Drawing them Into the Word + a GIVEAWAY!

Xander: "Mommy, can I stay up late tonight?"

Before I can respond with a negative, he quickly adds, "I'd like to study the Bible with you."

Rich and I can delay our War Horse movie night.  How could I say no to such a request???

As you can imagine, we had a wonderful time digging into the Word.

As we snuggled together on the lazy boy that night, I offered two options: reading a passage of his choice from the Bible or pull out and explore our new Child Training Bible. He excitedly told me that he wanted to read from our new tabbed Child Training Bible.

So I had him read through the list of topics and choose one. As he poured over his choices, he told me that he wanted to see what the Bible had to say about discouragement because he had been struggling with that lately.

So we curled up together and found encouragement in Scripture:

"I lift up my eyes to the hills. From where does my help come? My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth."  

{Psalm 121:1-2}

"He helps me, doesn’t He Mom?"

"That's right, son. See that mountain out our back window?"

"Yes"

"When you feel discouraged, you can just look to the mountains around us and remember that the all-powerful, all knowing Creator is there -ready to help, ready to comfort."

"Heather," that still small voice tugs at my heart, "Have you been looking to the hills? Take heed what you read and remember."  (His lessons become a lesson for me, yet again.)

We continue to flip through all of the green tabs, finding encouragement for our souls, gratitude welling up within our hearts.

I asked him if he wanted to pick from another category. He looked up at me with serious eyes and told me that he had been disobedient and wanted to see what the Bible had to say about that.

When I first saw the Child Training Bible, I was intrigued.  There has been much curiosity about this new teaching/training tool as it has taken shape over here.

What exactly is The Child Training Bible?

It is a helpful tool that you put together to aid in drawing your family into Scripture as you walk through daily life. Oh to have scripture at my fingertips to address so many of the struggles we have in life and to give my children a clear idea of what God has to say about how He wants us to live as ambassadors for Him in this world.

For $9, Child Training Bible sends you:

·         A tabbed card to place on the inside cover of a Bible listing categories that the Bible addresses such as anger, defiance, obedience, loneliness, discouragement, lying, etc…

·         Another set of cards lists scripture references for each category as well as thought provoking questions pertaining to that area, application ideas and a sample prayer to help you as you seek to pray with your child over these various issues.  

·         Directions for putting your Training Bible together and ideas on how to implement it.

To get started I needed to gather the following items:

·         Bible (We chose a {sturdy} hardback ESV Bible, but you can select whatever translation you use most frequently in your home.)

·         Colored tabs

·         Colored pencils or highlighters.  We chose colored pencils because I simply love using them, we had them on hand and didn’t want problems with bleed-through of the pages. Have I mentioned how much I love our Lyra colored pencils???  Worth every penny we pay for them.

Once it is set up, it is so simple to just grab the Bible and have at your fingertips 5-10 verses on a given topic.  No need to go find a concordance or use another resource.  You can draw your children (or yourself) directly into the living Word of God!

As I set to the task of highlighting the various scripture passages I realized how much work it was going to take to finish it.  Inside I sort of wished I could have bought one already compiled.  But I found as I looked up verse after verse pertaining to these categories that my heart was convicted and encouraged at the same time.  Time spent in the WORD is always a beautiful thing!  Recently, I had been struggling with anger.  As I read verse after verse about anger, I found my heart softening as God brought his gentle but firm conviction to my heart about recent responses to my family.  I put aside my excuses of sleep deprivation and the craziness of raising little ones and found myself crying out in repentance while drawing hope in God’s promised help in this area.  As was evidenced from that night of exploring scripture with my son, it is encouraging to see it have the same effect on him.

My boys were intrigued as I worked and came alongside asking to help.  Xander enjoyed looking up verses and Keegan, my artist, enjoyed carefully coloring in the specified passages for a while.

As I finished, I sat there praying and seeking God on how He wants me to use this wonderful tool.  As always, He is faithful to speak to me.

·      Training: We plan to utilize our Child Training Bible for family and one-on-one devotion time.  The child training process isn’t simply about disciplining for bad behavior, but also training our children in the way they should go.  I love how the Word of God bears fruit in our lives and excited to have another resource at our fingertips for drawing our hearts back to Him and pursuing His will for our lives.

