family

Zondervan: The Beginner’s Bible for Children {Propeller Review}

January 4, 2017 by Dana

The Beginner’s Bible

Timeless Children’s Stories

Zonderkidz

$12.88

Growing up, I greatly enjoyed listening to my Mother read to me from our classic Bible stories book. It is one of my favorite memories as a child. As a parent I am always looking for new books to share with my own children and books that share wonderfully written stories from the Bible always top that list. So when I was approached to review The Beginner’s Bible: Timeless Children’s Stories from Zonderkidz, I knew that this book would fit well with our family.

The Beginner’s Bible shares many wonderful stories from different parts of the Bible. From the story of Noah to Jesus and many more. These are the timeless classics that have been told to children for centuries, that never tire and are rooted deep in important lessons for all of us.

The Beginner’s Bible has been around for a while now and is a classic in it’s own right but Zonderkidz has completely changed the original format of the Bible by creating a whole new look. The pages are crisp and concise, featuring 3D imagery for the new illustrations. The font is larger for little ones to be able to see better, making it easier for them to read God’s Word. The pages are now glossy which makes it easier to keep the pages cleaner for years of repeat reading and sharing with your little one.

The Beginner’s Bible includes 90 stories from the Bible and is written for kids ages 6 and under. To be honest though, all of my children enjoyed this Bible, including my older kids who read many of the stories to the younger children. My younger daughter has enjoyed this copy of The Beginner’s Bible the most though, reading it to her little brother and sharing the stories with me as well. It’s been great for helping her develop her reading skills and we are thrilled to have it added to our family’s library as well.

You can add a copy of The Beginner’s Bible: Timeless Children’s Stories from Zondervan to your family library as well for $12.88, available online through Amazon.com. This book also makes a great gift to share with others. I hope you enjoy The Beginner’s Bible as much as we do in our home!

Graciously, Zonderkidz and Flyby Promotions is giving one copy of The Beginner’s Bible away to one of my lucky readers. Please leave me a comment below on this post to tell me why you’d like to win a copy of this wonderful Children’s Bible for your home today! I look forward to hearing from you.

“Disclosure (in accordance with the FTC’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the

Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising”): Many thanks to Propeller Consulting, LLC for providing this prize for the giveaway. Choice of winners and opinions are 100% my own and NOT influenced by monetary compensation. I did receive a sample of the product in exchange for this review and post. Only one entrant per mailing address, per giveaway. If you have won a prize from our sponsor Propeller / FlyBy Promotions in the last 30 days, you are not eligible to win. Or if you have won the same prize on another blog, you are not eligible to win it again. Winner is subject to eligibility verification.”

This post includes Affiliate Links for the product mentioned above.

Happy 16th Birthday To My Oldest Son {Thoughts From Me}

December 28, 2016 by Dana

Today my oldest child turns 16. Let me start by saying this Momma is in NO WAY ready for that. My sweet BABY is almost a man. I shudder just to think about it.

I can remember when he was a tiny baby, with brown curls and a cherub grin. Everyone who saw him thought he was the prettiest baby boy and yes, some even asked if he was a girl. I didn’t mind. To me, he was the most beautiful baby ever.

The day he was born, he looked like a tiny little wailing alien. He loved to be held and his Grandmother and Papa were always toting him around. He was well-loved by us all.

He was my emergency c-section. His delivery was a traumatic one. The doctors almost lost us both. I remember feeling the pain and feeling myself begin to float as they prepped me for his delivery. I was put to sleep and when I awoke it was all over.

The first thing I saw of my newborn boy was a photograph. I wasn’t able to get out of bed and he wasn’t able to come see Mommy for 6 long hours. His tiny body had suffered so much stress that he had to go into the warmer and be monitored right away. I remember just being thankful he was alive and well.

The first time I held him, I was in LOVE. He was the sweetest little thing. He loved to nuzzle and he refused to sleep alone. I don’t think he slept one time in his crib.

Isn’t funny how I can remember that period of time like it was yesterday? Time passes so quickly. Soon that little baby is going become a man. Time is too short.

I’ve watched him grow every day. I chose to homeschool him because I couldn’t bare to pass these moments that God blessed me with to someone else. Selfishly, I wanted to keep these years all to myself and I am so glad that I have. These memories will last us both for a lifetime.

