Family Tragedy

Need many prayers for my family!  Please read my post @ Creative and Curious Kids!

Blessings,
Jen

The American Bible Challenge...

coming soon to the Game Show Network! 

"Comedian and author, Jeff Foxworthy hosts this studio-based game in which contestants compete based on their knowledge of the Bible. Utilizing current as well as historical references, questions will be drawn from the rich, dense narrative found in the world's best-selling book. The contestants will share their compelling back-stories and each team will be playing for a charitable organization."

Curious about this new show? It looks pretty exciting and is set to premiere this August 23.   Here's a preview for you...

The American Bible Challenge

I love that people are playing for a charity. What an awesome way to share God's word!

Jen

Kidz Kamp 2012

What an awesome week!  I had the opportunity to serve at a summer camp at our church.  Teaching 3 to 5 years old about God with puppets was a joy.  One of my favorite things about camp is seeing over 400 kids praising the Lord each morning through song and dance.  This was a special week for my own children as well and I love hearing them hum and sing songs about God as they play around the house. Our theme this week was We Belong in God's Family! 

Little Angels' Coupon and Giveaway!

Have you met The Little Angels? If not, be sure to take a peek at my past review of Roma Downey's adorable DVDs. If you are interested in purchasing Little Angels, during the month of May, you can find a Little Angels DVD $3 off coupon.  After you go to the coupon website, be sure to click on Home Entertainment to find the coupon. 

Now for my giveaway..
This week, I'm happy to be giving away a sheet of Little Angels wall decals (shown above) and a DVD sleeve signed by Roma Downey. 

To Enter-Please leave a comment and let me know if you are familiar with the videos or if this is your first introduction to Little Angels.
Extra entries..Tweet, share on Facebook, join God's Shining Stars. ( 1 entry for each. Be sure to leave a separate comment for each entry and an email address.)

Contest ends- 5/28/2012.

Blessings,
Jen

Disclaimer- I did not receive any compensation for this post. 

Hermie: God Listens When I Pray

I've always enjoyed Max Lucado's books and videos for children.  We have a couple of his books and movies in our home collection. One that we don't have yet is Hermie: God Listens When I Pray.  I was excited to see that Mess For Less is giving it away.  Stop on over and enter to win a copy of the book. 

Blessings,
Jen

Palm Sunday Activities

When my children were in preschool, their wonderful teacher would act out Palm Sunday with the children.  She would pretend to be a donkey and let the children take turns riding on her back.  The other children would wave palms and shout Hosanna, Hosanna!  Recently, I decided to do this again with the kids.  Little man pretended to be Jesus, Momma- the donkey, and the girls were the crowd.  They enjoyed making palms to wave.  Fun little lesson and time learning about Jesus!

More activities...

Palm Leaf Craft from dltk

Coloring Pages

Palm Sunday Lessons
 for Preschoolers






Enjoy your Palm Sunday!
Blessings,
Jen

Beautiful Baptism Day!

Congratulations, Little Man! 

With God's Help, we will guide you to love and know Jesus.

Baptism- 3-4-2012

Planning a Baptism



Little man: age 2

Yeah, I'm starting to finally plan for Little man's baptism! All of my kids have been baptized as infants, but it just hasn't worked out(schedule wise with my church) for my little guy. Therefore, I'm very excited that this March, he will finally be baptized.

What does a baptism mean to me?

It means I am committing to raising my child to know and love Christ.

It means I am celebrating that he is a child of God. 

It means I am asking the church and family to support this important effort. 

Little man when he was just a little peanut!

Blessings,

Jen





Teaching Children About Christmas...

I've started teaching my two year old about Christmas.  When he talks of Ho Ho, he mentions Jesus' name and it makes me smile.  It's amazing just what a two year old understands!  I explained to him that Santa comes on Jesus' birthday to celebrate.  So when I ask him whose birthday it is on Christmas- he says "Je Je".

I've read about Jesus to him and have shown him pictures in his bible. I've also shared with him just how much Jesus loves him.  He smiles so big when we talk about Jesus that you have to wonder- what type of relationship does a two year old have with Jesus?  My older daughter seemed to have Jesus in her heart at a very young age.  I remember her preschool teacher saying that she thinks that she is going to do great things for God and that there was something different about how she responds to learning about Jesus.

My daughters are getting older now and among their wish list of electronics and gifts galore, I do have to remind them of the true meaning of Christmas.  We talk about it daily as Christmas approaches and it helps that they are participating in our church play this year.  They have been practicing since November and have been focusing on his word and praising him weekly.

We were praying at dinner the other evening and one of my daughter's prayers was for God to help her focus on Jesus this Christmas season.  Oh how we can learn from our little ones, because this is my prayer as well.  Keeping Jesus our focus in everything that we do!

Last night we lit the lights on the house and I turned and smiled at my two year old and said "Those lights are for Jesus!"  He looked up at me smiled and cheered... "Je Je!""

"Unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given..."
Isaiah 9:6

Many Blessings,
Jen

Advent Box Giveaway!

Wonderful giveaway over at I Can Teach My Child!  She is giving away a set of homemade advent boxes- just in time for the Christmas Season. What a great way to focus on the real reason we celebrate Christmas- Jesus! 

I Can Teach My Child

To enter- visit the link below.....
Advent Box Giveaway

Blessings,
Jen

Little Angels Review and Giveaway

God in Heaven, my Savior dear

Watch over my children and draw thou near

Send your little angels to be at their side

To light and to guard to love and to guide

 

(Shared by Roma Downey as part of her inspiration for creating the animated series Little Angels.) 

