The Gingerbread Man {Poppins Book Nook}

This months theme for the Poppins Book Nook is To The Kitchen. It's such a lovely time of the year to get to the kitchen with your children and build some holiday festive family traditions.  One of the things we've done is make Gingerbread Houses.

Did you know

• The world's largest Gingerbread Man was made on 2nd December 2006 ? 
• Gingerbread dates back to the 15th century

This year we explored some variations of the Gingerbread Man Story before hand. 

Books

• The Gingerbread Man
• The Gingerbread Man - Read it Yourself with Ladybird: Level 2
• The Gingerbread Man
• Ladybird Tales: The Gingerbread Man

On YouTube

• The Gingerbread Man
• English Talking Book - Gingerbread Man
• The Tale of the Gingerbread Man | Sing-a-long Reading!
• Fairytale: The Gingerbread Man read by John Krasinski by Speakaboos
• Richard Scarry - The Gingerbread Man [1/2]
• Richard Scarry - The Gingerbread Man [2/2]
• Ginger Bread Man - Fairy Tales In English - Animated / Cartoon Stories For Kids

On the WWW

• Gingerbread man
• FREE Gingerbread Man Literacy: Letters, Word Families, Digraphs & Blends
• The Gingerbread Man over at Top Marks
• FREE Gingerbread Man Mini Unit for Grades PreK-3
• Gingerbread Man Cushion Felt Sewing Kits for Children to Make (Pack of 2)
• Learning to count with The Gingerbread Man Game
• Teaching Heart's Gingerbread Man  
• Gingerbread Teaching Theme 

On Pinterest

• Gingerbread Man Theme Unit Study Homeschool
• The Gingerbread Man

On This Blog

•  The Gingerbread Village 2013 
•  Ginger Bread House Tutorial (PT 1) recipe and tutorial
•  Gingerbread House Tutorial - Royal Icing.
• Gingerbread House - Part III Construction 

Jill from over at Enchanted Homeschooling Mom has made this FREE Poppins Book Nook pack for you with To The Kitchen Theme.

• An official interactive Poppins Book Nook bookmark for this month’s theme
• This month’s Passport pages to add to your lapbook
• Several lapbook elements centered around To The Kitchen
• Reading response writing prompt

We have enjoyed the company of the Gingerbread Man this month.  You are invited to blog and share one of your book adventures on the To the Kitchen and join in our link up below.

Looking forward to reading your adventures
Blessings
Chareen

Your Poppins Book Nook Co-hosts

Enchanted Homeschooling Mom ~ 3 Dinosaurs ~ To the Moon and Back ~ Planet Smarty Pants ~ Farm Fresh Adventures ~ Growing in God's Grace ~ Chestnut Grove Academy ~ Learning and Growing the Piwi Way ~ The Usual Mayhem~ Preschool Powol Packets ~ Monsters Ed Homeschool Academy ~ Adventures in Mommydom ~ Teach Beside Me ~ Life with Moore Babies ~ Kathy's Cluttered Mind ~ Are We There Yet? ~ Our Crafts N Things ~ Hopkins Homeschool ~ ABC Creative Learning ~ Joy Focused Learning ~ P is for Preschooler ~ Laugh and Learn ~ A Mommy's Adventures ~ Inspiring 2 New Hampshire Children ~ World for Learning ~ Ever After in the Woods ~ Golden Grasses ~ Our Simple Kinda Life ~ A glimpse of our life ~ Journey to Excellence ~ Happy Little Homemaker ~ Little Homeschool Blessings ~ Simplicity Breeds Happiness ~ Raventhreads ~ Water on the Floor ~ Learning Fundamentals ~ Tots and Me ~ As We Walk Along The Road ~ Stir the Wonder ~ For This Season ~ Where Imagination Grows ~ Lextin Academy ~ The Canadian Homeschooler ~ School Time Snippets ~ Peakle Pie ~ Mom's Heart ~ A Moment in our World ~ Finchnwren ~ At Home Where Life Happens ~ Suncoast Momma ~ The Library Adventure ~ Embracing Destiny ~ Day by Day in our World ~ Our Homeschool Studio ~ A "Peace" of Mind ~ Thou Shall Not Whine ~ SAHM I am ~ eLeMeNo-P Kids ~ Simple Living Mama

