Counting Down Till Christmas With Praise!

Last Year, I started a new tradition with our girls. Instead of counting down the days till Christmas with chocolate, we count down the days by giving praise to our Lord! They girls embraced the idea with joy, and never once did I hear a peep about the missing chocolate!

Here are the Steps:

I simply cut Christmas themed ribbon and rolled the top. With hot glue, I carefully tack the inside of the roll. I made sure the ribbon was about 8 feet in height and cut the bottom. I added a decorative element on the top portion of the roll to add some holiday charm to the strand. To hang the strand, I used a thumb tack in the inside of the roll.

 

 On the first card I write their name, year and the title, "This Christmas I pray and give praise for..."

Then each day I ask the girls, with out assistance from Mom, "today what you would like to give praise for". My younger daughters are five and three, so I write down exactly what they tell me. Emma, the five year old, will write down her praises next year. Afterwards they pick-out one sticker to place on their card and we say a little prayer to Jesus giving Him praise! Afterwards, we uses double-sided sticky tape to tape the card onto the strand.

When the girls tell me what they would like to give praise for, I am astonished of their compassion and understand of the world around them . Their praises are heart-warming and some times bring a tear to my eye. They even give praise for the little things in life for example; a rock they found, having alone time from the other sister, but it is their praise.  

When it is time to put away the Christmas decorations, we place the cards in a zip-lock bag. The next year we revisit the cards to see what Jesus has done in our lives from the previous  year. 

Needed Items:

Ribbion

Hot glue gun and sticks

Tumb-tack

Decorative item

25 Stickers

25 3x5 cards

Pen

Double-sided sticky tape / tape

Enjoy and Happy Memories! 

Author Reading: Temecula Berry Co.

Croaker will make his first debut July 3rd, 2012 at the Temecula Berry Co!  Stop by for Nana's Story times: 9:00am and 10:30am.  Local author, Melissa Alani, will perform an author reading of her story, 'God's Biggest Treasures'.

 During the story, the readers will discover on their journey with the character, Katie,  that something small can become God’s biggest treasures!  The story covers how a caterpillar manifest into a colorful butterfly, an acorn will grow into a giant oak-tree, and a tadpole will transform into a frog. 
 

Once the story has been told, I will recover with animated objects the life cycle of the butterfly and tadpole. With the magic of a magnified-glass; the readers will be able to discover how something that is small can look much bigger.  Each reader will receive a little gift from Mrs. Alani to take home.

The Message behind the story

• The Bible verse John 3:16
• God’s glory
• Something small can turn into something BIG
• God’s love
• Sharing God’s love with others

After the the reading, stop by the barn to learn more about blueberry picking. Enjoy fresh blueberries to make a delicious blueberry pie for the 4th of July!

Temecula Berry Co. 

39700 Cantrell Rd.

Temecula, CA 92591

Book Review: The Fish Who Swam Too Far

 The Fish Who Swam Too Far

By, Danielle Kirrane

 'The Fish Who Swam Too Far', is an enlightening story of a little fish named Harry, whom is teased by his siblings for for his insecurities of being a scared. Loveable Harry, longs to overcome his fears and to build-up courage to be appreciated by those around him.

After a day of taunting by his sisters and brothers, Harry's emotions quickly switched from sadness to anger.  Harry had enough! For the first time he stood-up for himself towards his siblings and then decided to swim away. 

After realizing he had swum too far, Harry hears the calls of help from another clown-fish. There are challenges that Harry has to overcome in order assist the other fish. Harry conquers his fears by repeatedly telling himself, "I am brave." He builds up his courage to help the clown-fish in distress.  Harry has overcome his insecurities!  

The delightful illustrations are in bold color and catches the attention of the little reader. The girls and I were rooting for Harry the entire time. The story brought-up important discussions of respecting others for who there are; that teasing others is not acceptable; how we are all different in our own way; and how we have the power inside us to overcome our insecurities.

A little about the author

Danielle Kirrane resides in NJ, along with her husband and their two daughters, their dog Jayda, their cat Jimmy little, and their fish. She is a stay at home mom, and loves every minute of it! Her new children’s book, The fish who swam too far, was inspired by her oldest daughter. The clown-fish Harry’s character was actually based on their goldfish named Harry. The fish who swam too far was created one day as Danielle sat with her daughter on the couch. She made up this story as an adventure for their fish Harry and to teach her daughter a valuable lesson as well. Her daughter was actually the one to push her to publish it, luckily she did!
For more information on Danielle Kirrane or her book, The fish who swam too far, you can check out her website at:
The Fish Who Swam Too Far

Story age range: Read-aloud - Elementary (Although, I did look-up to see my 17 year old's eyes off of her i-phone and fixed on the story, now that speaks volumes)

To order a copy of, "The Fish Who Swam Too Far" :  Tate Publishing  or Amazon

My recommendations: This was a delightful story that captured the attention of all three of my daughters. The story line instills the theory that one should not let their challenges in life own them; they can own their challenges and overcome obstacles that come their way! 

Book Review: be paitent Petunia

 

 be patient Petunia 

By, Erin Butler

    As a Christian mother and Sunday School teacher, one of the important foundations we can in-still in our children is the Fruits of the Spirit. The story introduction starts with Galatians 5:22-23, and carries the theme of the scripture through-out each page; teaching the reader one of life's challenging fruits, patients!

