Book Reviews ~ The Adventures of Pookster and Bubs...

Completely and utterly adorable!  Pookster and Bubs are an adventure waiting to happen!  The stories are fun, easy to read and tucked inside each book is a biblical truth that is like a seed waiting to be planted into the hearts of your kids. 

I am blessed to run our Kids Ministry at church and I can not wait to bring these books in so that I can share Pookster and Bubs with the kids in our community.  These books will make a great addition to our church library or to any home that has kids underfoot!

The audio CD is a nice bonus to the book as well.  Hearing the author and her children share their books in their words make it even more special! The illustrations are bright, fun and engaging...the kids at my church are going to l.o.v.e these books!

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Meet Pookster and Bubs in this delightful new children series that makes learning the fruits of the Spirit loads of fun! Turning real life lessons into practical life applications-author Rhonda Funk brings to life God's Word in a way any young child can relate.

In The Adventures of Pookster and Bubs - Pookster and the Unloose Tooth, children learn patience and what it means to wait on God's timing. Pookster is a little girl who just happens to think that teeth are highly overrated and that keeping them in too long can be hazardous to your health. Bubs is her big brother who would be perfectly okay if a tooth NEVER came loose!

Pookster prays each night that God would help her lose her teeth, but apparently He has something different in mind. Taking matters into her own hands one crazy night, Pookster and her big sister decided that her un-loose tooth COULD come out with a little help. What happened next, (to the horror of Bubs) was a tooth extraction of a slamming door kind- and a real life opportunity to sing “All I Want For Christmas Is My Two Front Teeth.”

Spring has sprung, Easter has come and gone, but Pookster hasn't seen much of her two front teeth. She's TIRED of eating apples and leaving rows, or eating her spaghetti noodles and not being able to cut them off. Now she's begging for God to bring back her chompers. It's funny, she wanted so badly to lose them, but now she just really wants them back!

Too bad Pookster has to learn the hard way that sometimes it’s better to wait on God than it is to do things on your own!

The Adventures of Pookster and Bubs is a new fantastic way to encourage children to apply God's Word to their lives. Lesson by lesson kids will learn from the mishaps of Pookster and Bubs, and what it means to make good choices and how to practice obedience.

We're all looking for fun ways to teach our children about God. We're also looking for something to play in the car that won't drive us crazy! Singer/Songwriter and Publicist Rhonda Funk has opened up a whole new door to learning that even parents will find entertaining. Sunday school teachers will love the practical application and the way kids relate to the stories, and parents will love the adventures as they relate to their own children and household. The 5-9 year old will most enjoy this series.

Complete with an audio narration by the author, this series features the voices of Rylee and Ryan Funk (Rhonda's own children-the original Pookster and Bubs) as they tell one hilarious story after another. Such a likeable series-you'll be waiting on the next release!

Author Rhonda Funk has done it again with book two of The Adventures of Pookster and Bubs-Pookster and the Practically Perfect Pickle, a delightful new children series that makes learning the fruits of the Spirit loads of fun! In this story, Pookster learns that much like a pickle, her words can be sweet or they can be sour.

Pookster thinks that pickles are a wonderful treat-they are nice and crunchy, sort of sour and nearly perfect, (other than they're a vegetable and look like they're covered in frog skin!) Never-the-less, she is very protective of her pickles. So when her brother Bubs brings his toy soldiers to the table during her pickle eating break, she thinks they are there to swipe her green treat and take it to their leader. Planning for the battle of Kosher Dills, Pookster assumes the worst, and does what any normal little girl would do...however, Pookster's choice of sweet or sour words will mean the difference between keeping her pickle…or losing it to Mommy forces!

Poor Bubs, caught in the crossfire is stunned at her response! After all, he was just playing soldiers! Pookster decides she should tattle on her big brother, but Mom has already seen the whole thing. Pookster is about to learn a valuable lesson when it comes to her Pickle Protection Program, and how a pickle can disappear, just like that!

This silly story about an over-protective pickle eater teaches a valuable lesson on kindness and how our sweet words glorify God, but our sour words hurt people. 
 

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received these two books from Bring it On! Communications free as part of their Blogger Review program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

Godly Gals ~ Haelie Heard

Picture This...

By: Haelie Heard

Picture this...

The man who had first introduced Him to the world in the flesh - one of His best friends, His cousin - was just beheaded.  He had just heard the news.  Imagine how he was feeling.  Just picture it...feel it.

Then...