·      Post-Discipline: The primary design for this is to be used as a means of drawing our children to what God has to say about areas of sin that we are addressing in their lives.  I love how the handout that came with this takes care in cautioning to use this only with a calm child.  I’ve found that taking them straight to scripture before they’ve had a chance to calm down is counter-productive.  When exercised with care, I love the idea of gently calling them back to Scripture during these times as we pursue Bible Moments together.

·      Personal Reading: Xander has been excited to explore this on his own.  With direction on how to care for it properly (i.e. not pulling out tabs, etc), we are leaving it in an easy to access place in our home and allowing the readers in the family to peruse as desired.

Now my experiences with it so far haven’t been as dramatic as that initial experience with Xander, but I know our delving into Scripture will not return void.  I am excited to see that as we think deeply about His Word that we will become like a tree planted by streams of water that yields fruit in due season. (Psalm 1:3)  Oh what a glorious promise.  He is in the process of changing us, refining us and equipping us to represent Him to the world around us.     

Child Training Bible's website and on facebook

Thanks, Child Training Bible for giving us the opportunity to review this!

I'm so excited to let you know that Mindy from Child Training Bible is offering a Child Training Bible set to one of my readers! Leave a comment here and then follow the directions below for your chance to win!
a Rafflecopter giveaway

Truth in the Tinsel: A Review

Using holidays to point my children to Jesus is very important to me.  That's why we've made such a big deal about Christmas, Easter, Pentecost, Ascension Day and even Valentine's and St. Patricks's Day in the past.  They've all served to provide an exciting opportunity to be purposeful in drawing their attention to the Lord.

There is so much out there for celebrating Advent, but none of it ever seemed to fit my hopes for what I wanted to do with my kids.  Either they were too simplistic or too complex for my young children to understand.  I'm just a smidge particular. So I ended up spending the last several years pulling my own thing together.

With a new baby this year, I was quick to realize that my creative juices certainly weren't up to the task of dreaming something up.  Instead, I decided to keep things really simple and focus on spending time in prayer, worship and reading them some of my favorite Christmas books.  The beauty of God coming down as a man to rescue us from sin is that we can now have a rich, personal relationship with Him.  So RELATIONSHIP is our focus this year...

After I had settled that in my heart, I caught wind of a new ebook coming out: Truth in the Tinsel: An Advent Experience for Little Hands.  I love Amanda over at Impress Your Kids.  We are on the same page with having a heart to impress the wonder and glory of knowing Jesus into our children.  Not only that, we both tend to approach it in a hands-on kind of way!  I just knew I would love her book.  So getting the opportunity to preview an advance copy was such a treat.

To SUM it all up, what I've been looking for all these years is nicely contained in this adorable ebook.  I wanted an easy to use resource that has substance (beyond just cute, itty-bitty baby Jesus in a manger), was easy for young children to understand and memorable.. 

S ubstance 
Amanda writes in her introduction:

"The key to this entire advent celebration is to have a daily focus and meditation on God's greatest gift. Your children will learn the ins and outs of the story because you've facilitated a time to discuss, play and create. And in those moments, God will speak to their hearts and yours. 

"The little Baby is no longer in the manger, but alive and sitting on a throne - waiting to have a relationship with you and your children. Help your children get to know Him this Christmas!."

I love how she ties the Christmas story into the big picture of God's redemptive work.  God loves us and wants to bring us back into his family.  Sending Jesus is how he accomplished this!  Truth in the Tinsel does a wonderful job at balancing the basics of the story, but also introduces so much more scriptural truth into each day.  As I read, I found myself pondering the material and seeing the Holy Spirit speak to me too.  Something that touches both my children and myself is always a good sign.

U nderstandable
This book is specifically geared to reach the hearts and minds of children in that preschool-mid elementary age range.  The book does a great job at walking you as the parent through the process of discipling your children. 

I love how it is broken down.  It is easy to navigate.  Each day is explained on one page and includes, "the clue" - which is a picture.  As we read the scripture passage  to the children, they are to be on the hunt to figure out what the clue has to do with the passage.  When they hear the word or see the connection, they are to shout it out!  This draws them in and helps them to listen and really grasp the theme for the day.  Then there is something "to read together" (the scripture passage), something "to make together" (the ornament craft - complete with detailed instructions and pictures), something "to talk about together" (scripting with questions to draw your children out and also to explain the passage) and a "do more together" section (with an extra activity).

I can see how this repetition in format from day to day will really help the kids understand and the way she words the discussion part is just perfect for helping our young children understand the deeper meanings behind various aspects of the Christmas story. 

