Even though the DVD is geared to children, I learned sooo much!  Why do we cut down trees?  Where did the name ‘Christmas’ actually come from?  What about Santa?  Those are some of the questions it addresses.  The best part about it is that it leads children back to salvation-the reason Jesus came.  How wonderful is that!

For those of you who want to teach this as a unit in homeschool and/or in a small group format, they offer great resources!  Take a look!

Sisters of the Faith is so excited to sponsor a “Why Do We Call it Christmas” sweepstakes!  One person will receive one free copy ($12.95 value) of “Why Do We Call it Christmas.”  The sweepstakes will run from December 11, 2011 to December 31, 2011.  All you have to do is enter here!  (Please see sweepstakes official rules).

Want to get more information about the whole series?  Visit:

http://www.buckdenver.com/

http://www.facebook.com/WhatsintheBible?sk=wall

I knew that someone out there had to have some insight on these feelings I was dealing with.  That someone, was Helen Lee.  In her book, The Missional Mom, she addresses so much of what I was feeling.  Her writing style is very conversational, as she skillfully invites the reader in by sharing some of her personal thoughts.  She begins by highlighting the idea that all Christians have a  mission(s) and that as our relationship with Christ grows we should have an ever increasing sense of the “mission(s)” to which God has called us.  Throughout the pages the reader is encouraged to pay attention to the opportunities for missions while expecting God to unfold them before us.  The job of the believer is to be a willing vessel.

Each chapter shares personal vignettes and stories of mothers that found their mission(s) and offer encouragement, self-assessment, and exhortation.  Resisting cultural pressures, becoming a disciple and being both empathetic and sympathetic to those around us are also addressed.   Each story shares the need for a single-minded focus to carry out our mission regardless of the reservations, fears or worries that one may have.  The focus should be taken off of us on placed onto the souls that we have been preordained to minister to.  The reader is encouraged to have a greater personal discipline and a clear eye concerning where to focus our time and energy.  Our goal is to draw men and women to Christ and make disciples of them.

I especially connected with Chapter 11.  Lee shares one of her personal experiences with living “missionally.”  She shares how the Lord led her to homeschool her children.  Her experience was very similar to my own.  I felt the Lord nudging me in that direction, but I had never considered it as a viable option for our family.  Whether the nudge you feel is toward homeschooling, missions, or developing a gift or talent to be used for the up-building of the kingdom, this is the type of read that should provoke you to move in a new direction  In fact it’s a call to action as well as a thrust in the right direction.

Free resources, including journal pages, discussion guide and a free chapter from the book are available here.

Ann Goade, mother of three, questioned whether coloring sheets were the best way to teach her children to actually listen and participate in the service. That’s when she created Big Church Bingo, a phone app to encourage children to listen to what is being said during a church service by listening for key words used in the game.

To play a grid of words you might hear in a worship service will appear randomly each game. As you hear a word, tap on it. The icon will darken (tap again to bring it back, if mistaken). Once you have five darkened icons in a row (horizontally, vertically or diagonally) you get a bingo. You may continue listening for the words to gain a blackout or choose a new game and start again.

Big Church Bingo© keeps track of points. Each bingo equals one point. Parents may choose to implement a reward system for points. For example, 1 point may earn a piece of gum or candy, 5 points may earn the privilege of choosing what’s for dinner and 10 points may earn a date night with mom or dad. Families can be creative and have fun personalizing their reward system.

The word bank and icons can be customized. Add additional words you might hear that are not listed. Take pics and use for each word’s icon. Searching for the right item to represent a word can be a fun, family activity. Children will be so excited to see their own smiling face representing the word children.

Big Church Bingo© is currently available in the itunes store for use on iphones, ipod touches and ipads. For more information, please visit bigchurchbingo.com.

Ann lives in Anna, TX with her husband, William, and their three children, Lawrence, Rachel and Gracie.

Through June 24, 2011, you can download a free 100-lesson beginning math computer program from Funnix. This program usually costs $25.