  The charming character, Petunia, who has wonderful traits, finds it a little difficult to have to wait. Petunia, who is too impatient to wait for the cake to bake, discovers it might have been best to wait after taking a taste of the half baked cake. With each challenge, adorable Petunia encounters with her puppy in tow, are often told that good things come to those who patiently wait. The reader will giggle and start to know with each turn of the page to say, "Be patient Petunia!"

  My daughters smiled from ear to ear and hung on to every word. A book that makes a child giggle, is a book that makes a treasured moment between the reader and the child. When the girls become a little impatient, all I have to tell them now is, "Be patient Petunia!" 

  The book reads as a rhyming story with heart-warming illustrations that captures the emotions of the character. The whimsical critters were a darling added touch.

  A little about the author Erin

Erin Butler is a stay-at-home wife and mother from Springfield, Missouri, whose greatest passions are her faith and her family. Her inspiration for Petunia came from her daughter, in one of those moments that all mothers of toddlers can relate to when they are responding to impatient little pleas saying, “Hold on, wait, be patient!” So Petunia was created as a gift to her daughter, as a way of teaching her what patience looks like in a fun and enjoyable way. That was coupled with a love for reading, and the belief that a book is one of the best gifts you can give to a child to foster learning and imagination. Now available to all, she hopes her little story will bless others as well!

Erin’s other passions include: cooking wholesome real food for her family, learning how to be self-sustaining, enjoying the great outdoors, and drinking coffee. She is also an avid home workout-video fan and occasionally teaches Turbo Kick fitness classes on the side.

Erin's Books & More

Story age range: Read- aloud - Elementary

 

To order a copy of, "be patient Petunia": Tate Publishing  or Amazon !

My recommendation: If you have a little one, purchase a copy to teach the children the wonderful gift of patients! The added gem, is the scripture placed in the story. It is a wonderful tool to teach children to memorize Scripture! 

  

Winner of, "Name the Frog" contest!

Let me introduce my new assistant, Croaker!

Congratulations to Vera Godley! 

Thank you, to all those who entered the contest!

There were eight judges on the panel

Mr. Ribbiton received two votes

Faith received one vote

Floy the Frog received zero votes

Croaker received six votes

 

I would like to shout out a, 'Thank you' to the judges as well!

The Name The Frog Contest Only Has A few Days Left!

The name the assistant contest is drawing to an end! You still have a few days left to enter a name to win a free copy of, 'God's Biggest Treasures'!Click the "number of comments" section to enter.

Meet my new assistant for my author readings of, 'God's Biggest Treasures', published by, Tate Publishing.  When I asked my new assistant his/her name, he/she just gave me a blank stare.  Everyone of God's creatures needs a name.  Can you assist the assistant? Enter a name in the comment section of this post that would be fitting for such a gliourios creature. The winner will win a free copy of, 'God's Biggest Treasures'. The contest will run from May 23, 2012 at 2pm - May 30, 2012 2pm. The winner and the assistant's new name will be announced on the blog May 30th after 2pm. Have fun and good luck! I welcome you to join Stories By Melissa Alani on FaceBook and Twitter!

 

"Name the Frog" contest

Meet my new assistant for my author readings of, 'God's Biggest Treasures', published by, Tate Publishing.  When I asked my new assistant his/her name, he/she just gave me a blank stare.  Everyone of God's creatures needs a name.  Can you assist the assistant? Enter a name in the comment section of this post that would be fitting for such a gliourios creature. The winner will win a free copy of, 'God's Biggest Treasures'. The contest will run from May 23, 2012 at 2pm - May 30, 2012 2pm. The winner and the assistant's new name will be announced on the blog May 30th after 2pm. Have fun and good luck! I welcome you to join Stories By Melissa Alani on FaceBook and Twitter!

"God's Biggest Treasures"

 When Katie receives a package in the mail from her grandpa, it leads her to on a hunt for God's Biggest Treasures. Come along as Katie experiences the glory of God's creation, the wonder of His world, and the power of His love through the magic of a tiny magnifying glass.

Hidden Treasures of Love!

An author can turn ordinary paper into a story with delicate placement of their words.  The illustrator gives those words life with whimsical lines and stroke of vibrant colors.

The author and the illustrator work as a team to bring the reader a story that will peak their interest and give them the urge to turn to the next page of the book.  An author will have one vision for their characters and settings while creating the story line.  The illustrator will have their own vision as they read the words from the pages of the book.  For my book, I always pictured the main character Katie wearing weathered by love overalls, and having braided pony tails held together with red bows.  Samantha, the illustrator, envisioned Katie wearing a checker dress with leggings and gave the character shoulder length hair.

In my personal opinion, as the author, I told the story with my words. When the production process began for the illustrations, I felt it was important to allow Samantha to tell her portion of the story with her impressive art work.  Some authors may disagree with this theory, and would prefer their vision to come alive through the illustration process.  Samantha had free reign to create the illustrations as her imagination pictured each detail.

There was one request that I asked of Samantha, which stemmed back from the memories of my little boy sitting upon my lab eighteen years ago as I read to him, " The Adventures of Taxi Dog". With each turn of the page, my then little boy, would giggle away hunting for the little black cat nestled in each illustration.  The story never mentioned the black little cat, it was a "mark" left by the illustrator. I dreamed of the readers creating those same fond memories with their little ones with, "God's Biggest Treasures".

When I first saw the illustrations on print, excitement filled my heart. Eighteen years later; I sat with my little daughters on my lap as we hunted for the hidden treasure Samantha secretly drew on each illustration of my very own published book!  We unrevealed together the hidden treasure with smiles and giggles.

God's Biggest Treasures