Posts Tagged ‘asante’

Asante’s New Bible

Thursday, January 27th, 2011

For days now, Asante has asked me when his new Bible would be coming in the mail. And today…it came! The Beginning Reader’s Bible from Thomas Nelson Publishers is awesome! We enjoyed reading it during Aly’s naptime today, as well as using it in our before-bedtime devotions. This Bible is certainly closer to a grown-up Bible than our beloved Beginner’s Bible from Zondervan. Both Aly and Asante received this Bible from Parkade Baptist Church when we had them dedicated, and it has been so perfect for their attention spans and comprehension. But, Asante (age 3) was definitely ready for this next step.

The illustrations in this Bible are really engaging, descriptive, and interesting! While there are not as many stories in this Bible (sad day, they only have 13 of the OT and 13 of the NT, plus some extra prayers, charts, etc.), each story gives a lot more details and is even written in verse form. Also, one really odd thing about this Bible is that there are no page numbers (but includes a table of contents with page numbers..hmmm). So, that is kind of annoying but of course Asante doesn’t care. He’s more than happy to flip through the pages until he sees a story he wants read to him.

If you’re looking for a kid’s Bible that is thorough, this is not the one for you. BUT, if you want one that has great illustrations and is told in a way that kids will better understand, you may like this one.

I’m curious… what was your favorite Bible story to have read to you as a child? Which one would you definitely include if you were making a children’s Bible?

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher through the BookSneeze®.com <http://BookSneeze®.com> book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 <http://www.access.gpo.gov/nara/cfr/waisidx_03/16cfr255_03.html> : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

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More Malloy Updates

Monday, October 25th, 2010

This post is SO long overdue. And really, I don’t have time to write this. We’ve had a lot of doctor appointments, meetings and such lately so my study time has been severly cut down. I have lots of things coming due very quickly. But, really, who ever really has time to write a blog post?! :) Hence, I’m just doing it.

Classes have been great, but tiring. Fourteen hours was going well until here recently, and although I haven’t fallen behind, I’m certainly not ahead. My goal is still to get as much done as I can by Thanksgiving so that I have little to do after Ada comes (even though I’ll still have 2-ish weeks of classes left). And speaking of Ada, we have decided on the final name: Ada Nouwen Malloy. We choose Nouwen because of Henri Nouwen’s impact on jake and i’s spiritual journey. If you haven’t read anythign by him, I would highly recommend it! After I’m done with this degree, I intend to have him mentor me through his books.

Pregnancy has been going pretty well. In some ways it has been better than the first two– mainly in that my blood pressure has remained really low (like 100/65) and hence I have had little to no swelling. Miraculously, I’m still wearing my wedding ring and it hasn’t gotten tight at all! Normally I’ve had to stop wearing it somewhere around 6 months. We’re about 5.5 weeks out from my due date and although I’ve been tired, some short mid-afternoon naps have really helped me to stay up late and work on homework. In other ways, this pregnancy has been much more difficult. Morning sickness stayed with me longer than before, I’ve had a crazy amount of mouth sores (sometimes 15 or so at a time), and have hence had some challenge in gaining proper weight. I leveled out at my weight for about 5 or 6 weeks when I should have gained 6-8 pounds. This past week I finally gained some weight, so it’s looking good again. Ada is smaller than the other babies have been…not sure if it’s just her stature or if it’s related to me not gaining as much weight. I also had to get an echo of her heart because after 2 ultrasounds they couldn’t see what they needed to see. Thankfully they said that her heart looked “beautiful” and there’s nothing to worry about. So really, it has been a healthy pregnancy, just more scares and unknowns than in the past.

Aly and Asante are doing really well….loving to be with dad during the day and are having a blast playing withe one another. It’s fun to see them make each other laugh and chase each other around the house. They had their first real fight yesterday– Aly got so mad at Asante that she head-butted him. He screamed at her and tackled her. Of course they got a stern talking to, but it was kinda funny.

Jake has been applying to grad schools (okay, just one so far), and took his GRE today– a 650 on verbal and 800 on math! I’m really proud of him. We’re just praying for the Lord’s guidance and direction as we look to this summer and next fall. Although we have no idea where we will be, our heart’s desire and prayer is that the Lord would allow us to move somewhere for Jake to get involved in a program that he can use his gifts and passions towards, as well as us being able to settle down in one place for a significant length of time. We’re tired of moving and are ready to make some roots somewhere. It’s become real to us that building friendships and community takes TIME, and that’s something that we haven’t had in a location since college.

I think that’s our updates as a family. I’d like to blog more about my reflections on things I’m thinking about and learning in classes. I always feel like my ideas are not quite refined enough to post, and then I forget about the topic altogether. We’ll see how it goes.

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Sunday Baking

Monday, September 20th, 2010

Asante and I did some baking on Sunday, partly because I haven’t baked for several months and was really missing it, partly because I wanted to let some neighbors know that I was thinking about them, and partly to help teach Asante about two of our family values- generosity and creativity.

Recently when going to the store, Asante becomes quite nervous about people taking our food. When we put the food on the conveyor belt to be checked out, he gets very possessive and fears that the people behind us in line will take our food. This last Sunday, we stopped by Goodwill after grocery shopping to drop off a few bags of stuff and Asante got quite upset because he thought I was giving them all the food we just bought.

