I Couldn't Love You More written by Jason Ingram & Matt Hammitt illustrated by Polona Lovsin - Giveaway

About Book

In the same manner as touching picture books like bestsellers Let Me Hold You Longer and Love You Forever, I Couldn't Love You More tells a sweet, loving, yet powerful message: I couldn’t love you more, but there is someone who does. Through the unique relationship of adorable animals, the book shares that Christ is always with you and he loves you more than you can imagine. This engaging picture book combines lovable and irresistible images with the lyrics from the song (co-written by Jason Ingram and Matt Hammitt). Matt is lead vocalist for Sanctus Real, a Grammy-nominated Christian rock band. The song is on Hammitt’s latest album, Every Fallen Tear. When Matt and his wife, Sarah, were halfway through her pregnancy, they discovered their son would be born with Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome (HLHS), a rare congenital defect. Matt and Sarah’s son, Bowen, was born on 9/9/10 and received a huge following through the Hammitt’s blog (bowensheart.com), K-LOVE, and ABC News. A portion of the proceeds from the book goes to the foundation the Hammitts’ have started to help parents with children who have this heart condition.

Published by TYNDALE HOUSE PUBLISHING








About Matt

Matt Hammitt is the lead singer and a founding member of the band Sanctus Real. Over the past decade, the Grammy nominated, Dove Award–winning group has released five albums and has topped the Christian radio charts with fourteen No. 1 and Top 5 radio hits. In 2010, Matt and his wife, Sarah, found out they were expecting their third child. Already the parents of two young daughters, Emmerson and Claire, they were looking forward to an ultrasound that would reveal whether they were having a boy or a girl. "We found out it was a boy, and we were all celebrating," Matt recalls. "But only a few minutes later the doctor came in and told us that things weren't right, that half of the baby's heart wasn't developed. At that time, they didn't think he would survive." Diagnosed with Hypoplastic left heart syndrome, little Bowen, whose name means "small, victorious one," defied the odds and survived. But it hasn't been an easy road for Matt and his family. Following Bowen's birth, Matt and Sarah watched their newborn son endure two open-heart surgeries, and they spent more than three months by his bedside at Mott Children's Hospital in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Matt and Sarah have shared the pain, as well as the joy, of their journey with others through their blog, Bowensheart.com, which has received more than one million hits to date. Sarah says, "God clearly has His hand in all of this. Our family has been called to walk through this, and we will do our best, even though it's going to be really rough at times." "Everything I've watched happen in the hospital—all the pain I've felt—is deepening my faith, strengthening my marriage, and molding my character," Matt says. "Out of what appeared to be a well of emptiness has flowed a fountain of purpose." Matt's album Every Falling Tear, released in 2011, was born out of the heart of a father wrestling with his pain but buoyed by his faith and his love for his family. I Couldn't Love You More is one of the songs on the album. It expresses a parent's desire to share Christ's unconditional love with his child. A portion of the proceeds from both Matt's album and this book will be given to support the Whole Hearts Foundation, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization founded by the Hammitts that is dedicated to helping families with children suffering from congenital heart defects. Matt says, "We've met so many families like us whose children are suffering, and they are looking for hope. It has become our mission to help them find it."

My Thoughts

I am so moved by this story. The illustrations are darling.  

I have been through a similar situation with my little grandson that passed away  when he was fifteen months old.  He spent the first nine months of his precious life in the hospital. The miracle we experienced was getting to share those fifteen months of his short life with him.  He smiled and laughed all the time. It is the hardest thing for a family to go through when you have a sick child.

Love and cherish your children!  Have you told your child you love them today?  

What are some ways you can actually show them how much you love them? 

I have fourteen grandchildren with one more due in July.  The most fun I have with my kids and grandkids are when we are all together at the same time.  

Do you have something special you do with your child?

How do you share GOD'S love with them?

When my grandchildren stay over we have a special prayer time before we go to bed when we are all tucked in. Some on air mattresses some in the bed with me.  They all know how much GOD loves them.  Some of them remember when their young cousin passed away and make comments about him being in Heaven with God not suffering anymore.  

Don't let all of this make you think this is a sad story because it isn't.  This is a story about MIRACLES and LOVE.

I rated this book a 5 out of 5.

Disclosure:
I received a free copy of this book from Tyndale for review.  I was in no way compensated for this review. It is my own opinion.

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MAMAW'S SUNDAY DEVOTIONAL - ABUNDANT LIFE DAYBOOK BY NANCY GUTHRIE

I recieved this book for review from by Tyndale Publishing. I have been reading the daily devotionals this past week and it is such a blessing. I was also surprised at how beautiful the cover is. The lower section of the cover is just a card for advertising and comes off. The book cover itself looks like tooled leather. This daily devotional book would make a beautiful gift for someone.

I will be adding a review in a couple of weeks.

Abundant Life Daybook

God has come to you, to bless you.

In the first chapter of the Bible, we read that God created Adam and Eve and “blessed them.” And the rest of Bible is the story of God blessing his people through Christ. Over 365 days these gospel-rich daily readings will take you through the Bible, inviting you to savor the abundant goodness God intends for you to experience and enjoy. Each day you’ll be reminded of yet another way God has loved you and will still be loving you into eternity.

