Book Review: "God Loves Me More Than That"

I recently had the opportunity to review the book, God Loves Me More Than That, by Dandi Daley Mackall. The book was provided for me by Waterbook Press in exchange for blogging my thoughts about it! So here goes:

The book's stated purpose is to "...help your children grasp the great love God through comparisons and descriptions they can easily understand." Did it? I had mixed thoughts. First, let's hear from the other critics.

My review panel included 5yo Happiness and 4yo Sweetness. They were both extremely interested in our new book and eagerly sat down with me to read. Once I finished it, I turned to each of them and asked for opinions.


Happiness: "It's got nice pictures. I like it."


Sweetness: "I like the pictures too, especially the one with the sneezing cat. But I thought it was boring."

As the third member of the review panel, I had to agree with both my budding literary critics. The pictures WERE wonderful!  Lively, engaging illustration perfectly complemented the text. I loved some of the unusual angles at which the artist chose to depict the scenes, such as looking up from deep inside a wishing well as a little boy drops coins down towards you.

As to the text, I had mixed emotions. The author used poetic, gentle cadence to communicate the truth of God's love. Her choice of verbiage is colorful and interesting, ie Wider than a prairie where cowboys ride. God loves me wider than that!

But I found some of the comparisons to be too abstract and strange for my more literal children. Talking about how much the Lord's love weighed or how loud God's care for us is seemed too, well, unclear. I can see how you could use some of these more abstruse thoughts to springboard into a discussion of the "softness" or "heaviness" of God's love, but for just a casual read, I would have preferred more concrete, Biblical terms.

Also, we did find the book a little bit boring, but I think we approached it more with a "storytime" attitude than gearing ourselves for a devotional book. I think this book's perfect usage would be in family devotions with little ones, affording plenty of opportunity to talk more about God's amazing love for us.

An advent failure...

So. I was planning on doing an in-depth, fun advent devotion every day with my kids and then posting it here. Has it happened? Nope. Between being sick and life, advent has fallen by the wayside. We're doing devos about every other day, but posting on here hasn't happened. Every year, I plan on sharing my advent plans and every year it doesn't happen. I guess this falls under the category of having lots of little children and not enough time. Sorry about that for anyone who wanted to do advent along with us! Maybe we'll try again next year...

Advent Devotions, Lesson 1

Day One: The Advent Calendar

• Memory:Begin memorzing Isa. 9:6
• Read 1 Peter 1:10-12 in NLT
• Talk about how the prophets were eagerly awaiting Jesus’ birth because of how special it was!
• We are eagerly awaiting Christmas too, so we’ll make a Christmas countdown calendar using rings and number!
• Make a Christmas Countdown Chain together!

Firm Foundations 9:4

Theme: Because of sin, we are God's enemies


Scripture Memory: Review Romans 6:23.

Scripture memorization tip from Central Presbyterian: Make flash cards with Scripture on one side and the book, chapter, and verse on the other. If your child is too young to read still use the card to help yourself and for future review. Take the cards with you when you go out so that you can review the verse at different times of the day (in the car while you are at a light, waiting in line at the grocery store, etc.). You can put a sticker on the card when the child has successfully memorized the verse. He/she will be encouraged by the accumulated cards. - Read more tips from Central Presbyterian Church on helping your children memorize the Bible.

Catechism Q&A: Q. What did God require of Adam? A. To obey Him perfectly.


Enemy Combatants: Read Ephesians 2:1-3. Without Christ, we are God's enemies, opposing His will and ruining His creation. Write down a list with some of you and your children's failings.  Next, read Revelation 20:11-15. Someday God will sit as Judge, and will give us what we deserve for our actions. Bring up your list and talk about what kind of punishment should be received for each one. Then point out that the punishment God says we'll receive is to be separated from Him forever in the lake of fire.  But wait! There's someone to rescue you!


Depending on your children's interest level and reaction, this might be a great time to give a simple Gospel presentation, such as the bridge illustration.

Notebook: Use one of the pictures from the bridge illustration to remind your children of how we are separated from God because of our sins.

Firm Foundations 9:3

Theme: We can obey God with confidence, for He always knows what's best
"Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your path straight." (Prov. 3:5-6)


Scripture Memory: Review Romans 3:23

Catechism Q&A: Q. What did God require Adam to do? To obey the Lord perfectly.

Trust and Obey, part 1: Read Isaiah 40:11-15, 22-26. Before reading, tell your children to listen for: 1)What God measures and 2)Where He sits. This passage gives us a picture of God's awesome knowledge and power.
Take some measuring cups, a scale and a ruler outside. Tell your children that you are going to measure how much dirt is in your yard. After spending some time digging and measuring, tell them the job feels too big. Do they agree? Even though it would take your family a very long time to measure all your dirt, God knows not just the amount of dirt in your yard but also the amount of dirt in the entire world! Emphasize that God knows everything. Tomorrow, we'll talk more about how His omniscience enables us to obey with confidence.

Notebook: Mix some dirt with glue and then smear it onto the scale picture for today's notebooking page

Firm Foundation 9:2

Theme: God gave Adam 1 rule
"And the LORD God commanded the man, 'You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die.'" (Gen. 2:16-17)

Scripture Memory: Review Romans 3:23

Catechism Q&A: Q. What covenant did God make with Adam? A. The covenant of works.
Q. What was Adam bound to do by the covenant of works? A. To obey God perfectly.

Making Rules: Do your children understand rules? If they're like mine, they probably have a fuzzy idea but couldn't define the word clearly. Before reading today's Scripture passage, play this fun "make your own rule" ball game.

Gather some balls and baskets or boxes beforehand. When it's time for the game, ask your children what a rule is. Talk about their definitions, then give one of your own: A rule is a command that must be obeyed consistently. What sorts of rules do you have in your house? Name some of the rules. Then tell them that they get to make the rules for this game! They can make rules for the following 4 areas:

1. What is the playing field?
2. How do you move the balls around?
3. When do you get points?
4. Is there anything you CAN'T do during game play?

Spend 10 minutes or so playing their game together! When the game is done, sit down and read Genesis 2:8-17. What was the one rule that God gave Adam? Shouldn't be too hard, should it?

Notebook: Make a mini book using one of these lapbook templates and record some of your family's rules. You can either have your children illustrate the book or find clipart using Google Image.

Kindergarten Geography: Africa

The last 2 weeks we stopped some of our normal studies and took a whirlwind trip around the globe, familiarizing ourselves with the 7 continents. Our unit study was very fun - lots of reading and play. I think Africa was one of the most enjoyable continents to study, so I thought I'd share our lesson with you:

• We read  "Why Mosquitos Buzz in People’s Ears" and "Mufaro’s Beautiful Daughters"
• We had our own safari.! To explore some of the amazing animals in Africa, I downloaded Discovering God's Animals from Confessions of a Homeschooler. Using the included animal pics, I hid animals all over our living room and dining room. Then my kiddos went on an animal hunt! They loved the search process. Afterwards, we looked at the pics and discussed them.
• We located Africa on a map.
• Finally, we explored some of the interesting women in Africa carry objects & babies! First, my girls wrapped themselves in large swaths of cloth. They then took their baby dolls and placed the babies in wraps on their backs. Quite fun! Second, we practiced carrying things on our heads, inspired by watching this video: