When God Made You

When God Made You
by Matthew Paul Turner
Illustrated by David Catrow

When God Made You is a fun book that has value for young and old alike.  Readers follow a young girl in pictures as the story talks about things God valued and considered in making her, and creating her to be special and unique.  As the pages progress, the illustrations take on more color and brightness, becoming more exciting with each page turn, leading readers to a final thought that "You being you is God's dream coming true".

As a mom of four, each so unique and special, I have enjoyed reading this book to each child and talking about what makes them special.  While the overlying theme is that God made them to be individual, there are many specific examples listed within the story, and each child could find something about themselves being talked about in the story.

Illustrations are bright and engaging, cartoonish but realistic.  Features are friendly and inviting and the increasing color and design invite readers to continue exploring.  Even I enjoyed looking at the pictures for their boldness and fun.

This is a very encouraging book to read to young children, and can easily be read by younger readers as well.  It lends itself to many conversations about God and individual qualities and how we are each carefully crafted by His hand to be perfect in His sight.  We have all enjoyed this book in my home and I would recommend it to other parents as well.

* I was provided a copy of this book for free in exchange for my honest and un-biased review as a part of the Book Crash review program.

http://fw.to/sYtgl9l

The Garden - Kari Jobe

Singer Kari Jobe has a new album just hitting the market, and if you are a Kari Jobe fan, you are sure to enjoy her latest work, "The Garden"  This album is filled with worshipful, contemplative songs that are collectively peaceful and slower in tempo to match the imagery of walking through a calming garden.  This collection of songs is great for those meditative times of personal worship as well as for quieting one's mind and heart in preparation for time with God, or even just for relaxed listening.

Songs such as "The Garden", "Fall Afresh",  and "Come Alive" echo the album title and theme. There is much focus on God's glory, power, divinity, healing and love, as is apparent in many of the song titles. There are a couple of songs featuring Cody Carnes as well.  It is an album of peaceful, deep thought and focus on God.

In general, this album is not my style of music, it is much slower and quieter than I find myself desiring.  For background noise, I can find a place for it, but this particular styling is not one I find myself singing along to or getting stuck in my head.  However, it is a beautiful album filled with thoughtful lyrics and themes inviting times of praise, adoration and worship.  Any fan of Jobe's or her style of singing is sure to find pleasure in this collection.

Click here to see a video

Click here to stream the album

Click here to buy the album

I received a free copy of this album as part of a promotion through FlyBy in exchange for my honest and un-biased review.

#TheGarden & #FlyBy

Made for a Purpose

Made for a Purpose
by Kristie Wilde

My children love to learn about animals.  We have many books about different creatures in our home.  This new book, Made for a Purpose, is a welcome addition to our library and has been enjoyed many times over by my three little ones.

As children read though this book, they discover many familiar creatures, like the turtle, duck, frog, fish and more - animals often found in or near pond areas.  For each animal, there is discussion about what their unique features are made for, the things that make them special and individual from all others.  The book completes by pointing out that, just like the animals, God has created them for a purpose that is just as special and unique as the animals.

Illustrations are done in watercolor, by the author.  Colors are inviting and true to nature, scenes are realistic, and the animals are painted to look as they would in real life.

Made for a Purpose invites young readers to explore the idea that they are even more special than the animals God has created and that each of us was made for a purpose, a special reason.  We have enjoyed reading this book together, talking about each of the animals, and welcomed the discussions that have developed as they learned through this book.  The first in the Joyful Creation series to be written, there are sure to be more engaging books to come from this author.

* I received this book for free for the purposes of review in exchange for my honest and un-biased review through the Book Crash program.

http://fw.to/YeRXn7j

The Beginner's Bible

The Beginner's Bible
by ZonderKidz

I have held and read several different children's Bibles in the past six years, all varying in style and content.  Some geared more toward babies, some a little too old for my audience.  The most recent Bible I have had the opportunity to read through with my children (6, 4, and 2) is the newest beginner bible from Zondervan publishing.

Geared toward ages 4-8, this Bible impressed me for several reasons.  It has over 90 stories in it, and each story is at least five or more pages long.  The beginning reader like my six year old can read it with ease and feel confident and proud at being able to read their own bible, while the content is simple enough to understand but deep enough that a child can learn more than the basics of a story.

This contains more than your top ten familiar Bible stories.  Stories like Samson, Elijah and the fire from Heaven, Naaman's healing, Simeon and Anna, miracles, parables and so much more are included in this Bible.  Children can learn the unfamiliar stories as well as the most told in over 500 colorfully illustrated pages.  Words that may be unfamiliar or difficult are italicized to help prompt discussion and explanation from adults, furthering learning and vocabulary for the child while making them familiar with words that are often used in adult Bibles.  A list of  stories can be found with page numbers in the contents, which is really convenient and unlike most other young children's Bibles I have worked with.  Each story has a scripture reference so adults can find the full story in the Bible as well.

Illustrations are bright and colorful, cartoonish and fill the top half of each page.  Pictures go along with the stories and help to supplement the text with visual depiction of the story for the different learning styles.  Characters are all approachable and friendly, engaging to the child and the bright colors are inviting to explore and talk about as well.  Even younger children below the age recommendation for this book can get something from being read to or hearing the stories along with older siblings.

In addition to the Bible, there is a free iPad App that has stories, audio and games for on the go learning and fun.  There are also games and teaching resources available online at www.TheBeginnersBible.com.  Available in ebook and hardcover formats, there is a version for everyone.

You can check learn more on your own with these links:
Official Website
Official Book Trailer (You Tube)

Giveaway
I get to give a copy of this Bible away to one of my readers.  Simply comment with the ages of your children for a chance to win.  Winner will be chosen December 26, 2016.

"Disclosure (in accordance with the FTC’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the
Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising”): Many thanks to Propeller Consulting, LLC for providing this prize for the giveaway. Choice of winners and opinions are 100% my own and NOT influenced by monetary compensation. I did receive a sample of the product in exchange for this review and post. Only one entrant per mailing address, per giveaway.  If you have won a prize from our sponsor Propeller / FlyBy Promotions in the last 30 days, you are not eligible to win.  Or if you have won the same prize on another blog, you are not eligible to win it again. Winner is subject to eligibility verification.”

#TheBeginnersBible #FlyBy

https://twitter.com/freesample1/status/810952301481492481
https://www.facebook.com/3minusTHplusF/posts/1177861935640987
https://www.amazon.com/review/R3IJE773CTS3IW/ref=cm_cr_rdp_perm

Amy Grant Tennessee Christmas Album Review

Tennessee Christmas
Amy Grant

Just in time for the holidays, Amy Grant has released her new Christmas Album, titled "Tennessee Christmas".

In Amy's traditional fashion, this album is a slower paced, comforting selection of familiar and new songs that set the mood for a relaxed holiday season.  Her down home feel appeals to many styles of listeners.  With duets, melodic accompaniment and her beautiful alto range, listeners find themselves want to settle in front of a warm fire and curl up on a cold winter night.

Though not a regular fan of Amy's, I am familiar with her voice through the connection of her marriage to country singer Vince Gill.  I have enjoyed listening to this album.  Many of the songs were new to me, but there were enough that I knew, sung differently enough to be signature songs for Amy.  We enjoyed this album as we decorated our Christmas tree over the Thanksgiving holiday and are sure to continue to enjoy it throughout the holiday season.

You can listen to one of her new tracks, "To Be Together" by clicking here
You can buy the album here

For a chance to be included in a compilation video being created by Amy Grant, you have the option to upload a video of yourself surprising loved ones for the holidays to social media using the hashtag #TNChristmasSurprise!  It will be similar to this video.  Those chosen will be part of a compilation that Amy will be sharing on her own social media outlets.

#TennesseeChristmas
#flyby

I received this album for free in exchange for my honest and un-biased review.  All opinions expressed are my own, I was not compensated for this review.

Pampers Easy Ups Review

We got to try a free sample of the new Pampers Easy Ups thanks to Influenster.  The product fit my child well, with lots of stretch and room for her to move and play without any leaks.  It worked great at night, kept her dry all night long.  She loved the Hello Kitty design.

The product was easy for her to put on and pull off by herself, leaving me with one less job to do.  She gained some independence and I gained a chance to step back and watch her grow in pride.

You can get a coupon for $1.50 off on your next purchase by clicking below:
https://www.coupons.com/brands/pampers-coupons/

* I received this product for free for the purposes of testing thanks to Influenster.

Blessings of Unity Review

The Blessings of Unity: God's Best for Our Marriages

by Richard T. Case

Written from many years of marriage and training experience, Blessings of Unity offers readers a quick read that is filled with knowledge and helpful information to create a deeper, more united marriage.  This book is small enough to read through in a very short time, with only 9 chapters and 130 pages, but packed with insight.  It is packed with scriptural reference to back the points as well.

The book opens with an activity for couples to participate in, a survey of sorts, to find out the current level of unity as viewed by each spouse separately.  From there, it gives the couple an idea of areas that need more work than others.  Following this, readers learn about the topics of Division and Discord, Unity, The Keys to Unity, the necessity to have God's word as a part of the marriage, handling disagreements and differences of opinion, prayer, biblical examples and more.

Each chapter offers an explanation, clear suggestions to work toward the chapter topic, following printed biblical reference.  The scriptural references come from the New American Standard Bible.  While not one of my favorite translations, it does well enough to get the point across.  I found some of the paragraphs to run a little long, which distracted me a little from the content, but overall I found the information helpful and it gave my husband and I some discussion focus.

You can find this book on Amazon

Right now, you can also get a free download of the ebook "Unshakeable" by simply clicking this link: http://allforjesusunshakeable.gr8.com

I received this book for free in exchange for my honest and un-biased review