M emorable
This is also such a wonderful memory builder.  Taking big ideas and making them concrete and hands-on lends itself to really solidifying what they are learning.  I mentioned that a bit in my last post about Christmas.  The simple ornaments do just that.  Because we will have three sets of ornaments, I think we will hang one set on our regular Christmas tree, one set on a miniature Christmas tree that I will set up in the boys room and gift another set to my parents.

It also utilizes a 'countdown' which my boys always love.  There are paper picture clues that you can place in a wooden advent drawer stand if you have one or there is the option to print off the paper clues and make a countdown paper chain (which is what we will be doing!)

Previewing the material was fun, but I really wanted to see how it would work out with my children, so we tried out 'Day 1' this morning.

 My little boys never really sit still. And that is a-ok. They still absorb so much!

They were excited to make their candle ornament to remind them of who is the light!

We all gave the first devotional and project a thumbs-up!  Now we just have to be patient and wait until December 2nd to start the next devotional!

The beauty of it is that each day can stand alone, so there is no pressure to get it all done.  Even though the entire project only took us about 30 minutes to complete (plus about 15 minutes in prep time) I'm sure there will be days that I don't get to it (Greta still makes life pretty unpredictable).  Thankfully, the devotional aspect takes 10 minutes tops and even if we just do that some days, it will still be a treat!

If you have children in the preschool-mid elementary years and are looking for an advent devotional, I highly recommend this one.  The price can't be beat. 

Anyone want to join us?

For Black Friday, you can get the ebook for only $2.99!!!!  But even if you decide to order it later it is still a steal at only $4.99! 

You can order the book here at their website.
You can also follow Truth in the Tinsel on facebook. 

Disclaimer: Truth in the Tinsel and Amanda at Impress Your Kids provided me with a free copy of her ebook to review.  The opinions shared are completely my own.  I would have been recommending it anyways after I had purchased it today.  

Play Silks: A Giveaway!

Well, as we just wrapped up our series on the importance of and how to foster open-ended play with our children, I'm delighted to bring you all an opportunity to bring some play silks into your home!!!! 

I talked extensively about them and shared examples of how we use them in our home in my post, Play Silks: Inspiring Creativity.  I just love how this pile of silks has transformed their play and our learning adventures in so many powerful ways.  A playsilk + the imagination of a child = endless possibilities!

Can't you just tell by the look on his face that we love these compact and yet powerful play silks?!?!?

As I've said before, A Toy Garden is my favorite place to buy them.  The price is low (especially when you buy more at one time), the quality is superb and her customer service is amazing.   A Toy Garden has graciously offered to give to give one of my lucky readers TWO playsilks of their choice.  That's right, the winner will get to select their two favorite colors!!!  This giveaway is open residents in the US and Canada only.  You can see all of her color options here.

Here's how to enter:

Mandatory entry: Leave a comment telling us how you think your children would enjoy using them or HOW your children have been creative in their play recently!  Be sure to leave an email address if you don't have a blog so that I can contact you if you win!

Additional Entries:

• Subscribe to Cultivated Lives through a reader, through Google Friends Connect or via email.  (See sidebar).  Leave a comment letting me know you have done this or are already subscribed.
• "Like" Cultivated Lives on Facebook. Leave a comment letting me know you do.
• Subscribe to A Toy Garden's email list to receive updates on sales 2 or 3 times a year.  (Option to subscribe in top right corner of their website.) Leave an additional comment letting me know.

The giveaway ends on Wednesday, August 3th at 7pm, PST and the winner will be randomly selected.  The winner will have 48 hours to get back to me with their contact information.  If I don't hear back from the winner within that time frame, another winner is selected.

When I told my boys about the giveaway this morning, they were so excited that they just had to pull the silks out and pose for some silly pictures...  Xander (with the red playsilk) wanted you all to know that he is a crazy parachute guy.

Disclaimer: I was in no way compensated for this giveaway.  I'm just thrilled for the opportunity to pass the opportunity for creative play on to someone else and thankful that A Toy Garden is making that possible!

Linking up to Giveaway Day at HipHomeschoolMoms.com.

Play Silks: Inspiring Creativity

[Open-Ended Play Series, Part 6]

I love play silks!!! They are right up there with blocks and, to date, have not resulted in bruises or bloodshed… So maybe that alone, would place them above blocks.  And actually now that we've owned ours for several years and are getting a bit further into our homeschool journey, I'm loving them more and more!

