The SG Notebook

Beverly and I will be away on vacation next week. So things are slow here. Hopefully, when we return we can finish up some projects and have a couple of new publications to offer you in the fall. At least that’s our hope and prayer.

In the meantime, we’ll be travelling with the kids, and husbands and my other daughter on a trip to take in some historical sites.

God bless you and yours. Perhaps you will have a chance to do some travelling with your children too. If so, hope this article helps a little.

Blessings,

Maxine, a/k/a Nanna

This is a picture of the young lady who won the title of Miss California this year, and subsequently became the first runner-up for the Miss USA contest. So she can be classified as a beauty queen. You may have heard about the controversy surrounding not just the Miss USA pageant and her answer to the judge’s question about gay marriage, but also the recent hoopla about some unfortunate photos which were taken of her prior to all this. I heard Miss Prejean being interviewed one day shortly after the pageant where she gave testimony that she is a Christian. She spoke very well about her faith and I agreed with her position as she defended her response to the judges question. However, what has transpired since then has been quite ugly to say the least.

I don’t want to get into the sordid details of this whole issue, but wanted to take the opportunity to express my disappointment and sorrow over the lack of role models which we have for our daughters in today’s society. I would like to think that our girls could have more examples of the beauty that really matters to our Lord, not that which they would think requires them to show as much of their bodies as legally possible. I wish they could see more women in today’s spotlight who are adorned with those qualities that emanate from a pure heart. It’s not for me to judge girls who paticipate in the pageants of today, but I do pray that those who claim Christ would think again. And I also pray that our daughters and granddaughters will desire the beauty that goes beyond the skin.

I thought this was a good time to put in a plug for the little book we’ve had around for a couple of years now. It’s called “Beauty Contest” and it’s designed to make young ladies in preteen and teen years think about the qualities of true beauty. I’m currently still working on a guide for parents and teachers to go along with this little booklet, and will let folks know when that’s completed. Go to the product page for this booklet to find out more about it.

In the meantime, I think it’s important for us to pray for Miss Prejean at this point in her life. I think she wants to serve the Lord from what I heard her say in her interview. Let’s pray that she will and that the Lord will speak to her heart as to how she can go on from here.

For His Glory,

Maxine, a/k/a Nanna

Don’t you just love this song for your little ones? It’s a great one for them to listen to over and over, because it’s so packed with biblical truth with its simple repetitions that even the youngest can understand. It’s teaching them to be careful what they do because God is watching! I may have talked about this some time back at this place but it’s worth repeating: get your kids off to a good start by teaching them this song!

I really do like the Cedarmont Kids, and thought I’d treat you to them once again. They sound a wee bit like the kids singing this song on our children’s cassette. (It’s on sale!) My two year old granddaughter loves it and I think your kids or grandkids would too. In the cassette, my younger daughter was just five years old when she had the part which said “Oh be careful little tongue what you say.” Now she’s sixteen, so that will tell you how long that cassette has been around and how long many young children have enjoyed it. So, enjoy these children who you can hear AND see:

For His Glory,

Maxine, a/k/a Nanna

A quick thank you to Shari Lyle-Soffe for her free promotion of our Bright Gems book. We appreciate it so much, Shari! If you want to know more about books for your kids or grandkids, hop on over to Shari’s blog.

How many young children do you know who don’t enjoy drawing happy/sad faces? I don’t know many. I want to tell you about a little booklet we’ve been publishing for over ten years now. In this little booklet, or “bookette” as we call it, young children have the opportunity to decide whether to put a happy or a sad face according to what is written on the facing page, and they get to draw in that face! There are eight circles for drawing in faces, one for each lesson. We designed this bookette years ago for evangelistic purposes. Even though it’s designed for the very young (ages 4-7 approx.), we have always felt that parents and older siblings who would read it with the younger child and help him or her with the faces, that these folks would be getting the gospel too!

