Picture books- our favorites!

Recently I asked Kendra of Preschoolers and Peace if she would be willing to give some good read-aloud suggestions. She kindly responded with a great list for girls (click here) and another list of her picks for boys (click here). Also, Amy over at Amy's Humble Musings posted an entry on read-alouds, too. (Click here.)

Amy and I were talking last week about how we didn't really have much to offer in the way of read-alouds (as we're just entering this stage with our children), but we DO each have a list of picture books we've enjoyed reading with our children. So... here's my list:

Mr. Putter & Tabby books- Cynthia Rylant


If you have not yet discovered these books, you've got to check them out! You'll meet an elderly man named Mr. Putter and his cat Tabby, and Mr. Putter's neighbor, Mrs. Teaberry, and her dog Zeke. Mr. Putter and Tabby go on all sorts of adventures together and usually their neighbors join in on the fun! The illustrations are excellent. There are more words per page than most picture books, but pictures accompany each page and they aren't too wordy to hold my 2-year olds attention! Our favorites are Mr. Putter and Tabby Paint the Porch, Mr. Putter and Tabby Walk the Dog, Mr. Putter and Tabby Fly the Plane, and Mr. Putter and Tabby Make a Wish.

The Gardener by Sarah Stewart (illustrated by her husband, David Small)


Here's the description from the School Library Journal: "Through her letters to her farm family, Lydia Grace tells how she brightens her uncle's dreary bakery and his disposition with a little dirt and a suitcase full of seeds."

The illustrations in this book are outstanding. The first time we checked this one out at the library I spent a good deal of time poring over the illustrations on my very own (after my children went to bed!) You'll love it!

If You Were My Bunny by Kate McMullen, illustrated by David M. McPhail


This is a good nighttime lullaby book. It begins with the story of a mama bunny putting her baby bunny to bed, then a mama bear, a mama cat, a mama duckling, a mama dog, and finally, a mama putting her child to sleep. My favorite part about this book is that you can sing all the lullabies in the book. For instance, the bunny lullaby is sung to the tune of "Hush, Little Baby". The final page has the mama pulling up the covers, giving her child a great big hug, and a great big kiss ,and saying "I love you!" My children love this book- especially the singing part! :)

Muncha! Muncha! Muncha! by Candace Fleming, illustrated by G. Brian Karas


We recently discovered this book at the library and it has become a fast favorite! This is the story of Mr. McGreely, who plants his first garden and tries to protect it from a trio of smart rabbits (he first builds a fence, then a tall wooden wall, then a deep trench,... and more!) It has a great refrain as you find that the rabbits consistently outsmart Mr. McGreely: "And the sun went down. And the moon came up. And-- Tippy, Tippy, Tippy, Pat! Muncha! Muncha! Muncha!" (Envision those bunnies eating away happily!)


And here are some of our other favorites: (*before making this list, I consulted with my husband and four-year old daughter).

Gossie & Gertie books by Olivier Dunrea
Maisy books by Lucy Cousins
Honkers by Jane Yolen, illustrated by Leslie A. Baker
If Anything Ever Goes Wrong at the Zoo by Mary Jean Hendrick, illustrated by Jane Dyer
To Market, To Market by Anne Miranda, illustrated by Janet Stevens
Goodnight Moon by Margaret Wise Brown
Make Way For Ducklings by Robert McCloskey
Corduroy by Don Freeman
Dr. Seuss books
Richard Scarry books

So. That's our list. Please leave a comment and tell some of your favorites! I'd love to hear them!

My job

I love being a wife and a mother. I find such delight in these roles, and in these being my “only” roles (true, I wear other hats at times, but primarily, this is it!)

Yesterday I was at a church prayer meeting and two other women were talking about how crazy their weeks had been, how they had been running around all over the place and how busy/tired/stressed they were. They turned to me and asked how I was doing, and I just shrugged and said cheerfully, “Well, we haven’t been running around at all this week. Not busy; just hanging out at home every day!” One of the women chuckled at that, and commented, “Right. You’re not busy. A mother of three little children.” She was giving me credit for this job of mine.

I don’t need credit. I get it every day, many times a day.

For instance, yesterday: Ella and Isaac were arguing over 3 small photo albums they both wanted to look at. I asked them to come to me and reminded them that God wants us to be peacemakers, and how do they think they could best do that right now? There was silence. The argument had stopped, but no solutions were coming to their little minds. So I gave them one: I asked my 2-year old son (who was clutching to all 3 albums) to choose one of the albums to share with his older sister. He did so, and she took it. However, as they walked away, I overheard my daughter (4) happily say, “You know what? You can have all 3 of them! I’ll sit next to you and look at them with you, though.” There were tears in my eyes, because I knew she was being a peacemaker. I went to her, hugged her, and told her so. And as I walked away, I heard my son praise her, too: “Good job being a peacemaker!”

And I thought (for about the zillionth time) about how wonderful it is that I get to do this, that for some this ‘job’ of mine seems exhausting and taxing (and it can be, at times) but overall it is just GOOD. This job as mommy is not wearing me down, I’m thriving. I delight in it. What an incredible blessing that this is what I get to do! Thank you, Heavenly Father!

My side of the bed

Here’s what I might be doing on any given night, (usually- in the wee hours of the morning) on my side of the bed:

-tossing and turning, trying to find a comfy, sleepy, sort of spot
-debating whether or not to look at the alarm clock to find out what time it is I’m awake this time
-replaying conversations in my head
-thinking about the following days activities
-making a grocery list
-wondering if I should just get up and GO to the bathroom already or if that would prevent with absolute certainty me going back to sleep
-making a to-do list
-trying to recall the dream I was having before I woke up
-trying to remember something
-praying
-analyzing some problem or another
-wondering if I should get up and peek at my sleeping children
-pondering our finances
-making plans

And here’s what’s going on from my husband’s side of the bed, always:

-sleep

Yep, that’s pretty much it. The second my husband’s head hits the pillow, he’s out.

Last night our four-year old daughter was up a few times during the night (bad dreams). The first time my husband went to her (he usually does the middle-of-the-night-wake-ups for the very reason that when I'm awake, it's hard for me to fall asleep again). But the second time my husband was sleeping so soundly that I got up, went into her room to comfort and pray for her and then came back to bed and… worked on the above activity list. (It was 4 am; I checked this time).

My husband did mumble as I came back to bed, “How is she?” and I gave a brief explanation- (mind you, it was difficult for me to be brief (I felt quite chatty, actually) since I was wide awake at this point). At some point during my description I noticed he was snoring. Snoring! Speaking one second, snoring the next. Unbelievable. I wish I had that gift. Not to snore, but to sleep. Must be nice.

If I may add my own 'Humble Musings'...

Last night I dropped in at Amy’s Humble Musings and read this:

“It is impossible to live a Biblical life while being captives to the consumer culture. It’s that easy– once you consider that Christians are called to be slaves to only one Master. It’s about being thoughtful, aware, and deliberate about our decisions. It’s about thinking through the consequences of our everyday choices. It’s about choosing how to live life, instead of just allowing “them” to tell you how to do it or just doing it because that is what we do. It is about fulfilling your purpose to glorify God and to enjoy Him forever.”

I quote that because it’s exactly how I feel and yet could never be that articulate. (Thank you, Amy, for saying it! Do go check out Amy’s Humble Musings, but not yet, okay?)

My husband went to a meeting at our church last night. The meeting was called by some of the younger (by younger I mean 20-somethings) married couples (some with children, some without) and some singles. They wanted a platform in which to share their issues so they invited the deacons and elders to hear them out. Many topics were discussed, but my husband came home and said that the bottom line is that this younger generation desires relationship with the “older” generation, with the larger church. The young women recognize their need for mentorship from the older women, the men are hungry for discipleship from the older men. They want connection, community, relationship, and fellowship.

