Great CDs For Your Kids (That Won't Make You Want To Throw Your IPod Out The Window) ;)



Music is powerful. God made it that way. If that weren't true, He wouldn't have made music such an integral part of our worship of Him. The Bible is full of examples of singers and musicians - King David played the harp and wrote songs, Miriam (the sister of Moses) was a songwriter as well.

Music is also a wonderful teaching tool. (I mean, seriously, is there any kid who didn't learn their ABC's by singing the alphabet song?) So why wouldn't we use music to teach our kids about the Word of God? As my little one and I journey through the Bible together, we make great use of music! After reading the day's passage, I often find a related song on my ipod and we just dance and sing and have a ball!

To help all of you and your little ones as you journey through the Bible, I'd like to share some of our favorite CDs...

The first three CDs that I'm going to share are all Sovereign Grace Music for kids. I CAN NOT RECOMMEND THESE CDs ENOUGH!!! They are, in a word, INCREDIBLE!!! Sovereign Grace's music, in general, is FANTASTIC!!! I'd say 90% of the CDs we listen to our Sovereign Grace. Their music is Biblical and beautiful! The best thing about their 3 kids CDs (To Be Like Jesus, Walking with the Wise, and Awesome God) is that they are actually great music! Seriously! I listen to these CDs all the time & I have never felt the desire to throw my ipod or my CD player out the window (something I would feel quite frequently if I were forced to listen to Barney).

Citrus Lane April 2012 Box Review and 50% Off Your First Box!!!

www.citruslane.com

If you'd like to check out Citrus Lane for yourself, you can click this REFERRAL LINK and get 50% off your first box!!!

Yeah!  The day my little one and I look forward to ALL MONTH LONG finally arrived!  Our Citrus Lane box came today!  If you have never heard of Citrus Lane, its a WONDERFUL subscription company that sends out a monthly box for your child - based on their age and gender.  The boxes cost $25 a month (that INCLUDES shipping!) and they are filled with safe, fun products for you and your children to use and enjoy.  Every month has a theme and this month's theme was "Bath and Bedtime Fun."  (If you'd like to see my review on last month's box - theme: "Dining Out" - just click HERE.)


As I mentioned before, the boxes are based on your child's age, so a baby would not receive the same thing that a 2 year old would receive.  My daughter is nearly 2, so the box we receive is a "toddler" box.



The first thing that greets you when you open your box each month is this lovely yellow tissue paper!  I love the color yellow!  Seriously, is there a "happier" color in all the world!!!  (I save the tissue paper for fun art projects with my little one, like "stained glass" suncatchers.)

Genesis 15 - God's Covenant with Abram - and Homemade Salt Dough Stars!

Yesterday during our journey through the Bible, my little one and I read Genesis chapter 15.  We discussed God's covenant (contract) with Abram. -

"And he brought him outside and said, 'Look toward heaven, and number the stars,

if you are able to number them.' Then he said to him, 'So shall your offspring be.' 

And he believed the LORD, and he counted it to him as righteousness."

- Genesis 15:5-6

(If you'd like to read more about our journey through the Bible, you can go here: "A Call to Join the Jochebed Club")

So what would be a better way to continue our lesson on God's covenant with Abram than to make homemade salt dough ornaments in the shape of stars!!!  I got my recipe for the salt dough here.  And it was SOOO EASY!!!  All you need is:

1/2 cup table salt
1/2 cup water
1 cup all-purpose flour (plus more to flour your work area and more for thickening your dough)

The first thing to do is assemble all of your ingredients and tools...  You'll need your salt, flour, and water, plus a measuring cup, a big bowl for mixing, yellow food coloring (if you want your stars to be yellow - but its not necessary), a spoon to mix with, a rolling pin, (or a drinking glass - something to roll the dough with), star-shaped cookie cutters, and a straw to poke holes in your ornaments.  (Oh, and if you want to make these babies into a little hanging decoration like we did, then you'll need fishing line or twine or wire or string or yarn or ribbon.  I used clear fishing line, but I forgot to put it on the counter for the picture.)

A Call to Join the Jochebed Club

     If the name "Jochebed" sounds vaguely familiar but you just can't place it, don't be embarrassed. She's what we would call a "minor Bible character."  In fact, there are only nine verses in the entire Bible about Jochebed - eight in Genesis and one in Hebrews.  So, in case you are still wondering who this woman was, she was the mother of Moses (and Aaron and Miriam too).  Nine verses are all we have in the entire Bible to tell us about Jochebed.  We know that she was married to Amram, a Levite (Exodus 6:20, Exodus 2:1).  We know that she lived as a slave in Egypt.  We know that she lived during the time when Pharaoh had ordered the murder of all the Hebrew baby boys in the land (Exodus 1:16).  And we know that she defied Pharaoh and risked her own life to protect and hide her son (Exodus 2:2).

     But, if we do a little more investigating, we can find out SO MUCH MORE about Jochebed. 

WARNING! If You're Posting Photos Online From Your Smart Phone, Ipad, or Ipod, You NEED TO READ THIS!!!

     I just recently got an Ipod Touch.  I LOVE it!!!  Seriously!  Its great!  I can listen to music, take pics and videos, play games, etc.  Its been great for taking quick pics of my little one or the food I just made or the craft I just finished.  I also love the GPS inside!  As long as I have internet access I can search for the nearest Chick-fil-a or the nearest Target.  It ROCKS!!!

     But there is one SERIOUS DOWNSIDE.  That little GPS in my ipod also affects the camera.  That means that every time I take a pic with my ipod and post it on the internet it includes location data.  Now, the data is imbedded, so most of us don't even know its there.  But it can be found pretty easily.

“Any 16 year-old with basic programming skills can do this,” said Gerald Friedland, a researcher at the International Computer Science Institute at the University of California, Berkeley.

- Quote from "Web Photos That Reveal Secrets, Like Where You Live"

Kate Murphy, New York Times

Books for My Little Bug

I've been toying with the idea of this post for quite some time now.  Then today, a package from Amazon.com arrived with this little gem for my "Little Bug" and I just decided it was time to write this post!  ;)



So why am I so excited about this book?  Well, its an adorable story with a great idea for a Thanksgiving activity for the whole family.  But that's another blog post completely!  And I'm gonna write it soon!  I promise!  But for the purpose of this blog post, my excitement comes from the fact that this book is a HARDBACK book that costs $15.95, but I got it for $1.65!!!  That's right!!!  That's almost 90% off!!!  And I do this ALL THE TIME.  I've gotten my Little Bug tons of great hardback books at these ROCK BOTTOM prices!  (I've also gotten myself several AWESOME cookbooks for SUPER CHEAP!)

"The Holy Spirit Is My Seat Belt"

As I mentioned before, this is not my first foray into blogging.  I started blogging a couple of years ago.  Anyway, while looking at some old posts from my original blog, I came across this post.  Since this post was about Proverbs31, I thought I'd share it again here:


Sunday, January 9, 2011-
"MAN! was God teaching me today! This morning didn't start off great.   In fact, I started this morning off with a fight with my husband.   Basically, I wasn't being very submissive.   Of course, my haughty heart didn't want to admit that at the time.   After the fight, I decided to have a seat and read my Bible.  (You know, while I was patiently waiting for God to show my husband how he was wrong.)