Saturday, February 26th, 2011
That’s what Aly says when she wanted to watch the second movie in this 3-disc set of Hermie & Friends. In this collection, the movies cover the topics of prayer, good behavior, and getting along with others. Hermie and Friends feature really likable characters, and are created around topics that kids think about or deal with on a regular basis. If parents engage their kids in a short discussion during or after the movies, I think it really helps the engagement of the topic. These movies are written in a way that young kids can understand (i.e. the behavior one is about obeying rules, not thinking through good rules and bad rules). For young kids (I would say ages 2-6), these would be great movies to have on tap for opening discussion on these topics.
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.”
Tags: aly, children, christian, thomas nelson book review
Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »
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.”
Tags: asante, bible, book review, thomas nelson book review
Posted in Uncategorized | 1 Comment »
Friday, January 7th, 2011
Being a student at Asbury has been really enlightening to me in the way of learning about other denominations, particularly Methodism. One thing I have noticed about students at Asbury is their appreciation of the liturgical year.
The liturgial year begins with Advent, moves to Christmastide, then some Ordinary Time, Lent, Eastertide, Pentecost, and then more Ordinary Time. With each season there is a different thing to focus on, and much in the way of spiritual contemplation and formation that goes with it. For some reason this has really resonated with me, so when The Liturgical Year by Joan Chittister became an option on booksneeze (Thomas Nelson’s book review program), I jumped at it.
Although the book started out slow and slightly redundant, when Chittister moved into discussing the parts of the Liturgical year, their histories, and the spiritual themes that went along with them, I couldn’t put the book down. I actually learned a lot of new things- things that will hopefully help our family to better start some intentional, life-giving traditions as it relates to holidays (Jake and I were waiting until after this book was read to start discussing/brainstorming on what that could look like). Anyway, Chittister does a good job of succinctly explaining the feasts, and helps the reader to understand that the reason for us celebrating these days and weeks is not to impress anyone or to work at some holiness. Instead, it’s about pressing into the life of Jesus, learning to think as He thinks and live as He lived. There is a beautiful paragraph on page 179 of the book that I want to leave you with:
Liturgical spirituality is about learning to live an ordinary life extraordinarily well. Fidelity to the liturgical life is the cement that keeps us grounded in Jesus, no matter what other elements of life emerge to seduce us as the years go by. It gives us the sense of balance we need to choose between spurious and things sacred. By its very unremitting regularity, it dins the Word of God into our very souls until we can finally hear it. Then, alive in that Word, we find ourselves becoming what we seek. It is fidelity that keeps us on the road when we would most like to simply sit down in the dust and let the world pass us by.
Thanks to Thomas Nelson Publishers, I received this book free to review! Thanks so much, TN!
Tags: church, thomas nelson book review
Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »
Thursday, December 16th, 2010
Now that my semester is officially over (cheers!), I will be pouring some of my free time into watching good movies and reading interesting books…two of my favorite things!
The other evening, Jake, Ashley and I watched the movie The Least Among You. It’s produced by Lionsgate, which (I think) is a Christian production company. You can read about what it’s about here on imbd. I just have to say that I really liked the movie because of the interesting issues that it brings up- not only in how things were in the 60s and 70s, but how things are today regarding race, diversity, and the church. For people who are interested in thinking more about this topic, this would be a really good movie to watch to begin conversations… what if you used it in a small group or with a group of friends to kick off some good and really important conversations?
Diversity is a really hard thing for people in general to deal with- it doesn’t matter if it’s because of race, ethnicity, gender, socioeconomic status, or education level. People just have a hard time really accepting and loving and embracing people who are “other.” Watch The Least Among You and allow these issues to bubble up inside of you, and be sure to have time to reflect and ruminate in whatever is going on inside of you after the credits start rolling.
EDIT: JUST KIDDING. LIONSGATE IS NOT A CHRISTIAN PRODUCTION COMPANY 
.
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.”
Tags: book review, church, race, thomas nelson book review
Posted in Uncategorized | 3 Comments »
Monday, June 28th, 2010
Asante, Aly, and I sat down on Sunday to watch “Who is in Charge Anyway?”, a children’s DVD published by Thomas Nelson. The DVD is number 13 in Max Lucado’s Hermie and Friends Series. This is the second DVD that we watched about Hermie, and although we enjoyed the first one, we were a little confused after watching this 25 minute video. It’s full of flashbacks of various characters’ lives, and I think we just didn’t have enough history with the characters to fully appreciate the clips. Asante asked once, “What is going on? I not know what’s going on.” He’s a smart boy and is able to follow VeggieTale story lines with ease, so I don’t think it’s the watcher’s error. But, I think we would have watched all of them in the series, it would have been fine. The animation is great and the characters are fun (all different kinds of bugs). If you’re into Hermie and Friends, I’m sure this one won’t disappoint. As for me and my family, we’ll stick with VeggieTales for our one-hour-of-video-a-day watching.
Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from Thomas Nelson Publishers as part of their 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.”
Tags: thomas nelson book review
Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »