A quick recommendation...

Today has been a crazy busy day and has been full of all sorts of interesting things- including a disgusting dishwasher catastrophe that I may post about later. But for now, I wanted to share with you two great resources that we use every night in our house.

We have used several different story Bibles with Karsyn since she was born, but this one is by far her favorite. It has 104 stories from the Bible that are written in kid-friendly language and with beautiful pictures. I think the reason that K likes it so much is because there aren't really long paragraphs on each page, so she doesn't ever get bored with it. Every night before bed she begs us to read "2 stories" from her Bible. We lay in bed with her, thumb-wrestle to see who gets to pick the story (we always let her win the first round and she always lets us win the second), and then read it together. She has already learned so many Bible stories and she can tell me what is happening before I even begin reading most of them. It has been a blessing to our family!

The other resource that we have loved using with our kids is the Praise Baby DVD Collection. These are 30- minute DVDs that are similar to the Baby Einstein collection, except they contain only Christian music.

Ever since K turned about 18 months old we have used them with her as part of our bedtime routine. She knows after bath and pajamas that it's time for "praise" and she'll ask for it before she picks her favorite spot on the couch and covers up with her pink snuggie blanket. Even Mack likes the bright pictures and colorful toys as well as the people on them. They help settle our kids down quickly and the songs they contain are teaching them Biblical truths. Shortly after Karsyn turned two I can remember sitting with her watching PraiseBaby and seeing her sway back and forth singing along with the DVD "Holy, Holy, Holy, I want to see you. Open the eyes of my heart, Lord, I want to see you!". 

You can buy these DVDs at most Christian bookstores or online. The book we were given as a present, but you can find it easily on Amazon if you're interested. 

Hope these two things can help you in your family. If you don't have kids yet but one day plan to, I cannot stress to you enough the importance of having a bed-time routine. It makes the process SO much easier, and having tools like these DVDs and this story Bible make it a valuable teaching time as well. 

Love to you all!