Chelsea Smith visits Tennessee!

Well, I have been meaning to write this post for a couple of weeks now... Every time I sit down to write about my wonderful week with Chelsea, I seem to get distracted, but now I will set aside everything else that needs to be done to tell you about my wonderful time with my sweet friend!
Chelsea came to visit us the week after my parents left. Other than the few couple of hours I saw her during our trip through Texas in June, I believe the last time I really spent time with her was before our wedding. Let me just say that was way too long!
During her week here, we went on a tour of a historical mansion here in Clarksville (properly called the Smith mansion), talked, watched great movies, walked some beautiful trails, played with Miss Abi, talked, taught children's church on Wednesday night, talked some more, went hiking at the local caves, talked even more, and just had an overall great week together!
Chelsea is such a wonderful friend and I am so blessed to have her as a part of my life! She is so dear to my life, and I am incredibly blessed to know her! I miss her greatly and can't wait until we get to see each other again!!
Here are a couple of pictures from her time here:

This picture was taken at the airport right before Chelsea left for Texas. We realized that we had not taken one picture together all week...

This is upstairs in the Smith mansion. I thought it was neat to learn what life was like 200 years ago. No indoor bathrooms, detached kitchen, and slave quarters were all a part of their everyday life. 

Awesome DVD series!

When I requested to review Desiring God, I believed that I would be receiving the text, but was pleasantly surprised when I received a 10 series instead. My husband and I both love it! My husband has read the book, I have not, but I have not had any difficultly at all understanding the concepts given by John Piper, the main point being "that God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in him." This DVD does not have to be used along side the book "Desiring God," although I do believe it would be beneficial and that the reader would attain additional knowledge.

I believe that this DVD was recorded during a seminar given by John Piper. It is split into 10 manageable segments, typically no longer than 25 minutes. This would be an excellent resource for any small group going through this text, as well as the individual who would like a little more insight. I am a more visual person, and therefore seeing and hearing John Piper was probably the best way for me to understand this concept. I encourage you to look into this DVD series if you are reading the book or if you simply want more information about how to glorify God in your daily life!

My First Hands on Bible

I recently received "My First Hands on Bible" from Thomas Nelson. I was really excited about this bible and using it with my daughter. (While she is only 5 months old, I believe she is never too young to hear the truth of scripture.) I know that there is a "Hands on Bible" that is directed for elementary school students, and therefore, I thought this book would be for much younger children. The activities in this bible though are more clearly designed for children aged 3+, and I would most likely use this book with a preschool child. They have to be able to use some higher thinking to complete the activities after each chapter (there are 3 activities for each story/chapter of the bible included). I really did appreciate the way this particular bible is exact scripture, not a paraphrased rendition. This bible does an excellent job of keeping each story to a few short verses in order to keep the child's attention. The pictures are simple and go along well with the text.  I am currently babysitting a little boy (4 years old) and I asked him if he would want this book and his response was "Well, I already have a bible, but if I didn't I would want this one." Cute. I would recommend this book to teachers and parents of preschoolers. It is definitely a book that allows you to explore the Bible together.

Beautiful Children's Book!

I loved this book from the moment it arrived in the mail! "This Little Prayer of Mine" written by Anthony DeStefano is beautifully illustrated children's book. This bedtime prayer is offered up to God by a child. This child's prayer includes many things that young children typically pray for: to be brave and strong, to be happy when sad, guidance in choosing the correct path, etc. The prayer is written in poetic form and is read very smoothly and easily. My favorite thing about this book though is the illustrations hands down!! They are absolutely breathtaking. Each one beautifully depicts a particular section in the prayer! I really enjoyed reading this book with my daughter and look forward to reading it to her again soon! I would highly recommend this book to all parents!

When God created my Toes

"When God created My Toes" is a cute children's book that reinforces God created every aspect of our bodies, from our head, to our hands, to our feet. To be honest, I'm not the biggest fan of the illustrations. One the left side of the page is a children's drawing that correlates with the phrase "when God created my ____" and the right side is a professional illustration. Personally, I thought some of the professional illustrations had people with scary faces. They were not the most appealing. I also thought that the child's version of the pictures were random and didn't really go with the book.
As for the actual text, I didn't think it flowed very well. When I was reading this book allowed to my daughter, I often had to stop and reread what I had just read in order to make it make sense. Overall, I have had and read better Christian children's books. Although this book was well intentioned and a great idea, I don't think it met its full potential. All in all, I wouldn't necessarily recommend this book to a parents for their children. Its ok, but not the best I've ever read.
I received this book from Waterbrook Press.