Children's Books Blog Tour

I'm kicking off a fabulous contest today! I'm giving away a two copies of each of the books I'm reviewing below, God Gave Us Heaven, When God Created My Toes, and God Loves Me More Than That. These are beautiful hardcovers with great illustrations. To sign up, just drop me an email at christysbookblog@gmail.com before midnight Thursday, August 21st. I'll announce the winners here on Friday. Good luck!

Mia was talking (as usual) this afternoon as I was driving into the Falls to pick up Molly from cheerleading practice. She said, "Mommy, do you know where my favorite place in the whole world is?" I shook my head no, so she responded, "My favorite place is up in heaven, and we're gonna go there when we die, right?" She chatted about Heaven a bit more, and it was all with hope and happiness in her voice. It's a big change from a year ago when she was afraid of Heaven, because it was unknown. Now she talks about like she's been there often and can't wait to return. She'll make a great travel agent to book trips there someday!

God Loves Me More Than That by Dandi Daley Mackall is a Dandilion book filled with sweet rhymes and charming illustrations. How much love does God have for me?More than the letters between A and Z. More than the bumbles in a bumble bee.God loves me more than that! The rhymes are fun and my daughter had fun trying to guess what word would end each couplet, and she loved the extremes the books uses to show the depth, height, width, and strength of God's love for her. It's a perfect book for bedtime and sending your little one off to dreamland with visions of God's love.

When God Created My Toes is another Dandilion Rhymes book by Dandi Daley Mackall. It's full of silly rhymes devised to get a laugh out of your little one: When God created my toes, did he make them wiggle? Did he know I’d giggle?Did he have to hold his nose, when God created my toes? The words are silly and the pictures are sweet, perfect for reading to your little ones. My daughter liked thinking about God creating each part of her and knowing that He spent time and thought doing so. This would be good for reading to infants and toddlers to teach body parts while cuddling.

This last book was absolutely my favorite. God Gave Us Heaven by Lisa Tawn Bergren is the latest entry in her God Gave Us series. The first book, God Gave Us You, is on Mia's bookshelf, but I can't read it, because Bergren handles the idea of impending parenthood and the love a parent has for a child, even before they are born, so well that I cry all the way through it. I've read most of Bergren's children's books, and I believe that she has an amazing talent for interpreting God and his love in a way that is easy for kids to understand without ever talking down to them and giving new insight to their parents as well. My daughter, Mia, has long had a fear of Heaven because the idea of something completely different from this world was frightening to her. Bergren, through Papa Bear, speaks of a Heaven where there are no more tears or pain or wars. Papa Bear answers the normal questions kids ask: what we will eat there? what will we do? with tenderness and honesty, even when that means the answer is I'm not sure. This book answers questions and soothes worries. Mia's fears have been allayed, and I am grateful to Bergren for writing this book and taking those fears away.

Today's pictures are a series from camping. Jeff, my stepdad, deep-fried a turkey, and it turned out fantastic. The next day, Doogie and Molly fought over one of the legs. You can see in the last picture that Molly, glam in her sunglasses, was the winner and texts in her victory.