In celebration of International Children's Book Day

Do you write in your books? Highlight? Make notes? Or do you like to keep your copies as pristine as possible?

Yes, yes, and yes. I want life easy whenever I fancy going back to something in the book. But it's no, no, and no for books in my collector shelf.  Booking Through Thursday

~x~

April 2nd, which is Hans Christian Andersen's birthday, is also International Children's Book Day.  

What were your favorite stories as a child? One of mine is Rapunzel. My heart still skips every time I see or hear any reference to her. I couldn't resist taking her photo when I saw her again while exploring Universal Studios Singapore last year.

"Rapunzel, Rapunzel, let down your hair!" my mother would read to me. While she did not neglect the fairy tales, she made sure I had a bounty of  Bible stories, and this is a list of those stories with keywords I remember and links in case you fancy reading more.

1. Baby in a basket - Moses, Miriam, Aaron, Jochebed, Nile River, Egypt, adopted by the Princess, papyrus reeds, Pharoah, Hebrew slaves (Photo and story in a devotional)

2. Joseph's new coat - jealous brothers, colors, doting Dad (Wikipedia commentary)

3. The first Christmas - Bethlehem, Joseph and Mary, angels, star, shepherds, frankincense, myrrh, King Herod, ('Away in a manger')

4. David and Goliath - slingshot, my first introduction to giants and snipers (story summary)

5. Go wash in the river - leprosy, Jordan river, my first introduction to army commanders (EG White writings)

6. Elijah and the time of no rain - King Ahab, ravens, manna, brook Cherith, my first introduction to droughts and prophets (Elijah's Prayer)

7. A room and a boy - headache, childless couple, being kind to strangers, widow of Zarephath, one of my first introductions to resurrection

8. Barley loaves and fishes - food multiplying, feeding thousands (story in song by Corrine May) Why they say 'fishes' I have yet to find out

9. Esther the brave queen - Hadassah, "If I perish, I perish," Haman (ministry to children)

10. When God washed the world - flood, rainbow, ark, Noah, animals marching to the ark by twos, fours, sevens (discussion)

11. Daniel and the lions - thrown into a lion's den (story)

12. Zaccheus the cheater - corrupt government official, short man, sycamore tree (story)

13. Jesus calms the storm - winds and waves, sleeping soundly through a storm, trust (lesson ideas on pinterest)

Thursday Thirteen * Favorite Things 

Changes

In this post: Booking Through Thursday and Thursday Thirteen

Charlie Quillen asks:

Has a book ever inspired you to change anything in your life, fiction or non-fiction alike?

Robert Kiyosaki's Rich Dad, Poor Dad inspired me to change the way I look at money.  Kate White's Why Good Girls Don't Get Ahead but Gutsy Girls Do helped me change the way I evaluate myself.  The Da Vinci Code inspired me to change my attitude toward The Bible.  The entertainment of puzzles in Dan Brown's work and its references to concepts that ring a bell around times long ago when the Bible was spoon-fed to me, sparked a fancy to rediscover non-fiction mystery that the Bible has abundance of, as well as advice and knowledge that never gets old.

Thursday 13: Inspiring changes. Which ones speak to you best?

1. Change brings opportunity. ~ Nido Qubein

2. Don't say you don't have enough time. You have exactly the same number of hours per day that were given to Helen Keller, Pasteur, Michelangelo, Mother Teresa, Leonardo da Vinci, Thomas Jefferson and Albert Einstein. ~ Life's Little Instruction Book

3. Your life does not get better by chance. It gets better by change. ~ Jim Rohn

4. Use what talents you possess, the woods will be very silent if no birds sang there except those that sang best. ~ Henry van Dyke

5. Each person's task in life is to become an increasingly better person. ~ Leo Tolstoy

6. Remembering you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose.  You are already naked.  There is no reason not to follow your heart. ~ Steve Jobs, 2005 Stanford commencement address

7.  The greatest mistake you can do in life is to be continually fearing you will make one. ~ Elbert Hubbard

8. Twenty years from now you will be disappointed by the things you didn't do than by the ones you did. So sail away from the safe harbor, catch the trade wind in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover. ~ Mark Twain

9. Change is the constant, the signal for rebirth, the egg of the phoenix                     ~ Christina Baldwin

10. We all have big changes in our lives, that are more or less a second chance.      ~ Harrison Ford quoted by Gary Jenkins, Imperfect Hero

11. Someone was hurt before you, wronged before you, humiliated before you, frightened before you, beaten before you, raped before you, yet someone survived. You can do anything you choose to do. ~ Maya Angelou

12. We have a strategic plan. It's called 'doing things.' ~ Herb Kelleher

13. Change has a considerable psychological impact on the human mind. To the fearful it is threatening because it means that things may get worse. To the hopeful is it is encouraging because it means things may get better. To the confident it is inspiring because the challenge exists to make things better.     ~King  Whitney Jr