Because so much of our learning is hands-on and dramatic, we find that we are using them all the time and I don't envision this slowing down anytime soon!

A play silk is simply a silk square (most commonly 36×36, but can be purchased/found in other sizes. Durable, beautiful, and useful in so many ways, play silks are an affordable way to inspire creativity and pretend play often absent from today’s toy box. They are probably the most used toy in our home and promote open-ended and imaginative play in a way that scripted toys simply cannot.

Play silks are perfect for: playing peek-a-boo, a doll blanket, sling, wings, a cape, a river, a turban, pirate’s headscarf, skirt, toga, belt, knights uniform, fort, or anything else a child dreams up…

Here are some peak into some of the ways our boys have played with them:

Recreating Curious George riding in a Hot Air Balloon.

Pirate boys walking the plank.

Fish in a pond!

Pretending to be a fish eating bird...

Playing baseball and running the bases...

Impromptu 'pouches' when we were learning about kangaroos during our study of Australia!

Re-enacting Bible stories such as the account of Abraham and Isaac.

Butterfly wings during our study of metamorphosis!

Adding to the feel of being a knight!

A Toy Garden is my favorite place to buy them.  The quality is superb and her customer service is amazing.  I don’t think there are any better deals on this quality of dyed silks out there.  I am in the process of getting a giveaway set up for some of these playsilks from A Toy Garden, so be sure to check back in the next week or two for details on that!  Giveaway details found here!  Ends August 3rd.

[Open-Ended Play Series, PART 6]

PART 1  ~ Free to Play
    PART 2 ~ Sounds Easy Enough
     PART 3 ~ Micro-Managing No More
    PART 4 ~ Keep It Simple
    PART 5 ~ Block Play: Building a Child’s Mind

   PART  6 ~ Playsilks: Inspiring Creativity
 PART 7 ~ Open-Ended Costumes
PART 8 ~ Kitchen Play
PART 9 ~ From Trash to Treasure
PART 10 ~ Making It Work

Colorful Support - A Review and Giveaway

After reading of my affection for the people of Guatemala, Heidi approached me about this adorable coloring book and an opportunity to support a ministry in Guatemala City. Casita Benjamin is a daycare ministry to the poor living near the city dump. Many of them are single mothers who must find some kind of work in order to simply feed their children.  Casita Benjamin steps in as a place where the children can stay in a loving, interactive environment. They receive a good lunch, normal preschool type activities and most importantly, the chance to hear about Jesus.

Having spent time over two summers in Guatemala, I know first hand how impoverished parts of Guatemala can be and yet it is full of beautiful people – strong and resilient. Ann from A Holy Experience recently went to Guatemala and actually spent time in an area quite near Casita Benjamin. You can see her photographic journey through the neighborhoods around the city dump here.

Although Casita Benjamin sometimes receives a small fee from parents, they rely mostly on external support. Heidi just returned from her second stint down at Casita Benjamin with a passion to publish a bilingual coloring book drawn by one of the other workers, Patty Gomez. Each of the 24 pages contains a drawing to color that clearly illustrates a specific Bible verse.   

After hearing so much about it, I couldn't wait to explore the coloring books that Heidi graciously sent for us to review.  In preparation, we pulled out our globe and found Guatemala again. 

And their reaction when the coloring books arrived:

...an almost palpable excitement.  They sense something different about this book.  There is a history behind it.    

They each carefully select a page to color. Seeing the picture really helped God’s Word come alive in a fresh way.

In addition to reading them the verse in English, I read it to them in Spanish and we discussed a few of the words.

The boys are super excited to send a copy of this book down to our Peruvian Compassion child, Ittiel. As I mentioned a few months back, the boys have enjoyed writing back and forth with Ittiel. They find it thrilling to think that he will color the same pages as they do…

This coloring book would be perfect for:

• Any young child – giving them an easy to understand picture to represent a verse.
• For any child learning Spanish.
• As a gift to a sponsored child in a Spanish-speaking country.
• As a gift for a friend, grandchild, niece/nephew etc. It would pair well with a set of colored pencils.
• That long road trip this summer.

Heidi is taking care of receiving payment and shipping the coloring books out. You can read her story and find contact/purchase information here. All of the money to cover the printing costs has already been provided, meaning more money from these purchases goes directly to Casita Benjamin. At a requested donation of $5/book, this is an opportunity you can’t pass up! And of course anything above that amount would be a huge blessing to the children at the center.