I am very pleased to have the privilege of introducing the new animated video series- Little Angels.  Little Angels comes to you from executive producer- Roma Downey(Touched by and Angel)  and writer Phil Lollar (Adventures in Odyssey).  Created for Preschoolers to teach not only ABC and 123's, but also moral lessons and biblical principals. Little man (22 months) enjoys the music and colorful characters.  Some children older than Preschoolers may enjoy the videos as well.  My 7 year old is attracted to the angel characters and pointed out to me her favorites. 

Little Alex and Zoe are blessed to have their very own angels looking over them.  The angels come to their aid when they need them the most. Imagine how comforting this would be for a Preschooler to know that  God sends helpers to watch over and take care of them.

Would you like to meet some of the Little Angels?  Here are just a few..... 

 

 

Uriel
The Angel of Creativity-

He carries a palette and

a painter.

Charmeine-A female cherubim. Angel of Harmony. She carries a harp and sings, teaching everyone to harmonize - and to get along together.

Gabriel

An archangel, second in command to Michael, blond hair, blue eyes. Gabriel is the Messenger Angel - whenever the little angels wish to announce something very important, they give the job to Gabriel.

Haley

Do you love animals? If you do, Hayley will be one of your favorite Little Angels! She knows them all.

Share Little Angles with your  little ones!
To purchase-Christianbook.com
To WIN.....
Please follow God's Shining Stars and leave a comment below. 

Luckily, I have 2 DVDs to give away on this website and 2 more to give away on my other blog- Creative and Curious Kids!

Extra entries:
(2) Blog about the Little Angel's giveaway and link back to this post.
(1) Tweet about this giveaway and link back to this post.
(1) Follow Little Angel's on Facebook.

For extra entries- be sure to leave a separate comment for each entry.
Good Luck!

[This contest has ended.]

Jen

Disclosure: I wasn't given any monetary reimbursement for the above review.  I was given a DVD for my own personal use and 4 more to give away on my blogs.  The opinions above are my own and my differ from others.

The Pumpkin Patch Parable

I came across this book today on Totally Tots!  What a wonderful Christian Children's book to share at this time of the year. I haven't read it yet, but will pick it up for sure.  To find out more about this book and how she incorporated learning activities, be sure to visit Totally Tots. 

Blessings,
Jen

The Boy Who Came Back From Heaven

Just wanted to share the book I'm currently reading! It is about a child who was in a car accident and severely injured. He was in a coma for months and during this time, he shares how he spent time with Jesus in heaven.   If anyone else is in the process of reading it, I'd love to hear from you.  If not, why not join us?

Prayers for Matty!

There's a precious 2 year old little boy who needs our prayers- his name is Matthew. He is fighting leukemia and has been going through chemotherapy.  Please pray for him.  It would be greatly appreciated by his family.  I don't know them personally, but they are special to my younger sister.  My heart goes out to this family and as I pray for healing for Matty and for comfort for them, I hold on to my own children just a little bit tighter.

Blessings,
Jen

Important: Donor and Prayers Needed!

Recently I was contacted by a fellow blogger who asked me to spread the word about a young girl named Haley.  Haley has been diagnosed with a very rare disease named MDS or Myelodysplasia. This disease is recognized as a "pre-leukemia" and a bone marrow transplant is needed.

With a bone marrow transplant there is about a 80% chance of recovery. The doctors have advised her parents that a transplant is needed as soon as possible - hopefully by this June. HLA typing has determined there are no matches within the family. The preliminary search for a match within the marrow data base shows there may be one potential match. There are many more tests that need to be done to determine if in fact this potential is a match and if this person is still available.

Things that we can do to help Haley- pray,spread the word, and get tested to see if we are a match.  For more information- visit here. I couldn't imagine this being my own child and what her parents must be going through.

Bone Marrow Testing Kits Available- information here. (It's free to get tested.)

Thank you!
Jen

I'd Choose You

I found a pleasant surprise in my MOPS email this evening- a wonderful book suggestion!  I'd Choose You by Dr. John Trent is an adorable book for all ages.  When Norbert the elephant has a really bad day at school, his mother lets him know that he will always be chosen by his parents and God.  Take a sneak peek of the book below.....

Buy		Read

Blessings,
Jen

Discloser: I wasn't given a copy of the book or compensated in any way.  This is my opinion, which may differ from others.

The Fruit of The Spirit

"But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness,
goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.  Against such
things there is no law."  (Galatians Chapter 5, verses 22-23)

It's Sunday and we are usually off to church- which we really look forward to, but Mommy was bad. I was lesson planning for tomorrow and lost track of time.  So I told my girls we would do a lesson at home.  I found some wonderful resources on the fruit of the spirit.  My girls really enjoyed the lesson and the activities, so I thought I would share. (Just in case other parents have been "bad" or if you need an anyday short lesson.)

Fruit of the Spirit Lesson
Fruit of the Spirit Poem
Fruit of the Spirit Crossword
Fruit Coloring pages (The kids colored the fruit and wrote- love,joy,peace, goodness, patience, kindness, gentleness, faithfulness, and self-control on them.)

We sang a song, too!!

I also told the kids that this is a good lesson for grown-ups, because we need the spirit in us to help us grow as Christians.Years ago, I did a wonderful study from Beth Moore that I'd love to revisit.
 


Enjoy your day!
Jen

Prayers Needed!

Please pray for my sister-in-law Jill who will be getting decompression brain surgery this Friday.  She has Chiari Malformation.  Please pray for the surgeons,her family, and for healing.  Thank you!  God Bless.

Jen

Christian Books for Kids!

Do you have a favorite Christian book(s) that you love reading to your little ones?  If so, I'd love for you to share.  Just comment below.  We are always looking for good books!

Here are a few favorites in our home library:

Have a wonderful day,
Jen

Special Friend

Please pray for our special friend, Mike who was recently hospitalized.  The girls miss him so much and are so worried about him.  Please pray that the Lord would calm their fears.

Blessings,

Jen