Jake and I are very confused as to where this comes from…Asante has obviously never had to skip a meal and pretty much gets whatever healthy food he asks for at the store. Why this nervousness? Maybe it’s just developmental, maybe tempremental…but either way, we have talked about ways of cultivating a generous heart in him…and I thought combining a creative (and yummy) thing like baking cookies with giving it away may be one way of doing that.

When mixing everything and into the process of baking, we talked not only about what was going on (yeah for science-y learning!), but also that we were going to give some of them away to our neighbors. He wasn’t excited about that idea. But, after they came out of the oven and he sampled one, he came up to me and said, “Mom, these are very good. I think that I would like to give some of them to other kids.” So, after they cooled we put some on plates- taking the plate first to a neighbor who has 2 kids. He was excited to carry them and ring the door bell. We got to hang out with the family a bit in the front yard while the kids played, but after awhile, Asante started getting ansy to take the next plate to our other neighbor’s house. While we were talking, he decided to go home, get the plate, come back out, and start walking to the next neighbor’s house- all on his own! He was just SO excited to give more cookies away. It was sweet to see generosity flowing from him, and I hope that this value continues to grow in him.

For more on our family values, see Jake’s most recent post.

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Family Updates

Thursday, August 26th, 2010

A little update for far away friends and family who are interested…

I finally finished my last summer class on Tuesday night- yay! Which means, I have 2 weeks to enjoy life without homework and studying and reading. Of course I can’t stay away from reading, so I’ve been diligently reading through some books I have had piled up to review from the various book review blogging programs I’m in. I have a few more coming, so you can look forward to reviews on:

The Kingdom Life

Hands On Bible (NLT)

Everything you Need to Know Before College

As for personal things, I’m really feeling contentment here in Wilmore and at this duplex. As many of you know, I was not excited about moving into these duplexes because I was unsure about the size, the a/c situation and the carpets. But now those things seem really lame and I’m so content and thankful for this great place. The kids have a ton of room to play and we’re really feeling like this is home. We’ve done some hard-core decorating (for us, anyway), and it’s been fun to settle in somewhere. It feels funny to say, knowing we’ll only be here for a year. BUT, this is the longest we’ll have had stayed in one place since being on Hidden Creek Drive in Columbia 2006-2008.

I’ve also been working on some small changes in my and my family’s life… two of which include: 1.) eating more veggies/fruits (5 a day is our goal!) and 2.) cutting down on soda. Both are going well. We’ve been hitting 5 a day often, and this has even started including vegetables. Seems silly, but I really want the kids to enjoy and crave healthy foods. I also have been only drinking a can of soda every other day… and it’s going well. I’ve begun to not crave the caffeine and carbonation and enjoy other things. I know it’s a really healthy thing for the baby and for me (carbonation depletes the body of calcium, leading to a greater health risk of osteoporosis..something i’m probably in danger of anyway).

Okay, enough about me….

ALY

Aly has been adding new words and new signs to her vocabulary daily! She’s communicating great and her and Asante have been able to interact and play more because of it. She has also successfully slept in her big girl bed 3 nights in a row and every nap. We have to sit next to her while she goes to sleep so she doesn’t get out, but she’s staying in there all night long. Yippee! I contribute this feat to Jake alone– I was a doubter and said that I wouldn’t help in this transition because I didn’t think it would happen. He persevered and it only took about 5 or 6 days to create the habit. Our next transition for her will be potty training… she’s been telling us she needs to go sometimes, but we haven’t been putting her on it yet. We’ll probably start letting her guide us with it and see how it goes.

ASANTE

He’s been adjusting more and more, and I think he likes it here. We’ve been frequenting the playground by the seminary quite a bit, which he loves. His current obsession is story-telling. He and Jake spend a lot of time in a day making up stories together. Most of these involve a big bad wolf of some sort. :) He also has been getting better on his fear of being alone. When one of us is going to be alone, he reminds us that “God will be with you” (thank you veggie tales … and dad too!) I think it brings him a lot of peace for himself, so he wants to be sure that we’re okay too. We’ve been having some great conversations with him about all kinds of things. I LOVE hearing how that little brain of his works. Of course, he’s also approaching 3, so we are having some trouble with learning to obey. Lol, but I guess a lot of us adults have a hard time with that too.

He has also been learning to spell some simple words, and actually spelled out “rat”, “bat”, and “cat” yesterday morning. He’s pretty good at hearing the main consonants… but the vowels can sometimes be a little tricky. Right now he’s better at spelling than he is at reading. He thinks letters are REALLY fun, and so does Jake, so it works out really well :) .

JAKE

You can jump to his blog to hear what he has to say, but I can highlight a little on here. He just finished designing and building the kids some awesome tetris shelves which I am totally impressed by! We want to paint them, but I don’t think it’s a high priority right now. He also has been enjoying the time at home with the kids, and spending some significant time reading through blogs, website, magazines, etc. and compiling developmentally appropriate activities to do with the kids during the day. He’s taking this stay-at-home dad thing very seriously and the kids are going to be so blessed by it!

Whew! Okay, so congrats if you made it through this all. More to come next time as I write about preparing for my classes!

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