The SG Notebook

A quick thank you to Shari Lyle-Soffe for her free promotion of our Bright Gems book. We appreciate it so much, Shari! If you want to know more about books for your kids or grandkids, hop on over to Shari’s blog.

Spring cleaning has just gotten a little bit easier for me in the past week.  We have two girls age 2 years and 6 months old, and you may be able to imagine that messes abound in our house. I also have chronic hip pain, and lugging our reliable but heavy vacuum cleaner around really takes a toll.

The Dirt Devil Versa Power All-in-One Vacuum Cleaner is four pounds, my friends. Four. Pounds. When it arrived last week and I first picked it up I could have danced. This little friend isn’t for heavy duty cleaning, but it is perfect for households with little children and/or pets. It works wonderfully on those crumbs, tiny “bits” of whatever, hair on the bathroom floor, or stairs. It also has one attachment that gets in corners or atop dusty baseboards.

Things I like about my new friend:

·         Its four pound lightness!

·         The fact that it can be a stick vac, hand vac, and utility vac – whatever  you need

·         It doesn’t use a vacuum bag – it has a dirt cup that you empty

·         My two year old actually vacuumed her room with it – all by herself.

Any of you moms out there have a favorite household “friend?” Tell us about it! And while we’re talking about spring cleaning, don’t forget to check out our Spring Sale! We are offering great items for your young ones – my favorite deal is the Dover Activity Books (9 pack) for only $4.50!

In Him,

Beverly

I had talked a couple of weeks ago about teaching our children that life is not always going to be easy for our families, and that they are included in that. I don’t know whether or not you know about the Chinese family which is going through a time of intense trial. I encourage you to read about them and about the father of the family, who is currently being held and probably tortured. Please remember to include this man and his wife and children in your family prayer times. It is SO important that we not neglect to have our children know about these things. Also, if you have not signed the petition, please do.

Here is a wonderful opportunity for teaching about a modern day Christian hero who is making history right now.

If you have time, this post at the Persecution blog is worth your reflection. It should make all of us think about our Christianity, especially those of us who are in the western Church. The Lord knows we need help.

For His Glory,

Maxine, a/k/a Nanna

How many young children do you know who don’t enjoy drawing happy/sad faces? I don’t know many. I want to tell you about a little booklet we’ve been publishing for over ten years now. In this little booklet, or “bookette” as we call it, young children have the opportunity to decide whether to put a happy or a sad face according to what is written on the facing page, and they get to draw in that face! There are eight circles for drawing in faces, one for each lesson. We designed this bookette years ago for evangelistic purposes. Even though it’s designed for the very young (ages 4-7 approx.), we have always felt that parents and older siblings who would read it with the younger child and help him or her with the faces, that these folks would be getting the gospel too!

For quite a few years, our church has been using the booklet, along with a few pieces of candy in a zipper sandwich bag, to give out for various evangelistic purposes. It’s been our experience that the adults are always willing to allow you to give this little bag to their children; it even makes people react with a little bit more warmth.

We have always sold this booklet separately or as part of the whole package with the candy in it. We call the whole packages our “gospel bags” and I wanted to let you know that these bags are being sold at half price in our spring sale. We want to make them available to Christian groups or churches who are having activities this summer where handing out these bags for kids to take home would be appropriate. Of course, there’s VBS and backyard Bible clubs, but they would also be great as take home gifts for a party, particularly if the children of unbelievers are attending. They are another opportunity for you to get the message of Jesus into homes.

I’ve been intending for awhile to put the contents of this bookette, which is entitled “Eight Happy and Sad Lessons from the Bible,” online so that people will know exactly what it says and hope to get to it in a few days. When I do, I’ll make a quick post with a link to that information. If anyone is interested in getting the info before then, please send an email and we’ll see what we can do.

For His Glory,

Maxine, a/k/a Nanna

Believe it or not, I’ve just discovered ANOTHER helpful blog with craft projects to do with your kids! You’ve got to go there and check it out. I just heard about it on one of my homeschooling groups and wanted to pass it on to folks here as well. Lots and lots of free gift ideas, recipes and printables. As Vicki from the group said, this is a VERY talented grandmother who is giving of herself on her blog. You know how I am, I’m always ready to put in a plug for a grandmom who is doing something constructive with her life!

As soon as you can, go over to see “Happy Bird” at her Crafting Haven. I’ve already bookmarked it on my computer for future reference. I will be very surprised if you don’t do the same. Here’s yet another resource for helping your kids learn the fine old art of making things themselves. Those of you who are homeschooling will especially love it!

Blessings and Happy Crafting,

Maxine, a/k/a Nanna

In last May’s newsletter, I wrote an article about how children might honor their moms and dads by making homemade cards for Mother’s Day and Father’s Day, with a few included links to help out. If you’d like, you can read this article in the newsletter archives at our site.

My reason for writing now is to tell you about a great blog which I just discovered. There you will find good ideas for crafting cards and other nifty things. Try some of these projects with your older children–there are some lovely ones which I think you may appreciate .. The blogger is Kelli and the site is “There is No Place Like Home.” Apparently there are lots of neat activities that will capture your interest, such as giveaways and a weekly show and tell. Scoot on over!

For His Glory,

Maxine

We have our first winner in our first giveaway! My husband just drew out the name and the person who will receive the junior version of either Scrabble or Monopoly is . . . . Barbara, who has a blog called “Ramblings From an English Garden.” I hadn’t known Barbara before, but I can see we have a lot in common. As I went for a quick visit a few minutes ago I can see that she loves the same Lord that I do and is enjoying grandmotherhood as much as I am. In fact, according to her last post made yesterday, she’s expecting to have a granddaughter born today! I have contacted Barbara to let her know, though I doubt if she has time for this today.

Thanks so much to all of you who participated. It was fun having this little giveaway and I seriously doubt if this will be the last one. Don’t forget to visit here often to see what’s going on. It’s here that we’ll be announcing our special sales, writing contests, and whatever else we we may be doing. We’ll be having household tips, especially regarding your children, and plenty of links, not just to things of interest at our own site, but to other places as well. So, pop on over often!

Thanks again for helping out; we appreciate it so much!

Maxine, a/k/a Nanna

Just wanted to let everyone know that comments are now closed for the giveaway and that hopefully we’ll be announcing the winner on Wednesday. Thanks for all who took part! We don’t expect this to be the last time that we give something away, so don’t forget about us.

Thanks for those of you who linked to our post–that was a great help. And we’re tickled pink that some of you signed up for the newsletter. We intentially do not send one out that often, but now those of you who subscribed will hear from us from time to time, so that way you won’t forget us! But even if you just left a comment, thanks for that too!

God bless!!

Now in the place where he was crucified there was a garden; and in the garden a new sepulchre, wherein was never man yet laid. John 19:41

Had you ever thought about that? I hadn’t. Just imagine–the place of the resurrection was in a garden. For me, that’s a beautiful thought. I was reading about this in a devotional book, Meditations on the Gospels, by George H. Morrison (one which I strongly recommend) and the thoughts by Mr. Morrison were wonderful. As he said, you might think that the place of the crucifixion would be a bleak and dreary scene. But no it wasn’t; there was a garden there. Our Jesus was buried in that place, which means that when He came up from the grave, He was in a garden.

Whether you and your family celebrate Easter as a holiday or not, may this warm your heart the same way it did mine. In the place where he was crucified there was a garden.

Bless you all,

Maxine

Everybody else is doing it, so why shouldn’t we? That’s right, here we are, telling you about our first giveaway. And what will it be? A board game for you to play with your children! We’re even giving the winner a choice between two games. We’ve just purchased these two games, one for one of you out there and one for either my household or Bev’s to keep for gift-giving. Board games are great for family entertainment and growth, in my estimation. But then you already knew that, right?

We have the junior versions of two of the most popular: Monopoly and Scrabble. Some folks are big fans of either or both of the adult versions. For me, it’s Monopoly, but I know a host of Scrabble fans. I can’t tell you how many hours of fun we had when my younger daughter and I would take some time in the evening to play the junior Monopoly game. It’s supposedly designed for ages 5 through 8, but honestly I enjoyed it as much as she did, and when older siblings join in to play with the younger ones AND a parent, it makes for a truly nice family building time. It’s not as time consuming and intense as the adult version and much can be learned by the younger kids. My guess is that the same holds true for the junior version of Scrabble. By the way, both games are for two to four players at a time.

So here is how our giveaway will work: Your name will go in once for each of the following:

1. You comment on this post, telling us you would like to have one of the games for your family or to give as a gift. If you have no children or grandchildren to play it with, then surely you know it would make a great gift for another family!

2. You subscribe to our feed. If you do, comment again and tell us so. The feed is at the top of the page and also on the sidebar after all the links.

3. You tell about our giveaway at your blog and link back to us. (Click on the title of this post for the link.) You would be doing us a huge favor by doing this, as we want more people to know we are here! If you do, please comment again and tell us.

4. You subscribe to our bi-monthly enewsletter, “Helping Children Grow.” More information and a form to subscribe is here. If you do decide to subscribe, please comment again and tell us.

So your name will be entered up to four times for any of the above, or a combination thereof. This is so much fun, don’t you think? Bev and I are excited about seeing who will be our first winner. If it’s you, you will go down in history as the first official Speakable Gifts giveaway winner! Now that is quite an achievement. And needless to say, we will link back to your blog, if you have one, and tell others a little bit about it. But non bloggers are welcome to enter also.

Thanks for coming. Thanks for entering. I suppose I’ll post a quick note to let folks know when we’ve closed comments. One of our husbands will pick a winner early next week. Since this coming weekend is a holiday, we’ll probably let this go until Wednesday to announce.

For His Glory,

Maxine, a/k/a Nanna