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One of the best things about children's picture books is their illustrations, and when What a Bragger!  by Lee Ann Mancini arrived in the mail, its artwork certainly caught my eye! Dan Sharp's under-the-sea images are creative, colorful, whimsical. I wondered if the book's text would hold up to the lovely outside cover, but Mancini's story is engaging, relevant and well-told. In this book in the "Adventures of the Sea Kids" series, Melissa the blowfish starts bragging about things she supposedly has at home. However, she is suspected very quickly of lying. How the situation is resolved in the end is realistic and compassionate, and subtly teaches little listeners a way to handle this part of growing up. I think children would love this book. It has cute characters and a theme that they can both relate to and learn from. I also love the attention to detail in the book. Sharp's artwork includes more than a dozen icthus fish, hidden on the pages for r...

Want to win a copy of How to Enjoy Reading Your Bible by Keith Ferrin? Leave a comment below sharing a Bible verse that inspires you OR comment with a thought about Bible study and what you hope this book might do for you. I plan to draw a winner after midnight (PST) August 5th. Drawing open to anyone in the USA, except where legal restrictions disallow it. Happy commenting! :)

I grew up in church and don't remember an age where I wasn't either reading the Bible or having it read to me. So, I'll admit that there was a part of me that wondered about the title of this book. If I don't enjoy reading my Bible (I do, but that's a hypothetical "if") after this many years, how is this little ten-dollar paperback going to make a difference? I underestimated it. Just as the title says, this book contains ten tips (in ten chapters, followed by study guide sections) to enjoy Bible reading. Ferrin looks at the mental, spiritual and physical approach we take to Bible reading and how our routines are often erroneous. By changing our perceptions and habits, our lives can be changed. That sounds a bit exaggerated, I realize, but it's true. How we look at the Bible, how we make time in our schedule for the Bible, how we study the Bible. . . . these are all worth a second look. I don't want to give away too many of his th...

So, here is my good news for today. . . My husband just brought me 22 roses to celebrate 22 years of marriage today! (And my children each brought me a rose as well!) God is good. Enjoy your weekend!

It is so fun to see the weekly analysis map that tells me from which countries visitors to my blog come. So far, we have had visitors from at least fifty nations/ territories! How cool is that? Argentina Armenia Austria Azerbaijan Belarus Bolivia Brazil Canada Cayman Islands China Croatia Czech Republic Denmark France Germany Ghana Greece Hungary India Indonesia Iran Isle of Man Israel Italy Jamaica Kazakhstan  Kenya Latvia Macedonia Malaysia Maldives Mexico Moldova* Netherlands Nepal Nigeria Pakistan Poland Russia Romania Saudi Arabia Singapore Spain Sweden Turkey Ukraine United Arab Emirates United Kingdom USA Vietnam *recently added Thank you for joining us on the blog! I am grateful to have you here!

When we lived in South America, we occasionally received care packages from friends and family back home.  Boxes, envelopes or suitcases would be mailed to us or hand-carried by my in-laws when they came to visit. It was so much fun to open them and find treats like books and magazines in English, American candy, Pop-Tarts, cheesecake mix, black olives, dill pickles, cards, notes and photos from loved ones. Costa Rica: Peter stopped unpacking the suitcase Papa and Grandma Throssel brought,  and just started reading one of the books! Bolivia: One year, Philip said that the only thing he wanted for Christmas was Silly Putty.  So, Grandpa George sent him an egg of it in every color available!   Well, a little while before Christmas last year, we received our first giant care package FROM Bolivia.  Our friend Caroline helped sort through some of our stuff in storage there, and then our friends Bev and Bill packed up two large suitcases fu...