CHRISTEPHI

I  have always thought it sounded trite to speak of “falling in love with Jesus.” But trite or not, isn’t that what I want for my children? To learn to “love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might” (Deuteronomy 6:5). With that in mind, and having run across this blog post on Pinterest several months ago, I created a morning devotion basket for the kids and I to use. You see, up till now, I would typically find time to read the Bible and pray away from my children. Away from distraction, away from the demands of dust and dirty dishes, and away from the 437 questions a four-year-old asks every day. Then I realized I was doing them a major disservice by disallowing them to see me in the Word regularly. If I want them to love the Lord God, then I must show them how I love the Lord my God! Our new routine is to wake up in the morning, prepare a simple breakfast — usually cold cereal for the kids, toast and tea for me — and sit d...

When you come across a book titled A Plague of Unicorns , it kind of makes you pause and wonder what on earth that could be about!  In that first autumn of Aelian's rule, when the golden apples were at their ripest, the battle lines were drawn--monks against unicorns.   It was never a fair fight.     Young James, the duke's son, asks too many questions. At least that's what everyone at Callendar Castle thinks after all but the last of his tutors quits and his uncle ships him off to be educated at Cranford Abbey.  Unfortunately, the once-beautiful abbey has problems of its own, including cracked walls, a leaking roof, and shattered stained glass windows.  Not to mention the pesky herd of unicorns that continues to enter the abbey's orchards and claim them as their own.   The only hope to save the abbey, it seems, is money raised by Abbot Aelian's golden apple cider, made from a recipe passed down in his family for genera...

Here on Sycamore Hill, we love audio dramas.  It probably stems from my own childhood memories of living without a TV.  There I’d be sprawled out on my back in the middle of the living room floor, listening to Children’s Bible Hour on the radio and watching the ceiling fan go ‘round.  I can still “see” many of the dramas that played out over the waves just as I “saw” them in my mind’s eye way back then. Nowadays we don’t listen to the radio much but we have plenty of options via CD, mp3, and internet streaming.  My kids especially love to listen to audio books and audio dramas as bedtime stories to help them wind down and prepare for sleep.  So when we received  Who Created Everything?  from Wizzy Gizmo  to review, we were ecstatic! Who Created Everything?  is a 36 minute audio drama about the events found in the first chapter of Genesis.  Professor Wizzy Gizmo puts the Bible on his Gizmovision machine and before you k...

One of the most exciting times in a child's life is when they are beginning to unlock the mysteries of the written word. We are just starting to get there with my son. He'll be five soon and has been working his way through our kindergarten curriculum. He's beginning to find -- and read! -- words everywhere! From street signs to grocery store advertisements to picture books to song lyrics. He is beginning both to recognize familiar words and to sound out new-to-him words! I know it won't be long before he develops into a fluent and avid reader, just like his big sister, and just like me! Because Little Guy will soon be reading on his own, I wanted to get him a Bible, God's Holy Word, of his own. Although it is somewhat more difficult than a children's translation, Hubby suggested we get the NKJV for Little Guy since that is what he uses. Like father like son, right? I was very pleased when I received a free copy of the NKJV Adventures Bible from Zondervan . ...

My daughter is nothing like me.  Her personality is her very own!  Even her taste in books differs greatly from mine.  When I was her age, I didn’t care a fig for non-fiction books.  I specifically remember looking at the Children’s Non-fiction Section at the public library and thinking how boring it was.  (I did, however, borrow every Alexander Key book the library had over and over and over again). Miss M, on the other hand, shows no discriminatory tendencies toward non-fiction.  In fact, she adores the  Who Was...  series of books and has asked for specific titles on more than one occasion.  Rosa Parks, Helen Keller, Martin Luther King, Jr., even J.K. Rowling!  So when I had a chance to review  Jesus  from the Get to Know series by Nancy I. Sanders, I just knew it would be a hit! About the Book "Jesus  - part of the Get to Know series - is a unique biography about Jesus, the Son of God. Focusing on th...

Okay, let's cut to the chase on this one. This book is AWESOME! I love it. You will too. So go buy it! The end. What? You think I should tell you why it's so awesome? Okay, fine. How do I love thee? Let me count the ways. It's based on Scripture. It has the most gorgeous illustrations. I'm a total sucker for books with excellent artwork. It is meant to be shared by parent and child. Cuddle time! It helps little kids learn their ABCs. Each page has a picture of God's creation that begins with the letter featured on that page. The name of the plant or animal pictured does not appear anywhere on the page, leaving room for the reader's intelligence. I've been known to hug books that treat their readers as intelligent beings. The creature from the previous page can be seen in the background of the next page. I adore details like that! It helps kids identify both the capital and lowercase forms of each l...

This weekend Miss M decided she wanted to sew something.  I was elbow deep in a sewing project of my own, so I told her that if she wanted to sew, she would have to do it all by herself.  I set up my old sewing machine on a little table for her and answered her questions, but otherwise she did all the work herself! First, she picked a project from Sewing School . (affiliate link)   She choose the Get to Work Apron.  It's a cute tool apron that helps you carry your tools or supplies with you while you work.  Then she picked some fabric from my stash.  She cut out the paper pattern and traced it onto her fabric with a piece of chalk.  (We had to have a little talk about placing your pattern near the edge of the fabric and not smack-dab in the middle!) Then she cut out her pieces and pinned them together, right sides facing.  At that point I gave her a piece of plain white printer paper to practice sewing straight lines on. ...