And it struck me that there are too many people in our church who will not extend the invitation for this kind of relationship. Do you know why? Because we are simply too busy. After all, there are TV shows, soccer games, baseball practices, school meetings, homework, movies, … and the list goes on. Our culture, or- more accurately, the enemy- is sucking us in so that we are too concerned with the STUFF of life and less concerned about the things of God, and about what He has called us to do.

For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men. It teaches us to say “No” to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age, while we wait for the blessed hope- the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for himself a people that are his very own, eager to do what is good. (Titus 2:11-14)

I am ashamed to say that about a year and a half ago, I was also being suckered. I remember our small group trying to figure out a time to meet and I said (and I’m embarrassed to share this, truly) Thursday night wasn’t even an option (because it was our ‘Survivor night’ and I couldn’t miss ‘my show’.) What a travesty- that we are missing out on the richness of the things of God because we are too busy trying to keep up with the culture, and meanwhile we are getting caught in the trappings of it. (I don’t watch TV anymore. And I don’t miss it. About a year ago I knew God was asking me to give it up (and I simply didn’t want to), and yet more than wanting to go my own way, I want to obey my God, and so I gave it up. And I cannot tell you what a blessing this has been in my life. It has freed me up to pursue the things in life that are most important to me. I see so clearly now that what seemed so harmless to me a couple of years ago (watching all my shows) was such a distraction in my life from a deeper pursuit of God.)

Our culture applauds individualism, self-sufficiency, and independency. We are encouraged to love ourselves. Jesus says “Love one another.” The early church was not about self-sufficiency, it was about community. “All the believers were one in heart and mind. No one claimed that any of his possessions was his own, but they shared everything they had… There were no needy persons among them.” (Acts 5:32, 34).

That is my heart: I want to pattern my life according to the Word, not the world. I want the time that I have here on this earth to be spent glorifying my God. I want the choices I make (and that we make, as a family) to please God, not others. If we're busy, I want us to be busy serving God and loving His church. I want to challenge all that we do and the decisions we make and continually re-align ourselves to God’s Word and His commands. I want to be “his very own, eager to do what is good”.

I have a dawdler

He is the CUTEST dawdler you will ever see, but he is a dawdler. In anticipation of this entry, I looked up the word "dawdler" and this is what I found:

daw·dle (dôdl)
v. daw·dled, daw·dling, daw·dles
v.intr.
1. To take more time than necessary: dawdled through breakfast.

Yep. That's my two-year old. One who dawdles through breakfast. And through lunch. Through dinner, too. And on the way to the van.

This is me: "Let's go!" And we all scurry out the door, all except my two-year old. He's lagging behind, already, finding a book or a toy to bring with him. Then he will stop on the porch to kneel down and look at something (a leaf? bug? spider?) Then he pokes down the stairs, and, oh my! found a rock (heaven forbid we're in a parking lot with gravel. Lots of little rocks. I dread these occasions, truly). My daughter, baby and I are waiting (impatiently) for him to catch up. When he finally makes it to the van, it takes him SO LONG to climb into his seat. I've tried everything. "I'm going to count to 10. Everyone in their seats by the time I get to 10!" (My daughter is in her seat by 4, I'm putting the baby in so he's in within the 10. My son? 14, or so....) Or just this, "Hurry, hurry! Let's go! We're late!" Or "See how fast you can do it! Pretend you're a baseball player (he likes those). Go so fast!" Nothing works.

But mealtimes. Those are the struggle. We will put a plate of food in front of him and everyone else will be done with their second plate of food by the time this little fellow takes his second bite. I am not exaggerating. He is playing. With his food, fork, fingers, whatever there is to play with. His fork automatically becomes a "guy" and is playing with his cup, another "guy" and they're talking. Or he will have one chunk of roll in one hand, another chunk of roll in the other, and they will be talking to each other. Amusing, yes. Aggravating? Also yes.

Two nights ago we cheerfully took his plate away (after an hour; the rest of us had moved on to cleaning up the kitchen) and told him dinner was over, and that he could not eat anything else, or have any milk (his drink of choice), for the rest of the evening. No problems, actually. (Truly, I thought he'd be starving.)