In celebration of this opportunity and to help spread the word about Casita Benjamin, we’re having a GIVEAWAY!!!!

That’s right, I have two coloring books to giveaway. (Limited to US and Canadian mailing address only.)

The first name I draw will receive both a coloring book and a set of amazing Lyra coloring pencils. I’ve blogged about them before and we use ours ALL THE TIME. Sonya at A Toy Garden has graciously donated a set of 12 Lyra Color Giant pencils ($23 value). The color is vibrant and beautiful. The thick shape makes it easy for young hands to hold and write. They’re easy on big hands too! I snag my kids pencils all the time!

The second name I draw will receive a coloring book.

Winners will be selected on Friday evening, February 5th!

Here’s how to enter:

• Simply leave a comment!  

For extra chances to win:

• Link to this giveaway on facebook – one extra entry. Leave another comment letting us know.
• Link to this giveaway on twitter – one extra entry. Leave another comment letting us know.  Include your twitter name!
• Blog about this giveaway – 2 extra entries – leave two additional comments.

A Huge thanks for Heidi for putting this project together.

And thanks to A Toy Garden.

My boys have loved each item they’ve received from this family-owned business. They have the best prices around on playsilks and sell so many other beautiful imagination inspiring toys. Be sure to stop by and take a look.

A Buck Well Spent

It is sometimes the simplest things in life that occupy and delight us!  Last year when we were studying Native Americans and frontiersmen, I found these tiny figurines at the dollar store.

Xander was fairly obsessed with them last year.

And these have inspired hours of quiet play (punctuated by muted gunshots and intense fighting scenes) with Keegan too!  Because it is his 'private' play, somehow it remains quiet and even peaceful despite the battles... 

 

Some of the most hard-fought battles are quiet, mostly internal, aren't they?

Saving his Alamo.

It's tiny moments like this when my heart swells and my mind fills with the little blessings that God sends our way...

peeking in on imaginative play

boy creativity

a hug around my ankles and whispers of "I wuv you" from my 2.5 year old

unspoken moments of connection with my husband

a husband who encourages me to take on challenges

boys eager to learn

cooperative morning play in their rooms

while mom and dad get a rare morning to doze/sleep-in

a Sunday morning with my third-born who was sick.  Just him and me.

hearing him ask me if I can help him "pick up toys" 

(still pinching myself over this one)

reading aloud

God's provision in His calling me to give up a good thing for His perfect thing for me.

exploring our bilingual coloring book together

the chance to help kids in Guatemala learn about Jesus.

Gifts 552-565

Counting my gifts with others at:

Quality Matters

My middle one tip-toed downstairs.  He's the first one up from nap-time.  In his usual tiny voice, he asks to paint.

I smile big as I remember new watercolors tucked away.  My mom had purchased some quality watercolors for each set of grand kids.  My previous experience has been with walmart watercolors, but I know what a difference quality art supplies makes.  We had a taste of it last year...

We both perched on our chairs and took a deep breath as he tried them out.  Eyes grew big with wonder.  The result: bright, bold and effortless color.  Previous experiences had been fun - smearing faint color over a blank sheet. 

But now...

...the possibilities were endless.

Biggest bit soon joined us - sleep still in his eyes.  At 6, shockingly, he is my most faithful napper.  It takes several minutes of blank stares from me and a gentle but firm reminder before he realizes that whining won't get him anywhere nearer some paper and a brush of his own. 

Manners are remembered and painting soon commences.

(He's still holding on to the idea of boomerangs and pointillism!)

We're hooked.  A few, high quality art supplies go such a long way.

We love our Prang water colors and real water-color paper!

Other staples in our home are our Lyra Ferby pencils.  I talked about them last year.  We are more in love with them than ever.  If I could have only one coloring tool in my home, it would be these.  In fact, I probably use them as much as the kids since I'm always snagging them when I do my Bible study marking!

While our Stockmar crayons didn't quite live up to my expectations, part of that had to do with how much we love our lyra pencils.  The block crayons are still an essential member in our art supplies!

What are some of your favorite art supplies?  I'd love to hear what you and your children have enjoyed using or even what's on your 'wish list'!

(I was in no way compensated for any reviews in this post or on this blog.  All opinions are solely mine.)