This young man who has blessed me these past 16 years is like no other. I used to wonder why I had a son first and not a daughter but now I know. He’s been my rock, my supporter, my strength through so many things. He’s quiet and a true peacemaker.

I honestly could not have made it through these past 16 years without this wonderful young man by my side. He’s helped me with his sisters, our home, keep up with everything and just been a friend and a loving son to me all the way. I tell him all the time that one day he’s going to make some girl a wonderful husband. A lucky one she will be and yes, I plan to let her know that!

So here is to my soon-to-be 16 year old. May we continue to enjoy the short time we have left together and many years afterwards. I love you my son – more than you can ever know and I thank God every day for the blessing you have been to my life.

Who’s Fault Is It Really? {Thoughts From Me}

December 15, 2016 by Dana

Last night I was at home watching a movie with Don and the rest of the family. I am pretty sure it was a Christmas movie, yet I can’t remember the name. It was the typical man and woman meet and fall in love movie. Yet, near the end of the movie, there was one statement that really hit home for me.

You see in all my failed relationships, the other person has always pointed the failure towards me, yet I never felt the failure was completely my fault. The men in my life have always tried to make me feel that I was the problem, that it wasn’t them. They have told me that I would continue to find the same problems over and over because, well, that problem was me.

Honestly, I was beginning to believe them. Then Donald came along and he has worked to change my thinking. Trust me, it’s been really hard for him to do but this movie confirmed what he’s told me since we met.

You see, it was never me that was the problem. It wasn’t really them that was the problem either. The real problem was that these guys I was with were never meant for me. Since they weren’t right for me, our relationships could never work. It wasn’t anything either of us did, it was simply the wrong person for me to be with.

Now I know that’s easy to see now but it wasn’t so easy to see when I was with them. And walking away doesn’t make it easy to see when you have been told over and over that you are the problem. Sometimes it takes a HUGE wake-up call, like hearing it said straight out in a random movie, to make you realize, “Hey, I’m not the problem here!”

We can never be happy with the wrong person. God created us each to be unique and He created each of us to fit one other unique individual. That individual is our other half, the love of our life, our soulmate.

I’m blessed to have truly found mine, to know of his love for me, for my children, for our family and our life together. Sure things aren’t always perfect because we’ve both been brainwashed by being in the wrong relationship before finding one another and finding our right relationship, but we work hard to heal and love and move forward together. We are learning to forgive, to depend on each other and to embrace our life as it should be with one another.

When love is right, it’s just right. You know it wholeheartedly. I’m so thankful to have found my love in Don and also to have found this healing piece of truth from something so simple as this.

Until next time…

Random Thoughts… {Thoughts From Me}

December 3, 2016 by Dana

Random thoughts. Do you get those? Totally random things popping into your head at any given time? Usually with no rhyme or reason as to why.

Well, I suppose from this post you can guess that I do. I go completely off track with my thinking and I feel that my brain is constantly going 100% all of the time. I am always thinking of something and yet of nothing at all. Not of importance at least.

Then there is the forgetfulness. Sometimes I think so much that I forget mid-sentence what I was just thinking about. For example, today I was talking to Donald, asking him about his day. I was about to ask him something specific and mid-thought I completely forgot!

Now this isn’t a big deal for something small but forgetfulness and randomness because an issue with bigger things. Like forgetting to call in a medication script for my daughter. Or forgetting to write out a blog post for the week or for a review item. Forgetting you made an appointment for Thursday. (Yes, I did that one this week! Eek!!)

I often feel that my blog posts are random as well. I’d like to find a way to make them more structured and more focused but how can you do that when you have trouble focusing yourself?! I contribute it to my undiagnosed ADD. Or is it ADHD? I’m pretty sure I have one of those and I know my poor kids do as well.

So how do you manage to keep your thoughts in order and stop being random with them? How do you create posts that are structured and more organized? Any tips you have for me? Feel free to leave me any ideas you may have in a comment below. I look forward to all of your suggestions.

Random sky pic from a few months back.