Included with the download is 100 animated computer-based lessons, workbook material, a teaching guide, and a placement test for assessing the child.”

The Lion of Judah retells the story of Easter. The same animals who live in the stable in Bethlehem where Jesus was born now have the chance to witness His Triumphal Entry in Jerusalem, His cleansing of the Temple, His crucifixion and also His resurrection. The Lion of Judah the movie tells the story of Easter in a way that engages children, teens, parents, families, believers and even unbelievers.

The Lion of Judah is a classic in the making that the entire family will enjoy. It’s an animated, laugh-filled, and touching Bible tale, told through the eyes of a zany cast of stable animals, and featuring the voices of Academy Award-winner Ernest Borgnine (Red, The Wild Bunch, The Dirty Dozen, Marty, From Here to Eternity, TV’s McHale’s Navy), Scott Eastwood (Invictus, Gran Torino, Pride, Flags of Our Fathers), Michael Madsen (Donnie Brasco, Kill Bill, Vol. 1 & 2, Reservoir Dogs), Georgina Cordova (The Tale of Despereaux), and others.

“This delightful animated story is a wonderful way to begin discussing the hope of Jesus with your younger children,” says Ruth Graham (& Friends), daughter of evangelist Billy Graham. “I loved it, and my grandchildren adored the characters.”

A wonderful epic, The Lion of Judah entertains with humorous antics as it re-imagines the story of Easter in a uniquely contemporary way; it’s a rollicking adventure starring a spunky and heroic lamb, a rat with a plan, a downtrodden donkey, a street-smart raven, a motherly cow, an unmannerly but big-hearted pig, a faint-hearted horse, and a zany, rambling rooster.

Rated PG and recognized by The Dove Foundation with the Dove Seal for Family Friendly Entertainment, The Lion of Judah won the award for Best Animated Film at the 2011 Sabaoth International Film Festival in Milan, Italy.

To be released this fall on DVD by Warner Bros. Home Entertainment Group, The Lion of Judah’s original motion picture soundtrack (available on iTunes) features eleven songs and ten underscores created by award-winning composer/producer Greg Sims. Featured are two-time Dove Award-winning artist and chart-topping Christian pop/folk music sensation Kari Jobe, performing Carry Me, and internationally known worship artist Klaus performing the title track, The Lion of Judah.

Check out the trailer.

We can’t wait to see this one.  What about you?

Enter A Kid’s Guide to Drawing the Presidents of the USA.  My DD learns best by doing.  She absolutely loves to draw.  In f act, she was wants to be an artist.  What better way to engage her than through art!  We received, How to Draw the Life and Times of James A. Garfield.   The book begins with a brief summary of Garfield’s presidency.  The following sections in the book each include about a page and a half of information regarding specific periods in the president’s life.  At the end of each section your child will recreate an image that is symbolic of that period from the president’s life.

The instructions given to recreate each image presented in a detailed, step-by-step format.  The images vary in their complexity throughout the book, so there is something for all skill levels between the pages.

Although a glossary is included, a general knowledge of the branches of government, the electoral process, slavery, and the Civil War is necessary for younger children understand some of the material.   Additionally,  it may be a good idea to have a detailed timeline on hand as you read through each section (there is a timeline in the back of the book too).   Overall, I think A Kid’s Guide to Drawing the Presidents of the USA would be a  superlative supplement to a more expansive U.S. History curriculum.  Best of all, the entire curriculum, which includes 42 books, is available on Timberdoodle.com for $195.00!

You can find this and other history at Timberdoodle.com.  Stay up to date on upcoming promotions and exciting new curriculum by “liking” Timberdoodle on Facebook.

As a member of Timberdoodle’s Blogger Review Team I received a free copy of this book in exchange for a frank and unbiased review.

For some of us motherhood saved our lives.  We became selfless rather than selfish.  Our priorities changed, as well they should.  Unfortunately, for a lot of mothers society has blurred the lines of what a mother’s role should be in their children’s lives.

