Elohim, Creator, is the first name of God recorded in the Bible, and it is the first name of God recorded in Diane Storz’s book, “I AM: The Names of God for Little Ones”. “I AM” is a board book that introduces children to twelve names of God, names from the Old Testament, as well as names of Jesus from the New Testament. Each name is presented on two pages which include names of God from the Old Testament in Hebrew and their pronunciation, and the names of Jesus from the New Testament, the verse where the name can be found, a brief sentence or two discussing the name, and a short prayer.

The book truly is written with little ones in mind. The brief descriptions given are simple to understand and clearly present the truth of each name as found in God’s word. The illustrations are lovely. They are colorful with realistic, yet simplistic features for the people depicted throughout the book. The words were clearly chosen with great care. They have a lyrical quality to them, which always makes reading a picture book enjoyable for both the reader and the audience.

Often books with Christian themes cannot be counted on to be theologically correct. Or, they are not written in a clear, appealing manner, or illustrated in a way that draws the reader’s attention. “I AM” succeeds in all three of these, theologically accurate, well-written, and beautifully illustrated. It is a must have for anyone who has, or knows, little ones who are being introduced to the greatness of the One True God, the Great I AM.

By Monica Patrick

It’s late and I’m tired. It has been an extra busy season in our lives. A good season. Filled with lots of good things. But extra busy.

We’re beginning the production of “The Dragon”, the Patrick Family newsletter again. Not everyone is as excited as me (and Seth), but we are going to press in for the summer. Because I said so. We do school year-round after all. There are so many reasons I am looking forward to it. So. Many. Reasons. 1) My kids are incredibly interesting and incredibly gifted and I love reading the things they have written. 2) I absolutely love our family being a part of things that bring us together. Nothing like the togetherness of a joint venture and a deadline. Working through any bumps in the road as a team could end in strife, but if we faithfully work together for the good of everyone, there is instead a greater unity. And it’s lovely. 3) What a gift it is to get to share the goodness of God in the words of our newsletter. His goodness as seen in our daily lives and throughout history. His goodness in the creativity of comics and the joy of a shared joke and the beauty of a poem. His goodness as seen in a story of heroes and heroines and dragons and redemption. 4) It’s fun to connect with those we love through the pages of our newsletter. I hope it is informative, and edifying, and makes folks smile.

The fireflies are back. Every spring, after a good rain, they appear in our yard. The fireflies and the frogs. Oh, and the mosquitoes. Such big mosquitoes this year.

We are hatching chickens and growing zinnias. I’ve planted zucchini plants and cabbage and cucumbers and daikon radish and beets, but all we seem to be able to keep alive are chickens and zinnia. I am thankful for these. Let me know if you’d like to try your hand at growing zinnias. I’ve been saving seeds!

Susanna is graduating this year and will be attending Texas A&M, from her upstairs bedroom hallelujah. She is pure joy and we are so excited to see all the ways she further surrenders to God and how He uses her for His Kingdom. We miss her already. I know she will be home every night but after 18 years of her being underfoot all day, every day, it will be awfully sad without her.

I am hoping to squeeze in as much as possible this summer. Road trips. Grammar. Spelling. The writing, and reading, of poetry. Lots of games. An astronomy class. Learning to write in cursive and sending letters to those we love written in said cursive. Good books. So many good books. Let us know if you’d like a visit, or a letter, or if you have a book recommendation. We’d love to hear from you!

By Monica Patrick

A long time ago, there was a kingdom called Khevera. In the long history of the kingdom, there was once a king called King Just. His father, before him, had not been a very good king, but King Just had learned from his father’s mistakes, and the people loved him. However, there was a blight on his reign. As a young man, he had married a princess from another land in order to form an alliance. As a Queen, she was tyrannical. Nobody liked her, but they tolerated her because they loved King Just. The King and Queen had one son, Prince Devlin. When the Prince was 4, the Queen secretly betrothed him to a Noble girl from her own country without the King’s approval. Shortly before the Prince’s 21 st birthday, the King sent him on a diplomatic mission to the Raider Tribes. While there, the Prince worked closely with Chief Puka of the Sloo raiders and his daughter, the beautiful Posey, to bring peace between their people. The Prince and Posey fell in love and were betrothed according to the tribe’s tradition. 

When Prince Devlin returned home, he presented his fiancée to the King and Queen. They were all surprised when the Queen announced that the Prince was already betrothed to Lady Arella. Unfortunately, in Khevera, the Prince’s engagement to Lady Arella was legally binding, but his engagement to Posey was not. Prince Devlin was forced to break off his engagement with Posey. Her father, Chief Puka, was furious and considered it an insult to his people that his daughter was not worthy of the Prince. The Chief and Posey returned home, leaving the Prince dejected. King Just was also distraught. He saw how much his son loved Posey and wished for him to be happy. And he was angry with the Queen for going behind his back and engaging the Prince to Arella. But there was nothing King Just could do except trust in Yaran. In retaliation, Chief Puka began to conduct raids on the outer villages of Khevera. The Prince deeply loved Posey and also wanted to repair the relationship between Khevera and the Sloo. Therefore, Prince Devlin left without telling anyone, traveled to the Sloo land, and married Posey. If King Just accepted his son’s decision, then Lady Arella and her people would be outraged and possibly declare war. So, the King had no choice but to banish his son. 18 years later, after the Queen had died, King Just had to find an heir. He sent ambassadors to the Sloo raiders to discover the fate of his son. The King was grieved to discover that both Devlin and Posey had died years ago and that no one knew the whereabouts of their daughter, Princess Megan. Hearing that he had a granddaughter, the King was determined to find her.

By Susanna Patrick

God is unmistakably holy and every christian knows this, even the demons know his of holiness and they shudder. But if we look at the Bible how are we to respond to his holiness? Now if we look at the book of John we see that Jesus is so holy that we are not worthy even to touch his sandals. ‘John answered them, saying, “I baptize with water, but there stands One among you whom you do not know. It is He who, coming after me, is preferred before me, whose sandal strap I am not worthy to loose.” But we are not in those times even if we were worthy we could not touch his sandals for Jesus is not in his human form among us. So in todays world what is our response and what should it be? Well in todays world our church’s have often grown stagnate they have drifted from the faith and become apathetic. But God calls us to be renewed in his sprit to never forget that joy and energy we first had when we excepted him. So we must worship him as is done in psalms. ‘Sing to God, sing praises to His name;Extol Him who rides on the clouds,By His name Yah, And rejoice before Him. A father of the fatherless, a defender of widows,Is God in His holy habitation’. But how we worship God matters. Take care in how you worship God make sure your worship honors him. As is said in Deuteronomy ‘You shall not worship the Lord your God with such things’. Speaking as when people were worshiping God with idols. So know that you must worship God with joy reverence and honor. 

God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.”

By Seth Patrick.