On an additional note we’ve reached 700 blog posts at Luv’N Lambert Life and have many more to come! This particular post is my first written and posted with Open Live Writer. So far I’m loving this blog writing software and look forward to using it for my posts from now on. All the ease of blogging with a format like a word processor program. Added benefit is that there is a word count tool built in too! (So far this post is at 389 words and counting.) You can even link up and add images to your posts right from Open Live Writer. Awesome right?

Well that’s it from me tonight. Hope you all have a blessed week!

Dana

November’s End {Thoughts From Me}

November 30, 2016 by Dana

Today is the last day of November. The past month has been busy for us. Work has started to return to normal and life is going back to how it was before Hurricane Matthew paid his visit in October.

I’m thankful this month is ending. I am looking forward to December and then to a new year in 2017. November has had some serious ups and downs for us.

One thing that happened is that Emmalee’s therapy has ended. I’m proud of her. She had surgery to correct her toe-walking on both feet on June 20th and has since worked hard to relearn how to walk, balance, run, and kick. The strength my daughter has is amazing to me. She’s come through so much and continues to become stronger every day.

November brought vacation time for my Mom this month and I will say it was the best week for us all. She enjoyed her time with my brother and his family and we enjoyed our time together as a family without her around. We rarely get to do that since she is currently living with us but it gave us a nice peak into our future. I look forward to having that day to day in our lives again.

November brought us challenges. We discovered mold in our bedroom which had been covered by paint that wasn’t appropriate for it’s treatment. We also found our outer bedroom walls needed to be replaced. We worked with our landlord to make this happen and are happy to say our home is now repaired.

November brought Thanksgiving. We had a great family dinner. We shared what we were thankful for. That one meal fed us for almost a week on the leftovers.

November also brought our family a scare. The wildfire in Gatlinburg, Tennessee where my brother and his family currently live. Another disaster. More families without homes who have lost everything. I’m thankful that my brother, sister-in-law, nephews, their pets and their extended family in the area are all okay.

One this last day of November, I find myself glad it’s ending and praying that December comes with no problems, with nothing but blessings for everyone to finish out the year. I hope that the next year is a better one because this one has surely been a struggle for so many.

My thoughts and prayers are with everyone who have been affected by this years disasters. I pray that the next year will be a better one for us all!

July 2016: Update from Us {Thoughts From Me}

July 21, 2016 by Dana

I know I haven’t updated in quite some time. When you have four kids with special needs life keeps you busy. Not to mention not having internet at home for almost a year. Thankfully, things are now looking up and I’m happy to say I’m back.

What We’ve Been Up To:

Last month, Mimi had surgery on both her feet to correct her toe-walking. She’s been in casts ever since. In a few weeks, the casts come off and she’ll be placed into orthotics for a while. In the meantime, she’s going to therapy several times a week, gaining strength so she can relearn how to walk once her casts are removed. So far so good.

I’m really proud of Mimi. She’s fought hard to come through this surgery and get back going. She’s excited for the opportunities this will allow for her life and so am I. We’re both looking forward to some field trips this fall when the weather cools off and she’s got some experience and healing behind her.

Win, Laycie and Jack are all doing great. Win’s earning rewards for a PS3 which he’s excited for. Laycie is working on earning a 3DS by completing her schoolwork and chores without complaint. Jack is learning so much every day. He can tell you dinosaur names and what they eat. He is now recognizing words. But his absolute favorite thing is fishing. This boy loves to fish! He can name the lures and is learning to throw his line like a pro! He’ll be out fishing his Daddy in no time!

What’s Coming Up:

I said a while back that I was planning to change our blog name but I’ve since decided to keep it since we have a well established blog and so many followers. So we will remain Luv’N Lambert Life though I may alter it a bit in the future.

We now have internet at home so this allows me to get back to blogging and sharing in groups, among other things. I’m so excited about that because I have dearly missed everyone!

I have several book launches that I’m participating in over the next few months. I’m so excited to share those with you all. In fact, my first will be coming up very soon so keep an eye out.

I have some plans for developing some special things for Luv’N Lambert Life. I’d like to develop some printables and maybe some images to share. I’d also like to create a few series posts to share with you guys. All in good time though.

For now, bare with me as I get back on track and back to sharing online. I hope all of you are well and am praying for each of you.

God bless,

Dana

Here are some pics of us lately: