What We've Been Reading

I'm going to talk about what we've been reading here at our house, but it starts with what we've seen lately, namely, God's Not Dead.  We took the four older children to see this a couple weeks ago.  Really, really good.  Totally recommend it, even for children (maybe 8 and up)...it has led to some great conversations. 

One of the previews at the beginning of that movie was an upcoming new film, Heaven is For Real.  The older two remembered that we had a book by the same name on our bookshelves in the school room.  I'd picked it up at a book sale at the library, but hadn't read it yet.  Noah asked if he could read it,  and then proceeded to read the whole thing in less than 24 hours.  

He kept bubbling over, excitedly telling us snippets of what he was reading.  He got E and I interested...and now we've both read it also.  It is a pretty quick read...and very encouraging.  Such exciting stuff to ponder!

This next book I'm frankly very sad to be done with.  You know how that feels?  Being so excited to get to the end and find out how it all turns out...and then so sad when it is over.

This story is an allegory, which - as it turns out - was a very effective way for my children to understand much deeper truths about God's Kingdom.  Wow, we've had some very in-depth and wonderful conversations due to this book.  

One description on Amazon: 

Action, intrigue, and danger follow Scarboy wherever he goes, especially in the Enchanted City, where the “imperfect” are cast away and orphans are enslaved. Scarboy manages to escape the evil Enchanter to safety in Great Park, but has yet to confront his greatest fear—and he’ll need enormous courage to conquer it! 

That sounds so strange to me, and I had no idea what to expect when we started the book...but oh, how glad I am that we've read this together!

Kingdom Tales was included in our curriculum this year, and I'm so thankful, because I don't believe I would have found it on my own.  The specific version we have is published by our curriculum provider (My Father's World) and has discussion questions at the end of each chapter, which was a nice addition.  

(If any local friends want to borrow this...I'd be happy for you to!)

This next book is a children's bible...that I learn something new from every time we read it.

We've had this for several years and I've read it to the children several times already.  I've probably posted about it before too.  

But it bears re-reading.  And the recommendation bears repeating.  

I especially wanted to re-read it to the children this time around with LK in mind.  Coming home at almost 4-years old, I can tell she still doesn't have Jesus figured out (but then, who does?).  And I really wanted to just read through and put all the stories into order and context, especially for her.  I love how in this bible, every story points back to Jesus..."Every Story Whispers His Name, " as the subtitle says.  

This last book is much more practical...and it has truly surprised me.  In a good way.

A Sane Woman's Guide to Raising a Large Family by Mary Ostyn

I cannot even recall where I read about this book.  But I put in a request in our inter-library loan system...and then promptly forgot all about it.  When it showed up at our library, I was pleasantly surprised.  

I thought I would just speed read it...skip around to the sections that looked the most helpful/appealing to me.  I started right in the middle with Chapter 8: Parenting Hacks.  Then Chapter 11: Encouraging Sibling Friendships caught my attention.  By the time I was done reading what Mary had to say in those two chapters, I was hooked.  I've read the whole book now.  

This mom-of-ten (six of whom are adopted) has a very down-to-earth, yet Heavenly-focused way of looking at parenting.  I've come away from this book with quite a few gems of advice tucked away.