Motherhood is a holy calling.  In fact, Psalm 127:3 NLT reads, Children are a gift from the LORD; they are a reward from him. Successful motherhood requires great faith.  One must trust that the voice of the Holy Spirit to direct you on your journey.  The Spirit of God who bore us, who shared his divine life with us, who sustains us, comforts us, and teaches us, stands ready and willing to aid every Christian mother in fulfilling her sacred duty.  Jesus called the Holy Spirit the Comforter.  Allow the Holy Spirit to comfort you in your many faceted role as a mother.  It’s a lifelong position.  No risk of termination or early retirement here.  The job is yours to keep.

Mothers  have been innately equipped to download everything that God has given them into their children.  Those early years lay the foundation for our children’s personalities and there is so much potential for error.  We must not let society make us think that we should define ourselves by their standards.  We are more than qualified.  We have the ultimate standard, the infallible Word of God, as our measuring rod.

Successful mothers devote themselves to prayer.  They recognize that they need to tap into the source, Jesus Christ, in order to keep moving. What an honor it is to be chosen by the most high God to nurture a child!  Be blessed and know that whenever you feel tempted to lean to your own understanding or someone else’s that Jesus is all you need to be a successful mother.

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich., April 27, 2011 /Christian Newswire/ — Zonderkidz(tm), the children’s division of Zondervan, today announced the NIV Adventure Bible Memory Game for iPhone, iPad and iPod touch, as well as a new online destination for the NIV Adventure Bible, www.AdventureBible.com. The app and website bring new interactivity to the bestselling NIV Adventure Bible, America’s most-read children’s Bible with more than six million copies sold. The game made its debut in Apple’s App store this week; the website is currently live in the beta phase.

Memorization is the key to understanding and retaining information. In a young Christian child’s life, Bible stories form the building blocks of faith, and research shows that children who engage with the Bible before age 10 are more likely to read the Bible regularly as teenagers. The NIV Adventure Bible Memory Game reaches children by understanding how they learn and then takes them on a fun and rewarding journey through God’s Word.

“Reading and memorizing Scripture is important at an early age because it helps children begin to understand God’s love and plan for their lives,” said Annette Bourland, senior vice president and publisher with Zonderkidz. “By coupling and integrating proven techniques with a technology platform many children understand, the NIV Adventure Bible Memory Game engages children in a completely new way that can impact their faith and their futures.”

Mobile apps continue to be among the fastest-growing segments in consumer software, and publishing groups, such as Zonderkidz, are moving into the space in order to provide children educational content that combines interactive features, artwork and games.

The bulk of the NIV Adventure Bible memorization games are designed around word scramble and fill-in-the-blank. Children can review verses for the various levels and then take the quiz. They also can take them at varying levels of difficulty which are differentiated by the number of blanks they need to fill in.

Games on all iOS devices including the iPad and iPod touch and iPhone are segmented into easy, medium and hard levels. Users can record themselves reciting up to five favorite verses. “Shake to Scramble” randomly selects a Scripture verse and creates a new scramble. Users earn animal sound effects and Bible illustrations for correctly completing verses.

The mobile app comes at the same time as the launch of the NIV Adventure Bible’s new beta website, www.adventurebible.com. This online destination provides a safe place for families, Christian school teachers, and children’s ministry leaders to get a passport into biblical adventure with maps, timelines, devotionals, sermon outlines and many other activities and educational resources. There are even three online games to test Bible knowledge, a Bible search function, and a teacher dashboard to make assignments and watch the progress of their students’ activity on the site. Everything on the site is free and is being praised by Christian school teachers and children’s ministry leaders as a wonderfully rich and robust site to supplement their existing curriculum.

“The new AdventureBible.com is full of interactive resources and activities to aid both in family time or teacher lesson planning and to encourage further learning beyond the text of the Bible,” added Bourland.

