The Blue Day Book for Kids by Bradley Trevor Greive

We so enjoy the pictures in this book! It is great opening into a conversation about the difference between circumstances and choices!

There will be bad days but we can choose to remember WHO has got the day and to maybe look at it in a different way!

"I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world." - (Jesus) John 16:33

The Sea of Monsters by Rick Riordan

[Annabeth]"...But sometimes you just see the bad stuff, you know? And you start thinking the way Luke does: 'If I could tear this all down, I would do it better.' Don't you ever feel that way? Like you could do a better job if you ran the world? 
'Um...no. Me running the world would kind of be a nightmare,'"[Percy]

Dax was introduced to Percy Jackson and the Olympians series at school. I began to read them to know what the content was but mostly because I wanted to be interested in his interests.  The author-reader friendship between Mr. Riordan and myself surprised me in the first book, The Lightening Thief. I had begun the book to be in Dax's world, not expecting to find it interesting myself. It wasn't until page 200 of this second book, though, that I resounded so much with one line!!! I have  thought this line many times in my own life.  Unfortunately just because I don't want to run THE whole world doesn't mean I don't step in and try to run MY world from time to time.  That too is a nightmare! It is often in new times, beginnings, like at year's start when I begin to orchestrate and manipulate. Striking balance in motivation and dependence, influence and control is challenging. I can choose to turn the reigns over, though, and only when I surrender each day, sometimes moment by moment, does the nightmare lift.

"I told you these things so that you can have peace in me. In this world you will have trouble, but be brave! I have defeated this world."[Jesus] -John 16:33

"Some trust in chariots, others in horses, but we trust in the LORD our God."[King David] - Psalm 20:6 

"Trust the LORD with all you heart, and don't depend on your own understanding. Remember the LORD in all you do, and he will give you success. Don't depend on your own wisdom...[Solomon] -Proverbs 3:5-7a [Reminder to self: "He will give success'; I will not achieve; there is a difference.]

Poems and Prayers for the Very Young selected and illus by Martha Alexander

This book has been a daily reading for all three of my children as toddlers.  There are some of my favorite poems printed within its pages, the two starred I have displayed in our home (one is a personal prayer and one a prayer for our home):

A Child's Prayer by M.Betham-Edwards
*Peace Be to This House -Unknown
God Be In my Head -Unknown
Out in the Fields with God by Louise Imogen Guiney
*A Child's Prayer by John Banister Tabb
Firefly by Elizabeth Madox Roberts
Sleepy Song by Arthur Guiterman
The Gift by Christina G. Rossetti

So many of these cause me to recall different verses in the Bible, and the LORD's prayer is also printed in this book, but I am choosing:

"Because your love is better than life, my lips will glorify you."-Psalm 63:3 (NIV)

The entire chapter of Psalm 119 because of its display of love for not only God but His decrees and promises.

The Runaway Bunny by Margaret Wise Brown

If you've never spent much time with a toddler, this book may be just another beautifully illustrated adorable text. It is tempting to question why the bunny is so pressed to get away.  However, after a minute or so with an 18 month old darting the opposite direction of their caretaker's approach the words leap from the page and push the corners of your mouth into a knowing smile from deep within.  That toddler is wrapped up in the human condition and is wanting to determine the direction of their lives much like this bunny.

Spiritually this has happened often to me.  Before I even realize what I am doing, that independence sneaks in and I am hightailing it away from God's plan for my life.  I have caught the current of a new dream and am sailing away on my imaginations.  Unfortunately He has had to pursue me more times than I would like to admit, as this mother rabbit does.  He has always been faithful to love me when I return from having left Him in the dust.  The only glaring difference between this book and my experience with my Heavenly Father is the last line.  When the bunny concedes, "Shucks! I might just as well stay where I am and be your little bunny."  God's plan for my life has consistently come out far from a "Shucks!" It has repeatedly been very different from my "dirt for brains" dreams but has been more than I could have asked or imagined. "To be" His is so much more than anything else!

"Take delight in the LORD, and he will give you the desires of your heart."Psalm 37:4 (NIV)
This verse is one of my favorites.  It first sparkled before my immature college age eyes as a promise that he was going to give me what I wanted as long as I delighted in Him.  As I look back with more wrinkled eyes from all the joy He has brought from a life somewhat far from what I thought it would be, I realize not only did he fulfill the desires, He actually planted certain desires in my heart of which I had never dreamed.


"For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." -Jeremiah 29:11

I Love You the Purplest by Barbara M. Joosse

As a mother, this has to be one of my absolute favorite books! This wise mother taught and encouraged me to be prepared, to look ahead, to anticipate the questions my children ask and to take a breath of thought before I answer.  As many accounts throughout Scripture attest to the challenge of sibling rivalry, this book illustrates the Truths of Psalm 139 that claim that we are each known and made distinctly, wonderfully, and fearfully, and above all else we are all, each one of us loved by our Father in Heaven.  As parents we can marvel at the variations of color that each child brings to our life, and love them each one more than we ever asked, imagined, or dreamed possible.

"Indeed, the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Don't be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows." - Luke 12:7

"I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge- that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God." - Ephesians 3:16-19

What would our families look like if children together came to grasp how much each of them is loved by their parents, not in competition but in awe at the love that God can place in a heart for others within His family? What would the Bride of Christ look like if fellow saints truly believed they were loved and then turned to outpour that love on their fellow saints?

Farah: Reeses cup (smooth and delicious delivery of a very strong concept)

Seven Blind Mice by Ed Young

This cute short book has its own amazing moral at the end, but I have loved to use it to emphasize how accounts of the Bible must be put together to know God in the deepest sense.  People throughout history have tried to take segment Scripture, but it is only finding its entire repetitive, rhythmic Heartbeat for humanity that you can deeply relate with Him in this life and forever!

The New Testament has its own perspectives of several men who watched and described the life of Jesus.  The details that one can glean from reading the same account from Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John can reveal him and his truths in amazing color, much like the little hero of this book, taking in the whole.

Activity: Place two or more children on different sides of an object and have them each describe what they see.  Then compare and contrast the perspectives.  The boys and I did this describing a flat screen T.V. with a video game paused on the screen.  Dax who was looking from the side described it as a narrow tall strip with control buttons and light coming from the side.  Cole pointed out its width, the lighted words pause and continue coming from the whole thing.  It was the same object and their descriptions were both very true but when put together gave the whole picture.

Farah: Peanut M&Ms (fun with a bit of protein)
Cole:Skittles (it is so colorful)