I Love the Lord

Not Forgotten

I was reading my devotion the other day , and it really resonated with me.

Has there ever been times when you felt that God had forgotten His promises to you? Rest assured that HE NEVER DOES!

No matter what amount of time has transpired without seeing His promise come to pass....rest assured that God is still working and moving. Think about the story of Joseph. He was sold into slavery and spent time in prison...but God knew what He was doing. And at just the right time, God raised him up to help save his family!

God's plan is always perfect and He knows what He's doing. So rest assured that God always has your best interest at heart! 

So when things don't go exactly the way you expected, ask Him to speak to you and guide your path. He will teach you His ways and guide you in the way you should go!

Charlie the Tramp Book Review

I am a book lover! In fact, one of my favorite things to give as a gift is a book, and I believe that children's books are so much fun! As a mom of three teenagers, I have been extremely excited to have some young nieces and nephews to buy books for! When I had the opportunity to review Charlie the Tramp by Russell Hoban I was overjoyed and couldn't wait for it to come in the mail.

In this book Charlie the Beaver wants to be a tramp when he grows up. Tramps don't have to learn to chop down trees, roll logs, or build dams. "Tramps just tramp around and have a good time. Tramps carry sticks with little bundles tied to them. They sleep in a field when the weather is nice, and when it rains they sleep in a barn. Charlie sets off with his bundle, but when he hears water trickling, he can't get to sleep. Will he be able to resist the urge to make it stop? As Grandfather Beaver says, 'You never know when a tramp will turn out to be a beaver."

Although Charlie the Tramp was originally published in 1966, there is no mistaking the timeless quality to this book. Charlie the Tramp won the Boys Club of America Junior Book Award in 1968, and I can clearly see why. When I read this book to my nieces, they absolutely the story, and truly enjoyed the illustrations by Lillian Hoban. 

Russell Hoban (1925-2011) first became famous for his children's picture books about a badger named Frances an other animal characters. 

Lillian Hoban (1925-1998) is one of America's favorite children's book illustrators. Lillian was born in Philadelphia and attended the Philadelphia Museum School of Art. 

Charlie the Tramp is a beautiful American Classic and I loved that it's 50th anniversary publishing is in a hardcover edition. I am not only a book lover, but I totally love hardcover books and try to buy them any chance I can get! 

Plough publishing editor Sam Hine says, "As a parent of young children I've rarely found new books of this quality. So, like many other parents, I find myself returning to the books of my own childhood. Among these, Charlie the Tramp was a hands-down favorite. We're thrilled to acquire the rights to this timeless classic and make it available to a third generation."

It was my distinct pleasure to review this delightful book. I echo the sentiments of Plough publishing editor Sam Hine when I say that they really don't make books like this anymore. I know that Charlie the Tramp will be a refreshing addition to your home library

“Disclosure (in accordance with the FTC’s 16 CFR, Part 255:  “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising”):   I did receive a sample of the product in exchange for this review and post.

Bible Journaling Kit Give-Away

I was so excited to have the opportunity to review this amazing Bible Journaling Kit! As soon as I popped open the box, it was evident that my lack of experience was not going to be a hindrance to me. I have several friends that have been dabbling around with Bible Journaling for about a year now and I have watched them wishing that I had the talent, know-how, and tools to experience the scriptures in such a unique way.


What you receive with this kit is definitely something that will "wet your whistle" so to speak. 
You will receive:

·         4 sheets of word stickers

·         4 sheets of alphabet stickers

·         24 tab stickers

·         8 colored pencil twists

·         1 journaling pen

·         1 pouch with adjustable strap to fit Bibles of all sizes

·         1 ruled page protector mat with tracing lines

What I love about this kit is that it gave me everything I needed to start testing the waters. Now, don't get me wrong, I was not an instant success, but I was able to create works of art on the pages of my favorite Bible. The colored twisting pencils allow you to draw, color, or journal your thoughts, dreams, and prayers as you spend time in your quiet time. You are also able to use the same pencils to highlight your favorite verses or the encouragements that speak to your heart.

Most of all let me just say, I love the stickers!! Yes, I am 46 and I said that I love stickers! Who wouldn't? Look at them! The stickers are clear except for the font, so you can see how nicely they look on the pages of my Bible. Now, I went a little unconventional. I don't have a journaling Bible. I kept putting off giving it a try apparently waiting for the day that I would force myself to go and buy a special Bible for it. So in the end, I just never got started. So I decided instead that it would be alright if I just used my favorite Bible instead. That would give me a little time to work out all the kinks before using it in a special Bible.

As you can see by the few pictures that I find myself willing to share despite my lack of talent. . .I relied heavily on the stickers. But the bottom line is, this is all about your time with God. It doesn't have to look like anyone else's work. This is just an outlet of what God is speaking to you as you read His Word. That is so wonderful.