The next morning when he asked for milk, I warmed up his dinner plate and sat him down, told him he could have some milk when he finished his breakfast. From 7:37am to 9:04am he ate all of 10 bites, many of those spoon-fed by yours truly into his mouth. I confess: at some point I finally said, "Four more bites and you can be done. I fed him those four bites (slowly, he chews excruciatingly slowly) and he got to get down and go on his merry way. Mind you, not without some tears during the process.

So, our new plan is this: We will have a set time for dinner. We haven't figured out a reasonable time. But, when dinnertime is over, the plates are removed, and we all move on. We're hoping he'll learn that he needs to eat within this reasonable amount of time if he wants to eat.

Back to the definition of a dawdler. Some other adjectives I came across? Dillydallier. Foot-dragger. Slowpoke. And I winced when I read the words idler and sluggard. Ouch.

As a door turns on its hinges, so a sluggard turns on his bed. (Pr. 26:14)

The sluggard buries his hand in the dish; he is too lazy to bring it back to his mouth. (Pr. 26:15)

So I am praying for my little sluggard. I'm welcoming any wisdom/ideas/suggestions, too!

A wife and mommy in-the-making

My four-year old daughter is a wife and mommy in-the-making. Not much makes me happier. Two things happened over the weekend to remind me of this:

We were all in the van, on our way to the Good Friday service, and from the back, this:

"When I get bigger I get to be a mommy!" (this said joyfully)

Mark and I smiled, and I turned back to smile at our daughter and said, "That's right, honey. You do! What made you think of that right now?"

She said, "I was just thinking it!"

Me: "That's a really fun thought, sweetheart. You are going to be such a wonderful mommy someday."

And that was that. But I have thought of it several times since. I can't tell you how delighted I am that my sweet little girl is excited to "get to be a mommy" someday! :)

Then yesterday we came home from church and ate a light lunch (more like a snack) before naps, because we were scheduled to be at my mom's for lunch at 1:30. The boys went to sleep, and my husband passed through the kitchen (where my daughter and I were) and mentioned, "Boy, I am hungry, though..." I turned to do something at the table and my little girl comes up to me, holding a tupperware from the fridge, and says, "Mommy. This is chicken. Do you know if there is rice in here, too?" And I said, (not knowing where this was going yet), "Um, no, sweetie. That's just chicken." I watched her then turn, walk over to the fridge and pull out another tupperware. She said to me, pleased with herself, "I found the rice!" And then I asked her, "What are you doing, honey?" And she said, very matter-of-factly, "Daddy just said he was hungry. I'm just going to cook him some lunch." And she set both containers near the microwave. I told her that was so sweet of her to be taking such good care of her daddy, and then reminded her that we were having lunch at Grandma's and that daddy would just have to wait a bit!

I was touched by her service and her industriousness: she saw a need and was moving to meet it. I am so grateful for these things I see in her! :)

Praying for my Husband

I have developed a prayer list to guide me in prayer for my husband over the next 30 days. I just finished reading The Power of a Praying Wife by Stormie Omartian, and used that as a guideline for coming up with some of these categories.

I'm printing this out and posting above my kitchen sink (where I spend a good deal of time) so that I can pray for him in these specific areas throughout my day. I'm excited to do this! :) Here's my list:

1 his wife, that I would be his helpmeet, companion, friend and support
2 his work
3 his sexuality
4 his affection
5 his temptations
6 his fears
7 his purpose
8 his health
9 his protection
10 his integrity
11 his reputation
12 his priorities
13 his relationships
14 his fatherhood
15 his relationship with Ella
16 his relationship with Isaac
17 his relationship with Isaias
18 our marriage
19 his faith
20 his time in the Word
21 his tongue/words
22 his repentance
23 his obedience
24 his future
25 his leadership
26 sharing the Gospel
27 his faithfulness
28 his prayers
29 his insecurities
30 his rest

Am I missing anything really obvious? Let me know if you see a glaring obmission!