For quite a few years, our church has been using the booklet, along with a few pieces of candy in a zipper sandwich bag, to give out for various evangelistic purposes. It’s been our experience that the adults are always willing to allow you to give this little bag to their children; it even makes people react with a little bit more warmth.

We have always sold this booklet separately or as part of the whole package with the candy in it. We call the whole packages our “gospel bags” and I wanted to let you know that these bags are being sold at half price in our spring sale. We want to make them available to Christian groups or churches who are having activities this summer where handing out these bags for kids to take home would be appropriate. Of course, there’s VBS and backyard Bible clubs, but they would also be great as take home gifts for a party, particularly if the children of unbelievers are attending. They are another opportunity for you to get the message of Jesus into homes.

I’ve been intending for awhile to put the contents of this bookette, which is entitled “Eight Happy and Sad Lessons from the Bible,” online so that people will know exactly what it says and hope to get to it in a few days. When I do, I’ll make a quick post with a link to that information. If anyone is interested in getting the info before then, please send an email and we’ll see what we can do.

For His Glory,

Maxine, a/k/a Nanna

Hello all!
Welcome to the Speakable Gifts blog, The SG Notebook. We are so excited to have this opportunity to party with all of you!

My name is Maxine (also known as Nanna), and I am married to Chuck. We have two daughters, Beverly and Neesie. My daughter Beverly is married, and has two girls of her own. She has recently joined me in this venture. My younger daughter Neesie is 16, and still living at home with us. We have homeschooled her since kindergarten.

I’d love to introduce you to Speakable Gifts! As a homeschooling mom of two, long time Sunday School teacher, and now a Nanna, I feel the burden to provide wholesome, character building products and publications for our young ones. In this society especially, we at Speakable Gifts feel that this is so important.

A division of Speakable Gifts is Speakable Press. I’ve written a devotional for children called Bright Gems For His Crown. Bright Gems, and a lot of other items are currently being sold at reduced prices, so check them out at our Spring Sale Page if you like! At our website you can also check out our Speakables for Children, and sign up for our bimonthly newsletter, Helping Children Grow.
Most importantly, to God be the glory!

Sincerely,

Maxine

We sang this song in our evening service tonight. Perhaps we have sung it at our church before but I don’t remember it if we have. This is the sweetest little children’s song you ever wanted to hear. You know how many of the children’s songs sound, it’s hard to explain what a delight those little childish rhythms are. The words of this one are great to teach to your preschoolers and primary kids.

I just thought this was the perfect opportunity to remind folks of the calendar that we publish which is inspired by this hymn. We even titled it the same. This is a do-it-yourself calendar; the children color the pictures for each month, fill in the monthly Bible verse, and keep up with the birthdays and other special days of the year with “stickers” they cut out and glue on. Many character building lessons are sprinkled throughout.

It’s a seasonal product – available from the September through January months. I’ve given it to students in my Sunday school class on several occasions (when the class is small). It just occurred to me that maybe it would be a good idea to sell slightly larger quantities to teachers at a reduced price. Maybe we could do that if given sufficient advanced notice. Hmmm. I’ll think about that and talk to Bev. If so, we’ll let you know this summer.

Now for the words of this delightful hymn, which teaches an important truth for all ages-we love Jesus, because He first loved us: (Tune here)

Savior, teach me day by day
Love’s sweet lesson to obey,
Sweeter lesson cannot be,
Loving Him Who first loved me.

With a child’s glad heart of love
At Thy bidding may I move,
Prompt to serve and follow Thee,
Loving Him Who first loved me.

Teach me thus Thy steps to trace,
Strong to follow in Thy grace,
Learning how to love from Thee,
Loving Him Who first loved me.

Love in loving finds employ,
In obedience all her joy;
Ever new that joy will be,
Loving Him Who first loved me

~ Jane E. Leeson

Hope this is the beginning of a blessed week for all.