Like I said, I have a few friends that have been journaling for over a year or so, and I always thought that I had to try to do everything just like them, but the more that I utilized this fun kit, the more that God spoke to me through this unique outlet during my quiet times with Him.

The best part is that you can win your own kit for free by clicking HERE!

Christmas is coming soon, and I am sure that we all know at least one person that would love to receive this as a gift! There are several places where you can purchase it at:

Barnes & Noble

Amazon

Books-a-Million

Christian Book Distributors

An Amazing Future

I have been reading the book, So Long Insecurity by Beth Moore. Wow! What an eye opener!! Insecurity seems to be bred in our society these days. The internet and social media have made our world so small and and opened us up to new ways to compare ourselves. . .one selfie at a time!!  Am I right?

Sometimes it is far too easy to compare ourselves to others, or allow the things in our past to take root and choke out any life that God tries to grow inside us. One of the things I find myself saying alot is, "Whatever you feed will grow." I know it isn't the most profound statement of the century, but think about it. If we allow self doubt and condemnation to rule our thoughts, you can rest assured that it will rule our actions. If we allow insecurity and fear to take hold in our minds and be a part of every thought process, it won't take long before we seclude ourselves.

This verse was in my devotion on Monday morning and I absolutely love it! God didn't make a mistake when He created me, and He didn't make a mistake when He created you. He made you with a plan and purpose! That doesn't mean that we don't have our rough edges or idiosyncrasies that God will polish and smooth out as He works out His perfect plan in our lives. You see, we can't look at our circumstances and let them define us. . .especially if those circumstances are difficult and depressing. This verse says that God has planned MARVELOUS things for us!! That is exciting!

So, let me challenge you to ponder this verse. Think of all the great things that God has done for you, and trust when your good Father says that He has marvelous things in store for you!

Thank you for reading!
Barbette

Chara Games: Commissioned Review ~ Homeschool Review Crew

Let me start by saying that in the recent past we have not necessarily been avid board game participants. With my girls getting older we have gotten away from the board game scene, but I was very excited to have the opportunity to review Commissioned from Chara Games because it was so unique. 

Let me qualify what I mean by unique. I don't mean unique like a new style of silverware you hadn't seen before, or unique like your friends getting rid of their couches and opting to replace them all with hammocks hanging from the ceiling. . .I mean this game is something that I don't think has ever been tried. This is like Bible Study put in a game format! 

Milo wishing he could help us set up

While I was playing Commissioned with my girls we began to slowly understand the frustrations of the apostles as they attempted to minister in one area and then were put in jail. Or when they planted a church and then persecution came along and took out the believers from that area. I have to give kudos to Chara Games for their creativity and wonderful execution of a spectacular board game. My youngest always wanted to be Peter! She also may or may not have rubbed it in my face that she always managed to snag that apostle card before I had a chance to. No.....I'm not bitter!! LOL!

Add caption

I have a few pictures of the board as we played. . .none of the pictures have us in them because we tend to play games in the evening as we are already sporting PJ's and so the only family member you will see in our photos will be my dogs as they try to run across the board repeatedly. . .yes, even they wanted to get involved! LOL!


Commissioned is a game that you will need to read the instructions with! I watched a "How to Play" video and that helped me a lot. Once you get the hang of how to get going it isn't hard at all, but there are a lot of pieces and parts which add to the story line of the game. Without knowing what to do, you will miss out on the best parts! The premise is to travel the map and make disciples. As you play this game, the Great Commission is your goal! 


"Commissioned is a 2-6 player, historically themed, cooperative style board game with a simple deck-building mechanism that plays in 1 hour. Players are the early Christian Apostles, and must work together to strengthen your faith decks, grow the Church, collect the books of the New Testament, and overcome trials. You don't need to know anything about Christianity to play." 
This game includes:

• 1 Double-sided game board
• 5 Double-sided scenario cards
• 6 Unique player boards
• 96 Faith cards
• 27 Trial cards
• 4 Wood missionary meeples
• 75 Wood church member cubes
• 1 Wood elder's staff
• 6 Wood player pawns
• 30 Double-sided stop tokens
• 5 Double-sided extinguished tokens
• 1 Converted city leaders token
• 1 Roman legion token
• 1 8-sided die
• 1 Rulebook
• 1 Theme appendix

