A Few Of Our Favorite Things

Hopefully we can do this all week; Josh and I thought it would be neat to share a few things we've discovered that we consider to be incredible. I said I'd go first!

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Monday: books

We have a bunch of children's Bibles and Bible story books, but my friend Carole found the most incredible one I've ever seen. It's called The Jesus Storybook Bible, and it is written beautifully. Each story has a direct connection to how the story fits into God's bigger picture.
How many sermons have there been about how the whole Bible points directly to Jesus? How the whole Old Testament tells of the coming Messiah, and the New Testament focuses on what He means to us? But when you're in the middle of the story of David and Goliath, it's easy to forget that bigger picture.
This book tells the story like it's someone sitting in the room, telling children the story (but not talking down to them, one of my biggest pet peeves), and then concludes each one with how that story tells a little more about the coming Messiah and how He fits in to that story.
I read the very first story to the girls and cried as I read it to them. It was obvious that the author has a very real, tender relationship with the Lord, because His love is apparent in every line. I told Josh he had to read it too, and he agreed that it was very powerful.
Now he reads a chapter (or 4) after reading our Bible to the family. The girls love them and always ask for at least one more each night. That's confirmation enough for me!

If you're looking for light reading for kids, our very favorite author is Sandra Boynton. She's funny, the pictures are cute, and the rhymes flow well (I hate reading books that have rhymes whose rhythms are hard to figure out) We own (at last count) 13 of her board books. She has a great book about chocolate, and one year she made an absolutely hilarious chocolate calendar (unfortunately she decided not to keep doing those, which is too bad because I know a few people who would enjoy getting them as Christmas presents).
Some of the girls' favorites:
Knuffle Bunny
Frog and Toad
Click Clack Moo, Cows that Type (and others by the same author)
and Fox in Socks (my favorite Suess book because I can read it without stumbling)