories are d...

I love children's Bibles but I like to read stories, too. The " Little Bible Heroes: Daniel and Miriam " (it's a flip book - one book per side) by Victoria Kovacs is a wonderful choice. A lot of children's Bibles skirt around hard issues of the Bible. For instance, in the story of Moses, some don't mention why Moses' mother sent him down the river. However, "Little Bible Heroes: Miriam" says "the ruler of Egypt is an evil pharaoh who orders all the Hebrew baby boys to be killed." And "Little Bible Heroes: Daniel" says "Later, the king has terrible dreams. He orders all the wise men put to death because they can't tell him what he dreamed and what the dreams mean." This world is a place with evil and sin in it and I think it's healthy to not hide it. A friend said it caused her some major faith doubt when she was older and realized that the story of Noah's Ark wasn't just animals coming in two by ...

Countdown to Moose's surgery is 5 days. In 5 days he will be tumor-free. We will not know for another year if he is completely seizure free - unless he has one within that time. This past year has been hard and we have been so thankful to have our hope not put into doctors or medicine or well-wishes but in our Heavenly Father. He loves Moose so much more and completely than we do. He knows the best for him; has plans made out for his life. He knows the outcome of this surgery and every step we will take during this waiting period and the waiting period to come. I don't know about you, but His Sovereignty (a fancy way of saying, all-power) gives me great comfort. When I had a chance to read "Steadfast Love" by Lauren Chandler , I knew I was in for a treat. In 2009, her husband Matt (pastor at The Village Church in Dallas, Texas) was just finishing feeding their baby daughter when he had a grand mal seizure (big, convulsing). They quickly found out that he had a mali...