S Club Mama

My family loves Duck Dynasty. It's been awhile since we watched it (always re-runs for us on an app or something), but we enjoy the laughs. They don't take themselves too seriously and they pray on television - big plus for us! Are there any other recent ones that do that without mocking Christians?  My husband and I have read almost all the books published by the adults of the show. He really enjoys Phil's books. I have liked all the ones I've read! Since our big boys (ages 9 and 11) enjoy the show, I thought Duck Commander Happy, Happy, Happy Stories for Kids by Korie Robertson and Chrys Howard (her mom) would be great for us! We were just finishing up Bob Goff's Love Does for Kids devotional. My kids loved that - my 3-year-old daughter asked to "read Bob" constantly. I was hoping for the same with this devotional.  image via Book Look What I like about this book: Like I said, I like the Duck Commander family. I like what they stand for (Jesus)...

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...

Prayer comes naturally to me in only one form: for my children. I have to work harder to take the time to pray for most all else. Matthew Paul Turner must know the heart of parents for their children because his new book “When I Pray for You” perfectly articulates those prayers laid at the feet of Our Savior.    What I love: This book knows prayers - real prayers from parents: prayers for well-being (emotional and physical), for their futures, their passions. Prayers when they are cute and cuddly. Prayers for when they aren’t. Prayers to help them along or watch them fly solo. All the prayers summarized in this lyrical, beautifully illustrated book. Too often when a book is about prayer, it's very vague. While this book does not articulate specific prayers, it does encompass what we pray about when we pray for our children!  I’ve read through it with each of my kids - 11, 9, 3, and 7 months old. Each line fit them perfectly (especially the one about light saber...

Bedtime is such an endearing time for my family. I love rocking the baby to sleep, scratching my girl's back before bed, reading the Bible or a story to my big boys. They get in bed, under their covers, and my husband and I kiss each of them goodnight. It's a sweet time in our house, not usually as chaotic as I've heard other families say. I'm very thankful for this time with our kids. Each night we read out of the Bible - right now it's the Action Bible. However, we really do like to read bedtime stories, too. We read Pete the Cat and His Four Groovy Buttons just last night (all the kids were giggling! It was great!). I was really excited to see that Michael W. Smith had teamed with Mike Nawrocki (co-creator of Veggie Tales and Larry the Cucumber's voice) to write "Let's Get Ready for Bed." I was expecting something very lyrical that would be a good addition to our routine. image via BookLook blogging program The book is about Eddy the bear...

It's almost Christmas, I know - 7 days! - but I needed to let you know about this book. Bob Goff is a lawyer, an human rights activist, an author, and seems to be a really great guy. He loves Jesus, his wife Sweet Maria, and many many others. If you haven't read his first book, Love Does , get yourself to a bookstore or Amazon and purchase that (or do like I do and borrow from your local library). I haven't read his second book, Everybody Always , but I have no qualms in recommending it. Goff is a reputable person. Sweet Maria Goff (found under Maria Goff) also has a book I'm hoping to find under the tree this year, Love Lives Here . So now that you are fully understanding how much I enjoy reading the Goffs, let's introduce your kids. image via BookLook Bob Goff and his daughter, Lindsey Goff Viducich, have written Love Does for Kids . It's full of short stories (dare I say devotionals?) for kids that take them with the Goff family on adventures - riding a ...

"Jesus loves me This I know For the Bible tells me so. Little ones to Him belong; They are weak but He is strong. Yes, Jesus loves me! Yes, Jesus loves me! Yes, Jesus loves me! The Bible tells me so." This is one of my daughter's favorite songs to sign along with (along with The Itsy Bitsy Spider and The Wheels on the Bus). She doesn't quite sing yet but will sing "me" at the end of the chorus in this song. It's pretty much as sweet as it sounds! I adore toddlers singing and loving music. image via BookLook I was really excited to see a book with this song in it! It's really a foundational song in a child's spiritual walk. Jesus loves me! Jesus loves you! That's it, people! He loves us! Amazing! We try to say this is just a song for toddlers but it's a song for us all. I believe the song "I Wanna Go Back" by David Dunn proves that. However, this book was a big disappointment to me. I'm not sure q...

Awhile back I wrote a review on "The Beautiful Garden of Eden." My older boys (7 and 9) really enjoy reading that book and I enjoy reading it to my daughter (almost 2) because of the lilting, poetical way it's written. image via Tyndale Blog Network I thought "The Frightening Philippi Jail" by Gary Bower would give my big boys a good visual for them for this Bible story. Honestly, we haven't talked a whole lot about the apostles in our home; we have mostly focused on Jesus. I think this is a good starting point. I love the writing of this book. It's the same lyrical type of writing based on "The House That Jack Built." It just flies off the tongue so well, so don't miss reading this aloud! Even encourage your little readers to do so. The pictures in this one are a little more drab - brown color palette with some orange and red. But they are in jail back in the day, so who says it was colorful? Just comparing it to "The Bea...