My daughter's first trial card she drew sent her to prison. My first card extinguished the church I had just built. As I thought about these cards in light of the Bible, I began to see things from a little different perspective. You see, the building of the church isn't just a Bible story. The apostles along with early believers gave all they had to fulfill the call they had on their lives. That call is the very same call that we have on our lives. . . to go and make disciples. That is our commission. 
Just like the early church would not have been what it was without the apostles, the church of God. . .the kingdom of God depends on us. It is our "Commission" to go into our job, the store, dance class, our college, etc and make disciples.
We loved this game. We are also very excited about the new game that will be coming out soon from Chara Games called 3 Seeds (Reap Where You Sow). 3 Seeds takes 30-45 minutes to play and is for 2-5 players. Players will use seed cards (Time, Money, and Labor) to complete crops, gain bonuses, and find hidden harvest cards...in an effort to maximize their points. The premise is that it isn't just what you sow, but where you sow that matters.
We LOVED this game and know that it will be one that we play over and over again. Great job Chara Games! If you would like to read more reviews about Commissioned, click the image below!
You can also connect through social media:
Facebook Twitter

How Do You Invest?

I used to think my parents were crazy. . .they used to say things that I thought were just crazy as a kids. "Where has the time gone?" "You are growing up so fast!" "Just yesterday you were four!" "This week has flown by!" or my all time favorite!!!! "What year is it?" LOL! As a child/teen/young adult listening to them, I thought that is one of the weirdest things I have heard!! I mean, I am 17. . .yesterday I was 17. . .tomorrow I will still be 17. . .this year is taking forever. . .and by the way it is still 1987!!!! How many of you had parents as crazy as mine?!

Well. . .the joke is on me because now I am that crazy parent. I say the same things my parents did. If you aren't careful time can slip away from you and leave you with only what you invested to show for it! Okay, I have to share some of my crazy talk and let my parents off the hook. . .well, maybe just one because my girls tease me for this over and over. My daughter that is 15 is my youngest. I get teased because even when she was 11 I wouldn't let her go to the restroom without one of her sisters. She would get up to use the restroom and then when she wasn't within earshot anymore I would make the "go with her" head motion and say, "Go check on the baby."  Come on. . .don't give me a hard time. . .some of you have done the same thing!!! LOL!

The other day we decided to go out on a girls' night and we had a blast! We spent time talking, laughing, shopping and of course eating! We spent time investing in each other! You see relationships aren't magical. They don't just happen because you wish them to. Relationships happen when you invest.

This applies to our relationship with Jesus Christ as well. Sometimes we think because we said a prayer and repented of our sins, that should be enough. Let me assure you that it isn't! Our relationship with our Savior also needs nurturing. We need to spend time with Him. Allow Him into our day. Talk to Him, and tell Him about what is happening in your life. Even though we all understand that He knows already. . .He longs to hear our voice and be welcomed into our day and situation. Our relationship with Him is the most important investment we could possibly make!

So just as you invest in the relationships with your co-workers, your family, your friends, the checkers at the store and the tellers at your bank. . .you should be investing in the most important relationship you have - your relationship with the God of all! 

Have a wonderful day!

Accountable2You: Family Plan Review ~ Homeschool Review Crew

I love parenting!! I just want to get that off my chest. I remember as a young bride praying that God would grant me the desires of my heart and fill my home with children! Shortly into our marriage I was told that we would not be able to have any children of our own, but still my heart yearned to have children. . .Some of you may understand completely my struggle, and some of you may be living it right now. I am happy to say that my God is a God of miracles and He saw fit to gift me with three amazing girls. That was when I realized just how hard this parenting thing can be!! 
Was it just me, or were all of you perfect parents until you started having kids of your own!!?? LOL!! Now my girls are 22, 18, and 15. . .yes. . .let me answer the question you wanted to ask, that really is too much estrogen!! With the responsibility of 3 young adults on my hands, I was happy to have the opportunity to review the Family Plan from Accountable2You. We can't get away from the fact that we live in a technology driven world. Our children have everything you can think of right at their fingertips and can access things we don't want them to from the safety of their own room. . .or even in our car on the way to the store. Accountable2You understands the pressure that puts on us as parents and in turn the pressure that puts on the family unit as a whole and they have decided to do something about it.

Accountable2You is a simple device management site that is easy to use and a great accountability system for families. Once you create an account on your computer, you can download the software on your electronic devices and begin receiving real-time alerts. The administrator will receive instant text alerts for highly questionable activity. You will also be able to access reports for each device.

If you are like me it is important for technical things to be fairly simple, otherwise it will just sit and not be used. I was glad to see that when I got into this website, it was completely simple to load onto all the devices in the house. Once I created my account on the website, then I was able to go into the playstore on each phone and download the app. Then you log in on the device and waalaa! You are cooking with crisco!! My husband and I were also able to set up each other as accountability partners. One of the features isn't something that I use with my girls being older, but I like the fact that you can set time limits for online use, and the administrator will be notified when your child is reaching their limit.
Please note that this app does not record keystrokes or capture any screen shots as it monitors. I am glad that the safety of my personal information is still intact! Accountable2You has made sure to add privacy protection to the windows software as well as the Android app allowing you to opt out of monitoring certain apps for privacy.
Take some time to check out the Facebook and YouTube pages for Accountable2You. You will be glad you did. Also if you are interested in reading more reviews about this fabulous vendor, click on the image below.
As always. . . Thank you for reading!!

