Picnic At The Park

A beautiful day and a family picnic at the park ~

Kentucky Springtime

Family Robot

A robot moved in with us yesterday! The robot is sweet and kind, though often falls over and cannot get up without assistance. I asked our new robot if it will be making breakfast for the family. It replied, "No." So I guess it's not a cooking robot. Oh well.

(The robot told me its inspiration for robotics came from an episode of Curious George.)

God's Big Picture

On Tuesday, I wrote about the Read and Learn Bible. It's good for exposing children to many Bible stories and characters, but it doesn't tie all those stories together into one cohesive story.

We have also been reading another children's Bible lately called The Big Picture Story Bible, by David Helm. This is a fabulous children's (or adult's!) introduction to biblical theology. It's what Ken calls a "Thematic Bible"--It's a retelling of the Bible in such a way as to emphasize central themes. You cannot read this Bible without catching these two messages:

1. God is the ruler over all, and
2. Jesus is the Forever King.

The Big Picture Story Bible highlights God in every narrative. Instead of looking at the people of the Bible, their characteristics, virtues and vices, it looks at God. It answers questions such as, "What is God doing in this story?" "Why?" and "What is God's plan?" It tells the story of how God has acted through history.

Throughout its pages, this beautifully illustrated book traces God's hand through creation, the fall of man, God's promise of a coming King who will crush sin and death, and the ultimate fulfillment of God's promises in Jesus Christ.

My favorite part of this book is pages 400-411. Jesus has been raised from the dead and is teaching the disciples how all of Scripture points to him. It says, "In [God's holy book] were many word pictures that proved he must die to pay the penalty for sin." The illustrations on these pages are mini drawings from previous stories...A ram being sacrificed on an altar in place of Isaac...the Israelites painting blood over their doors at the first Passover in Egypt...the articles of the temple...the temple destroyed and rebuilt. All these are word pictures that point to Jesus!

The book is engaging for preschool children (Calvin said last night, "Let's read the whole thing tonight!"), and I would guess children through elementary school would enjoy it as well.

By the way, if this sounds familiar to readers of Graeme Goldsworthy (one of Ken's favorite theologians), it should. The acknowledgments at the front of the book say, "We are indebted to Graeme Goldsworthy, who first helped us grasp the Bible along the lines of 'God's people in God's place under God's rule.'"

What a great way to introduce children to the Kingdom of God, to his plan and his rule!

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Another theologically rich children's Bible is The Jesus Storybook Bible. See our blog entry here.

A Caribou Smile

My dear friend Pat came through. Thank you Pat for the Sumatra Caribou Coffee, I am enjoying it in the mornings as I parse verbs and participles for Greek. Kimberly loved the truffles as well, thank you for thinking of her.

The Bee Movie

Last evening Kimberly, the boys and I watched The Bee Movie. It is the animated movie that Jerry Seinfeld helped write. He is the main character, Barry. Renee Zellwiger, Chris Rock and Matthew Broderick supply the other voices of the main characters.

I would recommend this movie. Calvin loved it and Kimberly and I laughed out loud at numerous points. If you liked Seinfeld you will like this movie. I only remember one line that was not pleasing to God or a parents ears.

I would be interested to hear of other children's movies that are clean and enjoyable for both children and parents.

Read and Learn Bible

At Christmas time, Calvin received a new Bible from Ken's Aunt Gloria. It is the Read and Learn Bible from the American Bible Society. We have enjoyed reading it with Calvin and have read it once in its entirety, as well as read some of his favorite stories many times over.

This Bible contains "102 of the best-loved stories in the Bible," paraphrased using the Contemporary English Version and the King James Version.

Interestingly, the introduction to the book says it is for children ages 5-8. This guideline might be for childen reading it themselves. But as we've found with our sweet 3-year-old, it can be read to children much younger!

The Read and Learn Bible includes many stories that our other children's Bibles don't. For example, it spends 73 pages on Genesis, including the creation account and detail on all the patriarchs (Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph). Calvin really likes the story of Jacob and Esau. I'm not sure why- maybe because it is about brothers and forgiveness, two things he's familiar with. But we've read it many times.

Some other elements of this Bible include geographical and historical notes, and parent pages explaining how you might talk about the stories with your children.