Wednesday, January 8, 2014

Bedtime Prayers that end with a Hug by Stephen Elkins

Since I am always on the lookout for great new books for my kids I am so excited to say that I have found one more to add to my library.  Bedtime Prayers that end with a Hug, hardcover book, by Stephen Elkins is a wonderful way to end the day with your kiddos.  Plus, it helps making prayer time a little more like a quick devotional time if you are short on time.

From the same author that wrote Bible Stories that end with a Hug, comes a cute book that helps you devote your prayer time, with your little one, to a certain subject or thought right before bed.  It can help direct your time that might actually turn into a small teaching time.

Each prayer is devoted to a certain topic that is relevant to your child’s walk with God. Such topics are: self-control, seeking the Lord, health and strength, obeying parents, and more.  It’s nice know that if my child is having a rough day or might have a question, I can use these prayers to help address that issue in a way they will be able to understand easily.

If you are familiar with Bible Stories that end in a Hug, then you know there is a format for these books that works really well.  The prayers are broken down into different sections.  The sections are:

  • A Bible Verse related to the prayer
  • A Snuggle time that has a short story going along the theme of that prayer.
  • Bedtime Bible Thought that helps reenforce everything you have been reading to that point
  • My hug-a-bye Prayer which is the prayer that ends the entire time.

My kids loved this book, especially my 4 year old, since the illustrations caught her eye and the prayers were short enough that they held her attention without being overwhelming.  It's a great book for the preschool age group, but probably a little boring for the older kids. 

{Disclaimer: I received a complimentary copy of this book from Tyndale Blog Network for an honest review.  All thoughts and opinions are my own.}

Tuesday, January 7, 2014

Everything Christmas: Celebrating the Joy of the Advent Season with the Best of Christmas Past & Present

Everything Christmas is a compilation of stories, poems, recipes, traditions from around the world, and just about anything Christmas you can think of.  Since Christmas is my absolutely favorite time of year, I couldn’t wait to get my hands on this book and I wasn’t disappointed.

This book is set up so that you can use it as a daily devotional for the Advent season to keep you heart focused where it should be, but you don’t have to use it that way.  You can read through the book and use what parts of it that you want.  I think next Advent season I will be using this book as a devotion for my family.

One of my favorite things from the book was the traditions from around the world, that I can share with my kids next year.  I would love for them to see how other children celebrate Christmas along with making some recipes for foods they might eat that are included in this book. 

Did you forget some of the lyrics to your favorite Christmas songs?  Well, there is a good chance they are in this book.  Looking for a new decoration…you might find an interesting idea.  What to know where some of your favorite parts of Christmas come from?  There is a lot of history included. 

Overall, I just loved this book.  It is going to make a great addition to our holiday library and I can’t wait to try all the things in the book and create a few new traditions for my family.

{Disclaimer: I received a complimentary copy of this book from Blogging for Books in exchange for an honest review.  All thoughts are my own.}