In 2001, we were in our second year of homeschooling and living in a new town. Papa Bear had gotten his first job as a police officer in his small Kentucky hometown and to say that money was tight is an understatement. I wanted to find a way to add some income while staying at home with our two boys. After a lot of researching online, I found Usborne Books At Home {now Usborne Books & More}. I had never heard of it before and, of course, there weren't any local consultants. {There were barely any people!} With Papa Bear's blessing, I signed up through a wonderful consultant from Texas. When I received my kit filled with those shiny, colorful books, I fell in love!

I continued as an educational consultant for about five years, supplementing our income and adding many educational books to our home library. Then I became pregnant with boy #4 and, as it goes with big life changes, my passion for it waned. We continued to use our history and science books regularly for homeschool and my younger sons still gravitate to our well-loved Usborne books almost daily.

Miles loves the touchy-feely books and finding the duck in the Farmyard Tales books. Levi's current favorites are Lift-the-Flap Sharks and See Inside the World of Dinosaurs. Being an 8 year-old boy, Isaac really likes the old Agent Arthur puzzle books and Gladiators from the Young Reading series. They have all loved the Flip-Flap Body Book, especially What Happens to Your Food? and How Are Babies Made? The latter has been very popular each time I was pregnant.

Although I started my new child ID and safety business, To Love and Protect, this year, I still have a place in my heart for Usborne Books. And when I saw that the New Consultant Mini-Kit is only $29 this month, I knew that it was the right time to sign up again. Sooo...

Visit my online Usborne Books & More Store!

And if you're interested in becoming a consultant, either to earn money or support your book habit, just send an email to raising5knights at gmail dot com or sign up online. How many well-respected businesses can you get started with for less than $30* that include display products, supplies, and a free 6-month personalized website? Usborne Books & More offers great incentives during the first 12 weeks and there are no monthly minimums to meet. If you like books and kids {and a product that sells itself}, then this may be the perfect opportunity for you too!

*New Consultant Mini-Kit is only $29 until 10 a.m. CST, February 29, 2012.

Good Morning Girls & The Ministry of Motherhood Book Club

I may not be posting regularly due to all of my busy-ness right now, but I am participating in the Good Morning Girls' Bible reading accountability and summer book club. It has officially started but we won't start reading the book until next Monday, May 23. There is still time to join an existing group or start your own. We formed a group with a trio of moms here in western Kentucky and have a Facebook page for checking in and communicating. We are all excited about it. Especially me, because my mommy tank is in desperate need of refueling. 

Are you doing it too? If not, go check it out!

God Gave Us So Much - Book Review

God Gave Us So Much is a limited-edition treasury of three books by Lisa Tawn Bergren. The wonderful watercolor illustrations are by Laura J. Bryant. Contained in the quality hardback book are God Gave Us the World, God Gave Us Love, and God Gave Us Heaven. The stories are primarily a running dialogue between Little Cub and her Mama, Papa, and Grampa Bear. In God Gave Us the World, the polar bear family visits a museum where they see bear habitats from all over the world. Mama explains how God is our Creator and made a world filled with bears who are all different, as well as what they eat and where they live. It's Grampa Bear's turn to answer Little Cub's questions in God Gave Us Love. When Little Cub gets irritated by her otter friends, Grampa Bear teaches her about the gift of love. He explains the three different types of love in a way that is easy to understand. The story concludes with Grampa Bear telling Little Cub that God shows his love for us through our friends and family and by sending his Son to save us. The last story, God Gave Us Heaven, is my personal favorite. Little Cub has lots of questions for Papa about heaven. She learns that nothing bad happens in Heaven and that we won't have any burdens, only blessing. Papa covers all the bases by explaining that bears don't become angels when they die and how Jesus is our "bridge" to heaven.

As an adult who is familiar with the Bible, it is easy to see that the author sticks to Scripture, especially in the last story. Heaven is a difficult concept to understand, let alone teach young children but Ms. Bergren does a good job of trying to explain it. I shared this book with my three year old and seven year old sons. We had to break it up and only read one story at a time because my three year old started losing interest near the end of each. The boys enjoyed the stories but didn't ask for a second reading. However, the last story was a starting point for a discussion between me and my seven year old and it revealed some things about my son's belief system that I wasn't aware of. I don't see this book as the bedtime story type, but rather an introduction to some concepts that may inspire more questions from your little cub.

Disclaimer: I received this book for free from Waterbrook Multnomah for review. These are my honest opinions of the book.