* GIVEAWAY * Abigail - Mighty Girl, Mighty God

Over the years, I've had some lovely opportunities to sample and review some amazing goodies for my family through this blog... and lovely books are right up there with my favourite review items. When the lovely Lucy from The Hope Filled Family dropped me a message to ask if I'd be up for renewing her newest children's book, you can be sure I gave an immediate and resounding "yes!" She then very kindly offered me a second copy to giveaway to one of you!

So here we are!

"Abigail" is a gorgeous rhyming book, geared at 4-8 year olds, which tells the story of Abigail, Nabal and David from 1 Samuel 25. As book lovers, our shelves at home are lined with books about the well known heroes of the Bible, but I love that this book dedicates all its time and energy to one of its lesser known, but very worthy characters - and a female one at that! Abigail is wise, shrewd and God-fearing and I love that my crew got to get to know her in the fun pages of this book!

The book is all in rhyme, adding a fun element to it. A couple of the rhyming lines were harder to scan, but honestly, its a fantastic piece of poetry, and the girls were able to confidently follow the rhyme scheme to tell the story without any adult intervention. For some reason, rhyme just seems to keep kids hooked in a way that prose doesn't always succeed, so this was a win on that front!

As well as that, it has some beautiful and expressive illustrations!

There's nothing like some good artwork to help a story, and the beauty of this book is that it has both - a fantastic and followable storyline as well as some beautiful illustrations to go with it! Everyone poured over the detailed drawings on each page!

What I think I appreciated most about the story though, was that Lucy was able to present issues like wisdom, of justice and of repentance in the book, all while keeping it fun and enjoyable. She really got the detail of the Abigail storyline, while also keeping the reader engaged. We thoroughly enjoyed this rhyming read and would highly recommend it to anyone with littles in the 4-8 age range!

I also loved the "character introduction" page which is essentially a "who's who" - and I loved the fact that Lucy told us where we could find the original story in the Bible too!

You can grab a copy on Lucy's website or on Amazon for £8.99

OR you can enter to win a free copy right here!

Here's how you can get an entry...

1. Leave a comment below!

2. Hop over to my Instagram and tag a friend or two (one entry for each comment)

3. Share the post on your stories and make sure you tag me in it so I can see!

I can't wait to be able to send one of you a copy, so you can enjoy this fabulous gem of a book too!

I'd love to know who you'd love to buy it for! (And don't forget, if you engage with the comments that's an automatic entry!)

In the meantime, I'll leave you with my little bookworms!

2022 - A Year of Transitions...

If there's ever a time to resurrect a dormant blog, then surely the new year is it! This space was so precious for so many years, and now and then I find myself returning to it... just to dive into the memories of life with very small children. Somehow remembering the physical intensity of those early years makes me appreciate the phase we are in now.

Happy 5th Birthday Elias!

 

Our Elias - 5 years old!

Our space-mad, Lego-loving, mini theologian, arms-and-legs everywhere enthusiast turned 5. It now feels official that we are out of the baby zone and into the realm of full blown kids. 

Poor Elias actually spent his birthday recovering from a bug the boys had as we travelled back from Wales on Thursday, so it turned out to be a low-key day with the family. Presents, birthday breakfast, the sharing of "what we love about Elias" around the table and a visit from the grandparents.

Happy 9th birthday our Heidi!

Dear Heidi,

Nine years old... our baby girl is definitely out of the little years now! It seems like a lifetime ago that they lifted you out, showed me your fuzzy dark head and shouted "It's a girl!"... the early days of your life were blissful. The newborn phase has always been super intense and emotional and hard... and yet somehow with you it felt easy. Perhaps the Lord allowed us that season of grace before the hard months that followed when you fell ill, but those first nine weeks were carefree and wonderful in every way.

Redeeming Advent // A Review + A Giveaway!

** Giveaway winner has been announced over on Instagram. @jolarcs please contact me to claim your prize! Huge thanks to everyone who took part! ***

Since January, I've been working my way through the books of the Bible chronologically with a group of friends from church. It's been incredibly helpful to see the context of each narrative, to understand the bigger picture - and to have some accountability along the way! Right now, we're diving into 1 Kings, and it's fascinating to see Jesus shining through the pages of Old Testament Scripture. I have loved digging into some of the Old Testament narratives and getting to know him better in books some might not even expect to find him!

3 Simple Sprays for the Autumn // Creating a Natural Home

One of the easiest switches we made when I began to become more aware of the kind of chemicals we were using in everyday life was to start making my own sprays. Essential Oil sprays are so easy to make, take zero skill and actually function much more effectively than their synthetic counterparts! They also happen to be completely free of respiratory triggers, skin irritants and hormone disruptors, so it was a no brainer really!

A Yearly Tradition // The Pumpkin Patch

It's an annual tradition, and one that we have enjoyed for many years now! The yearly trip to the pumpkin patch - complete with wellies, a lot of mud, a chaotic attempt at "THE" family picture (with a few outtakes for fun!), a few giggles, some tears, a bit of frustration and usually someone falling over (though I think we miraculously avoided that this year!)