When Jesus heard what had happened, he withdrew by boat privately to a solitary place. Hearing of this, the crowds followed him on foot from the towns. When Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, he had compassion on them and healed their sick.

As evening approached, the disciples came to him and said, "This is a remote place, and it's already getting late. Send the crowds away, so they can go to the villages and buy themselves some food."

Jesus replied, "They do not need to go away. You give them something to eat."

"We have here only five loaves of bread and two fish," they answered.

"Bring them here to me," he said. And he directed the people to sit down on the grass. Taking the five loaves and the two fish and looking up to heaven, he gave thanks and broke the loaves. Then he gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the people. They all ate and were satisfied, and the disciples picked up twelve basketfuls of broken pieces that were left over. The number of those who ate was about five thousand men, besides women and children.  (Matthew 14:13-21)
 

My Savior and Friend cares that much for me...and for you.

Not only does He have compassion so much as to put aside His own grief, but He also has the power to do for me what I cannot fathom.

"We have here only five loaves of bread and two fish," and I am only one person.

"The number of those who ate was about five thousand men, besides women and children."  The amount of tasks I need to complete and bills I need to pay and people I need to spend quality time with are upwards in the number of this crowd Jesus fed that day - that's five thousand MEN...PLUS women and children, mind you!

Again, I say, ""We have here only five loaves of bread and two fish," and I am only one person with very little resources.  The tasks before me are humanly impossible.  As was supper for the crowd that day.

BUT...

My Jesus is the same Jesus who welcomed the crowd, had compassion on them, healed their sick, and fed them so much out of a young boy's scraps of lunch that there were twelve basketfuls left over.

That's my story.  That's my Jesus.

Is He your Jesus, too?

He can be.  He wants to be.

Come to Him and He will welcome you with loving arms.  He has already made the way.

And if you, like me, already know my Jesus, don't forget Who He is.
Do you have only five loaves of bread and two fish today...or less?  Is your refrigerator bare?  Is your gas tank on empty, literally and figuratively?  Is there more month left at the end of your money---more bills than you can conceptualize how or when to pay?

He is the same Jesus today for you and me that He was so many suppers ago for that crowd and His disciples.

Trust Him.  He will carry you through---with leftovers.

And to top it all off, do you know what He did next?

Hint:  Go read Matthew 14:22-36 and come back here and share your thoughts with us in light of what I have shared here today.

(All scripture is NIV unless otherwise noted.)

Haelie is a follower of Christ, wife, mother of a five-year-old son, and a full-time Nurse Informaticist by profession. Her personal blog is To Not Decide...Is To Decide and you can also find her on Twitter. She also writes for and co-administers two other blogs: Faithful Feet and What If.... Her life mission is to be a voice, both written and audible, that unapologetically points to Christ and His sovereignly redemptive love and forgiveness.

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Thank you so much sweet Haelie, it has been a real JOY getting to know you!  I love this part..."Trust Him.  He will carry you through--with leftovers!"  Simply perfect...what a great little nugget to cling to today and this week!

What a gift it is to be able to share these Godly Gals with you every Thursday!  These are Real Women, Real Life, Real Faith in action and I am thrilled to be able to share a little piece of them with YOU!

What about you?  

I know you have a story, so why don't you pray about sharing it with us!  Every day we are blessed to see Him in action...what's something you can chat about...a story, your testimony, your ministry, your calling, your...everyday, ordinary life.  

That's what this is ALL ABOUT!

Shot me an email at melsworldministry {at} gmail {dot} com and I'll send you a copy of the submission guidelines...let's see what God is wanting to do next!

Word Filled Wednesday ~ Waiting

 If you are like me, then you struggle with the whole concept of "waiting".

I just don't like it, do you?

And yet, there is such peace in this verse and in knowing that our waiting is for His purpose.  

Specifically when it says this..."He's gathering strength to show mercy on you."

How sweet is that?

He's not done sweet sister...

He's getting everything ready to show you His graciousness!

Cling to that today!

If you struggle with waiting like I do, 

then print this out and 

put it somewhere to remind you 

that He's not done yet...

there's more to come and it will be full of his mercy.  

What an amazing promise for each of us while we wait!

WFW is not about books, authors, artists.. it’s about God and HIS WORD ONLY. WFW is about celebrating the gift of creativity through God’s Word.

We pray that WFW can be a place where women can come for a bit of visual inspiration and encouragement from the Father.

Join myself and some other wonderful ladies as we share by going over to the Internet Cafe Devotions site.