The Story of Christmas: a review

Read and Share: The Story of Christmas
By Gwen Ellis

Book Description

The Story of Christmas from the Read and Share™ Bible is a colorful retelling of the birth of Christ and the events surrounding it.

Based on the International Children’s Bible, this book begins with the birth of John the Baptist. Next comes the angel appearing first to Mary, then to Joseph, the trip to Bethlehem, the birth of Jesus, the angel’s announcement to the shepherds, the wise men and their gifts, fleeing to Egypt, and at last heading home to Nazareth. The “Can You Retell the Story” activity at the end of the book is a fun way for children to learn to tell the story themselves.

The animated DVD includes a 15-minute story plus coloring pages and other bonus features.

My Review: My girls have enjoyed reading this book and watching the included videos. I like that each story is simple and not too lengthy, but also accurate to what the bible says. Each story comes with a good discussion question too to help encourage good dialogue between ourselves and our kids. The videos match the book and is certainly entertaining for kids who love to watch anything media-related (a.k.a. my kids!).

This book would make a nice gift for someone with younger children.

Focus On Parenting

This past weekend John and I attended an all-day conference that was created by Focus On The Family.

There were many speakers, but our favorites were definitely Mark Holmen and Kevin Leman.

The main purpose for the conference was to help families see that the responsibility of sharing our faith with our kids lies within ourselves, and we need to stop blaming the "church" for the lack of young adults leaving their childhood faith behind and not ever returning.

The statistics are actually quite alarming. Studies vary in percentages, but at best it appears that approximately 50% of kids stop attending church once they reach adulthood. The worst statistics said it was closer to 61%.

As one speaker put it, if you have two children the chances are very high that one of them will quit going to church someday and never return.

Or if you have three kids, maybe two of them will.

He asked us which child we would choose.

*GULP*

I don't want that to be either of my kids.

Why is it that most people don't see this as a problem?

I posted a review a while back about "How to Raise a Modern-Day Joseph". Actually the author for 'Raising a Modern Day Joseph' was at the Focus on Parenting conference. He had some excellent points about this crisis, but I also like the action plan that is in the "How To" book.

I have also ordered a few books from authors at the conference. The one I am most looking forward to is "Faith Begins at Home".

Another statistic is that parents are 2-3 times more influential in their children's faith than any church program.

So John and I will be setting some realistic goals for our family. But it has to begin with us. In my own life. And in his.

We need to live out our faith every day. Read our bibles. Do family devotions. Talk about God/church/life with our kids.

The busyness of school and life seems to get in the way, but we need to focus on the long-term. I'm thinking a realistic plan will be in the works for 2010. The girls will be able to help make decisions about what we are going to learn (and how we will do it) throughout the year.

It will be neat to look back in 2011 to see what we have accomplished!

Remembering

So thankful for my freedom.

The freedom to vote.

The freedom to choose to attend university.

The freedom to choose to work or not.

The freedom to worship God.

I don't even begin to comprehend the sacrifice that was made for me, but I am truly thankful.

Compassion El Salvador

Today marks the beginning of another Compassion Bloggers trip.

This week a group of bloggers will be in El Salvador.

I really know nothing about this country, so it will be interesting to hear more details as they are posted.

Today is also the 6th birthday of the girl we sponsor. Happy birthday sweet Ashly! We are thinking of and praying for you today.

I actually just sent her some tattoos in the mail last week, which she should get in time for the 2010 Olympics. Correspondence is slow, but oh so worthwhile! Not too long ago, she sent us a lovely drawing that is now permanently on our fridge.

My girls talk about Ashly ALL the time. They would love to meet her, so we have begun to pray that God would make this possible some day.

There are many kids who still need a sponsor and I have chosen to take a more active role with Compassion to share my experiences and look for more sponsors. Would you consider it today?

It's only $35 a month and will forever change a child's life.

It would also make a wonderful Christmas gift for someone.

Please pray about it.

Also, to help get your kids involved Compassion has created a fun website for them.

Glee

Can I just say that this new release makes me very happy?

I am really enjoying this show for it's quirkyness and great music.

Now I can share the love of it with my kids too.

Afterall, they already request "Step by Step"...

Heh, heh, heh.

I probably shouldn't admit that online!

Ah well. It's fun to relive those days every once in a while.

Touching Wonder: a review

Heard the Christmas Story a Few Too Many Times?

With his instant classic, Touching Wonder, author John Blase

breathes new life into the story of the Nativity

Dallas/Ft. Worth, TX—Little children understand how amazing the Nativity story is. But, sometimes, as we become men and women, we put away the childlike with the childish. The result? We lose something vital—the wonder of it all. When author John Blase went looking for the lost wonder of Christmas, he went back to the place he’d last seen it—the stories from Luke 1-2. What he found fills the pages of his new book, Touching Wonder: Recapturing the Awe of Christmas(David C Cook, September 2009), with flesh and bone and dust and night and a baby’s cry; the intimate union of human and divine—the Incarnation.

By boldly imagining the first two chapters of the gospel of Luke, writer, editor, and former pastor John Blase has created an instant classic for Christmastime. In a tale that reads like a novel parallel parked by the record of Scripture, Blase beckons those who could use a little wonder in their lives to step onto the stage of history and witness the long awaited coming of the Messiah. With Eugene Peterson’s The Message Bible translation as his backdrop, Blase adds his own voice and commentary to the historic events, exploring the renowned drama from an array of viewpoints.

In Touching Wonder, readers will meet a cast of unruly unlikelies—a frightened teenaged girl, a worried carpenter, a collection of senior citizens, a disillusioned young shepherd, even an angel or two—moving toward the realization that the little one just born is the One. This imaginative retelling of the grand miracle will leave readers wide-eyed, slack-jawed, and heart-full. The Lord is come!

In this lovely and distinctive book to be read…and re-read…and pondered in the heart, young and old will recapture the wonder of the Christmas story by seeing through the eyes of those who lived it. The book’s graceful design and Amanda Jolman’s beautiful line drawings combine to make this a thoughtful Christmas gift as well as a wonder that families will treasure for years to come.

Author Bio: John Blase’s work includes Living the Questions and Living the Letters Bible-study series, the Worldviews reference book (TH1NK), Real Life Stuff for Couples, and The Message Children’s Bible. A former pastor, John currently edits by day and writes by night. He and his wife, Meredith, have three children and make their home in Colorado.

Touching Wonder: Recapturing the Awe of Christmas by John Blase

David C Cook/September 2009

ISBN: 978-1-4347-6465-2/hardcover/128 pages/$12.99

www.davidccook.com

My Review:

This book was easy to read in little bits and was a quick read. I appreciated the new perspective that it gives as we examine how different "characters" in the christmas story would have reacted to their situations.

Multiple Personalities

This halloween brought 3 different outfits for each girl.

I did not go out and buy them each 3 costumes, in fact I only purchased the giraffe costume secondhand for $5.00. The rest of the items we already had from previous years, or from the dressup box.

The girls each picked out what I thought was going to be their costume for the year and wore them to school. Ella was a giraffe, and Brie was Jasmine from the movie Aladdin.

When Oct. 31st came I was in the process of getting those same costumes ready again when both girls announced that they each wanted to be something (or someone) different.

So Ella became a beautiful princess and Brie was an equestrian.

That night we were on our way to a friends' house for a halloween party and the girls each wanted to wear another costume, so out came the dressup clothes again. I didn't take pictures of this but Ella was dressed in a blue dress and Brie was in pink. Both had matching accessories for the evening.

Having girls is sure fun!