Forever Beloved

Faith, Love & Truth

Thank You, Lord, For Everything {Book Review}

Thank You, Lord, For Everything
By P.J. Lyons
About the book:

A new padded board book with cheerful and upbeat rhymes that teaches children to be thankful. 

A comfortable and relaxing rhyme tells the story of God’s great blessings in this padded cover board book. P.J. Lyons’ engaging text and Tim Warnes’ playful illustrations remind readers how much they have to be thankful for. 

Love surrounds you, beauty, too. Notice how God blesses you! Clap your hands, shout and sing: Thank you, Lord, for everything. 

Thank You, Lord, For Everything, is a sweet and gentle rhyme-perfect for bedtime, quiet time, and anytime in between.  

Oh my lanta, this book is the cutest. The illustrations by Tim Warnes make the book extra special and oh so cute. The sweet little bear gives thanks throughout his day in every situation. This is a wonderful book to teach children to give thanks for every little thing that happens along their day. The pictures and rhyme captivate their interest and will quickly make it a favorite. I can’t wait to read this to the littles in my class!

This book was provided to me free of charge by Book Look in return for my honest review. The opinions I have expressed are my own.

P J Lyons received a Master’s Degree in Writing for Children at Vermont College and is the author of The Little Lion’s Bible (Zondervan 2012), The Little Lamb’s Bible (Zondervan 2012), and The Wonderful World That God Made (Kregel 2004). She currently resides in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

Gather Around the Amish Table {Book Review + Giveaway}

Gather Around the Amish Table
Treasured Recipes and Stories from Plain Communities
By Lucy Leid
Incorporate Amish cooking traditions this fall in your kitchen with Lucy Leid’s Gather Around the Amish Table. Straight from Amish kitchens to yours, this cookbook offers favorite family recipes and charming stories from Amish and Mennonite cooks. Gather your family around the table to sample the nourishing fare and trademark charm of the plain people. In the words of one cookbook contributor: “Bake someone happy!”
This cookbook combines two of my favorite things…food and the Amish.  In the past few years, we’ve had quite a few Amish families move in around our area.  Actually, I can sit on my porch on any given day and watch buggies drive past.  One of our favorite summer activities is visiting the Amish bake sales.  Their baked goods are like no other!  You just can’t beat pies, cookies and fry pies baked from scratch.  So when I saw this book, I couldn’t wait to get my hands on it!
I had an evening alone, so I snuggled on the couch with a blanket and a cup of coffee.  I pulled this book off the coffee table and began leafing through it.  What I found inside the cover was amazing..not only recipes but pictures and stories to go along with each one!  Oh my, if it wasn’t so late I would have been running straight to my kitchen.
This cookbook came at the perfect time, my bread machine quit last week.  I know, I’m still ridiculously sad about that.  So if I make bread, it has to be hand kneaded and let to rise.  There was a cheesy bread stick recipe in this cookbook that I was dying to try.  The recipe was so descriptive, even I could do it myself!  I made them to go alongside baked ziti and they completed our meal perfectly.
Gather Around the Amish Table is absolutely a keeper and will be going straight on my cookbook shelf.  I highly recommend it!

Special THANK YOU to LitFuse for providing me with a complimentary copy in exchange for my honest review.  My review is my own personal opinion.

Get your fall baking underway with an Amish baking basket giveaway from Lucy and MennoMedia!

gather-400 

One grand prize winner will receive:

gather-lasagna-recipe 

Enter today by clicking the icon below. But hurry, the giveaway ends on September 29th. The winner will be announced September 30th on the Litfuse blog.

gather-enterbanner

You can purchase your own copy HERE.

Lucy Leid is an Old Order Mennonite wife, mother, and cook in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania.

God Bless Our Fall {Book Review}

God Bless Our Fall
By Hannah Hall 
Illustrated by Steve Whitlow

About the book:

Little ones will love seeing all of God’s blessings of fall! 

Parents and children will want to cuddle up together again and again to hear the sweet rhyming story and see the snuggly animal families happy in their fall activities. Pumpkin patches, apple harvests, leaves that change color, hayrides, warm beverages, cozy clothes-God Bless Our Fall highlights all the wonderful things families get to enjoy together when the air turns crisp and cool. 

The fifth installment of the bestselling God BlessTM series, God Bless Our Fall features the same talented writer and illustrator combo from God Bless You and Good Night,God Bless Our Easter, and God Bless Our Christmas. This padded board book with a beautiful orange, gold, and crimson color palette will be sure to catch the eye of Mom and Grandma. They’ll love using it to introduce fun fall traditions to their little ones and guide them in giving thanks for God’s blessings of the season.

It’s no secret, fall is my absolute favorite time of year!  In my family, this season is full of traditions and family togetherness.  And this Sunday, we begin a new Sunday School class with lots of little 2-3 year olds in it.  What a perfect way to share Gods blessings of fall with them.  I’m so super excited to read this book to those littles!

This book is a sweet, charming, rhyming account of all of fall’s most fun components.  I even enjoyed reading it myself!  It covers everything from outside activities like hayrides and fairs to inside activities like baking and sitting by the fire. Hannah C. Hall’s text is a perfect balance of whimsy and reality for getting little ones excited for fall.

The adorable characters that are brought to life through Whitlow’s delicate art work share how the season changes from summer to fall. From the changing of the leaves, the chill in the air, pumpkins, cozy fires, and hayrides we are introduced to the new season.

This book was provided to me free of charge by Book Look in return for my honest review. The opinions I have expressed are my own.

Hannah C. Hall is a wearer of many hats. (Except for real hats. Her head is too big.)  She is a bestselling author, award-winning blogger, lover of Jesus, lover of Josh, mother of four, cooker of meals, changer of diapers, and unashamed enjoyer of desserts. Visit her at HannahCHall.com.