Poppins Book Nook Clip Art by Melon Headz

Connect with the Poppins Book Nook at

1. Enchanted Homeschooling
2. Facebook
3. Pinterest

Connect with me

 

An InLinkz Link-up

Swadini Reserve

Words can not explain the beauty of the bush here, hence the photo journal of our South African holiday adventures ...

Blyde River

What's missing ?

Path to the falls

Waterfall

Fun

Blyde Dam

Blyde Dam

Reflections

Messy Beautiful Love {Book Club}

This week marks the beginning of the November book club over at Women Living Well. This month we are reading Messy Beautiful Love by Darlene Schacht.

You can download a FREE Study Guide over at Messy Beautiful Love Book Club

Each Monday and Thursday over the month of November Courtney will be hosting a discussion via the comments section on her blog.

This Week at WLW

• Monday - Loving Our Husbands Through the Hard Times
• Thursday - Love Keeps Going When the Going Gets Tough

Introduction

• "Our definition of love can be skewed by selfish ambition"

Reading this book has really challenged me this week. In a few days Paul and I will be celebrating our 23 wedding anniversary. I had been feeling really frustrated with where our marriage was at ... As I read the above words I was convicted deeply of the fact that my attitude was bad because of my own self seeking attitude.

  Chapter One - Messy Beautiful Love

• We are called "to live out our purpose, which is to love our husbands, raise our children with intent, and manage our homes well."
• "God prepares the heart for tomorrow"
• We need to be " ... tuning out the world so that we might quietly tune in to Him"
• " ... remind us to seize the day and capture the joy of each moment, giving thanks for the big and the small."

Looking back over the last twenty something years I would agree with the author Love is messy and the expectations we gain from the world's perspective of 'Forever After' robs us of the joy and blessing of where we are at in the here and now.

As I read this week I realised how much noise was/is in my life and how much I need to change in my world in order to quietly tune into Him who knows all things and works all things together for my good.

I have become aware just how much I have NOT been living out my purpose, I have not lived with positive intent for a long time.  I have been living in habit. I have stopped growing as a person.

It's in researching, discussions (as iron sharpens iron so does one man sharpen another Proverbs 27:17 ), reading and studying His Word and reading that we grow.  What are you reading lately ?

I became more aware of looking for the blessings in the every day. I think I need to start counting my 1000 gifts again it certainly does impact my attitude in a positive way.

Chapter Two - Walk in Compassion and Grace

• " ... every weakness that contradicts love: being impatient, jealous, unkind, proud,selfish, or arrogant; demanding your own way that you think you should be loved."
• "The best things in life get messy before they get good."
• " ... I chose to let my anger and un-forgiveness draw me away and consume my heart "
• "The path to separation is paved by selfish ambition and pride, ..."
• " ..., love must start with the preparation of a graceful heart."

Walking in grace is so much easier to do with someone you do not know than someone you do! I was rather ashamed after I took some time to do some introspection and be honest when looking at the list of actions which contradict love. It's rather confronting to see where I have got to because I have been lazy in my LOVE walk within my marriage. Complacency is not a good thing when you are confronted with its fruit ...

I found great hope in "The best things in life get messy before they get good."

Discussion Questions
Chapter 1
1. Have you ever felt like a failure in your marriage? Or has your husband failed you? How does grace and the gospel change things?

• Yes often ... I have recently come to realise that these feelings are rooted in feeling unworthy. These feelings have come with me from high school.
• Reading these two chapters has helped me to grasp that His amazing grace is what I need to call upon each day. It's His grace which empowers me to walk in forgiveness and to begin to see Paul in a new light each day

 2. Tell us one thing you love about your husband.

• He loves me through my most unlovable attitudes

Chapter 2:
3. Read 1 Corinthians 13:4-8. What is the difference between love and a loving feeling?

• Don Francisco sings a song which beautifully illustrates this.  In is he sings "Love is not a feeling it's an act of your will." Love is a choice. Over time it matures and you understand its depth.

4. Has your husband made a choice that is hard for you to live with daily? How does remembering what true love is, help you?

• Love keeps NO RECORD of wrongs. This is a weakness I have fed in my marriage.  I am too weak to slay this enormous dragon in my heart. Today I realised that through His grace I can starve it to death and walk in love keeping no record of wrongs.

Chapter Three - Be Patient and Kind when the Going Gets Tough

• "Record keeping damages our hearts and feeds the root of bitterness within us, while love heals the wound."
• "Neglecting to care for each other more than we cared for ourselves, wanting to take more from our marriage than we were ready to give, and failing to lean on God's wisdom more than our own were the layers of filth and stain that build up over time."
• "The more I focused inward, the less I focused on the Lord."
• "if I wasn't blinded by anger, I might have understood the sacrifices he made for us."

I could deeply associate with this chapter. I have developed a bad habit of record keeping. It's quite amazing how record keeping fuels anger, anger at yourself and anger at your spouse. The longer you are married the easier it is to develop the habit of neglect. Neglect is the silent killer of love within marriage and it is the fertile soil for record keeping. 

This week I began to think about the sacrifices that Paul makes each week without complaint to look after us his family. It's true a grateful heart is fruitful ground for love and tenderness to grow.

Chapter Four - Give up your right to be right

• "His loving-kindness is a constant reminder of how it's better to do right than it is to be right"
• "... sacrificial love is so important to achieving unity."
• "Love is so many things, but the heart of the matter is that beautiful love is Christ-centered."
• "You might pass as being kind to your husband, but I wonder how many of us go out of our way to do so."
• "When you realize that it's more important to win the heart of your husband than it is to win an argument, you're seeing the fruit of mature love."
• "Rejoicing in truth is a vital part of loving someone."
• "We can avert a lot of conflict in marriage when we trust our husbands intentions."
• "Sacrificial love is what the best marriages are made of."
• “A wife is to protect her husband’s reputation by speaking highly of him to others. She is also wise to protect him by covering him in prayer.”

Discussion Questions
1.) Have you been married to an unbeliever and had the joy of seeing him come to know the Lord? Tell us how it happened!

• No I haven't.  I have how ever watched my husbands love mature and grow.  I've seen the love he has for his Saviour spill over onto his family and influence his decisions.

Chapter 3
2.) Do you struggle with record keeping? How has letting go of the record keeping, helped to heal some of the wounds in your marriage?

• Yes I do. It's beginning to heal the ache in my heart, giving me more grace and patience towards my family.

3.) If you could go back and do it all over again – what would you do differently in your marriage?

• Create more positive habits, keep less records of wrong. Pray more ... Seek God's will more

Chapter 4
4.) How have your vows helped you in times when you wanted to fly off the handle?

• Some days when the going is tough and I've wanted to give up it's my vows which keep me coming back and fight for my marriage.

5.) How do you protect your husband? Do you struggle to speak highly of him to others or to cover him in prayer?

• This question was confronting. My initial response is that I would like to work through The Power of a Praying Wife again and cover him more regularly with specific prayer.

All quotes are from the book Messy Beautiful Love. Connect with the author Darlene over at Time Warp Wife.

Are you reading along ? If so come and share your insights and let us encourage one another.
Blessings 

Chareen

Baobab Adventure

Last week we got to go and visit the local Baobab tree.

Entrance

View of the mountain range

Baobab tree explorations

Baobab Tree

Proud Mommy moment. He conquered his fear and climbed the tree

Worlds Largest Pot-plant - Baobab Tree

If He Had Not Come {Review}

A few years ago I began a Christmas Book tradition of purchasing a new book for our Christmas book basket. For those of you looking for a new book I would like to present a BEAUTIFUL book alert for If He Had Not Come This book is a beautifully illustrated hardback book.

Have you ever wondered what our world would be like today if Jesus had not been born ?  It's not something that I've given much thought to but it is certainly impacting once you take that time to thing about it.

David Nicholson is a retired teacher and was a short term missionary. He used to read If He Had Not Come to his children and I am so grateful to him for reintroducing this thought provoking book to today's readers.


What we received

• If He Had Not Come
• Published: 4/1/2014 
• Format: Case bound Hardcover 
• Pages: 40 
• Size: 8.5x11 
• ISBN: 978-1-49081-810-8 
• Print Type: Colour 

If He Had Not Come was originally written by Nan F.Weeks and was published in Christ in the Fine Arts in 1938 and has been beautifully illustrated by Charles Jaskiewicz.

How we used it
Our favourite way to enjoy a new beautiful book is to cuddle up together on the couch look at the pages together and read.  This book has the most beautiful pictures and the story is beautifully written.

The story begins with Bobby who is very excited because tomorrow is Christmas.  It's now Christmas eve and together with his father he joys their evening devotions before bed. Before he goes to bed, his dad reads from John chapter 15 in the Bible. Bobby can't stop thinking about the phrase, "If I had not come," as he drifts off to sleep.

In the morning when Bobby wakes up he is rather startled to find an empty house and no Christmas decorations.  He grabs his jacket and goes to find his father at work but as his morning unfolds he finds more and more things missing from the world as he used to know it.

Everywhere Bobby looks he is confronted with the fact that Jesus has not come and the world is not the world it was when he went to bed last night.  Not only are there physical things missing but there are attitude problems within the world too.
 
Ultimately, no real joy and no true hope. By the end of the story, the beautiful reality of Christ’s birth is re-establish and Bobby has a new, Christ-centered perspective on Christmas and life.

Upon completing the story Bobby helps us understand the full scope of the gift of Jesus at Christmas.

Appendix

A list of questions that help discuss what happened in the book. The questions are merely suggestions to help you get the conversation started with your children or your class.


Discussion questions talk about the birth and life of Jesus and how things would or could be different if Jesus had not come. It also lists Bible passages for you to go to help you dig deeper into what it would be like without Him.

The Gospel Message, shares how you can receive the gift of salvation in three A-B-C steps:

1. A - Admit you are a sinner separated from a perfect God
2. B - Believe in your heart that Jesus is Savior
3. C - Confess with your mouth and receive God's gift of salvation

Explanations and Scripture are provided in each step. Following the steps is a prayer you or your child can pray in response to believing Jesus is God's Son and that He died for your sins.

Ideas to Help You Celebrate Christmas . . ., suggests drawing a fully decorated Christmas tree to remind you of the eternal life we have through Jesus. Six points tell how parts of the tree and decorations symbolize different aspects of the true meaning of Christmas.

Purchase If He Had Not Come

• Hardcover Book $18.95
• eBook $3.99

Recommended Age Range

• 3 years old to adult.

Connect with David



Both of us enjoyed reading this lovely book and it's a worthwhile addition to your Christmas book list.

It has been food for thought for us about just how different our world would be today if Jesus had not come.  Sir N and I have had spontaneous conversations when out and about within our community and I've heard him pointing out community resources to his friends and explaining to them that these things would not be there IF Jesus had not come.  I'm looking forward to reading it again with him in December as a way for us to refocus on the reason for our remembrance and the far reaching impact of His life on earth and how this still touches ever single country in the world today.

Blessings
Chareen

Messy Beautiful Love

This month I am joining Courtney over at Women Living Well for the November Book Club.

Book: Messy Beautiful LOVE by Darlene Schacht

When: Each Monday and Tuesday via the comment section over at Women Living Well

Schedule:

I will be sharing my thoughts here each Friday.

Blessings

Chareen