Introduction to Nancy Gutherie's Abundant Life Day Book: 365 Blessings to Begin Your Day

Have you ever wondered why we say “God bless you” to people

when they sneeze? There was a time when sneezing was a symptom of the deathly plague. And because getting the plague was considered a sign of God’s displeasure, saying, “God bless you” when someone sneezed was offering a prayer that the person would receive the blessing of God—ongoing life—rather than dying from

the plague. To be blessed is to have life—abundant, overflowing life.

In the best-known blessing from the Bible , we read that the Lord

instructed Moses to tell Aaron and his sons to bless the people of

Israel with this special blessing:

May the LORD bless you

and protect you. May the LORD smile on you and be gracious to you. May the LORD show you his favor and give you his peace. (Numbers 6:24-26)

God wanted his people to enjoy the assurance of his intention

to bless them. From this special blessing we learn that to be blessed

is to see the smile of God over our lives rather than to live under

his frown. It is to experience his ongoing grace rather than expect

his condemnation. It is to enjoy God’s favor rather than endure his

rejection. It is to be at peace with him rather than being his enemy.

Experiencing God’s blessing is not merely getting good things

from God. The essence of blessing is God himself. When we begin

to see how much God has given to us in Christ, and how much

he is worth, we realize that all of the things we were hoping to get

from God—good health, loving relationships, protection from

harm, material provision—are only temporary, tangible reminders

of all we have in Christ. As blessed people we can say along with

the psalmist:

I desire you more than anything on earth.

My health may fail, and my spirit may grow weak, but God remains the strength of my heart; he is mine forever. (Psalm 73:25-26)

As we begin this journey together over the next year, there are

two important things you must know. First, while I’ve taken great

liberty in writing these blessings as if they are God speaking to you,

the only aspect of each day’s blessing that has the authority of God

is the Word of God quoted at the top of each page. Writing as if it

is God who is speaking is only a device employed for the purpose of

helping you hear him speak his blessing personally to you. My hope

is that it will serve to make the Scripture come alive and become

even more precious to you. I have sought to be faithful to God’s

Word in expounding on it and applying it using this literary device,

and have done so with a sense of holy fear, prayerfully seeking to be

one “who correctly explains the word of truth” (2 Timothy 2:15).

Second, you need to know that the Bible makes it clear that while

God offers his goodness to all who will embrace Christ by faith, he

does not force his blessing on those who do not desire him. But if

you want him, he will freely give himself to you. You do not have

to earn God’s blessing (in fact, you can’t earn it!). You do not have

to deserve God’s blessing (in fact, no one deserves it!). You cannot

twist God’s arm or wrestle his blessing from his reluctant grasp using the right technique or the right prayer. This life with God is not

about what he wants you to do for him, but what he has done for

you through Christ.

If you have lingered away from God, fearing what he will demand of you, unsure of all it will mean for you, you need not stay

away any longer. If you have settled for trying to be a good person

or a spiritual person, you can become a completely new person.

You can turn to Christ and take hold of him by faith. Tell him that

you want to belong to him, to know him and be known by him,

to be changed by him. He “is being patient for your sake. He does

not want anyone to be destroyed, but wants everyone to repent” (2

Peter 3:9) Then you’ll be able to celebrate that “he has enabled you

to share in the inheritance that belongs to his people, who live in the

light ” (Colossians 1:12).

That is what this book is about—the blessing and inheritance

that belong to God’s people. I invite you to celebrate that blessing

and revel in that inheritance. I invite you to drench your soul in

this steady stream of God’s blessing given to you freely and fully in

Christ. I hope that you’ll open this book day after day along with

God’s Word, and that you’ll open your life to all that God has given

to us in Christ, confident that because “he did not spare even his

own Son but gave him up for us all, [he will] also give us everything

else” (Romans 8:32).

Nancy Guthrie

It's Your Kid not a gerbil by Dr. Kevin Leman - GIVEAWAY

I received this announcement in my email and part of entering the giveaway is to blog about it.  I will be more than glad to blog about the giveaway.  It is for a this book and an iPod Touch.  So read this post and follow the links.

Good luck to everyone!  Hee! Hee! But I hope I win a book and the iPod Touch.

Blessings to All,

Patricia  aka Mamaw

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We're giving away some excellent prizes to celebrate the release of Dr. Kevin Leman's new book It's Your Kid, Not A Gerbil. You can visit the Tyndale Blog to enter where we're giving away an iPod Touch, three Kevin Leman book prize packs, and 5 copies of It's Your Kid, Not A Gerbil.

To enter you must visit the contest page and fill out the entry form after completing at least one of the following actions (each action completed counts as an entry into the giveaway).

• Visit the It's Your Kid Not A Gerbil Facebook page and become a fan
• Invite at least 10 friends to become a fan of the It's Your Kid Not A Gerbil Facebook page.
• Share a link to this contest page on your own Facebook page or on Twitter.
• Write a blog post linking to this contest page.

Click this link to visit the contest page.
Thank you for being a part of the Tyndale Blog Network!