Update: This giveaway is closed.

Thank you to those of you who entered.

Congratulations Amanda D!

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I think most moms want to share important truths with their kids that they will carry with them well into their adulthood, but aren’t sure exactly how, or when, to fit those special nuggets of truth into their daily lives. Today’s giveaway is for moms who are wanting to fit devotional time with their kids into their busy schedules during the 2016 year, specifically moms with older kids, age 10-18. I will be giving you a glimpse into my personal experience, as well as a review of the “One Year of Dinner Table Devotions and Discussion Starters: 365 Opportunities to Grow Closer to God as a Family” book, and will end this post by giving you a chance to enter into this week’s MPM giveaway.

I find it interesting the kinds of things my children absorb and what things roll right over their sweet little heads without leaving any kind of impression at all. Have you ever had one of your children bring up something from 2-3 years ago that you didn’t think much of but he/she can recall it perfectly? It kind of makes you step back a second and think, “Oh DEAR! If they remember THAT what other things might they recall?” That thought usually catapults me into wanting to seek more opportunities to give them the kinds of memories that will serve them well into their adulthood… you know… the things that don’t land them in a counselor’s office someday.

My daughter loves when I share stories from my childhood. When she asks me to share a story, for some reason, I keep thinking of the same ten stories/experiences. Why did those things stick in my head and not the thousands upon thousands of other things that I experienced and witnessed? I am assuming it has to do with what things I connected with emotionally, spiritually, or mentally. I’m not completely sure, but what I do know is that even the little things that I don’t recall well have slowly influenced who I am today (for better or worse) and how I relate to the world around me so they still matter, and that simple fact will apply to my children as well.

Our children are being shaped and molded by the big important things in their lives, as well as the simple day-to-day things. Their memories of those things will be filtered through their perception of how those things affected them spiritually, emotionally, and mentally. We cannot protect them from everything, nor should we, but we can help them as they decide how they will perceive those things in their lives. Should they react in fear or faith, in anger or forgiveness? The way we talk to our children will help them navigate through their feelings and will help shape the memories they hold close to their hearts.

As a Christian mom I want to know that I am taking opportunities to share meaningful scripture with my kids and I would love to think that I am setting them up to be successful adults someday. I want to help them sift out the hard stuff in their lives now through the truth in God’s word so it becomes their default thought pattern throughout life. This matters to me, but I don’t always know the best way to bring up these important conversations into my children’s lives. We take our kids to church, where these values are reinforced, but it is also important to me that I do my part in sharing the seeds of faith now that will grow into a harvest of righteousness someday. If only there was a book to help me in this area. One that would offer biblical truth for them to stand on, but fit into our daily lives. A book that helps them make sense of the Bible and how it relates to them. That’s where today’s giveaway comes in.

This week’s MPM giveaway:

Our giveaway today is for the “One Year of Dinner Table Devotions and Discussion Starters: 365 Opportunities to Grow Closer to God as a Family” book by Nancy Guthrie.

Why I wanted to do this book giveaway.

I approached the publisher of this book about doing a giveaway because it seemed like a perfect fit for our blog. Sarah and I are both Christians who believe in the value of dinner time together as a family and this book ties the two together perfectly. The idea behind this book is that you eat your food together as a family and then wrap up your dinner time with about 15 minutes of devotional time. For some families dinner may not be an ideal time, so you could simply use the daily devotionals during your kids’ bed time or during your morning routine. This book gives daily devotions with a date on each page, from January 1 to the end of the year so I wanted to get this giveaway going now so the winner can get it going right at the beginning of the year and use it during the 2016 year. For this reason, this giveaway will end on December 31, 2015.

Update as of December 29,2015: Unfortunately we were having issue with the giveaway tool so, to be fair, we have extended the giveaway end date to January 2, 2016.

What I thought of this book, once I dived into it.

1. I love the concept of the book. Daily devotions for an entire year, covering a multitude of topics, stories and values from the bible. Each devotion is short and can fit into even the busiest schedules.
2. I feel like it gives parents an easy way to be intentional in communicating important conversations about faith and why we believe what we do.
3. Of the things the kids will hear, some topics will impact them more than others, but all of them will get them thinking, and each will provide natural opportunities for those discussions to carry on beyond the few minutes at the table into their daily lives.
4. This book is VERY scripturally sound. I have done other devotional books where this has not been the case.
5. This book is definitely written with older kids in mind! The cover of this book is adorable and makes you think this is going to be a great devotional book for wee little ones, but the truth is this book goes deeper than I expected and would probably be a better fit for kids over 10 years old…at least ten years old. Maybe older.  My younger two kids had a hard time understanding some of the things I was reading to them. My oldest will be ten in February and he was eager to dive into this book. After reading our first day he asked if we could read the next one. My other two, on the other hand, didn’t understand what I read and had a hard time answering the three questions at the end. By day 3, I kind of got the idea that my 6, and almost 8 year old, were having a hard time understanding what I was reading so I was having to try to reword things so they could understand. I have decided that I won’t be using this book this year for our family but I am excited to pull this book back out in a couple of years and try it again when the kids are little older and I am still happy with the idea of reading a devotion at the end of dinner. I will be seeking out another book for younger kids and hopefully, be doing a giveaway for families with younger kids another week.

If you are interested in winning this giveaway you can sign up by entering your name and email in the giveaway tool below, and answering one question, “What is one your family’s favorite foods”? You can enter once a day through December 31 January 2, 2016.

Giveaway ends at noon on December 31 January 2 at noon.

Update: We were having problems with the giveaway tool. It is fixed now and you should be able to enter by adding a  “comment”, letting us know one of your family’s favorite foods, when it asks for one. If you are entering once a day you can just mention one new “family favorite food” each day that you enter.

Good luck!

This giveaway is closed. Thanks to those of you who entered! If you are interested you can purchase this book on Amazon here.