Maxine, a/k/a/ Nanna

Aren’t computers wonderful? That is, they are when they work okay. Sometimes they get a little stubborn and when they do, they sure can cause us a many woes. Such is the case with my laptop, which is stubbornly refusing to send out our current issue of the newsletter. My apologies to our subscribers. I’ve sent out an email to let everyone know what’s happening and now I’m in the process of getting ready for the May/June issue. Unfortunately, I’ll need to be starting from scratch, but that’s not so bad because a new design would be quite appropriate. Why? Because as I just told you in the last post, lots of new changes are going on around here and one such change will be a new website look.

So keep hanging around. Speakable Gifts is all excited–sort of like a lady who is in the midst of redecorating her house!

Maxine, a/k/a Nanna

One of the many changes that we hope to bring in the coming months is our desire to put our children’s cassette on a CD. Of all the items we’ve sold over the years, this is still the leading in volume of sales. It brings me much joy that this little musical tape, produced over ten years ago, is still in the home of many families and is still listened to by babies and children. People still tell me about how their littlest ones learn to repeat the words to songs and hymns. My oldest granddaughter loves it!

There are reasons that have made me more hopeful that this will happen in coming days. May the Lord in His mercies allow us to still produce this work in a form that even more people can listen to in their cars and homes. I’ve had quite a few inquiries about this and will let you know right away when we have the resources to do it and it’s in the works.

Maxine, a/k/a Nanna

A favorite here at Speakable Gifts is the one by Elizabeth Prentiss which is not as well known as her Stepping Heavenward: We’ve been carrying Aunt Jane’s Hero for years and it is so beloved that I’ve written a companion to it for young people. It is something of a dream that in this companion, there would be the opportunity for this housewife, with no great credentials or degrees, could function in a capacity that somewhat nears that of Aunt Jane, one of the principals in the book. There have been various delays with the companion, but we’ve not given up hope to have Speakable Press publish it. It’s still currently being revised and edited, but the Prentiss book itself is still available in our products section. I guarantee that any young single woman, or newly married one, will love it. Even some young men would. I’ve done some devotionals at my devotional blog on this book, with titles and thoughts from the companion. Thought I’d copy and paste the one on Chapter One here:

Jesus calls us: o’er the tumult
Of our life’s wild, restless sea,
Day by day his sweet voice soundeth,
Saying, “Christian, follow me.”

Jesus does call us, you know, and He does call us day by day. “Follow Me,” He says. “Don’t listen to the sounds of this corrupt world trying to suck you in. Listen to Me, Christian–only Me.”

In the first chapter of Aunt Jane’s Hero, Jesus was making this plea to a young man named Horace. But attention was not given; the Voice was not heard. The Voice wasn’t an audible one in the midst of some dream or vision or similar phenomenon. It came via someone who loved Horace, an older saint whom he called “Aunt Jane.” Mrs. Prentiss opened this story with a conversation and through this conversation, we are introduced to these two principals.

We learn from their discourse–we are given more than a glimpse into the character and disposition of each of the participants. We become aware of Horace’s neediness while listening to his declaration of having fallen in love with a certain young lady; we discover as well the extreme concern this brought to his godly friend. Eventually, we realize that there are clues given as to why this particular woman had an almost filial attachment to this young man who was not related to her by blood. It is a perfect introduction to what follows.

But what stands out most for me as we gather evidence regarding the state of affairs of Horace’s life at that time, is the godly counsel he received during that conversation. From the time I first read this opening chapter, I’ve wanted to be like Aunt Jane. If someone I love comes to me in the same state as Horace did, I hope I would give to them what she gave to him that evening. His response was realistic. What we have to say won’t always be received well. But my hope for myself, and for you, is that we’ll give them what is true and loving: righteous guidance, whatever the response. And then add prayer when they’ve gone.

“It must be comfortable to have such faith in one’s own prayers,” he said, thoughtlessly.

So it may be that the conversation ends like this one. But you and I know the power of prayer, don’t we?

I doubt that this is the last time you’ll hear me speak about this wonderful book.

Talk to you soon,

Maxine, a/k/a Nanna