Homeschool Review Crew Application

For the past few years I have had the pleasure of being a part of the Homeschool Review Crew! When I got started I was definitely not a "power blogger" and to be quite honest. . .I still am not. But, having the opportunity to actually try out curriculum first hand and tell others about it is fantastic!
The application process will be open through the weekend. Feel free to check it out!
Click here to find out more and apply for the 2017 Crew

150 Day Challenge (cont)

I don't know about the rest of you parents, but sometimes I find parenting to be the biggest challenge of my life. My entire goal is to point my kids to Christ. . .but sometimes I find myself stumbling over . . . .well. . . .myself. The imperfections of my humanity can cause me to "feel" like I am less than, or flawed beyond purpose. Some of you may know exactly what I'm talking about. So, I have to push my feelings aside and rely on the truth of God's Word.


It was that particular quest that led me to stumble upon the 150 Day Challenge (we are on day 90. . .wooohooo!) My three girls and myself have been reading the same Psalm each day and then we meditate on the chapter we read throughout the day. It is always good to meditate on God's Word! Then we IM our favorite verse from each chapter. It has been so fantastic to watch what God speaks to each of them as we take this journey through Psalms together.

Life will always throw us curve balls and obstacles that we don't know how to get around, but God's Word remains. It is so important to hide it in our hearts so we can become more and more like Christ.

I know I have posted about our challenge in the past, but I thought I would share some of the scriptures with you that have touched the hearts of myself and my girls over the past several months.

I have loved watching God do great things in and through my girls as we have been participating in this challenge together. God's Word is active and alive and is a necessary part of our walk with God. So, if it's been awhile for you, put down your remote and take out God's Word...He wants to speak to you!

150 Day Challenge (cont)

I don't know about the rest of you parents, but sometimes I find parenting to be the biggest challenge of my life. My entire goal is to point my kids to Christ. . .but sometimes I find myself stumbling over . . . .well. . . .myself. The imperfections of my humanity can cause me to "feel" like I am less than, or flawed beyond purpose. Some of you may know exactly what I'm talking about. So, I have to push my feelings aside and rely on the truth of God's Word.


It was that particular quest that led me to stumble upon the 150 Day Challenge (we are on day 90. . .wooohooo!) My three girls and myself have been reading the same Psalm each day and then we meditate on the chapter we read throughout the day. It is always good to meditate on God's Word! Then we IM our favorite verse from each chapter. It has been so fantastic to watch what God speaks to each of them as we take this journey through Psalms together.

Life will always throw us curve balls and obstacles that we don't know how to get around, but God's Word remains. It is so important to hide it in our hearts so we can become more and more like Christ.

I know I have posted about our challenge in the past, but I thought I would share some of the scriptures with you that have touched the hearts of myself and my girls over the past several months.

I have loved watching God do great things in and through my girls as we have been participating in this challenge together. God's Word is active and alive and is a necessary part of our walk with God. So, if it's been awhile for you, put down your remote and take out God's Word...He wants to speak to you!

150 Day Challenge (cont)

I don't know about the rest of you parents, but sometimes I find parenting to be the biggest challenge of my life. My entire goal is to point my kids to Christ. . .but sometimes I find myself stumbling over . . . .well. . . .myself. The imperfections of my humanity can cause me to "feel" like I am less than, or flawed beyond purpose. Some of you may know exactly what I'm talking about. So, I have to push my feelings aside and rely on the truth of God's Word.


It was that particular quest that led me to stumble upon the 150 Day Challenge (we are on day 90. . .wooohooo!) My three girls and myself have been reading the same Psalm each day and then we meditate on the chapter we read throughout the day. It is always good to meditate on God's Word! Then we IM our favorite verse from each chapter. It has been so fantastic to watch what God speaks to each of them as we take this journey through Psalms together.

Life will always throw us curve balls and obstacles that we don't know how to get around, but God's Word remains. It is so important to hide it in our hearts so we can become more and more like Christ.

I know I have posted about our challenge in the past, but I thought I would share some of the scriptures with you that have touched the hearts of myself and my girls over the past several months.

I have loved watching God do great things in and through my girls as we have been participating in this challenge together. God's Word is active and alive and is a necessary part of our walk with God. So, if it's been awhile for you, put down your remote and take out God's Word...He wants to speak to you!