Tuesday, January 26, 2010
What's for dinner?
What are you making for dinner tonight? What if you had to choose which one of your kids to feed tonight? How would you choose?
How can your family make a difference?
Here are some inspiring books and stories of KIDS HELPING KIDS that I found online today:
Tyler and his Pig Project
A Thousand Small Sparrows
Hoops for Hope
Growing Compassionate Kids
AllstarKids
Faith in Action
Lifeline Christian Mission
Today is the Day! Put your faith into action! Teach your kids to reflect God's Love today!
Please feel free to share your story here!
Tuesday, January 19, 2010
Do your kids get an allowance?
Christian Parenting and Kids' Allowance
Teaching Children to be Good with Money
Monday, January 18, 2010
BlogCritics Book Review: A Heart Ready to Fly!
Book Review: A Heart Ready to Fly! (GiggleHeart Adventures #1) by Jackie Chirco Cogswell, Illustrated by Shelley Johannes - Books - Blogcritics
Tuesday, January 12, 2010
Extreme Attitude Makeover

Extreme Attitude Makeover on Vimeo by Jackie Chirco Cogswell
Originally uploaded by GiggleHeartAdventures
Watch this quick video for a fun way for your family to grow closer to God in 2010!
Monday, January 11, 2010
What are your spiritual gifts?
Read this excerpt from a letter written by author, Jackie Chrico Cogswell:
I’m a physician who laid my stethoscope on the altar in 2004; only God could have convinced me to do that. At the time, I was suffering from a serious case of “Bible Deficiency!” As a result my life was a mess and I was about to head down a destructive path. Just in time the Lord called me to have my third child and to leave a medical practice I enjoyed working in. I thought I was putting my career on hold to raise my children. Little did I know, during my “maternity leave,” the Holy Spirit would use CBS to perform heart surgery on me with His Word.
During the fall of 2005, The Lord led me to join the Oakland Twp, Michigan CBS. The topic for that year was the Book of Acts. Reading about the power of the Holy Spirit stirred up in me an enormous thirst for the Word. Psalm 63:1 “…earnestly I seek You; my soul thirsts for You…” The Holy Spirit even reached through me and stirred up a thirst for His Word in my husband and children. My husband now takes a Bible with him wherever he goes. The Lord has been working on cleaning up my family ever sinceJ.
While attending lectures and core discussions, the Lord kept convicting me. As I repented, He kept scooping out bad soil from my heart. Then, the power of the Holy Spirit began to illuminate my imagination. If God’s creative thoughts could be compared to fireworks, my first year at CBS was like the Fourth of July. I felt a strong nudge to write these ideas down. Soon I realized that the Lord was giving me fun ideas to write a series of Christian children’s novels, called the Giggleheart Adventures. These books show kids of all ages that God will make their hearts giggle with His joy when they confess and repent. It is amazing that writing used to annoy me; now the Lord has made it my passion.
Lessons from a Child
Jesus Loves Me
A toddler makes a profound connection to the cross of Jesus.
By Ginny Mooney Withrow
Recently in need of relaxation, I made a warm cup of tea and sat down to enjoy it for maybe ten seconds. "Mommy, peese have some?" my toddler said in her developing and endearing diction. I offered the irresistible little imp a sip of my warm, savory, long-awaited cup of tea—only to have her decide it really wasn't her "cup of tea" and spit it right back into mine.
I'm sure every mother could relate a similar tale of exasperation. But for as many times as our precious little ones exasperate us, there are those moments when children do something so beautiful, so magical, so perfectly "other" that it pierces right through the ordinary chaos of the day and strikes us right in the heart.
I had such a moment with my tea-spitting toddler. Though Azalea has been fascinated with my jewelry for quite some time, she had never worn any of her own. I decided she was now old enough to try on some of her jewelry. So I took out the two little necklaces she had been given for her second birthday.
One necklace is a delicate silver rope with a dangling heart-shaped locket. The other one is a beautiful gold cross. I opened the box with the locket first and showed it to her.
"Heart," she said.
"Right," I encouraged her.
Next I lifted out the necklace with the cross and held it up. She looked at the tiny gold image intently but didn't seem quite sure what to make of it. Though she has lots of books about Jesus, most of them tell stories of his healings and miracles in child-friendly language. Few try to tackle the cross in toddler-talk. So I held the necklace up and said simply, "That's Jesus' cross."
A few hours later as we were getting ready to go out, she asked to wear her necklaces—both at the same time, of course. So I picked up the chain with the locket and put it on her. Then I took out the gold cross. She pointed eagerly to the dangling icon and said with great conviction, "Look Mommy. It's a Jesus lumme!" Which translated is, "It's a Jesus loves me!"
How perfect. How beautiful. How true.
Somehow my daughter's mind made the connection between the name "Jesus" and the words from one of her favorite songs, "Jesus loves me, this I know." However she arrived at her word choice, what better description of the cross could there be? The sign of eternal love. The proof we all need that Jesus truly does love us.
Now, whenever we drive anywhere, my daughter inevitably spots a church with a cross on the top of the steeple. And I know each time exactly what she's going to say. And each time my heart echoes the words along with her. "Look Mommy! It's a Jesus lumme."
Ginny Mooney Withrow lives in Falls Church, Virginia, with her husband, Jason, and two children, Azalea, 2, and Asher, 7 months. She enjoys writing for various ministries and also produces an occasional piece for television.
Copyright © 2006 by the author or Christianity Today International/MomSense magazine.
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