S Club Mama

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...

Several years ago I wrote a book review on "How We Love Our Kids" by Milan and Kay Yerkovich. I learned that I had a vacillator love style in my parenting - meaning I vacillated (kind of like an oscillating fan) between wanting to be a really involved mom which lead to me being sort of overwhelmed and then I would back way off, almost isolating myself into myself. I've worked really hard to push past my natural tendency to pull away from my kids when I get overwhelmed. This has taken a lot of prayer and Holy Spirit gumption. Motherhood has been more enjoyable and I can see the difference in my children's attitudes when I pushed through my natural tendencies to do the next right thing! I recently read "How We Love" by Milan and Kay Yerkovich, which is their original book on how to "Discover your love style, enhance your marriage." Who doesn't want to enhance their marriage?! image via Blogging for Books My biggest take away from this ...

It's shocking when we see make believe come alive. It's never quite what we expect. The same may be said of the new movie "Goodbye Christopher Robin" (out in theaters October 13). This is the background story of A.A. Milne and his family, including his wife and son, Christopher Robin. With a name like Christopher Robin and a father who wrote about Winnie-the-Pooh and his friends and their adventures in the 100 Acre Woods, one would think that child would grow up in a fairy tale-like environment. One would definitely not think his family would be afflicted by PTSD or postpartum depression (although the latter is not specifically mentioned in this film, I cannot help but believe that is some of the underlying issues). One does not think of the overwhelming fame such a lad would face. And yet....fairy tales do always seem to get warped. Goodbye Christopher Robin tells the real tale of the Milne family -Blue (A.A.), Daphne, and Billy Moon (Christopher Robin), alo...

"Gotta get up, gotta get going. I'm gonna see a friend of mine. He's cute and he's fuzzy, I love him because he's just Pooh Bear, Winnie-the-Pooh Bear." I grew up watching The New Adventures of Winnie-the-Pooh and just having a generalized admiration for Pooh and his friends. I never read the actual story by A.A. Milne until my little girl was born a few years ago; I read it to her while we rocked. What a beautiful story it is and made even more beautiful in my mind due to the knowledge behind it. Goodbye Christopher Robin (opening October 13) shares the bittersweet story of A.A. Milne and his little boy, Christopher Robin. This is after the Great War and Milne is suffering from PTSD. This is the story of how these beloved characters came to be. You can view the trailer below: I love these background stories for beloved books (others include Finding Neverland about Peter Pan and Saving Mr. Banks about Mary Poppins ). It just adds depth to already w...

My family first fell in love with Dandi Dalley Mackall's book "God Loves Me More Than That" when my boys were preschool aged. It has beautiful illustrations and a wonderful message based on Ephesians 3:17-19. I love being able to affirm that this author writes lovely books! Now she has a new book which can be summed up in four words:  Wow!  Uh-oh!  Yes! Ahh! That is the gospel in "Wow! The Gospel in Four Words." image via Tyndale Publishers The gospel is central to our lives and I love being able to share it in understandable ways with my children. My daughter is two years old and cannot fully comprehend even in this book of the gospel but she understands "wow" and "uh-oh" and those are words to build upon until she fully understands the gospel of "yes" and "ahh." The illustrations by Annabel Tempest in this book are vibrant. My Charlotte can easily spot Jesus. She's got that  Sunday  school answ...

I know, I know. It's not even Halloween; how can I be talking about Christmas? Well, simply put, I heard about a fabulous movie coming out called "The Man Who Invented Christmas."  image via Grace Hill Media I can't say I agree with the title of the movie (Christmas is really about Christ's birth) but I really enjoy most any re-telling of Charles Dickens' "A Christmas Carol" (Kermit the Frog, Mickey Mouse, even Jim Carrey) and this movie is based on the true story of Dickens writing that very book! Starring Christopher Plummer (Captain Von Trapp from "The Sound of Music," the Narrator in the Madeline tv series, and the voice of Charles Muntz from "Up"), "The Man Who Invented Christmas" comes out Friday, November 22 - just in time for Christmas (and the birthday of both my sister and a dear friend). Reading about how Charles Dickens mixed real life inspirations with his vivid imagination reminds me very much...

This parenting gig is hard. Can I get an "amen"? I read almost any parenting book (reputable) I can get my hands on, but I really appreciate the ones from people I trust. Jim Daly, President and CEO of Focus on the Family, is one of those people I trust. I listen to the Focus on the Family podcast almost daily (when I workout) and I love hearing Jim's stories about his boys and his and his wife's parenting. They seem like people we could just hang out with. I have most of "When Parenting Isn't Perfect" by Jim Daly highlighted and notes in the sidebars. I had my heart opened to much of my parenting faults - looking for achievement, not character. How often do I get so angry with my boys when they misbehave in the grocery store (every time) instead of realizing they are little boys running a super boring errand and are trying to entertain themselves instead of thinking they are being rude - that's not their heart intent at all! They may not be think...