The NIV Adventure Bible uses the updated NIV text, which was completed in the fall of 2010 after years of rigorous translation work by the Committee on Bible Translation (CBT, www.NIV-CBT.org). The updated NIV translation utilized the oldest and best-attested biblical manuscripts along with the finest contemporary English language scholarship in order to create a Bible that was not only accurate, but highly readable and easy to comprehend.

The NIV Adventure Bible Memorization Game was designed by Momentum Design Lab and is currently available in the Apple iPhone and iPad App Stores as a Lite (Free) edition and a full edition sells for $4.99.

Learn to Partner with Parents and Influence the Next Generation
ATLANTA, Nov. 4 /Christian Newswire/ — Thousands of churches around the world have discovered the benefits of using Orange curriculum in their weekly services. Based on a comprehensive plan with the same end goal, Orange resources effectively partner the local church with individual families to influence the faith of the next generation. Now, all churches can experience it for themselves for FREE – no strings attached! Available through the end of the year, Orange wanted to extend this offer to any church that desires to expand and refine their approach to the traditional church model.

Orange builds its foundation on the question, “What if the church synchronized its efforts with the efforts of parents and decided to have the same master plan to fuel faith in the next generation?” By combining the critical influences of the light of the church (yellow) and the love of the family (red), the Orange strategy aligns efforts and shows a generation who God is more effectively than either could do alone. This revolutionary strategy has literally changed the way numerous local churches worldwide view and conduct their weekly services, shifted how they communicate with parents and guided the way they interact with the community, all in service to the faith of its children and students.

New users to Orange will be able to choose from: Three months of First Look preschool curriculum, three months of 252 Basics children’s curriculum or the XP3 Student “Godview” series. Past or current users of Orange curriculum can choose from one of the resources they’ve not used before. And past or current users of all three curriculums are eligible for a terrific series entitled “In God We Trust,” which is a four-week curriculum that teaches kids (Kindergarten to 5th grade) how to give, save and spend money wisely.

One free curriculum is available per church for free. This promotional offer ends December 31, 2010. For more information or to take advantage of this offer, please visit www.whatisorange.org, call 888.513.1788 or email freecurriculum@rethinkgroup.org.

About Orange:
Orange is a nonprofit organization providing resources and training to help churches maximize their influence on the spiritual growth of the next generation. For more information on Orange, please visit www.whatisorange.org.

More and more individuals seem to want to have a place to worship.  However, almost simultaneously, the atheist population seems to being growing and making strides to share their message.  Billboards are sprouting up all over the country with messages like, “Good without God.”  Surprisingly, that growing population includes African-Americans.  Of course, we can not be so naive that we believe that no African-American would identify themselves as being an atheist.  Honestly, it makes most of us more comfortable if a person simply says they are not ready to accept Christ than if they identify themselves as being atheist.  But why?

The fact is that a vast majority of Christians are unable to defend their faith.  Do Christians view Christian faith as important enough to make it a priority when teaching their children what they believe and why they believe it? Or do they place greater emphasis on their children getting a good education than on learning about the things of God? The danger in believers taking such a passive position regarding their faith is that it leaves our children vulnerable.  When our children say they are Christians it should be because they recognize the need for a Savior.  If there is no connection to the cross and the redemptive work that Christ accomplished there when challenged by non-believers, and they will be challenged, they will find themselves unable to intelligently articulate a response.  However, if they know what they believe their faith will not waver leaving no opportunity for atheist or any other group to persuade them otherwise.

According to 1 Peter 3:15, we should know more than a little about the Bible.  The average skeptic should not be able to pin us to the wall.  When we attempt to give a defense for our faith and we are unprepared, not having studied the Word of God, we are giving a black to the faith!  We can no longer be biblically illiterate.  Nor can we simply rely on Sunday School and Vacation Bible School to teach our children the fundamentals of their faith.  We must become fluent in the Word of God and the things of God and teach our children.

Let us know what you think…